The Fun Stuff

 Last Friday I was happy to see a few fences set up in ring for my lesson. My brain was still fried from our dressage heavy lessons and jumping felt so much easier. Our warm-up was pretty short and sweet, focusing on getting Cinder forward with minimal effort on my part. We did some shortening and lengthening of her stride to check adjustability before we started to jump. 

Cin's nickname in the barn is Hotdog, so when I saw the Mane Jane hotdog spur straps, I had to get them. Now I'm on the hunt for a hotdog charm to clip into her braids. 

We started over fences with a cross rail on a diagonal going back and forth, stopping on a straight line. We then moved on to two brush boxes that were set up on the center line with no standards. I was slightly worried because Cin can sometimes get wiggly to jumps without standards and has run out before, but she was totally fine with these. 

There were two outside verticals set and we did those in a big circle. A wanted me to make the circle big enough that it wasn't a jumper turn to them, but not so big that I was cantering in space forever. The first time through them Cin was a bit behind my leg and I had to move her up a bit to both. They weren't bad jumps, but not super great ones either. During our second pass I thought I had her in front of my leg, but when I went to steady to both fences she broke to the trot. But third time was the charm. We did a circle before starting and I made sure to rev her up a bit and both fences flowed really well. We quit on that good note. 

The barn hosted a Muddy Princess mud run over the weekend and they parked in Cin's pasture and she was concerned about it

For my lesson on Monday, A asked if I wanted to jump or flat. The same few fences were set up, along with a mini jump chute. To both of our surprise, I said flat. The jump configuration was a little boring and why waste time and effort on them again. In the trot work we did some small circles, focusing on bringing the outside shoulder around and getting Cinder to really sit on her butt. A said she wanted to play around with baby walk pirouettes, something Cin's never done. It took me a few tries to understand how much I had to whoa with my hand, but go with my leg. 

After a few attempts each way, as I was coming out of a pirouette, A told me to canter and both Cinder and I were like WTF? I asked and she kinda scrambled into it. Poor Cin felt overwhelmed but she stayed with me and kept trying. A would have us canter a few circles, back to the walk, walk pirouette a time or two, then back to canter out of the pirouette. Our attempts were very rough and much more huntery than real dressagey, but I was proud of both of us for toughing it out.  Cinder said it was very hard work and that she was very tired. I told A that it was really fun and that I like this type of dressage. 

My Brain's Broken

 Cinder got her shoe put back on last week and we jumped right back into the hard stuff. Trainer A has started focusing on the flying changes with Cin, and in both my lesson last Saturday and Monday we worked on them. And it broke my brain. 

Trainer A's Sea Lion filly was born a week and a half ago with mom giving absolutely no signs of foaling so everyone was super excited for SURPRISE BABY!! And don't worry, her legs have straightened out, she was like 12hrs old in this pic

To set up the flying changes, A has us schooling canter leg yields. The leg yields themselves aren't super great yet, and the spurs definitely help with them. Cinder is still in the " want to go forward fast" vs "go sideways" stage with asking for the leg yields and I tend to get a bit discombobulated trying to package her and keep her from squirting out in front of me. 

All ready figured out that she loves butt scratches

What really broke my brain was when A told me while tracking right to keep Cinder's haunches towards the right, but then push her over to the left. I legit couldn't figure out how to work my legs to make that happen. I had to stop and told A "I don't know how to do that." She walked me through what she wanted me to do, then as I picked the canter back up told me again where to place each of my legs, and how much pressure she wanted me to use. And what do you know, it worked really well. 

I'm not sure why this broke my brain so much but I think when I've done canter leg yields before they've been the kinda half assed h/j version while A is making me to the much more correct actual dressage version. Dressage is hard. 

Inavale One Day Schooling Horse Trials

 Cinder went to her second show under saddle this weekend, the Inavale One Days. We hauled down Friday afternoon and Trainer A schooled her and then showed on Saturday. 

A spicy Cinder Saturday morning

Cinder was a little wound up Friday after arriving, but we went for a long hand walk before I chucked her in her stall and went to watch some of the kids ride. When A got on, a tractor had just started aerating the warm up area and I, being the h/j person, was like "Oh no, we need to find somewhere else to ride." while A was like "WTF, no I'll just work around the tractor." And she did. She made Cinder follow the tractor for a few minutes till Cinder didn't care about it and then proceeded to ride for 30 minutes working around it. First big difference between eventers and h/j'ers. 

After all of A's students had ridden and settled in, a few of the parents broke out the BBQ and we had a team dinner sitting around the trailers and campers. I tucked Cinder in for the night and left while A was rounding up the kids for course walks. I kinda wanted to walk the XC course, but I had worked in the morning before leaving to haul Cinder and I was exhausted. I was more than happy to pull the ammy owner card and not have to walk the course. 

