Friday 15 January 2016

Blah/Adding Up The Miles

Blah. My word for the season. I've been super motivated to make a little progress. I don't want the horrible canter and awful transitions of the last couple of weeks to actually be a thing, so I am slightly optimistic they will (magically) be absent one of these days and our world will return to the happy rides of a month or two ago.

Not so much. But gradually, it IS getting a little better.Trainer was there last night and offered to ride her for me this weekend. Trainer was also pretty optimistic it's a normal phase - we are asking her to be a grown up pony now and do balanced transitions and go on the bit when asked. Throughout the time I've owned her, Bridget hasn't been too keen on anything resembling work, so I shouldn' t be surprised at the pony tantrums now that we've started asking a little more from her. Bridget says it's too hard to go forward into contact in the canter, so she'll just not go forward at all. Or she'll go really fast and drag you along...normal baby horse problems made worse by the fact she is not much of a trier by nature and also deceptively flexible/athletic.

We're in dressage land now for the forseeable future. Jumping wise, we can jump small courses and pick up our leads, but we need a more consistent, adjustable canter before we can move forward with bigger jumps or more complicated courses. In short, until we improve this canter we're kind of at an impasse.
Quick screen grab of our little motivational app

So, as a way to keep myself motivated and feeling like we are moving forward, I've created this fun app to chart our miles this winter. Essentially, I'm just tallying up our miles and seeing where we could travel in real world miles...like if we weren't stuck in an arena riding in circles. So far the results are surprising me - we cover some legit distances every week, and it's fun to imagine taking Bridget places. Our virtual start point is Mile 0 of Hwy 101. For now, we're going to travel down the Pacific Coast and see how far we get in a year :)

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11 comments

  1. um that app is AWESOME! what a cool idea - you should definitely add the link or icon or something in your side bar for easy reference haha, it looks great! it'll be interesting to see how far you get and how soon...

    anyways tho i feel ya on the canter blahs - it's easily our worst gait too and while isabel is quite happy and enthusiastic about work right now, i suspect the excitement will wear off again once we're stuck in the indoor all winter...

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    1. Great idea, I've added it to the sidebar :)
      Winter indoor canter blahs are exactly the problem, I somehow think her canter will magically improve once she sees the xc field!

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  2. That's such a cool app!

    I wonder the places you two will go ;)

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    1. Thank you! I haven't had time to do all the fun things I wanted with it, but since we're 2 weeks into 2016 already I had to post it!

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  3. I am absolutely in the same book as you. It is SO challenging to ride the tiny bits of progress every day and not see the big picture improving -- or at least knowing the improvement is tiny. I know you and Midge have got this.

    Also... what if I want to do this app for myself... do I have to wear a fitbit or something?

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  4. that is a neat app. I will have to get it. It can get really frustrating with young horses to be 'stuck' in one phase. But the time you spend will be worth it. And I'm envious that you have access to an indoor to be bored in....

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  5. I'm in the same boat right now too except it's the walk to trot transition. I get a lot of head throwing and speedy trotting when I ask because pony ignores my initial aid and then pretends that I've offended her when I ask again. Once we're trotting things are good but that transitions needs to be rideable so that's my purgatory for awhile.

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  6. That app is a REALLY cool idea! I love it

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