Training Update 6 - Work, Work, Work
It's been a while since the last training update. Back then, end of April and just a couple of days before the second show of the season, I was mostly practicing the flying changes. And it worked out! Now we are off the flying changes training a little as the last two shows (the one beginning of May and the one past weekend) showed us that we need to work on something different: lateral movements.
I have a hard time riding trot half passes to the right resulting in disastrous marks at the last shows (with disastrous I mean that they count double so the better you ride them the higher the probability of a good score!). So we are now concentrating on the lateral work and I had my trainer ride Hafl yesterday and today in order to get rid of the issue that we are having together in the half pass.
It went way better yesterday and so good today such that we even started the canter half passes. Surprisingly, they are much easier to ride (who knew) and they do not feel great yet, but more than okay. The thing is, with our great results of last weekend's show, we are now finally officially eligible to ride third level (more on that later this week in the show report). And THAT means that next week Friday, we will enter our first real third level, the FEI Juniors Preliminary.
As I write it, I still cannot believe it. I cannot believe that it is happening. Riding third level! Who would have thought that earlier this year? Sure, the scores won't be good yet, there are still too many things that we need to work on. Come on, we just started canter half passes today... So what I will do is to focus on more lateral work for the coming week plus, looking a bit further ahead to beginning of July and the Haflinger championships, we are now working according to our boot camp training plan.
Hafl seems to need a ton more of strength in order to keep the collection from day 1 through to day 3 of the show. Friday always went well lately, getting weaker over time. Our training schedule now also includes lunging and, especially, lunging over cavalettis. This horse needs to sit more and be able to carry himself better.
Apart from that, I am planning to use the nearby natural aqua trainer (aka the river) and do some "lift our leg to your tummy" work there. Unfortunately, the weather hasn't been that great recently so I am hoping it will get better soon - as working in the river would mean that also my feet get wet so I am not interested in 4degC cold water when it is pouring.
Exciting times ahead and Hafl has no idea what he is about to go through this month.
I have a hard time riding trot half passes to the right resulting in disastrous marks at the last shows (with disastrous I mean that they count double so the better you ride them the higher the probability of a good score!). So we are now concentrating on the lateral work and I had my trainer ride Hafl yesterday and today in order to get rid of the issue that we are having together in the half pass.
It went way better yesterday and so good today such that we even started the canter half passes. Surprisingly, they are much easier to ride (who knew) and they do not feel great yet, but more than okay. The thing is, with our great results of last weekend's show, we are now finally officially eligible to ride third level (more on that later this week in the show report). And THAT means that next week Friday, we will enter our first real third level, the FEI Juniors Preliminary.
As I write it, I still cannot believe it. I cannot believe that it is happening. Riding third level! Who would have thought that earlier this year? Sure, the scores won't be good yet, there are still too many things that we need to work on. Come on, we just started canter half passes today... So what I will do is to focus on more lateral work for the coming week plus, looking a bit further ahead to beginning of July and the Haflinger championships, we are now working according to our boot camp training plan.
Hafl seems to need a ton more of strength in order to keep the collection from day 1 through to day 3 of the show. Friday always went well lately, getting weaker over time. Our training schedule now also includes lunging and, especially, lunging over cavalettis. This horse needs to sit more and be able to carry himself better.
Apart from that, I am planning to use the nearby natural aqua trainer (aka the river) and do some "lift our leg to your tummy" work there. Unfortunately, the weather hasn't been that great recently so I am hoping it will get better soon - as working in the river would mean that also my feet get wet so I am not interested in 4degC cold water when it is pouring.
Exciting times ahead and Hafl has no idea what he is about to go through this month.
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