Saying hi to the judge

For Saturday, we would be juggling A's rides on her gelding going Training, A's rides on Cinder and one of A's students at Beginner Novice (but in different divisions), then the rest of the kids at intro and grasshopper. A's dressage on Metro was at 8:06 and her dressage with Cinder was at 9. Thankfully one of A's friends was there to play groom for Metro so I could focus on Cinder. As soon as A was done with Metro we threw her saddle on Cinder and she got on for a long warm up. Which was definitely needed as Cinder was super spicy. The temps had dropped about 30* in four days, and we had some strong winds and a little bit of rain off and on all day Saturday, so that plus the show atmosphere had Cinder feeling herself. There were some bucks, and one impressive bolt, but about 25 mins in you could see her relax and start to focus. 

Dressage is tiring

The test went really well. Cinder did want to pop above the contact, and did a few canter steps in the second trot circle, but overall for a 4yr old's first dressage test, both A and I were really happy. She got a 38.9 which A felt was little high and put her 11th out 13. I was just happy she did the things when she was supposed to, stayed in the court, and A stayed on her back! 

My mom is 4'11" for scale

Cinder then had an almost 2 hour break before show jumping, so she got untacked and got to hang out in her stall for a while. A had both SJ and XC for Metro in between, plus her student's dressage. I brought Cinder back out right when A was done with Metro so we switched tack again and A headed out with Cinder. The SJ course was the same for all divisions, with Training having two, two stride combinations and BN just having one. 

 

The SJ arena is on the smaller side (for the recognized horse trials they use the grass fields for SJ but for the one days they use their sand arena) and they had a lot of jumps crammed in there.  And they had maxed out the height/width of all the fences. A actually said the course was more of a Novice level course than a BN, especially for a schooling show. Cinder had never actually done a full course at this height and A was a little worried about how she'd do.

Overall Cinder did great! She was definitely impressed by some of the jumps, most notably the blue barrels in the two stride which caused a number of run outs/pulled rails, but she took everything in stride and came out much more confident. A got a little lost on the way from 7 to 8 which was a really, really tight roll back turn from the two stride to a single diagonal, and wound up off her line to fence 9 and which aimed Cinder at the standard of 9.  Cinder blew past it and they had to circle back. But even with the refusal and circle, they still ended up 2 seconds under time. 

WTF are those things

I really, really wish I had kept clicking the shutter on my camera but I was certain she wasn't going to go over the barrels but she did! The fence on the right side of the frame in the bottom pic was the next fence they had to jump. It was an impossible turn.

A was kicking herself for messing up to the last fence, but I was just happy they got over everything. It was a tough course for a seasoned pair, let along a baby horse. Like I had no desire to ride that course with Peebs. Even with the 4 faults, they moved up to 10th out of 13. 

 

Cinder got about a half hour break before XC while A warmed up her student for SJ. Both A and I were expecting Cinder to be a little fried, but she seemed to settle into the whole horse show thing really well. She was happy to stand around SJ warm up, then XC warm up till it was her time to go. A didn't really do much to warm up for XC, just pop her over the logs they had set up maybe twice before ambling to the start box. She trotted out of the box and to the first fence, then let Cinder have an easy pace around the course. 

There was an option on course, either do the water or a log and trot up the mound. The log/mound route was longer, but A decided to do that instead of trying to get Cinder in the water. Which was a good idea because Cinder looked hard at the water and almost stopped at the log because she was so concerned about it being next to the water. But she walked over the long and happily trotted up and down the mound. 

Last fence

They had 8 time faults on XC, and ended with a 50.9 in 8th place out of 13. But Cinder finished happy, and much more confident which was what the outing was all about. She had her spicy, green moments, but she learned and enjoyed herself and wasn't mentally or physically fried. A was super happy with her and so was I.

What We've Been Up To

It's been a while since I've updated the blog, but it feels like not much has happened. We're chipping away at the same old, same old. Working on pace, rhythm, and bend. We've had a couple good rides and lessons, and some bad rides and lessons.

We've done some grazing too

One of our biggest works in progress right now is cantering fences. I get nervous and tighten up; Peebs is convinced cantering around the arena is way too much work and the littlest touch from me is an excuse to break to the trot. Then I have to kick him back up to the canter and he gets offended. Then we're quick and rushy, and usually crooked and not balanced. Which makes me even more nervous. It's a fun cycle. We got downgraded to ground poles, because cantering them doesn't scare me nearly as much as actual jumps. Our instructions for now are to Make Him Go Forward, at all costs.  Trainer doesn't care about his bend, or our distance to the pole, or even what lead he's on. She says Peebs has to canter till I actually ask him for a downward transition and I have to relax my hands and arm and let him go to the "fence". Because of the weather and the holiday I haven't had a lot of opportunities to jump, but our few attempts have steadily gotten better. 

