07.04.2019 8th time doing GW
I had a visit from a good old friend who is also deeply into the AAoR. We know each other for quite some time and had lots of discussion about AAoR and Riding in general. She always has been the much better person for groundwork than me, but she also knows Radieserl and how difficult it could get with him.
Shortly said: I failed completely. Her presence and the presence of her camera made me very nervous, although I did not be aware of that first. I was told to be "hectical" - well, the ones who know me will laugh now. I am really never ever hectical, sometimes people even ask me how I can stay THAT calm in certain moments. Except if I am hungry or freezing, I have to admit ;)
I usually never fail with patience. But this day I was under pressure to show what I reached in the two weeks ST and I f***ing wanted to show that Mr. I-don't-know-what-the f*ck-haunches-in-should-be does haunches in, in small steps though.
We did not even came to movement. We failed with stelling and yes, I was so disappointed I tried to get over the stelling quickly, but of course she won't let me cheat. And of course she did never ever believe me that it worked without this greater fails two days before, but how should she? :D I still stuck a bit to the bad work with the BB-Trainer a few years ago, which caused much more problems in groundwork after. I am aware now, that I am not consequent enough due to the fear to get similiar results as the BB-Trainer caused. I should soon stop this thought, but being afraid of something is always hard to turn off. No matter if it is fear of falling down and hurting or if it is fear of doing something bad.
She drew my attention on my body language, telling me I am quite braced and Mr. P. mirrors that very much. His mirroring makes me even more stressed and so we came into a vicious circle where work is not possible any more.
I stopped the session after the best stelling to the right we did get, played a bit in liberty and chased each other crosswise through the arena, played the nipping-biting game on purpose and let him roll.
Then he got food and we watched him chasing the youngsters in the paddock and being a bit of an asshole to the Irish Cob. It has been a nice day though and I learnt a lot about my reaction to distraction, at what I should work on more.
Duration: don't have a clue - 20 minutes and another 20 minutes of playing?
Exercises: not to mention this time
Food: Derby Apple Mash + 100 g iWest Magnolythe S100 + 10 g MSM + 70 ml EWALIA
08.04.2019 BREAK
09.04.2019 9th time doing GW
I was late that day and Radieserl was not so much convinced to do work now, but I filled my pockets with treats ;)
I paid more attention to prepare my demands better and did not ask twice the same way for something. That worked very fine with the warming-up program and I sorted my voice cues again, since this is still a topic where I am not following the straight line. I still mix up the cues.
As I was told I cut up the parts of forward down, stelling and bending in stand still instead of doing it in a chain. Needless to say, it worked from the beginning and I had the feeling he wanted to say "Stupid human, I already know all this stuff but cheap treats are always fine."
I ignored the small feeling of annoyance in me and used the cutting up of the exercise for me and the improvement of my voice cues. Oh my... I have to work on that. Maybe I will stick more on stuff he does easily just to fix the cues in my head.
LFS on the left was ok, but I had trouble adding the movement. I don't know exactly if it was me who had less energy in that moment or him, fixed to doing stand-still exercises? I am not sure, because I reflected my aids after the first try, but could not find the mistake. Funnily on the right hand side the movement was immediatly there.
We did a few circles and I paid much more attention to the right timing of the voice cues and of course of the correct cues than to his bending and stepping under. Everytime he showed a proper LFS coincidentally I released and rewarded him like he did win the Olympic games in all disciplines. He seemed to understand and I got him on the straight line a few times. Sometimes LFS on the straight is easier than on the circle and sometimes nothing is much more difficult than LFS on the straight.
In the end I wanted to do our destaster-exercise haunches-in again. On the left I went on LFS on the straight and during the movement I turned myself backwards and there was the right hindleg. Aaaaaaaaaaw! I did not really give an aid with the hand on the neck or the whip, he just did. Maybe it was coincidence, but whatever... REWARDS!!
The next attempt was not that easy although he already stood in a quarter-in position, but adding movement to that is always difficult for me. I needed the hand on the neck.
With the third try I managed to keep the head in a stelling, and the rewards were raining.
On the left he needed much more help, but again turning during the movement was easier. I ran out of rewards, so I just did two attempts and then he was released. There is still much work to do on the left.
I told him, to do a break and get on his own, while it got something to drink. He walked around the arena and came immediately when I came back. I did not feel for liberty work, so I clipped in the reins and sat on his back for a few rounds in walk. He was so nice and next time - if the feeling is alright - I might try to ride without reins and halter. Yes... I am much much better in riding than in groundwork, but it was very nice to check if stopping and LFS would work while riding too. (Yes, it does ;) )
Duration: all-in-one about 1 hour, incl. long break after groundwork
Exercises: leading, stopping, Forward down, forward down, forward down, forward down... stelling, little bit of bending, forward down, forward down, forw.... LFS on circle, LFS on straight, haunches-in, while riding: stopping, LFS on circle, neck reining
Food: Derby Apple Mash + 100 g iWest Magnolythe S100 + 10 g MSM + 70 ml EWALIA
10.04.2019 BREAK
Sorry, I ran out of pictures ;)
I had a visit from a good old friend who is also deeply into the AAoR. We know each other for quite some time and had lots of discussion about AAoR and Riding in general. She always has been the much better person for groundwork than me, but she also knows Radieserl and how difficult it could get with him.
