An Ode, and Some Inspiration

June 10, 2012 Leave a comment

Christy and Liam

I spent a blissful day up at Silverwood yesterday, watching Christy and Liam, as well as a few other friends and lots of area pros.  It was a big “two shows in one” weekend, running three days, and some big names were in attendance.  Ken Borden was there with Rashka, who’s been a USDF HOTY for the last three years running, at Training, First and Second, and it’s easy to see why this horse has more than 20 scores in excess of 80%.  Yvonne Barteau and and her Grand Prix powerhouse GP Raymeister (who, incidentally, is Rashka’s sire) are always fun to watch, and they didn’t disappoint in the musical freestyle I caught.

As much fun as it is to watch grand prix riders on fancy warmbloods, more than anything I still enjoy watching OTTBs go down the centerline.  For me, Christy and Liam stole the show, garnering two more scores toward the bronze medal (yay!!!!) and really illustrating what teamwork is all about. It was a hot day, and the footing at Silverwood is deeper than at home. Christy rode her first test conservatively, to ensure she had gas in the tank for her debut at Second Level.  They put in a good ride and got the score they needed before going back for round two.

During that second warm up, Christy commented that she could feel that Liam was getting tired.  It really didn’t show during the test, however – as usual, the two were in beautiful synch and harmony.  After the ride, however, it became clear that Liam had given Christy his all.  When I took him out to graze and cool off, he was reluctant to leave his stall, trudging slowly (that’s so unlike him) with his head drooping.  Poor boy!   He had been right there in the zone with Christy, and had left it all on the field.  He perked up when we showered him with treats after he had a bath, though.  He knew he had done well! I was overjoyed when we learned that Christy had indeed earned a score in excess of 60% at Second.  She’s halfway to her bronze!  It’s pretty exciting.

I also watched two other OTTBs.  Linus, a 10 year old that evented Prelim last year, went out at PSG and I-1.  He is a magnificent athlete and is a tempi-change machine.  His owner, Carol, says he’s the most athletic horse she’s ever had, and that dressage comes naturally for him.  Watching Linus, who carries a spectacular amount of muscle on his light Thoroughbred frame, is truly exciting and inspirational for anyone who loves Thoroughbreds.  What he lacks in extravagant gaits he makes up in athleticism and enthusiasm.  It’s going to be a fun summer watching him.

Kelly and Bubba execute a very pretty stretchy trot.

Our friend Kelly also had her green bean, a 5 year old OTTB she’s nicknamed Bubba, out for his first dressage show at Training.  He’s done a couple baby combined tests, and is showing a lot of promise.  However, he had some greenie moments during his test, taking exception to the judges booth and spooking whenever he came near C. Kelly rode with tact and empathy, staying quiet but insisting upon forward.  As much as I loved watching Liam and Linus, Bubba’s test was inspiring for me.  Kelly did a wonderful job of keeping the horse on the aids, and had some very nice moments, including the pretty stretchy trot pictured to the left.

The Thoroughbreds all acquitted themselves very well, and garnered compliments from onlookers, who admired how light and refined they appeared in the ring – the differences really are evident because most of the horses doing rated dressage shows are heavier warmbloods and draft crosses.

This morning I uploaded all the video I took yesterday, and watched all the rides once again.  Then I put on my britches and headed out to the barn, where I rousted Derby from a late-morning nap in the sun.  With visions of Bubba’s stretchy trot in my head and Christy’s words from last week’s lessons ringing in my ears (“He needs to be rounder.  Rounder still.  Half halt.  Again.  Again. Soften the inside rein.  Inside leg on. Half halt. Again!!! MAKE IT HAPPEN!”) I paid attention to differentiating between bracing contact and good, roundness. I half halted, and half halted, and half halted, but I was able to get Derby’s back up, and best of all, I was able to hold it.  Getting and maintaining roundness will be the absolute key for us in the coming weeks.  Everything is so much easier when you’re operating from that essential “ready” position, with a forward, round, connected horse.

 

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Optimism

May 25, 2012 3 Comments

I’m feeling pretty good about our upcoming outing this weekend.  We’ve done some good work this week, and have made some real progress on our road back to respectability.  My strength and endurance are ratcheting up, and I’m better able to carry myself.  As I take more responsibility for myself, Derby responds by moving more correctly.

What has been really interesting for me has been to watch how changes in my riding are reflected in the horse’s body language, especially his mouth.

When I’m not balanced, not fully independent with my hands, and when I’ve not put the horse together, Derby goes around “smiling” but not out of joy.  His lips are curled back and his mouth gapes.  I think it’s the horse equivalent of gritted teeth.

But when I put myself (and subsequently, the horse) together, and he stretches into the contact, the mouth is closed.

