Coiling power – learning to really half-halt

September 24, 2012 2 Comments

My half-halts are really quarter-halts.  I can use the half-halt to rebalance the horse, a bit, but my half-halts don’t add power.   So Christy has put us to work, retraining both of us to ride (and respond to) half halts properly,  which means focusing on generating, and then retaining and channeling, power.

The half-halts are instrumental in improving gait quality, because when done correctly, they engage the horse’s hind legs.   This is something I need to improve, so Christy set me to work on transitions, with the intention of developing my half halt.

We started out looking like this: pleasant, but not engaged.

Pleasant, but not engaged at all.

Doing transitions on a circle helped me get and maintain bend, while also starting to get a real feel for maintaining power through transitions.  Things started to improve.

More engagement. Derby is using his hind legs more actively. He’s still a bit on his forehand, though.

After quite a bit of work, we finally got the half-halt working the way Christy envisioned, producing our best work of the day, with Derby nicely connected over his back, off his forehand and moving with energy:

There’s a lot more work on this to do, but at least I’m starting to get a feel for a real half-halt, not the energy-draining downshift I had been using.

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Upward spiral

September 20, 2012 Leave a comment

He’s a good buddy.

I have to start today’s post with a little silly horse bragging.  Tuesday’s vet appointment was first thing, and there was a real chill in the air.  Between the crisp temperatures and the fact that everyone else had been turned out, Derby was a bit wound up.  So I put him in the outdoor arena to work off some steam before the vet showed up.  Work it out he did – running, bucking and farting – before finally having two good rolls in the sand. Then he went and grazed the clover and tufts of grass growing along the edges.  Out of the reach of the mower, and recently rejuvenated by some rain, the edges of the arena provided some good eatin’.

After 15 minutes or so, the vet rolled in.  As they were unloading their things, I went up to the gate and called Derby to me.  He picked up his head and sauntered across the area to me.  My vet’s assistant happens to be Derby’s old owner.  She was amazed that Derby – who is very food motivated – would leave grass when I called.   He’s such a good boy!

Now on to the vet visit.  The good news is that the scoping showed zero inflammation of the airway, and zero lesions.   But there was some bad news too.  Derby has started to aspirate food into his airway.  This is the very last thing I wanted to hear, because aspirating food into the trachea can lead to choke and pneumonia.  Scary stuff.

We talked about surgery, but in the meantime, because the matter appeared to be hay, the vet told me to soak his hay.   She also told me not to worry too much – the coughing he does clears the airway.  That explains why I’ve been experiencing more coughing lately.

I focused on using my inside leg to engage Derby’s hind legs, getting him to step up under himself and engage.

On Tuesday night, I rode after Derby had his evening feed.  It was a beautiful, cool night, and he felt great – a little coughing at the beginning of the ride, but then he was pretty quiet.   Last night was the same story.  The wet hay really seems to be helping!  Our hay has been very crumbly – the flakes almost fall apart.  This is due to the drought -the plants are short, dry and stunted.  So instead of having nice, long blades of grass and other plants, the hay has little scraggly bits.  And he must be sucking those into his airway.   So hopefully we’ll dodge a bullet by continuing to soak his hay!  That beats the socks off tie-forward surgery, which is big surgery (the horse is fully out, on his back) and carries no guarantees.

In our lessons this week, we’re focusing on two things – maintaining strong, forward gaits, and activating Derby’s hind legs.  As I’ve mentioned before, these are two historically weak areas for me.    On Tuesday, the focus was really on bend and getting those hind legs to step under.  On Wednesday, it was more of the same, but we added extra focus on gait quality.   I caught myself twisting in the saddle again on Tuesday, causing the horse to fall inward, and forcing me to refocus on my position.  Christy helped me through this by telling me not to worry about fixing my legs (which I was – my outside leg would creep forward, and my inside leg back – ugh) but instead had me focus on my seat and leading with my inside seatbone.  That was the solution to the problem.   We were able to spiral in and leg-yield out nicely.

We’re working on engagement at the canter. The nice moments are coming more frequently, but we’re not yet maintaining the “niceness” all the time.

