Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Yeah for arenas

So I've moved Jonza back to Robyn's farm so I can utilize an indoor/outdoor arena :). After a month of solid rain and clay based footing, I couldn't work her at all! She would slip way to much just walking! And that was without me even on her back. So unfortunately she has had the last month off. Now that I am boarding her I have been able to really get back into the routine that she (and I!) needs. Last week I started working her back up to being ridden again every day. Last Wednesday I lunged her to get her to move off pressure, etc. from the ground. She did very well. Then Thursday I got on her and walked for about 30 minutes, we did serpentines and lots of changes of direction. Friday I worked her another 30 minutes with about 2 minutes of trotting *if* that. Then she had the weekend off (had a LOT of stuff to do with getting back from camp, cleaning, etc.). Yesterday and Today we were doing about 20 minutes of walking and 10 minutes of trotting. Yesterday was great, she was really soft and willing. Today she was a bit resistant and didn't want to work, but by the end of the ride she finally gave in a bit...although she was really heavy and not really happy with giving in I figured it was a good stopping point and got off.

Right now all I am really working on is for her to be calm and consistant at the walk and trot, once I get her reliable on those terms, then we will work on collecting the walk and trot more and really fine tuning her. After these areas are complete I will begin the canter work. I don't want to stress her out too much or push her too quickly. She fries her brain all to easily, so slow and steady we will be :). I hope that by next year I can do a decent lower training level test. Now that I have her at a facility where I can really work with her, I plan to update her progress more often :)

No comments: