Pony Progress

  I haven't been posting much because Laura has been competing at Bishop Mule Days, the world's largest mule show. Anyways, I recently rode Pistachio, the pony I have been riding off and on since last fall. When I first got him out, he was being pretty obnoxious and hot, trying to test me as I had not ridden him in several months. Just when I entered the round pen and was ready to ask him to lunge, he just cantered off and wouldn't listen when I asked him to slow down. Rather than letting myself get frustrated, I decided to pull him into a really tiny circle around me–the rope between my hand and his head was maybe three feet. I breathed deeply and relaxed in hopes of getting him relaxed. It worked! Gradually, I let him out on bigger circles.

 Before long, he was trotting calmly around me. In fact, he was perhaps even more relaxed than he has ever been since I first started riding him. If you have been reading for a while, you may remember that when I first started riding him, he did not relax at all and wouldn't walk on a loose rein. Now, I had him lungeing calmly around me, slowing almost immediately when I said, "Whoa." He even cantered calmly to the right. He was a little less balanced and  therefore less relaxed to the left, but that was no fault of his own; every horse and pony has a "bad" side. 

 He was just as good under saddle as he had been when I lunged. Like the last time I had ridden Lucky, I tried being extra soft when riding Pistachio. Pistachio was very sensitive to my aids. Mostly, I just looked where I wanted him to go, and he went there. 

 Because he was doing so well, I decided to canter him a lot on circles. It's not easy for him to balance on circles in the canter, especially to the left, without falling into the trot. He needs the support of the inside leg from his rider. I worked on a trot circle to the right first since that side is easier for him. Once he felt ready, I asked for the canter. I made it almost all the way around before he fell into the trot. It was really my fault, because I cut the circle in and didn't make the final quarter wide enough. The next time around, he cantered around the circle beautifully. With short trot breaks in between, I cantered several more circles to the right, then went around the arena immediately following the circle.

 Circling left at the canter took a little more work, so I cantered him once around the entire arena on to the left before trying a circle. He needed a lot more support to keep him balanced on a canter circle to the left. Even so, I managed to get several nice circles. 

 I reward Pistachio with lots of pats for doing so well that ride. It may seem like a small thing to get nice canter circles, and for most horses and ponies it is, but for Pistachio who is primarily a driving pony ridden only by me, it is a big deal. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I am better rider than when I first started riding him. Nevertheless, he has improved a lot since the first time I rode him. I love that I can try some of the things I have learned on my own with a pony that does not have nearly as much dressage training as Lucky. 

Driving Show Recap

 This weekend, I was navigator at a local driving event with Pistachio the pony and Gretchen, his owner, who just moved up to Preliminary level. It was a small event, but was loads of fun. We brought Pistachio there the day before to allow him time to settle in and save time in the morning. We drove him for a few minutes, and he was very relaxed, which looked promising.

Dressage

 Like eventing, driving has three phases: dressage, cones(stadium), and marathon(cross country). Saturday morning was dressage. Unfortunately, things didn't go as well as the day before. He was rushing and wasn't quiet in the halt–he was fidgety. However, the judge did like his forward trot and his nice bend. After our go, a bay Hackney went, followed by a dark bay German Sport Horse(the driver said it was a German Riding Pony that got too big) with a white blaze and white socks. Both are driven by very good drivers, and the one with the German horse has competed in Intermediate and Advanced competitions overseas, though not with the same horse. The horses were very good movers, and the Hackney had the high stepping trot. It was neat to see.

Cones course

Pistachio didn't relax any more for the cones course in the afternoon. For cones, there are pairs of cones that you go between, forming gates, with 20  gates on the course. The course was a fun, windy course. Gate two was a serpentine with three cones to wind around. There was even a bridge and deep indent(a downhill followed immediately by an uphill) that is filled with water when it rains, which didn't happened this weekend. Unfortunately, we had a refusal at gate 10, which was heading into the indent.

