Now that New Trainer is back, open enrollment is over, and the renovations are in a more reasonable place, I finally have time to get back in the saddle and start taking lessons again. I was so thrilled to be able to hop back up on Gus on Monday. It’s been almost a month since I’ve ridden him and about three weeks since New Trainer has been on him.
Let me tell you, those two training rides and then a break did him a world of good. He was so relaxed and so much softer in the bit then I remembered. I was thrilled. Monday we really just hacked around. I spent a few minutes in the arena but then went and explored the farm.
For my lesson on Wednesday, I was worried that the trainer effect would wear off but thankfully it didn’t. Because I took my stirrups off for the lesson, we worked a lot on transitions and me using my seat more to lift Gus up and into the transitions. The difference in when I got it right was awesome but now my core is very very sore. Still, it’s a good soreness and I’m looking forward to getting better.
After yesterday’s hurricane force winds that made me worried my truck was going to blow over, I was very pleased when I woke up to find only rain/snow this morning so I could go to our clinic with Laura Gregersen. Laura has been a constant in the dressage society around this area for years and has recently moved to Oregon. I’ve never ridden with her but heard good things about her both from Kristen and Madchen. And since it was being held at Madchen’s I figured why not?
It was raining by the time I got out to the barn so I pulled Dandy in to dry and eat his hay. He doesn’t seem to mind the weather but I did want to check his legs for scratches and clean them off. I knew we weren’t going to be spotless for this clinic but we didn’t need to look like pasture bums!
While he ate I gave him a good grooming and hooked up the trailer. I’m getting pretty darn good at doing it fast. I suppose this happens when you start driving it twice a week at least.
But on to the clinic. I rode at ten which I think was a good time considering how the weather picked up the minute we got home! We started of course with the introductions and I gave Laura the brief introduction to Dandy and what we were working on. I told her I really wanted to work on moving off my legs and bending. After watching him for a few minutes, Laura agreed that lateral movements were exactly what I needed so that I could teach him to step under himself which would lead to bending.
Laura also explained to me that at the beginning, Dandy can’t properly go forward and go over at the same time because he believes that the leg just means go. This is certainly something I’ve notice but had no idea how to fix. The exercise we worked on was walking on the circle with a brisk temp. Every couple of steps I would ask him to slow his forward movement and ask him to step over. We would almost halt before he’d place that one step and then I’d ask him to march forward again. This took a long time for both Dandy and I to really understand what was being asked. I needed to use more of my core to halt. I also have to be careful to make sure that Dandy is still going forward as he likes to suck back going to the left.
We did the same thing going to the right but on this way his problem was wanting to bulge his left shoulders out to move over. I had to really use my reins to block his shoulders to get that nice move-off-my-leg feeling. It was a really hard exercise for the both of us!
We worked on the same thing at the trot, though it wasn’t quite so obvious. At the trot Laura really had me exaggerate what I was asking for my reins. If I was tracking right and asking Dandy to step under with his right hind leg, I couldn’t just block him with my left rein and say “No, don’t go there,” I had to open up my right rein and say “come here instead.” This really made a lot of sense to me and it’s something I know Kristen has been working on me with but hearing it in a different way made all the difference. It was amazing how I was actually keeping Dandy on the circle even with that exaggerated bend. (Compared to how when I usually do that I pull him into a tiny tiny space.)
There were big moments of evasion of course as Dandy tried to figure out what I wanted. The first was instead of actually stepping under himself he would just take smaller steps. It took a lot of my strength to keep him going forward. There were also times that Dandy tried to rip the reins out of my hands and pull me out of the saddle. More core will help with that but I also need to get Dandy going right so that he can learn to carry himself. And there were moments that were light and springy and exactly what Laura was asking for.
Finally we moved on to the canter where I completely took my mind off what I was doing and ran him into the transition. Of course the first thing Laura said was “You forgot to care about the walk-trot transition and you forgot to establish a good trot. You can’t get a good canter without a good trot.” She was 110% correct of course. So we went all the way back to the beginning with walk-halt transitions. Then walk-trot transitions. The thing she really honed in on for Dandy and I was getting him to listen and react immediately. There should be no reason for him to take three steps before actually trotting.
