I’m beginning to understand

February 13, 2011 4 Comments

She's just so dang pretty.

I’m happy to report that I made good progress with respect to re-installing the forward gears in the mare.  Her motto tonight was “Ask and ye shall receive.”

Christy was in between lessons and gave me a few minutes’ coaching, and with her encouragement, we got there – in both directions.   And once I got the mare connected and over her back, following Christy’s instructions to leg yield out on the circle was surprisingly easy.

Getting to the good gait still a process for me.  Mads (and frankly, any horse) requires me to ask and ride correctly, but when I get my act together and my ducks in a row, and actually manage to ride the mare effectively, back to front – well, wow.  She gives me the most amazing gait, pushing powerfully from her hind end.  It feels entirely different from her trot when she’s less engaged.   When Mads is over her back and pushing with those hind quarters, the it feels like we have rocket boosters – you can really feel the oomph and thrust coming from those big muscles in her hiney. It’s the same feeling you get when you’re on a plane that’s barreling down the runway for take-off, when you feel those engines pushing the plane forward – you can feel that power behind you very specifically.   This is the trot that Christy calls “the trot that has a canter – or a walk – in it.”  That’s a good analogy, because in order to produce this gait, a few things need to be happening:

  • I’m pushing her into the outside rein – and holding that contact – with an active inside leg.
  • I’m driving her from behind, asking for more step.
  • I am softening the inside rein.
  • My posture is straight, my leg is long and draping, my shoulders are back – in other words, I’m sitting up and riding.
  • I’m inviting the bigger gait from my seat by posting further out of the saddle.
  • I’m using half-halts actively to encourage roundness and engagement of the hind end.
  • The contact is elastic – I’m holding it, but am also inviting the mare to go forward and maintain flexion.  However, I also have to “catch” the power coming over her back in the contact, creating a loop of power, balance and contact in which the rider supports the horse and encourages an even better gait.

What I’m beginning to understand is that this powerful, forward gait needs to be a constant state for us, not a fleeting occurance.   I’m sure that the well-ridden dressage horse is always in this forward state of mind, encouraged by a rider able to generate the power and maintain necessary balance. This was a light bulb moment for me .  This is what it means to truly ride forward.

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More blogging! And riding!

Over the next week or so I’ll be riding my friend Stephanie’s horse while she’s on vacation.  She blogs over at Dressage Adventures, and I’m recording my rides on Oliver there.

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Oh what a night!

February 10, 2011 2 Comments

Developing a stretchy trot

Today was chilly, but the temps climbed throughout the day, and by the time I headed to the barn, it was a balmy 10 degrees.  That’s 22 degrees warmer than last night, and it felt pretty good.

After my impromptu ride with Liz last night, I wanted to ride again.  I was expecting the footing to be frozen, so I decided to set up a little obstacle course to give the horse something different to look at.  I pinged Liz and Christy, and we made a riding date.

Happily the footing had actually improved over the course of the day. I set up the obstacles anyway – variety is always a good thing.   I put out a couple raised poles, laid a pole between two jump standards that looked like gates, and arranged four cones in a zigzag pattern.

We cranked the tunes, and Maddie and I joined Liz and Christy in the arena, admiring the boys’ matching sheets.  Aren’t they handsome?

We took our time warming up.   I moved the mare around, marveling at how mellow she was, despite being cooped up for a few days.  Liam and Cloud were also model citizens, and we joked about our hot and crazy TBs as we rode around on the buckle.

My plan for the ride was evolving – the footing was decent, and I was wearing more appropriate attire (my Mountain Horse full seat insulated riding pants – they’re extremely warm.)  We started out curving around the cones, walking through the gate, and high-stepping over the raised poles.

We moved off into a trot, and I made an effort to get the mare moving.  I wasn’t asking for a big, forward trot, but I did want her to round and track up.   She fussed a bit and was bracing.  I sat up an rode, giving her a whack with the whip that I’m sure she barely felt thanks to the thick quarter sheet draped over her hindquarters.  However, that got her attention, and she started to come into my hand and quit the fussing.