And some bareback No Stirrups November

We had a great dressage lesson last Monday. We focused on getting Peebs extra round and deep, then softening and letting him carry himself. We got our first steps of actual self carriage. His left lead canter was amazing; I was able to sit still and let him carry himself. He was so soft and light in my hand, definitely the best he's ever felt. Even our right lead canter had moments of brilliance where he kinda got it, but it's for sure a lot more work then the left. Which is better than the week before where he refused to bend right at all in the canter. Baby steps.

But how can you stay mad at that face?!?

We had had a complete meltdown about bending to the right while cantering at the end of an otherwise good ground pole lesson where Peebs decided he was done and F you very much.  We were cantering up the long side to a single pole and he wanted to counter bend in the turn, throw his head up and to the left while swinging his haunches in.  He'd then grab the bit and run at the pole.  I got upset, he got upset, then trainer got on.  She tried just circling down in the far corner, but Peebs wasn't having it.  The one time she tried turning him pretty sharply, he propped up on his front end and just stopped then wouldn't move.  We did end up working through it, somewhat, but it was no where near as nice as it could have been.  But trainer told me to keep my expectations low and keep asking for a little more bend and softness each ride.  Again, baby steps when I want marathons.  If nothing else, Peebs will keep me humble.

Up and Down

Besides the barn drama going down (barn meeting this afternoon should be interesting!), my rides over the past couple weeks have either been great or drama central.

Two weeks ago we had a great lesson with TS, our chiro and dressage instructor. We worked and the same thing my trainer has us working on, getting him rounder, deeper, and in front of my leg, as well as slowing the transitions. TS kept telling me to firm my fists to pulse the bit in his mouth and I liked how it worked. Something about that phrase makes more sense to me than "keep your fingers closed". TS also tightened my curb chain a few links more than I normally do, and told me to be more assertive with my curb rein. 

Pics from a trainer ride a couple weeks ago

The next day we had a jumping lesson that was not nearly as good. I think a large part of it was that we were both tired from the day before, and pushing each other's buttons a bit. We warmed up trotting fences ok but once trainer said to canter I got nervous and picked at Peebs who got pissed and fast. We had a couple awful canter fences before going back to flat work to chill both of us out. We tried trotting fences again and while it was ok, we were both pretty tense. 

Last week our lesson was much better, but we stuck to trotting the single fences, and just cantering down the line. For some reason trotting in and cantering out of a line is fine, but catering single fences is terrifying. We managed to put a trot course together and I was super happy with how good we both were. 

Monday I pulled on my big girl breeches and not only jumped on my own, but cantered single fences! The first few were awful; I pulled, he got fast, we got shitty distances. We had a couple little arguments but I survived, and we worked through it. We ended by cantering the vertical above off a long approach and both times it felt nice.

Pulled on my big girl breeches and cantered a single fence, on a long approach, and didn't die #maybethereshopeformeyet #goodboypeebers

A video posted by Molly Basney (@mollybasney) on Sep 19, 2016 at 5:10pm PDT

 I figure for now we're going to have crappy, ugly distances and that's ok and we'll survive. Once I get the fear out of the way, and actually ride my horse, things are so much better. 

Triple Whammy

Poor Peebs and I got a 1-2-3 punch this weekend. We had a jump lesson Friday night and while we kept it together it was far from our best.

My trainer's been out of town for vacation and work so we haven't seen her in a few weeks. I've been feeling somewhat directionless and in need of guidance. Unfortunately Peebs was up and spooked pretty hard a couple of times at goblins in the bushes. We mostly just tried to keep him calm and relaxed, trotting fences and lines. The one time we attempted to canter a fence he bolted out of the scary corner then went sideways. We did manage to trot out of the corner and over the jump, but didn't attempt cantering a fence again. Another horse bolted in that some corner later that night, so there really must have been something there.

The whip and the neigh neigh

Saturday there was a western dressage clinic in the barn that we rode in, except in jump tack, that completely fried the pony's brain. I told the clinician that Peebs likes his face to be left alone and she said that her style is a lot of seat and leg and to ride them front to back. Sounded good to me. She had me really focus on his head in our transitions, keeping him deep and round. While she did want me focusing on keeping my seat active and bumping him with my legs, she did want a lot of contact with his mouth.

Clinician and another rider

Going left was pretty good but going right, his hard side, we hit a brick wall. He got very pissy, started sucking back and not going forward. She had me shorten my reins and lift my hand to follow his head, but my reins ended up being about a foot long. My hands were at the end of the braided section of rein, with my arms fully extended. I was supposed to be channeling him forward but he decided that going up was a better option. He popped up with his front end, not a full out rear but definitely a warning. She kept telling me to turn him and send him forward but by the third time he did it I mentally said f**k this and turned him left and let him walk on a long rein. 