Once our walk-trot transitions were there we went back to the canter and did the same thing for that transition. Laura told me that as the rider, I need to not let him run into the canter because that’s just an excuse. Horses can go to a dead gallop in a second, they’re not a car who needs time to rev up. If he takes me moving my leg back as a cue to go forward, I need to apply the whoa and reestablish my trot first. Laura had us break the canter into two parts. The first was moving my leg back to say “Hey, we’re going to canter” and the second was the cue to say “NOW.” By the time we were done Dandy was moving into the canter a lot better.
I had a really good time at this clinic and I feel like Dandy and I made serious improvement. Yes we may have worked on very basic stuff but that is what I needed. Laura told me to stop thinking about what I wanted as a goal for each ride and to focus more on the goals I want for the year. So my goal for Dandy is for him to learn that when I put my leg on and ask, he has to move over. Laura had good things to say about Dandy though, specifically that he’s a hard worker and he’s smart. He didn’t give up even when things were confusing.
We also rode in this clinic in a very old saddle that Madchen was just giving away. Strangely enough… it fit him way better than anything I’ve put on him. Everyone thinks it’s funny that it fits me too because it is so small. But hey, I’m not really that big. The M. Touluse Annice is still on it’s way but unless the genesis tree blows me out of the water I think I’ll just put that money into a jar and save for my custom saddle.
I haven’t had a whole lot to update about. Dandy and I have been working on everything Kristen worked with us last week and I’m seeing major improvements. For example, Dandy is stretching very low now when I ask him to at a trot and I’m getting better at the canter transitions. They are hard! Honestly, about half the time I get it right and the other Dandy rushes into his running trot which is obviously not what I wanted.
The only real problem I’m having right now is that Dandy is now curling in to avoid the contact. I know that I need to push him into the contact more with my legs but every time I do Dandy wants to trot. We spent an hour today on the circle, asking for bend and a bigger walk. Eventually we got it without trotting. It’s just going to take a lot of work and dedication. Dandy has learned the low part, now we need the long.
And I’m going to apologize in advance for the lack of pictures and/or videos in the next month or so. Someone *coughGuinnesscough* ate my camera.
If I thought my last ride was swoon worthy, I thought too soon. Today’s lesson was amazing. Or maybe I’m swooning because I can’t physically stand up anymore…
Riding with a new instructor is always nerve wracking for me. It’s an evaluation for both me and the new instructor and I’m always worried that I’ll do something silly. Today I was even more nervous because this is the first horse I’ve brought up from scratch, even if I did have help. I just wanted Dandy to make a good first impression. I think it went really well! Kristen immediately saw what kind of horse he was and got a feel for his personality (anxious but an overachiever). I got the impression that she wouldn’t have a problem working with us.
Kristen started us at a walk on 20 meter circle. We worked on several things but the goals were to get Dandy to bend, round and use his hind end. An outside goal that would come from getting these three things was to get all his attention on me so that if a random horse came in he wouldn’t even care. I had to use a lot of my inside seat-bone to get Dandy to bend the direction we were going and I was constantly pushing him into the rein by moving my belly button. Wait, what? Yes, my belly button. Kristen showed me how moving your belly button from side to side opens up your hips. Using this trick let me encourage Dandy to move into a nicer walk and even engaged his hind end. The roundness came in bits and pieces as I got my act together and it was beautiful. I could feel his back open and his legs flow. Kristen even said that the few moments I had brought his walk from a 6 to a 7. How cool is that?
Even the bending went well. I have never really been able to get Dandy to move off my leg like I thought he should but with Kristen’s help I did. I think it might be even better if I put my spurs back on but I want to make sure my leg is a bit steadier first.
We moved on to the trot, working on the transitions and keeping that nice roundness through them. This was really hard for me as I like to tense up coming down from the trot to the walk. Kristen is having me work on my breathing to help with that. I’m supposed to exhale when driving him forward into the walk, sort of like yoga.
While we were working on getting the roundness at the trot, I also had to teach Dandy to move off my leg and bend. This wasn’t so bad to the left but it was very hard at the right. The first few times, Dandy did not get it at all and was starting to get anxious that he wasn’t finding the right answer so we slowed to a walk and went through bending again. This time, when we went back to a trot, Dandy figured it out. What a good boy!
