Rocky

[krys]

On Thursday we had our lesson with Donna. It was great, like always!
We started off perfectly, he was listening well and bending. It was good. Then Donna asked us to pick up our trot, and well, lets just say he wasn't thrilled about it. He tried to run away with me a couple of times and doing so, he also tried is kill Donna. He'd turn towards her, pin his ears and then trot sideways glaring at her. It was ridiculous. So, we started doing cirlces, small ones. Every time he'd try to do something that I didn't ask (i.e. try to change rein or turn the other way) I'd bring him back to a walk, and do a circle and then trot out of the circle. It worked wonders! With just a couple of minutes, he was back to the sweet boy that we had in the begining.

Then we moved on to some canter. He was being a little stubborn and wouldn't canter, he'd just start to rush, so to fix that, we moved onto a circle, walked a couple of strides then sitted trot and then asked for the canter right away! He loved it! He did it so well. We even cantered a 20m circle almost perfectly! He was such a good boy. After that Peter came in with Jessie so as we were getting ready to end the lesson, we did square turns at the walk and trot. He did those so well aswell. Such a good boy.

Donna thinks that Rocky's saddle may be getting a tad too small for him. She can fit her hand in, but it's really tight. I'm going to try Mel's medium-wide saddle on him and see how he likes it.

[happilyeverafter]

I've still got my medium wide AP for sale....we never got in touch when I was home in October, but I'll be home on Dec 19th so you'd be more than welcome to try it out

[Sarah P]

Rocky was being a tool last night for his mommy, so she asked me to get on for a bit.
As soon as I stood next to him it really came clear that you just need a huge "im the boss" attitude with him. He'll jump away and try to walk when you're attempting to mount, but once I became firm with him and made him retrack his steps every time he moved he stood nice and still for me to mount (and stayed still once I was up there). Once I got on it became evident that contact means go with him. When you shorten your reins, he breaks before his poll and drops his head down, pulling and trying to do what seems like 'stretching' but felt more like resistance to the bit. I lengthened my reins and stayed sitting for most of the ride, working on seat transitions mainly. At first when I got on and did a canter transition, he ran into it and then took off, completely unbalanced to the point I thought he was going to fall over. We worked on a ton of sitting trot with minimal rein and occasionally no rein, cuing him with my legs and seat in attempts for him to figure out that reins do not nessicarily mean go faster or stop.
He is a very quick learner. When I first got on all he wanted to do was duck out on the circle and perform this weird little shoulder-ducking-sideways-bolting routine, but by the end of the ride he was circling completely off outside rein and leg, with 0 inside rein and just weight change cues from my inside leg.
It seemed by the end of the ride he comprehended this very well, and was doing 15m circles with no rein at all.

It was a really productive ride, he is definately coming along!

[krys]

Merci Sarah for posting this!

Sarah and I went to the barn just to groom yesterday after school but then we were asked to help take the horses in and by the time we were done, we had to leave! It was quite sad.
But! When we got there, our ponies were playing together over the fence! It was super cute. They were trying to play halters but Rocky didn't have his on, haha. It was too cute.
I'm glad Rocky is finially making some friends. He was pretty lonely there but now he can play with B-rad!

[Sarah P]

That was really really cute ♥
I always thought Brandon was too 'mature' to play with the other horses..*rollseyes*. Haha glad he made a friend!




MY FACE!!! haha yes but look, very little contact and he's still straight yay Rocky!



I'm not going to post the pictures from the begenning of the ride - because to make it short they are not flattering on either my or Rocky's behalf!! He is a very good boy though and he made the progression from angry-not listening little horse to responsive light horse in a very short period of time.

[krys]

I love how it looks like it's snowing in the arena.

He's such a good boy when he gets over himself.

[krys]

Rockers was a BABE tonight, he really was. I'm so proud of him.

When I first got there, I started to groom in the stall. Rockers kept looking out/playing with something on the window cill. When I went to look at what he was doing, here was the cat sitting on the window cill playing with Rockers! He was being so gentle with her. Then he started to groom her. What a sweet boy. I was so scared he was going to bite her by mistake, but he never

Then we went down for our lesson. Half the arena is still kinda frozen so we stayed mostly by the door. We started off just working long and low and getting him to stretch way down. Then we moved on to our circle, still at the walk. After a little bit, we changed the direction and did the exact same thing the other way. After about 5/10 minutes we moved onto the trot. We had 4 poles set up on our circle so we did walk/trot and trot/walk transitions using the poles as guides and mixing up which transition to do over which pole. Rocky LOVED it. We worked on changing the rein inside the circle, getting our bend around the circle and for me, keeping my outside aids on all the time. I tend to forget for a moment or two and Rocky takes complete advantage of it. He's so smart, haha.

After we did lots of work with that, we moved onto the canter. We'd canter half the circle and then go straight down the long side. He did it so well. He's really improving his canter. His departs are dead on now (most of the time. *knock on wood*) and he can really get going without racing around.