I ride Derby in a plain cavesson, for two reasons.  First, and foremost, a flash is not the solution to our problems. And secondarily, I simply don’t like the way flashes look, though I do understand the role they play in stabilizing a bit and helping to prevent a horse from crossing his jaw.  But as I said, gaping resistance on Derby’s part is a direct result of poor riding on mine.

The aforementioned cavesson, and the rest of our tack, are in the garage, freshly cleaned and soaking up some oil.  I’ll buff everything to a shine tonight, and then tackle my grimy boots.  Then we’ll be ready – really and truly ready – for our outing tomorrow. We’re going out at Intro A and B – again – but hopefully we’ll pass the test and will be declared ready to start thinking seriously about Training.

 

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Practicing discomfort

May 18, 2012 3 Comments

Last night was a beautiful night, and I was looking forward to riding outside.  However, the kids next door have a new toy in the form of a Carryall type utility golf cart thingy.  It’s bigger, louder and faster than your typical golf cart.   They were ripping up and down their side yard, hooting and hollering.  I decided that as much as I’d prefer to avoid this sort of thing that riding with this distraction would be good for both me and Derbs.

As I led him out of the barn after tacking up, the cart zoomed by, its occupants whooping.  Derbs spooked, levitating away from me with all four feet off the ground, to the end of the reins, snorting excitedly with his eyes bugging out.

I regained some control, and led Derby, who was now doing his “scaredy-snort” at regular intervals, to the outdoor.  Christy was riding Liam out there, and Liam was totally unconcerned.  Derby mellowed out as I girthed him up and ran my stirrups down.

Once mounted, I had to work on bringing my own focus to my horse and that moment, rather than the kids in the cart.  It took a lap or two but pretty soon we had some decent walk.  However, when we started trotting, some tension returned as the kids in the cart momentarily increased their racket.

I worked on employing the tactics Christy had used with us the prior evening.  For quite a while I struggled.  Yes, his head was down but he wasn’t on the bit, he was bracing, and he wasn’t round.  Finally, however, we got there.  Despite the racket and goofiness we got a nice round trot.

So, it wasn’t the most eventful ride, but that’s kind of the point.  Sometimes, eventful really isn’t the goal!

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The physical aspect of tension

May 8, 2012 1 Comment

Medium giraffe walk. Methinks, after reading a post from a friend, that I didn’t spend enough time working the horse after he relaxed.

I had an ah-ha moment this morning reading the first post on a new blog, authored by a good Collecting TBs friend, Annette. She’s a frequent commenter and is a more advanced and experienced rider.  She and her OTTB Tuscon are working at levels that Derby and I only dream of. However, Tuscon, a former eventer, is a real go-pony, and Annette is quickly amassing quite a bit of experience in dealing with equine tension.  After some hounding from me (admittedly selfish) she has unveiled a blog and her first post is about tension. Her approach is actually very similar to what Christy advocates – be sure that you’re biomechanically correct, and not impeding the horse with your seat, and then (in a nutshell) sit up and ride.  I know for a fact that I’m still struggling with the position, as I still tend to list forward a bit in the saddle, closing my hips, which Derby interprets as a foot on the brake.  And I know that I need to be more assertive as a rider, asking nicely for something and then correcting when I don’t get a “yes ma’am” response.  That would be the sit up and ride piece.

But what I hadn’t considered at all, whatsoever, is the role physical muscle tension plays in building overall tension in the horse. Instead, I’ve been thinking (from an admittedly very human standpoint) that the problem was mental (oh, he’s not paying attention; oh, he’s distracted etc.), when in reality it seems that physical muscle tension is a contributor to mental tension and that you need to really think about muscle relaxation as a goal, rather than just “getting the horse’s attention” which is how I had been thinking about this. Because I have definitely stopped riding after getting the horse relaxed, only to have the tension return – that’s exactly, precisely what happened to me at the schooling show two days ago.

Ah-ha, right?

So I am memorizing this line from Annette’s post:

“…For a horse with innate, uncomfortable muscle tension, walking and standing around makes things worse rather than better. The tension is still there, and the muscles keep getting tighter. Working the horse to the point the muscles relax for lack of ability to really hold tension is a good starting point to getting the horse feeling mentally more relaxed.”

Here’s Annette’s full post: On Innate Muscle Tension and Horses. It’s well worth the read.

Thank you, Annette!

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Regaining balance

April 21, 2012 Leave a comment

Over the last few days, I’ve been working assiduously on my position, trying to regain effectiveness after dropping my stirrup a hole. It’s just a hole but as I noted in the previous post, it’s made a dramatic change in my position. It feels almost like I’m working without stirrups, which indicates how much I was relying on my stirrups when they were shorter.