We were able to trot left, do a half circle and trot right, then go back left before we called it quits. She told me I need to ride with my reins that short for a few weeks for him to get it. Umm, no. How bout not. I'm really not doing a good job of clinics this year.

Before the carnage

Sunday my BO was doing some fence and pasture work and we turned a few of the horses out together. Peebs went out with my BO's young gelding, who he's been turned out with before, and one of her mares. Peebs and Charlie were fine but once Liza was out it all went to hell. Liza kicked Peebs in the shoulder and they separated and seemed ok for almost an hour till he got too close to her grazing and she went after him again. A scrape on the right front, a kick to inside of his left hind gaskin and cannon bone later I pulled him out. He was a bit gimpy at first, but seemed fine by the time we were back in the barn. I hosed and washed everything, liberally applied vetericyn, buted him up, and left him in his stall. Hopefully he won't be too sore tomorrow. So much for a relaxing end to a killer weekend. Sorry bubba!!

Just Do It

Just do it's been my theme for the past month. That and "long, active legs". I don't know what it's coming from but I've been more motivated (for the most part), more confident, and more committed to getting baby McKenna trained.

Bam!

We had a dessage lesson with TS and that's where the long, active leg came from. McKenna loves to hang on my right rein and blow off my right leg. I got dinged in the lesson for holding too much with the right rein (hence why she loves to lean on it, funny how that works) and being too nice with my right leg. I wasn't supposed to completely drop my right rein, just give and release every few strides. Once I got the more right leg thing into my head McKenna seemed to really respond just need to make sure my heel is down when I'm getting after her. Still working on the whole holding too much with that rein though. 

We've only had one jump lesson lately, and while it poured rain and we were forced inside, it actually was a pretty damn nice lesson. I had set up a baby grid a few days before the lesson, a cross rail one stride to a pole one stride to another pole and taken McKenna thru it. While she got a big rushy she handled it well. 

For the lesson trainer set a one stride starting with two cross rails. McKenna decided that the baby grid was super exciting and we didn't have brakes coming out. She got run into the wall a time or two to remember how to stop after the fence but as soon as trainer raised the second fence to a vertical she was much more calm and relaxed coming out. 

Trainer kept raising the second fence and then made it an oxer (McKenna's first under saddle!) and then raised it more. We ended up with a solid 2'9" oxer coming out. McKenna did rub it, but considering it was at the end of the lesson and she's never jumped that high or an oxer under saddle before I was super thrilled with her. She never once hesitated thru the grid, jumped everything easily, and once the fence went up she was quiet and manageable on the off side. Almost makes me want to rethink selling her.

Finding Our New Groove

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind. I had my last day at my old job on Labor Day then left on vacation. My mom and I spent a few days in NYC before going to New Jersey for a cousin's wedding. We flew home a week ago and I started at my new job on Monday. So far I'm loving it!! The people are great, they pay more, my commute and gas has been cut in half and I basically get paid to play with dogs all day!

What Dollar Rent-a-Car gives you when you reserve a compact. Not the first or last time I'll drive a truck in a skirt and heels!

The only downside, if you can call it that, to the new job is that it's full time vs the three quarters time I was working before. But with my commute going from 50mins to 25 I'm actually doing about a half hour more a day.

If you ever get the chance to see Kinky Boots do it! It was fantastic!!

Between that and some new boarders moving in I've been trying to figure out my new barn schedule. The barn is a lot busier than it was this summer when, for the most part, I had the place to myself. Right now McKenna is still outside 24/7 but once it really starts raining she'll come in and I'll be battling for arena turn out time.

McKenna also turned into the thing from the black lagoon and earned herself a bath today.

While I was gone I had my BO's dressage trainer ride McKenna for me a couple times. She's seen me ride and we've talked quite a bit so she was familiar with the mare. She absolutely adored McKenna, saying she has much bigger movement under saddle than she expected and that she has tons of potential. I was really happy that when I got on this week McKenna was a lot softer on the right rein than before. I think I've worked a deal with BS to have more training rides in the mare's future.

To the Left, to the Left

Sorry if that song is now stuck in your head but it's been stuck in mine all weekend so I thought I'd share the wealth!  I had a last minute dressage lesson Friday night where we focused on all things left.  Mainly getting McKenna off my left leg and moving more into my right rein.

