Horse going sideways - fixing the problem - part 2

One of the ground exercises that I do with Lil is making her do a couple of circles around me, and going over a little cross rail while she's out on the circle.  Now I am very strict with going over the cross rail - there is to be no running out, no shying, no stopping.  Just a nice clean pop.  I don't mind (at this stage), whether she goes over it on the left rein or right rein, but she must go over it.

Has it all been going smoothly?  No, of course not.  We've had times when she's hesitated before jumping the rail, when she's tried to run out, and when she's tried to avoid it by changing direction.

Today I have set up the cross rails so that there are plenty of them - around our lunging area.  I stand in the middle and ask Lil to go out on the circle.  I don't ask her to do the cross rails, and there is plenty of space for her to circle.

I notice that she glances at the cross rail.  Well, if she's that keen to do them, then why not?  I build enough slack in the lungeing rein.  Lil feels the slack, lines up the double and jumps the two cross rails perfectly.  On the surface I remain calm, although perhaps my jaw has dropped, but deep down inside I let out a huge "YES!".

So how is this related to "horse going sideways"?  Well, she used to get very nervous when I used to ask her to jump those cross rails.  Yet now she has learnt to do it, and does it by choice.  Which means, I should  be able to use the same methods to teach her to go forwards, and not sideways.

Clinic - Day 2

This morning we're up early and riding by 8am. Dressage is first, and Lilly and I find a good rhythm. When I ask for canter, Lilly rushes into it, just like she did yesterday. "That was terrible!", shouts Catherine in a friendly voice. But she means what she says. "But ... but ... that was just fine yesterday", I stammer. "Yeah, but I didn't know you then, or how you ride", comes the reply. "Oh", I sigh. The bar has been raised. I try again, and the transition is indeed much better.

In this lesson we also do some leg yielding. At home, I've had a few problems with leg yielding. Here, it's much smoother. Something to do with Lilly actually using her top line and being able to do it. Feels great.

After the dressage lesson I get a breather, and then we ride again at 11am. Jumping.

The other girl in my lesson and I do our own warm up. Catherine is watching, but doesn't comment unnecessarily. This is great, because it alows you to think for yourself - just like you would have to do at home. The canters (and their transitions) are improving out of sight. I am very happy.

Then Catherine just builds on yesterday. That's right. No trot poles, no canter poles, just straight over the grid. And this works really really well. Then she adds another obstacle at the front of the grid. We go around, and the heights go up. By the end we're jumping about 2'.

Lilly starts to get tired. She knocks down one of the jumps entirely. Then she starts refusing. I grab a little crop, and Lilly has a bit of a tantrum. Compared to what Princess and Gally could dish out, this is nothing. Finally I get her over the jumps (now lowered a bit) a couple of times, and we call it a day. She is lathered up everywhere - even behind the ears.

I feel tired, but really really happy. The progress we have made is just fantastic, and in addition I walk away with just the right amount of tips, and things to practice. I simply cannot wait to come back for another clinic. I cannot wait to bring Sabina here too!

Hazelwood Lodge

It's one of those cold mornings, with the classic colourful Australian sunrise and frost on the ground. In fact, it's the most frost I have ever seen at the farm. But, no time for photos, as I'm off to Hazelwood Lodge for a two day clinic with Catherine Martindale.

The drive is made a little bit tricky by heavy fog, but I arrive without a hitch. I unload Lilly and put her in a yard, then I take in the place. It's only 9am in the morning, but the place is ... well ... busy.

Stables are being cleaned out, yards are already full of horses. Some are being saddled. There are three riders just starting a lesson. A lady in a purplish-pink jacket walks up to me "Hi, I'm Catherine", she smiles. I like her straight away.

I saddle up and start my lesson. Within seconds, Catherine is at my side explaining things. "Ok, you want to have her head just here", she takes the bit, and gently asks Lilly to drop her head. "When you're working at home, you want the ears level with the wither. You want to see this muscle here. That's their top line."