As I was gaining Maddie’s cooperation, I kept an eye on Christy.  I don’t get to watch her ride as much as I’d like to, and I’m always curious to see what she’ll do.  Tonight, she was really just letting Liam stretch, and he appreciated it, trotting enthusiastically around the arena, doing laps of stretchy trot.

Starting to stretch

As I developed better contact and a rounder horse, I started to stretch her down.  I’ve not ridden a lot of stretchy trot – it makes me feel a bit vulnerable and I’m not fully comfortable with it.  It’s something I need to practice. Mads started to stretch, while also staying on the bit.

I concentrated on holding the outside rein, and playing gently on the inside rein to keep myself from holding it to heavily (a bad habit I have) and to encourage the mare to continue to stretch.

I really wanted to keep her on the bit, near vertical, and keep driving her forward as we stretched.    As we went around, I heard something beautiful, and it wasn’t the radio.  It was Christy, saying that we looked good.   That was music to my ears, because Christy doesn’t offer empty compliments.

Unbeknownst to me, she had taken out her phone and started recording some video.  I’m glad she did – it was nice to see our work.

Getting a better stride ...

I continued to encourage her with my inside leg while feeding her rein.  I’m going to have to bite the bullet and get warmblood length reins – I hit the buckle before she was as low as I wanted her to go.  I had to stretch my arms to give her more room.  We didn’t get all the way there, it wasn’t a stretch that would get a good score in the ring, but I was happy.  The trot quality was good, and she was over her back and nicely on the bit.  I’ll take it, on a 10 degree night.

Our best work of the night. Mads is round, on the bit stretching and tracking up. Yay!

And the video clip of the stretching (thanks again, Christy.)

The fun didn’t end there.  Liz was riding Cloud bareback, and they looked fantastic.  Christy pulled Liam’s saddle off, and joined her.  They both have such nice, balanced seats, and they stay in tune with their horses as they trotted and cantered.  They tried some peer pressure, trying to get me to try going bareback on Maddie. I wasn’t quite ready for that tonight – I still need to master trotting and cantering without stirrups.  I did promise to pull the saddle in a lesson sometime soon.   I’ll let you know how that goes!

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Making lemonade

February 9, 2011 1 Comment

The thermometer was hoovering near zero late this afternoon when I shut my laptop down, pushed back from the desk, and started to consider my trip to the barn.  The second day of extremely frigid temperatures in a row, I knew that the horses stayed in today, and I suspected that the footing in the arena would be frozen.   So I dug out my warmest long-johns – the thick, waffle-weave kind – and over them put a pair of too-big jeans so I’d be comfy.  I added more layers – a turtleneck and a thick fleece jacket.  I stuck toe-warmers in my boots, swaddled my head in a fleece headband, wool stocking cap and a long scarf, and dove into my coat.   Grunting, I struggled to put on my boots, as all the layers were rendering me close to immobile.  I grabbed my keys and waddled out to my car.

Upon arrival, I was pleasantly surprised to see the barn lights glowing – normally, I’m the only lunatic that goes out on sub-zero nights.  However, I was in good company tonight – Liz, a fellow Packer fan and OTTB owner, was visiting Cloud.  Turns out the arena footing wasn’t too bad, and she was riding.

Hmm. What the heck, I decided, pulling a sleepy Maddie out of her stall.  Hanging out inside makes her mellow, if you can believe that.  She dozed while I scurried around, picking her hooves, surveying the filthy, frozen mess she made of her tail (I still don’t know what she got into, and, frankly, I don’t want to know) and tacking her up.  I tucked her quarter sheet around her fanny, and plopped my freezing cold helmet on my head.  Happily, I had warmed up sufficiently and removed my coat – one less layer was a good thing at this point.

Mounting was interesting.  In addition to feeling like a mummy, my too-big jeans kept slipping down around my hips, resulting in a poor (and monstrously unflattering) imitation of the urban-youth-pants-down-around-the-knees look. I hiked up my pants, clambered up the mounting block, and finally when the mare (and the pants) stayed put, I got on.

The arena footing was definitely iffy in areas, so as I let the mare snort and stretch, I went through my options.  I still wanted a to have a productive ride.  But, given the footing, the freezing air and my woeful attire, it wasn’t a good night to work hard, and focus on moving the mare forward.   Still contemplating my options, I thought about a recent blog post Christy did, telling about a ride on Liam during which she worked exclusively at the walk.