Looks almost like a legit dressage pony

I might have had an impulse eBay buy that came Friday morning.  I found a good deal on a barely used Collegiate dressage saddle that I put a low ball offer in that won. TS checked the fit of it before my lesson and it actually fits McKenna pretty darn well.  TS recommended some reflocking in the future, after the mare finishes growing/filling out but the Ogilvy helps for now. I did have to punch a couple holes in the stirrup leathers it came with, but being a shorty I'm used to it.  I do have a black dressage bridle on the way because I hate mixing brown and black tack.

As for the lesson, we only did walk-trot but it was some of the best and hardest work we've had yet.  TS was really getting after me about not getting after McKenna.   I'm being too easy on the mare and it's time to up the ante. We really focused on our leg yields going left.  The mare absolutely doesn't want to move off my left leg, or will move her shoulders but not her hind end.  I was given a dressage whip and told to lightly tap her with it.  McKenna had the predicted melt down, "OH MY GOD MOM IS BEATING ME!!!!!!!!" but after a couple half hearted hops up and down she gave it up and went back to work. I was really happy with the fact that she could come back to work after losing her little pony brain. That almost felt better than the leg yields we ended with!

Nom nom time

She got the day off Saturday to think about what she learned, then we went right back to it on Sunday.  I didn't drill the leg yields as much as we had in the lesson, and I didn't get the whip out, but we still had some good work.  I also cantered in the dressage saddle for the first time and holy crap do I love it!  I could actually SIT ON MY HORSE during our canter, wrap my legs around her, and not perch on her back.  It felt like I was cantering bareback.  I am so so so happy with my impulse buy!

What Success is to Me

I've been mentally writing this post for the past couple days, and think it's perfect that Tracy posted on it as well.  On Saturday we had another dressage lesson with TS and on Sunday our massage therapist was out to work on McKenna. On both days I was complimented on just how far the mare's come and how she seems like (finally) she's growing up.

Tia trying to get McKenna to play in the paddocks.  McKenna says "I've grown up now, I don't do that anymore"

Our lesson went really, really well.  We started with some walk-halt-rein back exercises that I've been doing after watching the Melanie Smith Taylor clinic. I've found that it helps McKenna focus, especially went she wants to be a bit up or spooky.  TS really had me focus on making sure McKenna was straight.  Both directions she wanted to float her haunches to the left, but a little left leg and right rein fixed that.

We then moved on to trot work where we were again complemented on how far McKenna's come.  She was able to come round, work the whole arena, and change directions and bend quietly.  TS had us come back to the walk to star some leg yields, and once we go them we tried it at the trot.  I've attempted leg yields a few times, but I'm never quite sure I have them on my own.  TS said they looked very good, the only thing I need was a bit more opening outside rein to help guide her over.  We did get told to not do too many; McKenna's the type of horse that once she's got something she gets cranky if we drill it too much. She's got a healthy ego and knows when she's right and doesn't see the point in doing something again.

The look of a champ

Four our canter work McKenna did her normal routine going right: counter bend, slow down, and not want to go forward.  TS said I was nagging too much with my inside leg, to give her one or two swift "karate kicks" then take pressure off.  I was also sitting too deep in my left seat bone when I needed to shift my weight to the right.  Once I figured myself out and quit nagging the mare, we had some nice canter transitions.  Funny how that works.  TS had me do a circle at each short end then start some shallow serpentines, from the rail to the quarter line and back, to introduce the feeling of counter canter.  Our first few times were pretty rough, but we improved each time and that's what matters.  That's our homework for next time.

At the end of the lesson we stopped and chatted with TS in the center of the right and she kept complimenting me and McKenna (including lots of head scratches and baby talk), saying just what an nice horse she is and how far she's become.  It really made my happy and I realized that this is what success is.  It's taking an unbalanced, somewhat crazy young OTTB and bringing them along myself.  It's that feeling of accomplishment after a great lesson or hack knowing you put this horse together and knowing there's still more to come.

Lesson 2 of 2: Motion is Lotion

For my second lesson on Sunday we only did a half hour with our dressage instructor since Tia has already gone once.  Tia's usually a pretty easy going mare, not super demonstrative or emotional, but man the look she gave me when I went to tack her up again was pure evil.  She was not a happy camper.  It was very close to the look she gives when you try to pull her mane.

Pic from before my jump lesson, forgot to put with the other post

TS, our dressage instructor/chiro, has adjusted Tia before but never seen her ridden.  As I warmed up at the walk, she talked about how a lot of hunters tend to be very stiff and locked in their neck.  They go in that hunter frame, but don't use their neck correctly and their neck muscles tend to be very ropy and stiff.  And unfortunately Tia is a good example of that. She's happy to go along in a hunter frame, but if you ask her to really round up and go in a more dressagey way she actually comes up lame.  TS said that's because she's trying to use muscles that she hasn't in a very long time and has to change her way of going.  TS said that the only way to get her to change and get through it was to get her to move correctly. Our plan for the lesson was to work on unlocking Tia's neck and trying to develop a deeper, dressagey frame.