The canter is still very much a work in progress. I’m looking forward to the day when I have the same influence over the canter as I do the trot.  Right now I have two canters – crappy and decent.   While “decent” is a start, it’s not “working.”  I’m still developing my seat at the canter, and at the same time, I’m starting to think about getting the horse to move more forwardly, soften and engage his hind end.  We have quite a way to go in this gait!

Last night’s theme was “decide to do it.”  I had mentioned to Christy that I had difficulty maintaining a big, forward trot on a circle with correct bend and engagement.  After putting us through our paces, Christy diagnosed that (again!) the issue was with the pilot, not the pony.

“Pretend Robert Dover is watching you,” she said, hearkening back to the clinic, in which we saw what happened when riders were asked to expect more of themselves, and their horses. “Decide how you’re going to ride and then do it.”   So, I did.  I closed my legs, and was fast with a thump of a heel or tickle with the whip if he started to stall out.  Christy was right – it was more about making a decision and following through.   We finished the ride with few laps of big, forward, connected trot after all the work on the circles, and Derbs felt great throughout.

All in all, despite the scary interlude with the airway issues, I feel like we’re managing to spiral a little upward (in addition to in and out, in and out.) 🙂

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End of season crunch time

September 15, 2012 2 Comments

Still working on the canter.

Thank God. After a brutal couple weeks, I’m off the road, back at home, and back in the saddle. We’re shooting for a couple shows at the end of this month and the beginning of next to wrap up the season, so it’s time to buckle down.  The last show is the IDCTA schooling show series championships.  We’re qualified already, but I’d love to get one more show under our belts.

I’m pretty happy with how our rides have been lately, though as I discussed with Christy today, I really need to concentrate on making true forward gaits our default gear.  I’m still falling into the habit of letting Derby lollygag and slow down, rather than staying in front of my leg.  We’re going to focus on this issue in particular this coming week.

I’ve also been working on improving our bend, and really getting Derby to step under himself and into the outside rein. This is a real weak area for me but I’m determined to nail this key basic.  At the Robert Dover clinic last fall, a woman who was riding Fourth level on a gorgeous and talented horse wound up getting schooled for her lesson on bend.  It underscored for me the importance of mastering the basics.

So I’ve been doing a lot of spiral in/leg-yield out and other exercises assigned by Christy.  We’ve also uncovered a few issues with my position that interfere with (or mute?) my aids.  One thing I’ve caught myself doing – especially to the right – is curling my inside leg up, rather than encouraging the horse to bend around it.  In addition to clarifying my aids, I also need to insist upon a crisp response from Derby.

However, I’ve thought he had something else going on. He’s not entirely comfortable going to the right. His canter to the right can get lateral, and he’s harder to bend to the right.  So I scheduled a chiropractic appointment for Derby, and that appointment was yesterday.

It was fascinating to watch. Dr. Heinze from Fox Valley Equine work on Derby and the other horses.  He first evaluated each, and was able to identify areas (such as part of the spine, or a hip) where there was less motion.  In Derby’s case, he had little flexibility in his right hip, and also had some stiff spots in his spine.  We went ahead with the adjustment, and Dr. Heinze said I could expect to see improvement over the next few days.

I do believe he bent more easily to the right, however, I wasn’t riding terribly effectively today.  But when I finally got both of us warmed up and moving,  Derby felt pretty good.

Derby getting used to the Micklem.

However, I complicated things a bit by adding a new variable – a Micklem bridle.  I got a bit of a wild hair this morning and went up to the Dover store and picked one up.  It took some futzing with to get adjusted, but I think Derby liked it.  His mouth felt quieter and the contact was better.  However, Christy experienced improvement in contact and a softer mouth after having one of her own horses adjusted.

So whether or not it was the bridle or the adjustment, I don’t really know.  I  really should have just used my old bridle for the next few days, but I couldn’t resist giving my new toy a try.

In other news, I’m having Derby re-scoped on Tuesday.  He’s having more difficulty than usual with his breathing.  Normally, he’s fine after taking a few laps to clear his pipes, during which time there’s lots of coughing and sneezing.  Lately, however, the episodes of coughing and sneezing have been more frequent, recurring during our rides. Hopefully it’s just a little inflammation, and we can knock it back with some drugs.

We’re riding again tomorrow (the weather is perfect!) and I’m hoping for a better ride that will give me a better read on  how effective the chiro treatment was.

 
 

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