Lesson 10 Sept 8 2011

We did some round pen work first and Cooper was very good.

I got my husband in the round pen to have him try to work Cooper but he wasn't assertive enough and Cooper just wanted to come in to him.

It's dark now by lesson time at 8:30 p.m. so we rode indoors.

We continued on trying to slow the jog around 3/4 of arena and 1/4 did posting trot, trying to extend and stay collected.

I was trying to relax my legs but it wasn't working tonight.

I had a stiff neck and shoulders were hurting.

He was slowing down but not a lot when asked for the jog.

When asking for the extended trot I could not get him to go, hmmmm.

At the beginning when I was trying the head down cue he would just lean on the bit and close his eyes, like he was going to sleep.

That was frustrating me, so I would pull harder, just what we are not supposed to do.

But other than that, we did well.

His muscle is building up, I think mine too.

I always have to remember about my body position, it's a lot of work.

I was trying to do the rocking with my rear end, to his movement, in a figure 8. Never did that before either, but I have read about it and keep forgetting to do it.

I have to get a tush cushion, my rear is sore again even with the cushy padded seat on my saddle.

I am also going to try putting the stirrups down one more hole to see if that helps me to bring my legs back more.

I see in some video that it looks like I am trying to stretch down but can't because the stirrups length is too short. Only thing with that, it will make it even harder for me to swing my leg over his back to get in the saddle.

Tonight was the last lesson and I have signed up for 10 more!!

Maybe I will start to lope in the next session, I have been wanting to try but keep on backing out of it.

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Comment by Coopersmom_1958 on September 20, 2011 at 1:20pm: Correction, this session is 14 lessons right up to Dec 22/11. Should get lots of new info in the next few months.

Comment by Coopersmom_1958 on September 16, 2011 at 8:42am: I went on Saturday & Tuesday and practiced what we were learning as well as things from previous lessons. Mostly still trying to slow the jog down and get a whoa just from the seat. Both days Cooper did very well. On Saturday we went in the outdoor arena and did ground work. We moved around the arena and went into the spooky corners. He was much better with me on the ground than in the saddle. We then went in to the indoor arena to do the riding. I set up some trot poles and walked over them a few times then tried it at a trot. His back toe hit the last pole and we just about had a spill. I don't think I was going fast enough, and next time I try it I will only use 3 poles as I had 4 down. We ended the arena work by playing with the big ball. We did a little trot after it, he was following the ball a lot on his own with some direction from me.

On Tuesday we went into the round pen for about 45 minutes. Did a lot of turns, transitions and coming in to me. He had only one huge buck in my direction and I went after him then there were no more. I wasn't sure what to do when he kicks out at me like that in the round pen and didn't think that stopping him would be the right move, because then he might associate bucking with stopping? So I went after him stronger and made him move. We then went indoors and rode in the rope hackamore. He did well but was pulling a lot when I was asking for turns. I have been watching my Jonathan Fields riding dvd's with the thought that is how I am going to try loping. But I am not ready yet, I don't have every part of the body working properly yet. Again, I am in no hurry, trotting, jogging and all this other work is plenty for now. I might also have to get on one of the lesson horses to learn how to lope again, it has been so long since I did it. A few other boarders arrived and by the time most of them came in the arena we were already done. I had been there since 5 p.m. and it was around 8:30 p.m. when we finished. I cleaned Cooper up and put him in his stall with a bucket of beet pulp and carrots and went back and watched the others ride for awhile.

We had 2 very good days then Lesson 11, new blog.

Comment by Jackie Cochran on September 9, 2011 at 8:34pm: You remind me of how I was after 10 lessons, I had not gotten very far.

Good for you keeping up the lessons! When we are young we can sort of get away without the lessons, but as we become disabled or start out riding when older lessons are of GREAT help!