My trainer said that with her long whiskers Tia looked like a goat, so we started calling her goat mare.  I did take the not so subtle hint and clip her.

TS had me go into the trot, and do a lot of the same exercises she had me do with McKenna last time.  Post on the inside diagonal, push Tia out, exaggerate the bend.  To the right Tia was lot better than the left and after a couple times around the ring she really started to soften and give.  It was like once we worked through the "scar tissue" as TS put it, she unlocked this gorgeous flowy stride.  She was super light in my hand and I could feel her back come up and start swinging. I'm really sad we didn't get pics or video of it.  The canter was the same, I could feel her come up to me and she had (at least it felt like) this ground eating, hack winning stride. TS checked her neck again after the end of the lesson and said she could feel a difference in her neck muscles even after that short of a ride.  Made me feel pretty happy!

We Do Stuff & Things

It's been hard scheduling lessons with my regular trainer for the past few weeks, and I've been feeling like I'm spinning my wheels with what to do with McKenna.  We walk-trot-canter, try not to have expoldy baby moments, maybe add some pole work in but generally its the same day to day.

On Saturday I had the barn to myself and decided to go for it and set up a cross rail and a set of trot poles in the indoor.  Our indoor is too small to have both set up if I have to share the arena, and since most of the other boarders don't jump I feel it's not fair to them if I take over the space with jumps.   We worked back and forth over the poles to warm up, stopping on a straight line and doing turns on the forehand or haunches to reverse.  McKenna was great, kept a nice rhythm and pace over the poles and didn't get rushy.

Queens of awkward trot fences

I then added trotting the cross rail and stopping on a straight line.  Again, she started out great before the fence, but was dragging on my hand in the stop.  I finally let her hit the wall with her nose and then she seemed to get to the point. McKenna did start getting bold going to the fence after a few times, but a couple small circles with random halting fixed that. My friend showed up towards the end of our ride and was kind enough to snap a couple pics. 

Sunday we had a lesson scheduled with our chiropractor/dressage instructor.  She watched us warm up, then readjusted the German martingale, lowering it on McKenna's neck so it sat more like draw reins coming from the girth, and moved the clip from the first d-ring on the reins to the second, giving me more leverage.  McKenna was not amused.

The main focus of the lesson was getting McKenna to over bend and work deep in a frame.  She wanted to be stuck behind my leg so Tina had me post on the wrong diagonal to help encourage her inside hind to step up. It took a good 10-15 minutes of trotting to really get her to where she needed to be. Tina told me to think about getting my inside seat bone on her stifle to help push her into my outside rein.  I'd never heard that before, but it helped. We did lots of walk breaks and changes of direction and except for one mini spook she was really well behaved. We also schooled some turns on the forehand, trying to keep a forward feel.

Love

Our canter work followed the trot work, only less of it.  The over bending and deep work really tired her out quick in the canter so if we got a couple good circles we called it good. We only rode for a half hour but both mine and McKenna's butts were kicked! We're going to try and have Tina back in a month or so for another lesson.

You can see her mini buck/tail swish about half way through the video, as we are cantering along the far wall. It feels bigger than it looks.

Control the Shoulders, Control the World

That was the theme for the dressage clinic yesterday.  I rode Buddy first and we mostly worked on the trot, getting him to yield the outside shoulder and working on lengthening.  We were riding outside and Mary had me stay on a 20 meter circle in the middle of the ring so Buddy couldn't lean on the walls.  I wasn't allowed to touch my inside rein; I had to turn him from my body and outside leg.  Man was it hard trying to keep him on the circle!

Once we had a few nice circles in a row and he had started to drop down and soften Mary had me start asking for lengthening on the circle.  We started for half a circle, then moved up to a few times around with the lengthened stride.  After we got that she had us go down the long side and ask for the lengthening.  The first few times I was too tentative and Mary kept saying "more, more, more!"  The third time through we got it!  Buddy really stepped out and it felt like his shoulders were dislocated from the way he was moving. 

After a walk break we went the other way and tried to replicate it.  He picked up the canter a couple times but had a couple decent tries.  We never got that same OMG feeling as we had the first way but it was still really nice work for the little cow pony!  Both Buddy and I were pretty tired so we quit with just trot work.

Luckily we had a lunch break and a couple other rides before I had to go again with Wednesday.  We decided to take her inside and I rode in the western saddle, just in case.  Mary had us start walking with small 10 meter circles thrown in whenever she felt tense or quick. Once she was somewhat relaxed we picked up the trot and she immediately zoomed off.  Mary told me to just stay with her and let her go.  I was to slowly pick up my outside rein and use my posting and the small circles to slow her down.  We had a couple minutes of borderline out of control trot before Wednesday started to calm down and relax.  Mary had me reach up with my inside hand and pet her neck and talk to her and that really helped, every time I said "good girl" I could feel he relax and slow down.

