8/22/14

Transformation {unofficial} blog hop!

I haven't found an official transformation blog hop but after seeing Niamh and SprinklerBandit's  post for the possibly-going-to-be-a-blog-hop-eventually unofficial blog hop, I decided to join in on the fun since we all know just how terrible I was less than 2 years ago at doing anything on my horse other than walking around at Red's slowest possible gait. And y'all were nice enough not to beat me up but give constructive crit which has helped me so much so hey, I'll do the beating up for y'all. ;)

Before - 


It makes me want to vomit, posting this.


Dear Red, I'm sorry. That is all.

After -  (Thank the Lord there's an "after" lol)

My reins are too tight in this but he was being barn sour in my defense. But my posture is so much better.




I wish I had better "before" shots but it shows the change. I still need to work on my reining a bit more and I need to improve on my posting, but I'm sitting much better and keeping myself straighter. I kind of want to get a bit more indepth so I'm going to look at the things I did wrong in the above, what I need to work on still and etc. Feel free to jump in if you see something else because Lord knows I'm not a professional by any means and I could use help.

Problems in Before Photos:

  • No posting, which results in me having to hang on for dear life on the back of the saddle. 
  • Stirrups look too short and the saddle didn't fit me properly, which makes it harder to keep my heels down. (Plus my calves were weak, my fault.) 
  • Relying too much on my saddle and my reins, not relying enough on my own abilities and my horse, hence the defensive, floppy seat. 
*of course there are other problems, but those are the major ones, haha.

Problems in After Photos:  

  • I still need to work on loosening my reins up a bit at the trot/canter. Red goes fine on a loose rein and prefers it but I'm still too defensive and I need to learn to get more comfortable. 
  • Keep working on posting and work more on riding the canter better and keeping my heels positioned correctly instead of letting his bad gait murder my EQ. 

As far as Red, I need to start working him more on flexing his neck better and collecting himself. He's shown me that he can do it in the hackamore but I haven't had time to work with it more. I also need to work more with getting him a bit more responsive to turning around and etc. I don't expect him to go full reining horse and do fancy spins or anything close to that, but he needs to use his mind just a little quicker on the trails. I know he can, just have to get him in school!

And before I go, an update on Shalom - so far we're set to go pick him up on September 1st (labor day) with "A." We're aiming for our horses to be home by the last of September at the very latest. Of course, we're hoping that they set up a meeting earlier and we can get them home ASAP. We're just having to play the waiting game. They said it will probably be in late September.  

3 comments:

  1. Keep up the good work! (and I can't wait to hear all about Shalom when you go to get him)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my! What a transformation it is too! Such a wonderful job so far!

    ReplyDelete