Final Video

questions to ask my non equestrian friends

1. What is a sock
2. What is the metal that you put on a horse's foot
3. What is the difference between a filly and a colt
4. What is a stride
5. What is a girth used for?
6. Name a discipline of riding besides jumping?
7. What are hands?
8. What is a gelding?
9. What is a stallion
10. What do you call the thing that you put your foot in when you ride?

Answers.
1. the white colour fur that is o the horse's lower legs
2. a horseshoe 
3. filly is a baby female and colt is a baby male
4. one stride is when the horse has put all 4 legs on the ground in a beat. One stride is like one beat.
5. to hold the saddle in place, like a horse belt.
6. dressage, barel racing, vaulting 
7. a unit of measure. To measure the height of a horse from the ground to the withers 
8. A male horse that has been castrated 
9. A male horse that hasn't been castrated.
10. A stirrup.

cleaning my leather tack

Riding vlog 2 (Head Cam)

dangers of horse riding

- Horses have their own mind for themselves
- they weight around 600kg, this means that if they accidentally fall on you then it will damage body parts.
- they are around 160cm, which means that falling from that height can cause great damage to a person's body.
- They get spooked out very easily, which means that a person may think that the horse is calm, however anything could scare the horse and it will run or buck.
- They can injure themselves very easily.
- not knowing your horse can be very dangerous because you may not know what his habits are while riding, therefore it is always good to know the horse before riding it.

riding vlog 1

Riding photos

Photos of Titan

The horse here has been training for about 6 months with me and this is how he looks now. The has more muscles in his back legs and front legs. He also gained more balance and can now canter slower than before. This means that he has more muscles to carry his own weight and mine. He also has a stronger neck, which is good because he can then put his head round.

In the picture, you can see that the horse's head is round, which means that his head is vertical and the top of his head is higher than his withers. The reason why the horse's head should be round is because then his spine is being pushed upwards, which makes is more comfortable for the horse to be ridden because then his back isn't being pushed down as I ride him. This positions is very difficult to keep as I am riding the horse because his neck isn't strong enough, however it can be rectified over time.

My riding equipment

These are some of the important riding equipments that I use.

 these are called chaps, and they are used to protect my calf and also for "ticker skin" around my legs so that I can ride the horse with more power and in comfort.

The reason why I wear chaps instead of tall boots is because, they are easy to put on, and I can easily take them off without having to take my whole shoe off so that I can walk around without feeling like a penguin.

 This is my leather cleaner, which is a leather oil to also make sure that the leather on my chaps and boots don't crack. I also use it to clean the dirt off my boots and chaps.

these are my riding gloves, they are not necessary for all riders, however they are important to me as I have thin skin around my fingers, therefore need to wear them to avoid my skin from peeling while i'm riding.

my riding boots (short boots)

choosing the right kind of boots is quite important to me because of the comfort and how easy it is to ride in them. As shown in the picture, the under side of the shoe has a lot of grip, which reduces the slip when I'm putting my feet in the stirrup. This helps me gain confidence while i'm riding.

 As show in the pictures, riding pants (also known as jumpers) are special because they have grip on the thigh areas and they are also extremely stretchy which makes it easy to move. They are also double layered on the calf area so that it reduces pain while riding and makes it comfortable.

riding whips (long whip, and short whip)

this riding whip is used for dressage also known as flat work. This is good for flat work because the length of this whip reaches the back legs of the horse which makes it easier to control the straightness of the horse. The tip of the whip is soft so that it doesn't hurt the horse while riding. The act of the whip is just to remind the horse to use his hint legs for energy and strength.

The short whip is used for jumping. This whip is actually called a bat, and is it used for jumping because it doesn't disturb the horse's movements while jumping. We usually bat the horse on the shoulder to give more confidence before a jump. It is used only at some occasions, usually when the horse is being lazy or when he is scared to go over a jump. The bat doesn't hurt the horse because it has a large surface area on the tip which only slightly slaps the horse. Imagine someone slapping you on the leg when wearing thick jeans...that's how it feels for a horse to be whipped on the shoulder. It doesn't hurt.

Riding helmet. This is used to protect my head incase I fall off the horse.

Youtube videos

videos of me training Titan

the reason towards this training session is so that the horse learns to use his hint leg muscles and to push up wards with his legs instead of forwards, which is something that race horses do.
By doing that, the benefit for the horse is that he gets to build up more muscles in his body and have better stability when cantering.

In the video you can see that the horse is very forwards and not using his hint legs enough to push himself up and over the jumps, he also doesn't know the distance required to jump over the pole.

This horse is physically tall and long, which I call "lengthy". This means that the horse is more bouncy while cantering and trotting, and this is a downfall for the rider. In my opinion this actually trains the rider to become better and build up more muscles in the legs as you need more strength to control the bounce of the horse.

In this video you can see that my body is accepting the horse's movements, however not properly done, as the horse is not properly accepting my hand movements on the reins. However, the horse is still remaining his calm motions and emotions, which is good.

my inspiration

The reason why I changed my title to this is because I realised that my connection towards such animal is infinite, and I can also feel the horse accepting my leadership towards us together. Riding a horse is not only about your balance and skills, it is about the connection towards the animal and the animal connecting to you. A horse has it's own thoughts running through it's mind which means that it also can get bad days and good days, unlike a motorised vehicle.