We took a walk break and Mary had me do small figure 8s, using my body and outside leg to turn her.  Wed would get very tense every time I touched the inside rein so I was under strict orders to leave a loop in it and ignore it.  Again, so much harder said than done!  At this point my thighs were staring to protest and I though we were going to run into a wall a couple of times. We ended with some trot-walk-trot transitions which were really nice.  I was actually having to put leg on her to keep her trotting by the end.  Mary said with a horse like Wed you have to be very deliberate and methodical, give her structure and be her alpha.  She also said that she couldn't have ridden Wed any better than I had and that made me feel great!  I'm always worried I'll screw up Wed even more, but its wonderful to hear that I'm not!!

Back to Work

I had this whole post all ready on my phone,  but apparently it didn't post.  Grrr!  Buddy went back to work this week after his after show break.  He was cranky on Monday, it was windy and that always fires him up.  We worked in the draw reins and while he threw a major tantrum going left we ended on a good note.

Tuesday he got the day off as we were having a barn BBQ to celebrate my and one of the horse's birthdays.  Yesterday I set up a gymnastic, vertical bounce vertical one stride oxer, and had a blast.  He was rushy at first, just very excited to be jumping.  As long as I remembered to have a forward, active trot to the first fence it flowed very well.  My friend suggested cantering a large circle before coming back to the trot and going to the line and it helped a lot.  I can't let him sucker me into a slow trot; he then scrambles down the line and it gets a little dicey.

Our fire pit at the BBQ

Today he got lunged and I'll do a quick ride Friday in prep for a dressage clinic with Mary on Saturday.  I originally wasn't going to ride, but a spot opened up and I got some birthday money so we're doing it!  I hope we've improved since December when Mary saw us last.  I'm also going to do a ride on Connie's mare Wednesday, the one who was bucking people off.  She's had some time off as her back was pretty sore and we've been taking it slow trying to keep her relaxed under saddle. 

So far so good!

Amy came out today to try out Buddy.  She seemed to like him, and really enjoyed that he has lead changes as the past couple horses she's leased didn't.  They just did some flat work today and she'll ride him again on Friday.

Yesterday we did a flat hack with the draw reins.  I was expecting him to be cranky since I rode during dinner time, but he was really good.  He was soft and responsive and felt great.  We worked on transitions and had some nice upward ones.  A few times he actually picked up the canter on his own!  The only problem was going from a free walk with a long rein to a medium walk with connection.  He would either trot or canter off when I picked up contact or stop and not move.  To work on that, we did about 100 transitions.  We ended by walking around with contact till he relaxed into it.

We have a dressage pony!

Yesterday we had a dressage clinic at the barn.  Mary Arnold is a local trainer that Connie has worked on and off with for many years, and right after I first moved into the barn about 5yr ago we had a clinic with her.  Unfortunately I don't remember much about the last one other than I had a decent ride so I was cautiously optimistic about this clinic.

I had to work first thing this morning and made it to the barn in time to watch  most of Anna's ride with Phoenix.  They were working on getting Phoenix to be more responsive to Anna's aides by doing trot-walk-trot transitions.  They also did some leg yields at the walk and trot; Anna's first time doing them. Once she figured out what she was supposed to be doing they nailed them!  Mary said at the end of the ride she remembered Phoenix and I and said that he's come a long way and is very nice horse for Anna to be riding.  Made me feel like a proud mama!

For my lesson, I got on about 20mins early to warm Buddy up.  The lessons were being held in the indoor, so we went outside to warm up.  Luckily we managed to find a window when it wasn't raining.  It's been wet and cold and I've noticed over the past month that it takes Bud a lot longer to warm up.  He was little cranky and behind my leg, and I tried really hard to pick at him. 

When we went in to start the ride Buddy decided to wake up.  He started marching off right away and instead of half halting him to slow down, Mary had me focus on driving into my hand and using his forward motion to get him round.  It worked well!  Buddy seemed a little surprised that I wasn't pulling on him and our usual tug-of-war wasn't going to happen. 

We started our trot work by doing some circles and getting him to soften to the outside rein.  To the right wasn't too bad, but he was really resistant to give to my right rein going left.  We did some counter bend and once he softened brought him back to the left bend.  Mary said that he's pretty stiff in his right shoulder and needs to work on learning how balance himself.  We did have some very nice moments when he did give and started to really use his hind end.  Mary had us go down the long side and ask for a lengthening while giving on the inside rein.  It felt wonderful and we got some nice compliments!

