Monday, March 27, 2017

Grounded

I have grounded (mostly) myself from riding.  I realized that my stress levels are just too high and it is making my horse nuts.  So our new approach is I am going to try to walk him for 15 minutes as a warm and to get him loose.  If at any point he starts feeding off me and getting anxious I will hop off and lunge him.

He still needs to tuck his belly and release the under neck, but I like this shot

Then to finish things off, I plan on popping him on the lunge line and doing work with transitions.  So far it has been interesting to see.  I filmed one down transition where he totally flopped from the canter into the trot.  I found it interesting that when he popped his head straight up in the air he finally stepped up underneath himself.  I am still puzzling over how what I am noticing on the lunge translates into what I need to do to get his body working correctly.







11 comments:

  1. It's nice that you can recognize how your stress levels are (potentially) negatively affecting your rides. Hopefully things settle down for you soon!

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    1. Me too. I think if I can survive April I will be good.

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  2. I feel your pain, it would be nice to be able to go for a ride in order to de-stress from life, but that's tough to do on a sensitive horse. Good job for still using the time to get in productive lunge-work, I sometimes end up just sitting at home when I'm the most stressed out and that's no good for anyone :-P

    I also hope that your other life stresses resolve soon.

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    1. Yep. He immediately says "what are we worrying about? You are worried so I'm going to worry about everything." Thanks bud... *hits head against wall* :)

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  3. Oy good luck with all the stress :( pretty pony pics can soothe the restless mind tho!!!

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  4. Stress levels are real. Good on you.

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  5. It's so hard to let go of stress, but it really does impact riding. Good for you for recognizing it and taking action!

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