Apollo is back to form!
Apollo has always been lazy with his haunches and with Leo's arrival last summer, Apollo was put on the back burner to say the least. I have felt him getting weaker over the last year. Becca always advised me to do hillwork with him, but we didn't have much access to hills at her farm. I started walking and trotting him in her back field which is on a big slope, but most of the time he got worked in the ring.
After arriving at Oak Hill Farm and consulting with Lesley, I put him into a regimen of hill work and lunging with side reins. The hill work involved just walking and trotting around the property. The lunging with side reins really helped encourage him to stretch over his topline and work his body without dealing with me on his back. I think it also helps that the ring is sand and I feel like he has to work a little harder in it than the all-weather / stone dust footing back north.
After just 4 weeks of this, Apollo is back to his Devon Horse Show form. He is really a fun horse to ride and I am so excited to have him back in work! We switched his bit to a french link snaffle, from the rubber mullen mouth I had been using previously. His connection and acceptance of the bit has actually improved with this bit. It wasn't horrible before, but it's better now.
Last week I jumped him in the ring and he was happy for the change! I've also reintroduced him to cross country jumping. I'm taking it slower now. Lesley believes a lot of Apollo's issues stem from the fact that he was not used to working by himself, alone in a field, and that he did not respect my leg. For the last 4 weeks I've been riding him in the field while other horses are in the ring. At first, he hated this and threw many a temper tantrum - not unlike what we experienced on the cross country course. He has gotten a lot better and now is willing to go to work in the field, without trying to run back to the barn or the ring.
I started walking him over the small cross country fences. There are plenty of little logs and rails, around a foot tall. I just weave all over the course walking over the obstacles so its not a big deal. Eventually, I'll start trotting them, but right now I want him to not think about the fence but about doing his flat work and paying attention to my leg.
This is Apollo being schooled by Becca in 2009:
After arriving at Oak Hill Farm and consulting with Lesley, I put him into a regimen of hill work and lunging with side reins. The hill work involved just walking and trotting around the property. The lunging with side reins really helped encourage him to stretch over his topline and work his body without dealing with me on his back. I think it also helps that the ring is sand and I feel like he has to work a little harder in it than the all-weather / stone dust footing back north.
After just 4 weeks of this, Apollo is back to his Devon Horse Show form. He is really a fun horse to ride and I am so excited to have him back in work! We switched his bit to a french link snaffle, from the rubber mullen mouth I had been using previously. His connection and acceptance of the bit has actually improved with this bit. It wasn't horrible before, but it's better now.
Last week I jumped him in the ring and he was happy for the change! I've also reintroduced him to cross country jumping. I'm taking it slower now. Lesley believes a lot of Apollo's issues stem from the fact that he was not used to working by himself, alone in a field, and that he did not respect my leg. For the last 4 weeks I've been riding him in the field while other horses are in the ring. At first, he hated this and threw many a temper tantrum - not unlike what we experienced on the cross country course. He has gotten a lot better and now is willing to go to work in the field, without trying to run back to the barn or the ring.
I started walking him over the small cross country fences. There are plenty of little logs and rails, around a foot tall. I just weave all over the course walking over the obstacles so its not a big deal. Eventually, I'll start trotting them, but right now I want him to not think about the fence but about doing his flat work and paying attention to my leg.
This is Apollo being schooled by Becca in 2009:
You can save yourself a fortune by grabbing the opportunity to see it at the Canberra Theatre. Norman Oklahoma
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