I decided that responsiveness would be the rule of the day.  As we warmed up, I started asking for bend from my seat, and threw in a lot of random halt transitions.  We practiced (semi-successfully) staying round in the halt, and the upward and downward transitions. As we walked, I also tried to keep Maddie really busy.  She has the unfortunate habit of sticking her tongue out when we walk.  I’ve found that the best remedy is to keep her focused and working.  I also worked on left bend, being sure to give my left rein.  This went pretty well, though there were some incidents of bracing and mare foolishness.  However, we got through it, and even got some nice circles and shoulder in – we had some moments of good contact and stretch, which were encouraging.

I trotted Mads a bit, not asking for much from her but insisting on responsive, right now transitions, and also asking her to stay round and stretching.  We moved around as much as we could, but there were some patches in the middle of the ring that were pretty solid, and after one pass, Mads (who is barefoot) made it clear that those patches didn’t feel good, so I tried to avoid them for the rest of the ride.

To mix things up a bit, and to keep working on responsiveness, we practiced a variety of transitions – trot/halt, halt/walk/halt, halt/trot/halt etc. Mads was fairly well attuned to me and again, we had some nice moments, but she was also distracted by some barking dogs and a horse kicking the walls in the back aisle, adjacent to the arena.  I got after her but not to the degree I would have had we really been working, and I was less happy with how I handled that part of the ride.

All in all, riding tonight was a pleasant surprise.  I’m glad I did, because even though it was a pretty gentle ride, it was more exercise for the cooped-up mare.  And tomorrow, well, let’s just say the prospects are grim. It’s going to be crazy cold tonight, and I’m certain that footing is going to freeze.

The mare is waiting, and watching.

Back in the barn, I groomed Mads, put her heavyweight back on, and stuck her in her stall.  She hovered near the door, ignoring her hay and telegraphing what can only be described as pathos with her tragic expression. What was her problem? Ah, well, you see, upon arrival at the barn, I had whipped up a batch of her nightly mare mush, a glorious concoction of beet pulp shreds and alfalfa cubes, soaked in hot water until soft, fluffy and steamy, and then laced with molasses.  Mads needs to gain a little more weight, and in extremely cold weather like this, getting some extra hydration into the horse’s system is a bonus.  That’s all well and good, but then I went and set the steaming bowl of mush on my trunk to cool.  Right outside Maddie’s stall.

So close, and yet, so far away.

She stared disconsolately at the mush, inhaling the delicious fumes.  I finally relented and (after testing the temperature) gave the poor starving mare her mush.

It is soooo good. At least she seems to think so.

Satisfied, I headed home.  I was feeling  pretty good until my car told me it was -12 degrees outside. Yikes!

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Go forward. NOW.

February 7, 2011 8 Comments

Well, I got my butt kicked tonight.  And that’s just fine – don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining.  In my lesson tonight, Christy set out to illustrate to me the degree to which I have a lack of forward.   After we warmed up, Christy ratcheted up our trot work, tightening the screws with every turn of the arena.  It wasn’t until Maddie spooked that I got some decent, forward trot.  As I took a quick walk break, Christy pointed out to me how hard I had been working.  “I saw you kicking. I heard you clucking.  You got nothing from her, except ‘the hoof!’ ”  (which is our euphemism for a horse giving you the bird.)

Christy was right – I was working hard to get anything – bend, contact, leg yield – from the mare.  And the biggest problem was the fact that I didn’t have her moving sufficiently forward.  As a result, everything was more difficult.

Panting, we did some more trot work. Mads continued to be spooky and stupid at one end of the arena, so I put her to work, doing smaller, 12M circles and figure-8’s.  As I got after her, I could feel her back come up, and the noises from the middle of the arena took an approving tone.

“There! Nice!” said Christy.  I was remembering to use my half-halt, to balance the trot. “That’s a round horse!”

I was also using the whip.  It’s been a while since I even touched Mads with it.  Tonight, I gave her a couple good smacks when my requests for more forward were ignored.  She hopped forward, and maintained the increased pace pretty well.    But, as Christy noted, Mads has become as dull as a doorknob.   Reminding her that I have the whip, and will use it, will be necessary as we re-establish our forward gears.