Lilly relaxes and travels happily forward. Of course, this is a new place, so she keeps getting distracted a bit by the goings on. But Catherine has made things so clear to me, that regaining the right frame seems childs play. I feel like jumping off and giving her a big hug!

When it comes time to canter, Lilly rushes into it, but we manage to maintain a 20m circle. This is great progress for a horse that believed you can only canter in straight lines a mere two weeks ago. We even manage a few relaxed strides.

I am actually in a group lesson - there are three of us. However, Catherine gives me one-on-one attention, then sends me off to practice. But, she's got eyes in the back of her head. Even though I'm at the other end of the arena, when I really do something wrong, I hear her shrill voice correcting me.

After lunch I have a jumping lesson. "So, how much jumping has she done?", asks Catherine. "Well, only trot poles really", I reply. Catherine sets up some trot poles and we go over. Then she converts them into canter poles, and we canter over them. Lilly is caught a little bit by surprise, but she adjusts pretty quickly.

Then Catherine sets up a grid. Just a simple one at the start - some trot poles and then a cross rail. Lilly trots over the lot. The grid changes to cross rail, one stride with a pole, cross rail. Lilly trots into it, then takes the remainder at canter. That's the whole idea. The grid is forcing her to jump. Very soon, the second obstacle becomes a straight bar. The progress is so smooth and simple that once again I feel like jumping off and giving Catherine a huge bear hug.

After the lesson, I have the chance to watch others ride. Women of all sorts of shapes, sizes, ages, and aspirations are here. And Catherine is equally attentive to all of them. Her confident, but relaxed style, with the odd joke thrown in for good measure, creates a fantastic atmosphere.

Scenic route to the cross rail

The paddock has been drying out for a whole day, and then more rain came overnight. So we're doing our warm up in the park.


We go into trot pretty much immediately. I make sure I change diagonals every now and again. Then we walk into the valley, and from there do a fast canter up the winding road. It takes us about 2 minutes, and Crownie is happy to slow down at the top. Then it's more walk into the next valley, trot out of the valley, and all the way until the returning track. This is a steep 1km climb - we gallop. Crownie comes back to walk before we reach the top. I'm starting to push the limits of her fitness now. This is good. We walk down into the valley again, and do one last gallop on the way home. Crownie is still blowing at the gate.

We walk down to the cross rail I have set up. It's a place pole, then 12ft to cross rail, then 12ft to place pole. So you can do it in either direction. I do a couple of circles. The quality of the trot is surprisingly good. Crownie eyes the setup with suspicion, but trots over it without a fuss. Two more times and I am happy. We circle on the right rein, do the cross rail three times and we're done.

Grid work, take 1

We have four trot poles set up. I hop on Crownie and we do a little warm up. Initially we walk over the trot poles in both directions, then we trot over them. Crownie's walk is nice, but at the trot we are getting a lot of tripping, and some slipping. I vary the workout between some walk, and trot. We do some voltes (5 meter circles), and we keep trotting over the poles. Crownie actually goes over them really well. There is no hesitation, and her rythm doesn't change. That's really good. That's all I'm looking for at this point in time.

I consider putting up a cross rail, but given how wet it is (it's actually pouring with rain while I'm riding), I think it wouldn't be any good for the horse, and no good for the ground either. Next time.

Grid work preparation

Today's activity is dressage, and grid work. In my mind I am thinking: place pole, bounce, bounce, one stride, then bounce. In reality I look at the bare paddock. There are heaps of poles on the property, but they are the length of fully grown pine trees, and it took two men to move these out of the paddock. I look around, and hey presto there are some treated pine posts lying on the ground; the perfect lenght for jumping poles, just not painted. I look up to the sky, and nod a thank you. Then I proceed to move some poles into the paddock. By the end of the process I have 4 trot poles on the ground, and two 44 gallon drums on either side so I can make a cross rail. This is a far cry from what I had imagined, but it means that today's session can get classified as grid work.