We gave Buddy a walk break, then went back to a circle at the trot.  Mary had us spiral in and out on the circle and once we had an nice soft trot, she had me think about leg yielding him into the canter.  It took me a couple tried to figure out what I was supposed to do with each leg and rein at what time but once I got it, oh man did we have some nice transitions.  Instead of leaping or rushing into the canter he felt more balanced and round.  He couldn't hold that balanced canter for long and Mary said that's fine; again he needs to learn how to re balance himself. 

I'm so glad I decided to do the clinic and hopefully Mary will be coming back in 6-8wks.  Everyone at the barn had good rides and has homework to do.  Mary was super nice and I'm glad that she likes Buddy. 

Both boys were tired and got to play in the arena together today

ADD Pony

Buddy has decided dressage isn't for him.  While he wasn't bad at our dressage show on Saturday, he wasn't good either.  He was very ADD and wouldn't focus on me for more than a couple strides at a time. We warmed up pretty well, but once we were doing our test everything seemed to distract him. We had some nice moments but overall our tests lacked focus.  We received a 57% in training test 3, and a 56% in First level 1.  In the comments, the judge called him very cute and willing, but did mention that he needs more impulsion and swing thru his back.  We'll keep working on it, and hopefully do better next time.

Getting there

After our couple giraffe-esk rides, I put Buddy back in the German martingale.  It helped so much!!  He didn't even protest that much other than being a little behind my leg in our upward transitions.  

Yesterday we did a little longer ride, working on some of the movements in our tests.  We worked on our trot lengthenings, and had a bit of breakthrough.  I usually post during the lengthenings and Bud usually just speeds up.  I tried sitting yesterday while keeping my hands up and set.  It seemed to work; I could feel him start to lengthen his stride without rushing.  I tried again today, and while it wasn't as good, it was still an improvement over before.

We did a little shorter ride today, as he was more compliant and moving off  my leg better.  We schooled more transitions today and after our work we wandered out to the field and popped over a couple jumps.  We have one more ride tomorrow before showing on Saturday.

Dressage'n it up

Yesterday I went with one of the 4H girls to a little dressage schooling show.  I didn't get my stuff together in time to send in an entry for Buddy, but I told Abbi I would go help coach and be her reader.  Unfortunatley right as she started tacking up, it started raining.  On the plus side, it was warm, around 70, but it kept a light rain during all of her two tests.  Of course as soon as she got off, it cleared up. 

Abbi did really well, a 58.5% and a 62% in training level.  She had a couple little bobbles, but for her first dressage show she did great!  Watching her go, I really regret not taking Bud.  I know we could have done pretty well. 

Today Buddy and I practiced movements from training 3 and first level 1 tests. Our trot lengthenings still need a little work, but our canter lenghtenings were actually pretty nice. In the stretchy trot circles, Bud stretches down well, but tends to speed up.  I had a little light bulb moment.....to keep him in a nice frame and pace I really have to close my thighs and slow my post to slow his rhythm. Riding like that is better than a ThighMaster!  I could feel the burn and I know it will be worse tomorrow!

They are having another schooling show in August and I think like 6 of us from the barn are planning on go.  We'll have a regular caravan up there!

Naughty, naughty ponies

I haven't ridden much in the past few days...my barn owners were out of town last week and I was picking up afternoon chores.  And thanks to Murphy's Law, I was slammed at my regular job, so by the time I did chores I was too exhausted to do much with Buddy or Zoe.

They both got turned out Saturday and Sunday in the grass pastures. I've turned them out together, and so far they seem to get along fine. Since they haven't been out much yet this year, I only put them out for a couple hours.  Both days they were pretty easy to catch to bring back in, but I could tell they weren't happy about it.  Yesterday I grabbed Zoe and started walking both ponies in.  She stopped, and I when I gave her lead rope a yank, she walked forward and bit the back of my arm.  Man did it hurt!

I smacked her with the end of the rope, and we had a long discussion about proper behavior.  All the way into the barn I had her head right by me, with a hard  hold on the lead.  I have a faint bruise on my arm, but its swollen and every time I touch it it hurts.

Today I put Connie's dressage saddle on Buddy, along with a different bit.  I usually ride him in a slow twist bit, but since that's not legal for dressage I put him in a french link. I've ridden him in a french link before and it worked fine for flat work, but didn't give me enough brakes for jumping. He threw a major tantrum.  I don't know if he didnt' like the saddle (Connie used to ride him in it all the time, and it seems to fit fine) or the bit.  I ended up getting off about half way thru the ride and putting the German martingale on. It helped, but he was still pretty hot.  Nik is going to ride him tomorrow, and I'm going to try to lunge him first.