For this documentary, I will be specifically talking about one horse that just retired from the racing industry, this horse is special to me because he was rejected by others because he was considered as a "crazy horse".  In my unstable mind this meant "my kind of horse", therefore i asked the owner if I could ride him for a day...by the end of the session, I created a bond between the horse and I. Even the owner himself couldn't believe his eyes as I rode the horse (Titan) around the arena. All I did was accept his movements through my body and also accepted his thoughts through mine, which meant that together we became one. Teamwork between horse and man is the key to success in riding, as the horse won't perform it's best if it doesn't accept the rider and the rider won't perform his or her best if he or she does't accept the horse.

Moreover, I just want to let a message to other beginner riders that being the perfect rider is about having a connection with the horse and not just being perfect at riding. Yes, knowing how to ride is a key, however you can't ride perfectly with a horse that you don't have a connection with.

my connection with a horse

I have decided to change my title to a new one which is

"My connection with a horse"

Moto GP

So on the 23rd of October, I went to Moto GP, and discovered an amazing feeling of being in a real bike racing environment. It felt as if the bikes were shooting past me at every lasting lap. Experiencing the pure power of speed is something that can never be done through television, which is why I went to see it myself at the Sepang race track. Never have I ever heard such noise that would roar through the exhausts from one ear to another. My eyes couldn't even follow the bikes as they stormed pass one by one.
As a bike rider myself, I feel as if the race was something that made me want to ride faster on roads, however i can't...for obvious reasons. I wonder, if bikes went so fast on the roads, would the speed cameras be able to take photos of them? I mean fast as in 300 kph kind of fast...not my kind of fast. Anyways back to the point... when I went to the Moto PG, not only did I experience loud engine noises and fast movements, but I also experienced being in a huge, but I mean REALLY huge crowd that was as if the crowd was louder than the bikes itself! and every time a bike would pass by, they would just yell louder as if they wanted to beat the noise of the bikes. It gave chills and excitement throughout the race.
People might think "whats the point of going round and round on a track?" it's not about just going around a track many times, its about having the will to win and showing people what their capabilities are.
Also, forgot to mention earlier, I saw Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez, which in my opinion Rossi is a better player than Marquez because of his his will towards winning out of pure talent instead of trying to bring other down to win (Marquez...) the accident that happened to Marquez was definitely something that he deserved as he was trying to push Rossi off just so that he wouldn't win.
Anyways, In Conclusion I would just like to say that this experience to me was something that i have not quite experienced in my life and am glad that it happened. I even tried to take some photos of the bikes, however most of them were photos of nothing because of my amazing skills of photography (sarcastic tone)

Let-go session

On friday 9th october, we went to watch the new movie called The Martian that was based on one of the best selling books. 

I watched the movie in 3D which means that it felt more real and i could feel the movie instead of just watching it.

I really liked the movie because of how curious is makes me. My curiosity got to me and forced my mind to keep continuing the movie. Being able to see how the martian survived in Mars and all the little details that made the film extremely right gave me chills. 

Unfortunately, only two people attended the movie (excluding the lecturer) which meant that we couldn't experience watching the movie with other people. 

script

COLOURFUL WATERS

Characters:
Main character (Girl) - Amelie
Her friend (Girl) - Sonia
Enemy (Girl) - Hui Ying
Main character (Boy) -
His friend (Boy)
Coach - Samantha

INTRODUCTION

The story is about a girl (Amelie) that is trying to do some sports and is jealous about how the other girl (Hui Ying) in her school is really good at watersports. Therefore Amelie tries to teach herself so be a better wakeboarder, however she hurts herself because she was using the wrong board. Hui Ying then feels bad for Amelie and gives Amelie her wakeboard so that she can improve her skills and win a national competition. They then become close friends.

Vlog 1

The question

"How does the shape of the board affect the different types of water sport?"


PROS AND CONS of making the short film according to the question

pros:

- I get to go water sports
- I get to go outside
- leaning new things
- It's going to be amusing

Cons:

- I have to do some research about different shapes of boards and how fins affect the movement.
- Finding the people that have passion for water sports.
- Making the questionnaire
- I have to find actors that would make the movie believable.

Study timeline

let-go session (Ice skating)

friday 21st august 2015

today we went Ice skating as a Let-go session. my thoughts about it was that it was extremely fun and outgoing, as i haven't skated for the past 6 or 7 years. During the session I found out that I didn't loose my ability of skating, and got to teach my friends how to skate. It was a funny experience because my friend Hui Ying fell down multiple times and we laughed until we cried. Also it was strange to see my lecturer struggling and taking notes from students on how to skate because it is common to see him tell us what to do and listen to him.

This session leaned more towards the fun side instead of the educative side, as we have bonding time together with classmates and teacher. The only thing that i've learnt was how to put my shoes on properly…

Types of water sports

- Wakeboarding

- Surfing

- Waterskiing

- Wakesurfing

- Kitesurfing

- Monoskiing

- Skimboarding

- Bodyboarding

- Cable skiing

- Kneeboarding

- Stand up paddle surfing

- Wakeskating

- Windsurfing