A Riding Plan for the Next Week...

Today I sat down and developed a riding plan (not necessarily goals) for the next week or working with Shamrock.  The big thing that *I* need to work on for my lessons is posting trot and 2 point, building up my muscle endurance so that I can do it for a whole lesson without dying.  (I haven't ridden hardly at all for the last 3 years!).  

Shamrock's big issue is being very resistive to contact.  He'll be getting his teeth floated tomorrow to ensure it's not a teeth problem.  I'm riding him in a KK Ultra so I know it's not a nutcracker effect problem and the bit is neither very fat nor very thin.  He's just used to being ridden on a very loose rein, as he was being geared toward becoming a barrel horse and a roping horse.  

So I will be focusing a lot on ground work over the next week.  Before each ride we'll begin with in hand work (conveniently in the covered part of the stable, before heading into the hot 90 degree sun!).  I'll be doing flexions with Shamrock, bending and massaging his neck to release muscle spasms, turn on the forehand, turn on the haunches, and sidepassing in hand.  

For the under saddle segments of our rides we'll do lots of trotting on a loose rein, alternating between posting trot and 2 point.  We will also do a little cantering just to keep it up, a big circle in each direction along with a long side of the arena.  I plan to ride at least four days over the next week (beginning tomorrow).

If those go well I'm planning to continue with the in hand work and and the lots of trotting under saddle (with a bit of cantering) and then add some longe work.  Shamrock doesn't know how to longe, pers se, but he does work in a round pen well.  I want to progress to the point where we can use loose side reins and also do some long reining to work on his bit acceptance issues without dealing with my weight too.  

Of course some of our goals may change depending on how *my* lesson on Monday goes!

Ha ha, already updated my plan for the following week!  I'm also going to start doing very shallow serpentines ala Eddo Hoekstra, once he's a little more accepting of contact.