I know that I’m going to be more effective with my aids riding with a slightly longer leg. However, it’s taking me a while to regain my base of support and stability.  My lesson on Thursday was challenging, and for the most part, we went around inverted. The trot was ugly and the canter wasn’t much better.  In my ride on Friday, I really focused on regaining some roundness, and things were a bit better.  Today we rode outside, and the quality of the ride improved again. Despite the distractions of the outdoor (it was cool and breezy, and approaching feeding time,) I was able to keep Derbs fairly round and all the gaits improved.

I’m definitely working some new muscles – my legs have been tired for the last few days which just blows my mind, given the relatively small degree of change.  Just one hole!  Here’s hoping that I get back to being fully effective soon.

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Do you *really* ride every stride?

April 15, 2012 7 Comments

I had the pleasure of riding two spooks over the last couple days, including a pretty big one on Saturday.  Derby was apparently stunned to see humans walking around the outdoor, and teleported sideways and then thundered across the arena.  During the episode I lost a stirrup, and had enough time to think “Oh, crap” and then “I’m coming off” and then “No, I’m not coming off, I’m okay” and then “Can I get my stirrup back and keep him in this this canter for a good long while?”

I couldn’t regain the stirrup while Derby continued to be silly, but I was able to get him down to a trot pretty quickly, at which point I grabbed my stirrup and put him back to work.  I did the ‘cloverleaf’ pattern I used to ride when I needed to get Maddie’s head back in the game.  I use relatively small circles (about 12m) and change direction and bend constantly.  It’s my default pattern for those “sit up and ride” moments. Once I had his back up and a good connection and was in control of the hind legs, I headed back down the long side. Derby tried to spook again, earning a spur firmly in his side, while I growled and gave him a spank with my whip.  He did veer off course but I was able to block a bigger reaction.   We did another couple turns of the cloverleaf again, crossed the diagonal, went back down the long side with no incident going the other way. I switched direction, went down the long side going the same direction as the original spook, and Derby was fine.  At that point, we were more than finished for the day.

This got me thinking about something Christy and I’ve spoken about several times – riding every stride, meaning that you literally manage every moment of the ride.  I don’t do this. I should.  I do ride every stride when I’m dealing with a situation like the aforementioned spook.  Which drives Christy a bit nuts, I think, because, when I really ride with intent and attention, things get a lot better.

I really need to get more out of myself.  One thing that has helped me is “homework,” meaning I take exercises from my lessons and really practice them, not going through the motions but really working on quality results.  I’ve also noticed that Derby is more likely to spook when I start to get tired, toward the end of the ride. That, I suppose, is more incentive for me to get my act together, and keep it there. Though if anyone out there has any ideas for maintaining focus,

Maintaining position while Maddie takes a close look at the jump standards.

The good news is that I’m regaining my seat and balance, and my confidence is intact despite Derby’s recent antics.  The work I did while riding Maddie on my seat has continued to pay off, and my lower leg is now pretty steady and quiet.

An ugly moment but I'm plugged into the tack. My lower leg hasn't moved and is providing a good base of support.

However, the recent events have recommitted me to improving my seat even more.  I’ve agreed to start dropping my stirrups in lessons (just a bit to start!).

I know from personal experience that (for me at least) confidence stems from building my competence. I’m glad I was able to stick with these recent spooks, which have been good tests of my seat.  But in my mind, I don’t think one can ever have too much stability int he saddle.  This won’t be terribly fun but it will be worth it.

Maintaining position as Maddie takes a really close look at some jump standards.

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Trot trot trot

March 22, 2012 1 Comment

Sporting his new springtime saddle pad.

Tonight’s lesson featured more work on patterns, but with more trotting and fewer walk breaks.  Derby continues to feel fantastic. His rider needs to get stronger!  We’re jumping up to 45 minute rides starting on Saturday, and 45 minute lessons next week.

For fun I picked up a cute new springtime saddle pad today.  How cute is this?

At this point I should admit that I actually bought two cute saddle pads today. They’re both AP pads – I wish they’d make fun dressage pads. Anyway. Here’s the other one.

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Starting to polish some edges

March 21, 2012 Leave a comment

Almost square at the halt. Best of all, I was able to maintain contact.

Christy put us to work tonight on some easy patterns, so I could start working on timing and polishing our many rough edges while also getting back into shape. As we walked, she reminded to me to move “hips to hands” rather than bringing my hands back toward my hips.  “Hips to hands” creates following contact.  “Hands to hips” constrains.

Moving into the trot, Derby felt pretty good and we got to work doing a simple pattern consisting of a 20m circle on the long side and then changing rein across the diagonal.  It’s a good exercise and revealed some weaknesses on my part – I need to work on those trot diagonals.

Trotting across the diagonal

My indecision about when to change my diagonal is reflected when Derby starts to wriggle and stray off the diagonal.  I’m trying to change from immediately changing my diagonal to doing so as I go into the corner after my diagonal is complete, so I can concentrate on generating a solid trot across the court.  Old habits die hard.  This will take some work. I also need to work on changing diagonal standing, which Derby appreciates.

