#gryffyn

[rachellefryatt]

Scale study of one of my oldest characters, Traelavor (or Trevor!). I've been working on this for far too long, but I'm reasonably happy with the out come. Someone please shoot me if I ever decide to draw so many scales again!

[foamingatthebit]

11/10/2015 - Gryffyn

Went to the barn early before work to lunge him in side reins. We really worked on going into a nice relaxed frame, I encouraged him to reach town a stretch over his topline a bit more and he did really well imo. We just did walk and trot, with a fair amount of transistions. We’re still working on stopping on the circle, but he is becoming much more open to the idea of me stopping him beside me instead of in frontof me. He is such a cutie <3

[foamingatthebit]

11/9/15

He was much more energetic and excitable today. His leg yields were very nice and we worked lots on adjusting his trot back and forth. We attempted doing turns on the forehand, he preferred to just do a perfect spin and found just standing in preparation for the turn to be to exciting and going sideways was much more fun. We did manage a few partial half turns on the forehand along with the usual leg yields, shoulder in, haunches in, etc.  Lead changes today also proved to be far too exciting and it did get a bit circus-y. After a couple good quiet change I dismounted on a good note. 

[foamingatthebit]

11/8/15 - Gryffyn

Posting late because I suck, so the details are a little foggy, 

Warmed up with lots of lateral work at the walk, then some at the trot. He uses his back so much more when we do lateral work, it feels very nice. We did some cantering and he was really responsive, nice and light and no circus act stuff. 

We ended with a nice lead change from right to left. 

[foamingatthebit]

11/7/15 - Gryffyn

When I got to the barn I gave him a bath, which was a minor mistake because he took FOREVER to dry, I guess that’s due to his long fluffy fur. Anyways, I bathed him, then let him dry with a cooler in his stall while I rode Royal. When I was done he still hadn’t dried so I just put him to work on the lunge with sidereins. We mainly focused on walking calmly and not just jumping into trotting, and then stopping on the circle instead of coming into it to stop. He has such a lovely canter,he tracts up nicely in all gates. 

My big things to work with him on are:

not falling behind the vertical

working up over his back properly and developing a topline

balancing our downward transitions a bit more

and not coming into the circle to stop when we are lunging. 

After we finished our lunging I rinsed his legs since they got all nasty again, put on his cooler and took him for a walk down the lane. He got super excited about seeing the goats up on the hill, and screamed a couple times to the horses back at the barn. I hung around a while while he dried then gave him a candy and went home. 

[foamingatthebit]

11/6/15 - Gryffyn

Gryffyn got here today around 3:30. The shipper said he was a little tough to load, mostly just some small rearing. I got him off the trailer, walked him to his stall, put him in, took him out, and then brought him to the indoor to get out some extra energy. He rolled 2/3 times and then I free lunged him a little, he kept coming back to me and just wanted to hang out and get cuddled. I went back to work and came back at around 5:40 to ride. 

When I came to ride Royal was getting tacked up for her lesson with another lady, which I already knew was gonna happen. I tacked up and something amazing happened, the Moritz saddle that I rented for Royal over the summer, fit Gryffyn almost perfectly! So we tacked up with that and my Ogilvy set and my davis front splint boots. 

We warmed up with a quick w/t/c lunge, then with lateral work at the walk. After we did w/t/c under saddle  and other than a few problems with the downward transition from canter, he was a very very nice ride. I need to get a smaller girth for him (I have a 50″), I think a 46″ or 44″ would be ideal, as my saddle was so loose that if I got even a little uneven my saddle would tip. The transition problem was that instead of listening, he just curled his neck under and I lost all of my hand. To bring up his head I would raise my hands and ask him to pick up his head again, and then from there I would ask for the transition again. The ride was still fabulous and we even ended the canter work with a nice, probably overactive, flying change from right lead to left. 

My trainer seems to be fond of him and we have a lesson scheduled for Friday 10/13 which I now realize is a Friday the 13th so hopefully I will still be living after that. 

My plan with Gryffyn for the next month is to lunge him in the morning before work on tues-friday, ride 2/3 days a week (one with jumping), and then free jump him once a week. 

comments and suggestions welcome