What Kristen explained to me, and made perfect sense as soon as she said it, was that I need to teach Dandy that it’s okay to make a mistake and not be anxious about it. That he’s not going to get in trouble for trying but being wrong. Basically, I have to build his confidence so we both don’t get frustrated.
One thing I noticed after the lesson while watching video, that is not so good, is that I was so focused on Dandy that I let my posture out to dry. My elbows are locked, heels up. It will all come together eventually. I just have to be conscious of the problems. The other issue I’m having that was noticeable while I was riding, and that Kristen pointed out several times, I’m letting go of the reins. I’m letting Dandy pull them from my fingers or just letting them slide out and this has got to stop.
The hardest part of the lesson, for me, was asking for the canter not only from a walk but using only my seat to scoop Dandy into the canter while my leg is just used as a guide. Now, I know this is a standard of good dressage riders, and big time riders, but I have never been asked to do this before and now I’m being asked to do this from a walk?! There was a brief moment of panic as I gawped at Kristen but I tried. And sort of got it. I keep looking down which of course screws everything up. Didn’t drumline teach me anything? The ground horse isn’t going anywhere…
It’s a really cool feeling when I did get the transition though because I feel like he’s “popping” into the canter instead of running. What was also cool to  learn was that I’m the one making him drop back into a trot. The minute I stopped riding, aka got tense or distracted, Dandy dropped back down.
Once we were in the canter, we worked on getting roundness. Again, it was a lot of pushing him into my hands but Kristen also had me ride with my hands down by my thighs so I was acting like side reins. The difference in him was insane! Again. While the roundness was not nearly as good as it had been at the trot or canter, for the first time, I felt Dandy collect for just a few steps. I’ve got to work on my strength just so I can keep up with him. Pushing him over and making him bend at the canter was even harder than the trot.
Finally. Finally! we were done and I got a break. Except we weren’t quite done because Kristen wanted to teach me how to get Dandy to go long and low. Remember my horse that I’ve never really been able to get to stretch? Take a look!
I am so so happy with all the work LG put into him. Without it, I’d never be able to take him to the next step like this.
Also, a big thank you needs to go out to the boy who agreed to dvr the Eagles game so he could come and get all these awesome videos of me and Dandy. He pretty much recorded my entire lesson just so I could go back and watch them and learn more. LOVE YOU!
Today’s dressage school was so good. Just thinking about it makes me want to swoon.
We started with a quick hack around one of the grass fields. Dandy was not so sure about this silly idea. There are lions hiding behind every blade of grass, didn’t I know that? Despite Dandy’s misgivings, we made it through alive and I think he was just so happy to be back in the ring that he didn’t give the monsters in the mirror a second though. Oh, pony.
The goal of the day was transitions, transitions, transitions, and maybe a little bit of straightness if that was going well.
We started with the best of the simple transitions trot-walk-trot. Immediately Dandy was soft and supple in my hands. He maintained contact through the transitions and was even willing to stretch further than I’ve ever been able to get from him. For these transitions, we worked on keeping the contact and reacting immediately by trotting, asking for a walk for one step and immediately going back into a nice balanced trot. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.
Next up were the canter-trot-canter transitions. These were not quite as beautiful. The good: Dandy picked up the leads correctly each time no matter where in the arena I was asking for it, and when we went back to the trot he got supple and soft again. The bad, he did want to rush, a lot! Each time we went back to a trot we had to reestablish rhythm. So the game plan for next time is to work on rhythm and maybe getting a more back to front canter.
Then came the hard part: walk-halt-walk transitions. Now, if you remember my post from a few days ago, you’ll remember that I was having quite a bit of a hard time with these. What I realized in my work today was that part of the problem was that I was getting worked up so the real goal was to keep me calm and thinking positive. I’m glad to say I managed that! The goal for Dandy was to try to keep him more relaxed as he immediately wants to throw his head in the air and hollow his back when I ask him to halt. The first time I asked him to halt, Dandy started to panic hopped a few times. I made myself relax and pushed him on. The time after that he stopped but still tossed his head in the air. The third and last time I asked him to stop were the best he’d ever done. While I had minimal contact, his head wasn’t at the ceiling and he was relatively straight. Huge improvement for Dandy! Halting is one of the things I’m going to ask Kristen for help with on our lesson on Sunday.
