Post by pboy on Jan 31, 2015 14:55:31 GMT
I had my first lesson on Indio today (well, first since he got to the UK!) with a GP dressage rider called Tom Graham. My goals were to gain some tools and exercises to straighten his wonky head and get him working more evenly into both reins, and to deal with his occasional 'yak' moments when Indio is finding something difficult. I'm pleased to say my goals were met!
Tom started off by asking me to warm up as usual. He quickly spotted the wonky head issue and suggested that I need to 'artificially' straighten him to begin with by lifting my right hand and half-halting with it whenever I saw the right ear drop. This worked well and caused the yak impression as Indio had to work harder! Tom told me to be firmer with the outside rein when he did this and insist that he come back to me while keeping my leg on - basically don't let him take the mickey and be more confident in asking him to work.
We then moved on to some different exercise in trot to help Indio work into both reins. First we just did some circles to get him working a little more evenly, then we went large and did three strides of leg yield away from the track. From this, we moved onto some shoulder-in then shoulder-in with counter flexion. That was tricky!!! On the left rein, we managed to get the hang of it quite quickly and Indio felt a lot more even into both reins so we moved back to the circle and did some on-and-back while keeping the even contact. It was much better!!
Right rein was harder. Tom spotted that Indio evades the shoulder-in and tries to do quarters-out instead on this rein, so he asked us to reduce the angle but increase the bend. It felt a lot smoother when we got it right! Then we added the counter-flexion, which initially was difficult and Indio went wonky again but by raising my right hand he got a lot straighter.
Tom suggested leaving the canter until next time. In the meantime I need to keep working on the trot so the wonkiness continues to reduce and going evenly into both reins becomes more established.
Sorry for the somewhat boring post, it's so helpful to write it down so I have this to refer back to!!!
Tom started off by asking me to warm up as usual. He quickly spotted the wonky head issue and suggested that I need to 'artificially' straighten him to begin with by lifting my right hand and half-halting with it whenever I saw the right ear drop. This worked well and caused the yak impression as Indio had to work harder! Tom told me to be firmer with the outside rein when he did this and insist that he come back to me while keeping my leg on - basically don't let him take the mickey and be more confident in asking him to work.
We then moved on to some different exercise in trot to help Indio work into both reins. First we just did some circles to get him working a little more evenly, then we went large and did three strides of leg yield away from the track. From this, we moved onto some shoulder-in then shoulder-in with counter flexion. That was tricky!!! On the left rein, we managed to get the hang of it quite quickly and Indio felt a lot more even into both reins so we moved back to the circle and did some on-and-back while keeping the even contact. It was much better!!
Right rein was harder. Tom spotted that Indio evades the shoulder-in and tries to do quarters-out instead on this rein, so he asked us to reduce the angle but increase the bend. It felt a lot smoother when we got it right! Then we added the counter-flexion, which initially was difficult and Indio went wonky again but by raising my right hand he got a lot straighter.
Tom suggested leaving the canter until next time. In the meantime I need to keep working on the trot so the wonkiness continues to reduce and going evenly into both reins becomes more established.
Sorry for the somewhat boring post, it's so helpful to write it down so I have this to refer back to!!!
)
for so much hard work we thank ye!!
sounds really satisfying and cool that you've got a bit of a lightbulb moment with the ear dropping thing, that will be something easy to carry through outside of lessons! 