Shortly said: I failed completely. Her presence and the presence of her camera made me very nervous, although I did not be aware of that first. I was told to be "hectical" - well, the ones who know me will laugh now. I am really never ever hectical, sometimes people even ask me how I can stay THAT calm in certain moments. Except if I am hungry or freezing, I have to admit ;)
I usually never fail with patience. But this day I was under pressure to show what I reached in the two weeks ST and I f***ing wanted to show that Mr. I-don't-know-what-the f*ck-haunches-in-should-be does haunches in, in small steps though.
We did not even came to movement. We failed with stelling and yes, I was so disappointed I tried to get over the stelling quickly, but of course she won't let me cheat. And of course she did never ever believe me that it worked without this greater fails two days before, but how should she? :D I still stuck a bit to the bad work with the BB-Trainer a few years ago, which caused much more problems in groundwork after. I am aware now, that I am not consequent enough due to the fear to get similiar results as the BB-Trainer caused. I should soon stop this thought, but being afraid of something is always hard to turn off. No matter if it is fear of falling down and hurting or if it is fear of doing something bad.
She drew my attention on my body language, telling me I am quite braced and Mr. P. mirrors that very much. His mirroring makes me even more stressed and so we came into a vicious circle where work is not possible any more.
I stopped the session after the best stelling to the right we did get, played a bit in liberty and chased each other crosswise through the arena, played the nipping-biting game on purpose and let him roll.
Then he got food and we watched him chasing the youngsters in the paddock and being a bit of an asshole to the Irish Cob. It has been a nice day though and I learnt a lot about my reaction to distraction, at what I should work on more.
Duration: don't have a clue - 20 minutes and another 20 minutes of playing?
Exercises: not to mention this time
Food: Derby Apple Mash + 100 g iWest Magnolythe S100 + 10 g MSM + 70 ml EWALIA
08.04.2019 BREAK
09.04.2019 9th time doing GW
I was late that day and Radieserl was not so much convinced to do work now, but I filled my pockets with treats ;)
I paid more attention to prepare my demands better and did not ask twice the same way for something. That worked very fine with the warming-up program and I sorted my voice cues again, since this is still a topic where I am not following the straight line. I still mix up the cues.
As I was told I cut up the parts of forward down, stelling and bending in stand still instead of doing it in a chain. Needless to say, it worked from the beginning and I had the feeling he wanted to say "Stupid human, I already know all this stuff but cheap treats are always fine."
I ignored the small feeling of annoyance in me and used the cutting up of the exercise for me and the improvement of my voice cues. Oh my... I have to work on that. Maybe I will stick more on stuff he does easily just to fix the cues in my head.
LFS on the left was ok, but I had trouble adding the movement. I don't know exactly if it was me who had less energy in that moment or him, fixed to doing stand-still exercises? I am not sure, because I reflected my aids after the first try, but could not find the mistake. Funnily on the right hand side the movement was immediatly there.
We did a few circles and I paid much more attention to the right timing of the voice cues and of course of the correct cues than to his bending and stepping under. Everytime he showed a proper LFS coincidentally I released and rewarded him like he did win the Olympic games in all disciplines. He seemed to understand and I got him on the straight line a few times. Sometimes LFS on the straight is easier than on the circle and sometimes nothing is much more difficult than LFS on the straight.
In the end I wanted to do our destaster-exercise haunches-in again. On the left I went on LFS on the straight and during the movement I turned myself backwards and there was the right hindleg. Aaaaaaaaaaw! I did not really give an aid with the hand on the neck or the whip, he just did. Maybe it was coincidence, but whatever... REWARDS!!
The next attempt was not that easy although he already stood in a quarter-in position, but adding movement to that is always difficult for me. I needed the hand on the neck.
With the third try I managed to keep the head in a stelling, and the rewards were raining.
On the left he needed much more help, but again turning during the movement was easier. I ran out of rewards, so I just did two attempts and then he was released. There is still much work to do on the left.
I told him, to do a break and get on his own, while it got something to drink. He walked around the arena and came immediately when I came back. I did not feel for liberty work, so I clipped in the reins and sat on his back for a few rounds in walk. He was so nice and next time - if the feeling is alright - I might try to ride without reins and halter. Yes... I am much much better in riding than in groundwork, but it was very nice to check if stopping and LFS would work while riding too. (Yes, it does ;) )
Duration: all-in-one about 1 hour, incl. long break after groundwork
Exercises: leading, stopping, Forward down, forward down, forward down, forward down... stelling, little bit of bending, forward down, forward down, forw.... LFS on circle, LFS on straight, haunches-in, while riding: stopping, LFS on circle, neck reining
Food: Derby Apple Mash + 100 g iWest Magnolythe S100 + 10 g MSM + 70 ml EWALIA
10.04.2019 BREAK
Sorry, I ran out of pictures ;)