There were two little girls, around the age of ten, that showed up for a lesson while I was riding Dandy this morning. I was working on getting Dandy forward off my leg and quick in his walk-trot transitions when they came into the arena. They were so cute leading their horses and getting LG to help them fix their stirrups.
I had a sudden flashback to being that age and bringing my lesson horse into the arena while older girls were working. I SO wanted to be that older girl with her own horse who could ride whenever she wanted. And now I am! How weird is that?
There were two particular memories that I kept flashing back to. The first was when I was about ten and riding at Valley View Stables. I was taking a group lesson with two other friends, though I can only remember who one of them is right now. I was riding this HORRIBLE old grey gelding, who was probably a thoroughbred now that I think about it, and he would not listen to me at all. I spent most of that lesson crying when I couldn’t even steer my horse out of the corner.
Then there was the time when I was at Sky Rock Stables. I was twelve or so and just learning how to put my very own polo wraps on (the horse). Naturally, I was having trouble so I asked the working student, Ashley, for help “wrapping my legs.” Ashley was my idol. She was older and a great rider and she had this beautiful chestnut with a big white blaze named Apollo. Well, Ashley helped me by wrapping my legs with the polos! From then on, I was more specific when I asked for help.
After the girls’ lesson, the smaller of the two came up to me and told me how much she loved my horse and I couldn’t help but be touched by the whole experience.
I had a great ride on Dandy. We worked on transitions and getting a quick forward walk while maintaining collection. I think I also got a bit more collection at the canter which will be the next set of transitions I focus on!
In other news, the trailer is cleaned out for the next ride and I took the divider out. It’s just a bit too skinny for the giant horses that like to ride in it! Hopefully Dandy will feel a bit freer without the divider and won’t be so antsy.
Oh boy am I sore! After working this morning I went out to the barn a little early to help our trainer, LG, empty a bunch of (aka, 23) railroad ties out of the truck. They were HEAVY. LG and I could barely get them out on our own. We put about seven in the field to be built into cross country jumps and the other 16 are all over the driveway because we got tired and had to get over to the arena for a lesson.
So on to February’s update:
I realize now that I didn’t get quite a square on photo but psh, this is just for my own records. He’s filling out nice and is probably back to his MN weight. There’s still a few ribs but we’ll get there! Hopefully in the March update. I can tell he’s getting a lot stronger because everything is getting just a little bit easier in the arena.
As for a goal update:
Halt: doing very very good. This is probably a B+. Still working on it but better than I was expecting
Standing still for mounting or dismounting: About the same as the halt. We worked on this a few times today and he was doing much better.
Bending and Flexion: A long way to go but getting there. The right side is getting on a whole lot better than his left, weirdly enough. I think by the end of February, I’ll be able to say that he has made good progress on this for his stage of training.
Transitions: Over all, awesome. – Walk to trot: He’s got this one down. – Walk to canter: Haven’t tried this yet. – Trot to canter: Much, much better! Instead of his running into the canter, we’ve got it down to about two strides. I think the more muscle he has, the better this will get. – Trot to walk: Slowing down? Dandy says he rocks at that. – Canter to trot: See above. 🙂 – Canter to walk (this might be ambitious): I’ve tried this a few times but he still wants to trot. This might get put on hold until we’ve got some better control and muscle.
Leg yields: HAHAHAHAHAH. Yeah, that was a bit too ambitious. This is getting regulated to year end goals.
We had a very good training session today and I’m hoping tomorrow will be just as good. We even went over a little baby crossrail! However, I am still so chilled from being out in the cold so I’m going to go snuggle with the puppy and watch the Zags play.
Slowly but steadily, Dandy is making progress here in Nevada.
I’m using a mixture of natural and classical methods to teach Dandy. For example, so far the only thing I’ve been doing with him is lunging and desensitizing. Dandy doesn’t really care so much about the rope or handy-stick so that’s going pretty easy. The only thing is that he’s still learning that the rope on him doesn’t always mean lunge. When we lunge, I send him off using Clinton Anderson methods but I am also working on rhythm and transitions in the classic English way. Dandy is getting really good at the sending. I even used it to send him through the gate when I put him away.