We took it nice and easy tonight and showed him that lessons don't have to always be really hard work. I think he enjoyed himself quite a bit. <3

[krys]

Okay guys, I haven't posted in here in a while. I'm a bad mom I know

Okay, so my lessons have been going AMAZING. I absolutely love Donna and so does Rocky.

Earlier this week, he was cantering on the lunge line and decided to bolt. When doing so he pulled me down by the door of the arena, saw a pylon and tried to jump it with only half his body, leaving him to have a hasty fall on his right front leg. Luckily he didn't hurt himself whatsoever. I was so relieved he was okay.

Yesterday I hopped on him and just took it easy after his fall. We just did some simple walk stuff (circles, square turns, etc.) Then we did some trot. Really trying to get him to take big long strides. He did great and he was content just doing a little bit of work.

Tonight we warmed up with Sarah and B-rad. Though Rocky loves him when they're in seperate paddocks, he's not too fond of him cantering by him. He got a little saucy but nothing major happened. Then we worked on some transitions on the rail (Brandon too!) and it was all good. Then Rockers and I went for a little canter starting on the cirlce and then going large but right before that he had a little stumble off the new big poles and was a little stiff so we only did a few canter transitions in each direction and then gave up with the canter for the rest of the night.

We then started some walk/trot dressage tests! Rocky did so well. We're working on getting them perfect. After doing the test a couple of times, we did a little bit more circle work at the trot and then moved on to some no stirrup work! Rocky has the easiest trot to sit to.

Last but not least, we finished some some leg yeilding at the walk. He's getting so good at it. He's very good at moving away from my left leg, but not so much the right. But by the end we were going on and off the rail. He's such a good boy!

We have lots to work on for our next lesson

P.S. Somone come take pictures?

[Suzanne]

Awww

Rocky sounds like he is doing so well!!! I LOVE watching horses play halters!!

Keep up the great Work Krys!

[krys]

Okay so Rocky and I are doing quite good! The ground is usually really hard towards the back door of the arena so we're usually stuck on almost just a 20m circle down at A. After a while Rocky gets pissed off with doing circles and likes to act up so we're doing some dressage tests and other exercises to mix it up. We're also doing a lot of transitions.

During my lesson on Saturday we just weren't having a good day. There were parts that were really good but he was being really lazy and then acting up and taking off. I just wasn't mentally able to deal with him on Saturday but we ended on a good note so it was good. Overall, I was okay with it but there were part during it where I just wanted to get off.

Christmas day I went to give him his gifts. He loves them Then he got a well needed romp in the arena. He LOOOOVED it. I was so happy he was happy. It was great.

Yesterday I rode and he was excellent. Still a little lazy but that's all I can do. I wish I could go in the outdoor and really get him to lengthen his stride. But we had some REALLY good transitions going on so I was very pleased. I ended up putting out some poles on a 20m circle and doing transitions. It was a very good ride over all.

[krys]

Okay, so I'm getting really horrible at keeping this.

So Rocky and I have started the new year greatly!

This was our first lesson since and it was amazing. We started off just warming up, w/t/c. We did X's and circles at the walk and the trot and with the canter we worked on simples in the middle of the X. In between we did a lot of different transition work. Including some walk-canter transitions for the first time! He did them beautifully especially for his first time! It was great. I'm so pleased.
Then we had a break and moved on to some leg yielding on the long sides, at a walk first. Then we moved onto doing it from the trot. And after a little bit, we again moved on to asking Rocky to canter after the leg yield. He was really good to the left but to the right he had a little trouble and it was the end so we just asked him a couple of times and then finished up.

I'm so proud of him. He's doing sooo well. Everyone should come visit

[krys]

I'm totally a horrible mom and haven't updated this is FOREVER. I'm actually horrible.

So I'm still not up to the barn as much as I should be with school, work and basketball but basketball is over after next weekend so now we can really get inshape for show season. I'm so excited.

Our recent accomplishments!:
-walk and poop!
-trot and poop!
-roll backs! (thanks to Maria!)
-CANTER CIRCLES! or I should say circle seeing how I was so pleased I jumped right off and gave him a big hug.
- He's pretty much given up on dropping his shoulder and runing out of it now. Thank god. *knock on wood*. I'm so pleased.

He's coming along sooo well. He's definatly not the same horse I bought back in May. I'm going to start lunging with side-reins now soon too.

It's funny how I'm just learning his buttons now. It's taken me a little while, but we're really starting to work as a team. I'm so happy

[Mellu]

EEEEE .

What a booooy.


Man, Donna is such an amazing instructor too. You have come a long way since may yourself < 3.

I'll try my best to be there for your first show to cheer you on!
I'll get started on my "Go Rocky and Krys!!!" t-shirt now! Haha.

[krys]

Thanks Mel.

t-shirts eh? make me one! haha

[Sarah]

Wow Krys by the time I get home he'll be moving on to canter and poop lol j/k! He's such a great boy and you guys sound like you are making progress! Can't wait to see you in about - get this - 4 months!