Saturday, January 24, 2009

nose on the floor

Now it's good that molly is now much happier to accept the contact, and good that she wants to stretch over her back and take the contact down - but not to such extremes! especially when i'm on her, it's very disconcerting in trot! (bad enough in walk!!!). If i have enough thumb on the rein to stop her, we end up arguing about it.

Cure, anyone?

and my left foot - if i can't stop myself twisting it in teh stirrup, i'll break the damn thing again, probably in the same place! i did try hard not to, but it kept moving. the inside of the foot comes up and the outside down, hence the potential for flake fracture!

one other success - no, two.

walk trot transitions, good

sideways - i finally realised i'd been moving my leg back - WRONG! so having worked that out, i did get a few strides of sideways!

finally - hoping that Trudi, Di, and my friend Cory & her family & Inl aws are ok and surviving the horrid weather down there. Cory is in Bordeaux, which is having a really bad time, and Trudi, Di, and Cory's inlaws are in striking distance of it. (between 1 & 2 hours) - i am a bit concerned about all of them!


5 comments:

Di said...

Its been a horrid day today Claire, the horses went out for a short time and then were hanging around the gate to come in!! As far as your leg position is concerned, its hard to say without seeing, but,I know myself if my stirrups are even just a little too short it sort of pushes my legs up and my toes out. Probably doesn't help, sorry.

trudi said...

Yes, it's been horrid as Di says but not as bad as further south I believe.
Yes, watch the nose on the floor as it becomes just another evasion. maybe try a brush with the legs when she drops too low and be careful not to block her in the hand as you do so. A good stretch down for me puts the bit ring about level with the point of shoulder...just a general rule but usually pretty acurate.

Claire said...

that's a thought, Trudi - i can see where it can easily become another evasion, but she's so recently "got it" i don't want to discourage her totally!

Trudi, yes ... but i've a feelign shorter will be too short and longer will be too long! a long term issue, my lower leg, and the broken foot is no help!

anyway, glad youre both OK. Cory, on other hand, is in Bordeaux ...and not on blogger! fingers crossed and we'll ring her tomorrow!

Jean said...

A little "chuck" on the rein and a push with your leg will help. The only trick is to coordinate them. Kind of a quick rein correction, followed by a leg to get her to step under and carry herself on her hind end instead of the forehand.

Actually, at first, I do not mind the nose to the ground, but you don't want to feel as if she is actually pulling you down with her.

Then too, it's often hard to tell from the saddle just how low she is actually going. You might need another pair of eyes to work with you for a while until you can figure out how to feel exactly where she needs to be to be correct for this stage of her training.

cptrayes said...

Cure? If she's tugging downwards, I'd yank back upwards with equal force. If she's stretching politely, let her, it's good for her back.


I agree with Jean, I have so often thought that my horse had its nose on the floor in a free walk only to see the test on video and see it was only level with its elbow!

C