Anyway, today we worked on transitions and voice commands. Halt-Walk. Walk-Halt. We spent almost 30 minutes just walking and halting and switching directions. Then at the very end I asked for a few walk-trot and trot-walk transitions. His worst transition is definitely the walk-halt but I was proud of how hard he tried. I don’t think we’ll be working on canter transitions for quite a while for a few reasons. One is that the arena is incredibly slippery right now. I’m pretty sure Dandy’s legs would slip out from underneath him if I asked him for canter. The second is that Dandy is just not ready to canter. He is not balanced at all and he doesn’t have the muscle for it. Even at a trot and on a 14ft lead, Dandy is constantly pulling at the rope because he isn’t balanced. He’s better to his left, which makes sense, but it’s still not great. There will be a lot of lunging before I ask to canter. Same thing with putting the side reins on.
Afterwards, I took Dandy for a walk up the road. Today was his best day leading as he only invaded my space once. As we walked, he only got nervous from being on his own once and was otherwise curious but willing. I even made him walk over a little ditch twice. One of my goals is to be able to take or ride Dandy anywhere so these hacks along the road are really good for us.
Dandy is starting to gain weight so that is good. He also got his first serving of grain since being out here. No surprise, he wolfed it right up. He has also upgraded to being in with the main heard full time. Perfect timing as we’re supposed to have a big storm later this week and the main pasture has the biggest shelters. Dandy doesn’t seem to have a close friend yet but I do see him hanging with William most of the time. I suppose they are discussing their times at the track.
Now I actually get to relax and tonight I get to have the tatter-tot hot dish I just finished putting together. I added Italian sausage to give it a little zip. Yum.
Today I got to take an unexpected dressage lesson today. Eric was supposed to have the lesson but he tweaked his knee skiing and didn’t want to aggravate it further. So YAY, lesson for me!
It has been at least seven years since the last time I’ve had a dressage lesson so I was a bit nervous. Our trainer had me starting basically from the beginning which I didn’t mind at all because I don’t feel like I remember much about dressage. Plus, I really want to learn more so that I can do better with Dandy. Anyway, although my muscles don’t remember, my mind and body did remember where my legs were supposed to be. I did a lot of walking and working with my driving leg; I couldn’t do much trotting because I just don’t have the muscle to do it right now but that will come. We also worked on leg yields and holy cow does William not want to move off my left leg. Too bad I didn’t have my spurs. However, I was starting to get it when asking William to move off my right leg. I think in the future when I have him collected and a shorter rein I’ll have an easier time of it.
After warming up we moved out into the field because the arena was very slippery. There I got to work on collection and keeping collection when doing walk to trot and trot to walk transitions. Apparently you are supposed to give the reins, not drop them but it should be in the elastic give of your hands/elbows, when asking for a trot and holding the contact when you ask to transition downwards (similar to a half-halt). I see many of you thinking, duh, Lauren! but I don’t care. I’m specifically talking about being in a classical dressage seat and working with collection, something I have done very little of formally. And while I have tried to work on keeping collection and carriage through a transition, this is the first time I’ve ever had much success.
Eric took a few photos of me riding and I’m really glad he did. I can see that while my leg position is pretty good, I need to get my toes pointed in, shoulders back and my hands closer together. Oh, also soften my elbows. It’s always the elbows with me.
Overall the lesson was a big success. I got lots of tips and things to work on which should make our next time even better!
Uh oh, did I catch the dressage bug???
A gratuitous picture of the ponies - Strudel and Schnapps
2012 will be the year of foundation for both Dandy and myself. As much as I want to jump right into the fun stuff (aka jumping) if I want Dandy to be a useful horse, we need to start with the basics.
On my end, I need to change my hunt seat to a jumper seat and learn a better dressage seat. Also I have got to unlock my elbows. I have stretches for them, I just have to be diligent in doing them everyday. Overall, I want to work on my own strength and stamina. I can’t ask Dandy to work if I’m not in better shape myself.
Here are my immediate goals for Dandy:
Halt
Standing still for mounting or dismounting
Bending and Flexion
Transitions
– Walk to trot
– Walk to canter
– Trot to canter
– Trot to walk
– Canter to trot
– Canter to walk (this might be ambitious)
Leg yields
Other things I’ll be working on but are more year goals:
Collection
Free Walk
Extended Trot
Yielding of Hindquarters
Gray Horse Problems 