 For marathon, the driving equivalent of cross country, he was fast and didn't want to relax. Marathon was a long windy, 3.81 kilometer course with 40 gates and two hazards, obstacles you wind around, placed in the course. The hazards had A, B, C, and D parts. They were tricky because had to make several rollbacks and turn around a few time to go through them in the correct direction with the red on the right. Those went pretty well. However, after the first hazard, the strap on his back came undone and the strap that goes behind him fell down to his hocks. He was good about not panicking while I fixed it. This caused us major time faults. We ended up driving the course in 21:19, and OT was 17:35.

Driving through hazard 1.

The blues are from dressage and marathon(each class was judged separately) and the yellow
is for the overall placing.

 The classes were judged separately at that event, and we earned two blue ribbons, one for dressage and one for marathon(we were actually the only large pony at Prelim). Overall, we placed third, behind the Hackney and German Sport Horse.

Schooling for Driving Show

 Saturday, I went with Pistachio and his owner, Gretchen to practice for the coming show, which is this coming weekend. Since the facility is nearby, we took Pistachio there to practice. I groomed and lunged him before we began driving.

 We started by driving through the cones course, a course of twenty pairs of cones that you drive between. It is the driving version of stadium jumping. The cones course went well; Pistachio was pretty relaxed throughout the day.

 Next we practiced hazards course, where we wind around wooden poles. Hazards have several "gates" in each one. You go through them in alphabetical order, making sure to keep the red and the right and not go through the wrong one. Sometimes you have to make a turn right after going through one or you will go through another obstacle by accident because one is right after it. The hazards practice also went well.

 After that, we rode on some of the trails that are part of the 4K marathon course. Pistachio was more relaxed this time than he was last time, which is really great. The course cannot be driven at the canter, so it is import an that the horse/pony is relaxed enough not to break into canter. I hope he is that relaxed at the show!

Sweaty after the drive

 We also drove through the dressage test. Driving tests are done in a 40 by 80 arena. The test contains several half circles that go from the wall to centerline or centerline to the wall(like the half ten meter circles in the 2011 dressage First Level), lengthenings
at walk and trot, and rein back. Besides the fact that Pistachio didn't keep his head still at the halt, it went well.

 We will be competing at Preliminary Level, the equivalent of eventing Preliminary. It is going to be Pistachio and Gretchen's first event at this level. It is going to be fun! I will also be wearing show clothes this time because this show is a driving trial and not a for fun event. I can't wait!

Pony Practice

 Remember Pistachio the pony? I rode him several times throughout the fall and went to a driving show with him and his owner, Gretchen. Since starting my working student position, I haven't ridden him too much, but I did get the opportunity to ride him a few days ago. When I took him to the round pen to lunge him, I worked on a few of the things I have been learning with Laura. I walked to his hindquarters, and he moved around his forehand. He turned on the haunches when I turned his head and pushed his shoulder.

Lungeing

 Pistachio's walk looked nice when lungeing; he took long strides and his back swung. He wasn't as loose at the fro, but he stretched down his neck a few times. When it was time to changed directions, he came right to me.

The stirrup is long so I can't get very far out of the saddle, and foot has slipped through.

 Under saddle, I worked on circles a lot to help him to bend. I also tried to get his trot relaxed by slowing my posting and controlling my breathing. It worked! He slowed down and became more relaxed. I also tried to use my body to turn him throughout the ride.

 Although I was posting the trot most of the time, I tried to stay in two-point for a little bit at a time throughout the ride. I even held it around the arena. I wasn't in complete balance the whole time, but I tried to do all the things I did on Lucky: my hands forward and onto the neck, my legs underneath me and shoulders back.

Cutie pony and I

 It's really great I can practice on my own as well as with Laura and apply what I learn to other equines. In a couple weeks, I will be going to another driving show with Gretchen and Pistachio. The last one was a fun Halloween one as you may recall. This one is going to have the three phases of driving: dressage, marathon with hazards, and cones. The marathon is similar to cross country in eventing, and cones more similar to stadium jumping on flat. Knocking down cones gives you penalty ints. It's going to be fun and I can't wait!