He's uphill on the circle. I'm surprised we weren't serenaded by an angelic chorus.

The 20m circles were pretty good. I’ve been working with Derby on responding quickly and correctly on the ground when I ask him to step over. and I cue him by giving him a very gentle poke low on his barrel, where my spur would touch him.  When I’m on a circle and Christy tells me to get that inside hind underneath, I’m able to get a quick response.  The quality of our circles is getting better.

The next pattern Christy assigned was a flat figure 8, bisected by the centerline, and requiring a tighter turn onto/off the centerline at each end. She also had me throw in a halt for good measure.  This exercise really made me use my half halts – in the corners, on the turns, and into the halts.

This exercise revealed that I need to really work on engaging Derby’s hind legs.  Connection is essential to executing the more precise turns and the ensuing halt.  And to have good connection, you need a good trot.  And to get a good trot, you have to have those hind legs in gear.

This pattern was a great exercise and I was pretty happy with how I’m riding, stamina aside.  I do need to keep improving my reaction times, catching Derby before he hollows, bulges a shoulder or gets strung out behind. But that timing and feel will come back with more time in the saddle.

After we were done, we walked outside and strolled around the outdoor arena to cool down. It was a beautiful evening, so our little hack was followed by a quick shower and some grazing.   Derby was, once again, a total star.  It looks like we’re going to go to a schooling show at the beginning of May, and then another toward the end of the month, to get some more show miles on Derbs.  I will be riding Intro at the first and very likely the second – we don’t have a canter at the moment to speak of at the moment.  We’ll start putting that together again next week but strength is an issue at the moment.  Getting out at training still remains a goal for this summer.

 

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When it rains, it pours! (But the sun invariably does come out.)

March 18, 2012 1 Comment

Derby had a regularly scheduled farrier appointment on Saturday that wound up being pretty eventful.  I got out to the barn early to go look for the three shoes Derby has thrown that I’ve not yet retrieved from his field.  Walking every inch of the turn out, I was able to find one.  Though I was disappointed to not find the others, I was happy to see that about half the field was drying nicely.  That said, the front third is still a morass of gooey, sucking mud.

As I tramped around, the sky darkened, and to my total disgust, fat raindrops started to fall.   The farm owner had seen the storm on the radar, and had kept the horses in. Hopes of the storm breezing past vanished quickly as the rain – and later the hail – fell in earnest.

As the storm raged, Derby stood quietly as I picked mud out of his ears and rubbed his forehead.  Joe cleaned up Derby’s hooves, commenting that they were pretty soft due to being wet for so long, and suggesting that I start painting them with Keratex.   He took a break as the storm really kicked up, causing the horses in their stalls to rear and pace.  Derby merely stuck his head in my armpit and tried to hide.

Things quieted down to the point were Joe felt OK about resuming work on Derby’s back feet.  After about a minute of work, he exclaimed, “Oh.  OH!  EWW.”   Apparently he found an abscess on Derby’s right hind, in the same rear quarter where he had one on January.  Derby hasn’t been lame on that foot (though I out off town for a while, so who knows) and it looks like it may have been draining for a bit.   The good news is that (touching wood) Derby isn’t lame.  I didn’t have time to ride but turned him loose in the indoor to play once Joe was done, and he looked really good.

I did finally have a decent ride today.  We went for 30 minutes (I’m still taking it easy since he’s been off and has definitely lost condition) but about half of that was solid trot work, so I feel like we’ll be able to have some decent lessons with Christy this week.   It will be good to get back on track, and I’m looking forward to a week in which I return to my normal routine.

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A quick update

March 16, 2012 1 Comment

The ups and downs have continued, a bit. I was away for work over last weekend, and during time, Derby sliced the inside of a hind leg open.  Liz was babysitting him for me, and gave him some excellent first aid, and arranged to have him kept in for a couple days, since we’re still mired in mud.  The wound is healing nicely, and I did a couple short rides this week when I returned.

However, he started to spring a shoe, and I was determined not to call my long-suffering farrier, since we have an appointment for tomorrow morning. So for the last two nights, we just walked.  Derby was bug-eyed at a the newly opened arena doors, so I took the opportunity to do lateral work, and really feel his hind legs.  Getting control over the inside hind is the key, but I don’t have a ton of feel for that yet.

I have family coming in this weekend, and won’t be riding Friday and Saturday.  Sunday we’ll be back in business, and next week we’ll restart regular lessons.

In other news, my friend Frank leaves for a new home on Saturday.  His new owner is besotted and he’s going to a lovely farm with rolling, grassy pastures.  We’ll miss him terribly but it sounds like a great place for him. My very best wishes to Deb and Frank for many happy years together!

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