Tonight’s lesson was a great illustration of how lax I’ve allowed Maddie to become.   Though we’ll probably have the next few days off due to super-frigid temperatures, I’m hoping to ride Friday, and get back to work.  It’s time to move forward!

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A fresh start

February 5, 2011 Leave a comment

I believe that Winston Churchill is credited with the saying, “The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man.”  Today was my first ride after a two week hiatus, and boy, it felt great.   It wasn’t an eventful or even particularly sophisticated ride.   But I am happy to report that my position is still solid, and I remember how to steer (with my inside leg and outside rein!)

I decided to capitalize on the time off by trying to erase the left-rein-hanging issues I’ve been having, hoping that the time off would also diminish learned responses from Maddie.   So, I made a very focused effort to stay.off.that.left.rein while also not giving away the right rein.   Going counterclockwise, I held that outside rein, kept my inside leg active, and made a point of giving the contact in the left rein continually.

Mads was clearly appreciative, stretching very nicely into contact.  I encouraged her, giving her rein and riding her in a lower frame (we both need to regain fitness), and we went around with nice contact, and more importantly, a marked lack of neck-bracing and rein-hanging.  Toward the end of the ride, I was really able to get her moving, adjusting her gait with half-halts, and alternately asking her for bigger and smaller strides.  Despite the time off, she did really well, bringing her back up and rounding very nicely.  I do love how sensitive this mare is, and wow, she really takes a half-halt well.

I’m looking forward to our ride tomorrow, and then am hoping to re-establish my routine this week, starting with a lesson on Monday.  However, the weather doesn’t look like it’s going to cooperate fully – we have another stretch of hellaciously cold weather coming mid-week.  My personal cut-off is 10 degrees – below that, I’m not interested in riding.  But those cold nights are good for groundwork, so we’ll likely have some un-mounted work on Tuesday.

 

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Winter daze

February 3, 2011 1 Comment

The horses have been stuck inside for several days now, due to the blizzard that managed to shut Chicago down earlier this week, and super-frigid temperatures today.  I think they’ll go outside tomorrow, which won’t be a minute too soon for Mads.  The big girl is bored.

I turned her out in the arena after taking her blanket off, thinking that a good roll would feel pretty good.  Mads instead strolled around the arena, even going into the corner that she sometimes spooks at (it’s full of jump poles, and birds like to sit among the poles, can’t really blame her,) sniffing the jumps, but she didn’t roll, and she didn’t run around like a nut.

After she toured the arena, she walked over to where I was perched on the mounting block.  She sniffed me head to toe, and lipped at my jacket.  Then she sighed, and walked a few steps away.  The mare was bored.

I dug around in a corner, and pulled out an exercise ball that Jag used to play with.  Mads has shown little interest in the ball when I’ve showed it to her previously.  However, I remembered that the only time that Jag was really motivated to play with toys was when he had been stuck inside for several days.  He wasn’t interested when he had enjoyed a day outside.

I dribbled the ball around the arena, soccer style.  Mads pricked her ears, and watched.  I scooted the ball toward her, eliciting a tail-in-the-air prancing response.  I kicked it a little closer to her. Curious, she sniffed.  And then, she bonked the ball with her nose, sending it back toward me just as I started this video:

I kicked it back toward her, and she started to nose it around in earnest, following it around the arena.   We repeated this a few times – she seemed to really enjoy the new experience, and I like seeing them scoot balls around, it gives them a great long-and-low stretch.

Maddie wasn’t as enthusiastic as Jag.  Now, there’s a horse that really likes his playtime.

And this one, playing with a jolly ball.  Clearly, he’s not head shy.

Tonight – and looking back at Jag’s funny videos – is a reminder to me how important it is to keep our Thoroughbreds mentally stimulated.  They are bright, inquisitive horses, and I could see the change in Maddie’s demeanor when I brought her in from her playtime.  Especially when they’re inside for a few days, changing up the routine is a good idea.

