Aside from a great learning experience I am dealing with
another ‘souvenir’ of the Jan clinic this weekend: Hangover! I only had two
glasses of champagne last night to celebrate the great weekend, but
nevertheless I woke up with a headache and a minor hangover today. My main food
staple of Muesli with yoghurt is perhaps not the best base for alcohol?
Saturday we were on a roll, whatever Jan presented us we did
– and we did it well. I was first after the lunch break which gave me time to
warm up Remy without disturbing the rider before me. Our usual
warm up in the walk consists of leg yields, shoulder ins, transitions. We
started the lesson with rising trot, doing lots of large circles and bending
lines. Getting into the working phase we added the same lateral work like we
did in the walk. In the shoulder in left I was reminded not to over bend Remy,
while to the right he usually doesn’t bend enough. From there we went to 10 m circles and then
travers. Note to self: Really need to position the outside leg correctly.
Canter transitions came next, luckily not with a
million transitions on the circle. We did the three loop serpentine with
walk-canter transitions on the straight lines. The canter felt “Flying Change
Ready”. When I asked for mediums I got… mediums. And then Remy came right back.
What a good boy! We had a lovely dinner with the Topline team to top off a very
good day.
Yesterday I wondered if Remy would be tired as he usually
never works that hard and concentrated in his lessons. It started out well
enough, but he felt a bit ‘flatter’. And then out of seemingly nowhere Remy
threw in a spook/spin. We ignored it and continued on. The exercises were a
continuation of Saturday’s work, with more focus on precision. Jan really made
a point about my outside rein, and that I have to keep a steadier connection
with the my elbow closer to my hip bone.
In the canter half pass we had to go by Jan and Remy threw
in another spook/spin. That netted us/me a stern “Der hat keine Angst – der ist
einfach nur frech!”. I had told Jan that Remy gets worried and he spooks either
when he feels threatened by other horses or when the pressure is too much.
Well, there were no other horses (only Jan’s trim shape) and the pressure was
nothing out of the ordinary. Precise work, but no harsh aids. So I got chided
with “He is not afraid – he’s simply naughty!” There might be something to be
said about it, as yes, when Remy spooks I stop and we regroup. Looks like the
little rascal has figured out that he gets a break after he spooks.
No wonder I take to drink! Guess the hangover is not due to
my eating habits after all, we’ll blame it all on the little rascal J