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Snowbound

February 1, 2011 1 Comment

The last couple weeks have been frustrating, to say the least.  I was away on a business trip, and upon my return I was absolutely decked by a one-two bronchitis-sinusitis punch.  So, it’s been better than a week and a half since I crawled aboard a horse.  And now, a blizzard, complete with high winds and white-out conditions.  I’m not going anywhere for a few days.   My next opportunity to ride will be Saturday.

I did go out to the barn last night to see Mads, who I was really starting to miss. I groomed her thoroughly, and wow, she’s really starting to shed.  It must have felt good, because she’s normally pretty squirmy when I groom her, but she stood quietly through several curryings, and then four separate brushings, from hard to dandy to soft to goat hair.  She loves the goat hair face brush, and liked being groomed all over with it – a lot.

We hung out quietly, me scratching her ears and poll, her pushing her head against my chest asking for more.   Treats were administered, more scritches applied to itchy spots.  She got a big bucket of “mare mush” (hot beet pulp and alfalfa cubes) and I tucked her in.   I would have preferred to ride, but I’m still coughing spastically at the least exertion.  So we just hung out, and worked on the friendship.  She was OK with that.

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Multi-tasking

January 22, 2011 2 Comments

I was back in the saddle today, after a four day hiatus due to a business trip and subzero weather.  As I noted in my last post, I need to re-establish forward, and get Mads back in front of my leg.  At the same time, I need to work on fixing the crookedness that is causing me to hang on that left rein.

Except, maybe I shouldn’t work on the two at the same time.  Today’s ride was a bit ugly, because what I got was some nice forward work — and ugly resistance, as Mads braced her neck and popped her right shoulder out.   I did a couple laps to the left,  softening and releasing my left rein, and she softened nicely into my outside rein.  Which I made a point of holding.

But when we went back to doing circles and figure-8s, I had trouble with the steering (!) and, over all, she was resistant to the left. However, the quality of our work improved when we did serpentines.  So, if I get to ride tomorrow (which is iffy) I’m thinking that more work in serpentines would be good – at least as we warm up.  And, I think it’s time to put the spurs back on, now that my leg position is better.  I need to add emphasis to my leg aids.  However, I need to keep insisting upon responsiveness too.  The last thing I want is a horse that is dead to the leg.

The good news is that Mads was nicely forward, though we still don’t have the quality trot we were generating before the holidays.

This nice trot is still eluding us, but we're working toward it.

In addition to the hanging issues, and the forward issues, I’m dumping Maddie onto her forehand.  So, half-halts need to be a bigger part of my repertoire.  I’m good about half-halting as we head into a corner, or asking her for a shorter, “smaller” gait on the short side, but I am not using them enough at other times, to engage her back end and invite her to lift her shoulders, producing the pretty, uphill gait pictured above.

So I need to get better at multi-tasking in the saddle.  This is always hard for me when I’m not fully proficient with a skill. Feeling what’s going on underneath me, and responding in the moment — and appropriately — is hard.  But that’s dressage.

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Learning is a process.

January 17, 2011 7 Comments

I'm a big fan of my new leg postion. It's a lot more secure, and things like this aren't as scary!

I took my good weekend rides into a lesson tonight, telling Christy that I had figured out where my trouble with the right rein is originating – I’m popping my right shoulder forward – so even though my hand is not.giving.rein, well, my shoulder is.   Here, from tonight, in all its spectacular ugliness, is my issue du jour.

Where to start? Note the right hand (and shoulder) are far forward, and there is loop in the right rein. The outside rein. Nice.

So I focused a lot on keeping my shoulders square, pushing my left hip a bit forward (feedback from the Equitrainer a couple months ago) and not letting my right shoulder come forward. Obviously, I have a lot of progress to make in this respect.  I mentioned to Christy that I felt like I was constantly breaking and fixing my postion, and she assured me that there would always be something like this to work on – it may eventually be more subtle (I sure hope so) but, as she said, if it was easy, we’d all be riding Grand Prix.

As I rode, we also paid attention to transitions. I’ve been so focused on my leg position and other issues, I’ve allowed the mare to become very sloppy – I have to work harder to get her off my leg, and make her round onto the bit.  She’s fallen behind my leg, which doesn’t help.  It’s hard to do much when your horse isn’t even tracking up. Christy pointed out to me that I was having to ask the mare repeatedly for upward transitions, so I dispensed with my wishy-washy-ness and started using my whip.

I would love to say we went around like this all night, but I would be lying. Besides, you've already seen the two previous pictures.

Fact is, it’s hard to ride well when your horse isn’t responsive.   It’s hard to stay balanced, and keep the horse round and soft, if at the same time you have to kick the critter into an upward transition.  And I recall how easy my first few rides on Maddie were – Christy had put 90 days of training on her, and the mare was ultra light and responsive.  I’ve made her dull, and I need to fix this.

We made some progress tonight, getting what we call “big trot” which really just means a decent working trot, with the horse tracking up and a nice rhythmic tempo. It feels good to be riding that trot again, though I’m still not getting the gait in which I can really feel the mare pushing with the big engine in her hindquarters.   But we aren’t too far away from it.  And I need to make that nice “big” trot my habit.  That’s the trot that ultimately is easiest to work from – which is precisely why it’s called “working trot.”  It’s an essential piece of the foundation.

Toward the end of the ride, Christy assured me it didn’t look as bad as it felt (at least the last few patterns.  The first part of the lesson wasn’t pretty, I don’t care what she says!)  I’m looking forward to the point in the near future when I have re-installed the responsiveness buttons, and have fixed that dratted shoulder!

 

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Moment by moment

January 16, 2011 3 Comments

Cantering to the right

The last few days have been illuminating, starting on Thursday.  I didn’t ride on Thursday- work was catching up with me, and I had zero energy – so I gave my lesson to one of Christy’s other students, and she rode Maddie.  It has been a long time since I’ve seen Mads go and it was fun to watch – and revealing.    Mads went beautifully for H. and she didn’t hang on the left rein whatsoever.  That provided more conclusive proof that the issues with the left rein are operator error – and not the big mare’s fault.

So when I rode Saturday, I was resolved to practice what Christy had me work on during our most recent lesson – giving the left rein when bending or circling to the right, while being sure to hold that right (outside) rein.   I worked at it – somewhat fruitlessly – giving the inside rein, while trying to keep my hands even and avoid letting the right rein get longer – but my efforts didn’t produce the quality bending I was hoping to generate.

But then it happened.  I caught myself shifting my right shoulder forward – effectively giving the right rein away.  Eureka!  So now I know what my next personal project is – fixing my shoulder alignment.  A review of some recent videos provided additional confirmation. But at least I know what the underlying cause of my difficulties, so I can take aim at fixing the issue.

Today Steph and I headed out to the barn early, to beat the rush because we both wanted to work on some things with minimal distractions.  I wanted to work on making my transitions more crisp, and (of course) the rein balance info.  We warmed up stretching and bending, and I really focused on keeping my right shoulder back, even with my left, rather than letting it creep forward.  I did catch myself a couple times, but overall, I was pretty happy with the way things were going.

Mads gives me a nice "little trot," reducing the length of her stride, and bringing her back up, in response to my half halt

I took my nice bending and started to work on transitions, shifting from walk to trot to walk again, asking for a prompt response from the mare, while also keeping her round.  As we worked, I found I found I had a nicely forward horse and so I asked for the canter, and got a a decent upward transition.

It’s easy to look good on Mads – she has the nicest, most rhythmic canter and it’s fun to ride.  We haven’t worked much in this gait, and I need to work on swinging my hips, staying with (and influencing the gait.)  That’s on the list of things to do.

Mada has the nicest uphill canter. Now I just need to do a better job of riding it!

I was really happy with our short canter, and the downward transition was nice too.  I kept her at a trot after that canter, mixing up the pattern, because Mads sometimes does start to anticipate the canter, taking it upon herself to offer it freely at every subsequent upward transition.   So I redoubled the transitions, throwing in some halts, too.  As much as she wanted to hop ahead, Mads was very responsive to the half halt, and I liked the quality of the little trot she gave me, though I did have to work hard with my core to hold her there.

It was a satisfying ride, laying groundwork for the next set of skills I need to improve.

(Special shout out to Steph, thanks for taking all the video!)

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