Lesson #20 Dressage

First im going to start off with a quick weekend recap....

FINALLY i got canter in both directions... WITH NO BUCKS... we stuck to a 20M circle defined by pylons because i cant keep him from dropping in without visual aids still. We also slowed down and got perfect leg yeilds to the right and left on the normal wall... the scarey wall not so much.

Now on to the lesson;

We did a lot of work with Trot poles there were about 3 sets of trot poles set up around the arena and we would have to do a circle over 3 once in the middle once on the small end and once on the bigger end. Then we would cut accross the diagonal going over a set then accross another diagonal going over another set. G tried to cheat a little on the circle by attempting to bulge out and cut the circle by the trot poles but with a lot of work and even more leg on we managed to get it.

We then did the circle exercise at the canter... I started out going clockwise got him into a canter (no bucks or kicking out) and it was a bit of a struggle to get him to go over the canter poles but we managed to get 3x and it was time to change direction.. which is when i started to psyc myself out thinking the new direction was his bad way... HAH in all the concentrating i didnt notice that the first way we went was his bad side... so when i asked for the canter we effortlessly went over the canter poles 3x on the other side. He got lots of pats and loving for this and i had a big grin on my face.

After that he was gung ho about the canter i had to keep bringing him back to a trot because all he wanted to do was canter... he would do it any time i put some leg on with his ears back listening to me so i know he was trying to anticipate what i was going to ask him to do so he didnt get into any trouble for that i just asked him nicely to bring it back and we carried on.

We did a bit of leg yeilding to the wall from the quarter line in both directions and shoulders in(? i think) along the long wall in both directions, which he did try to get fast and trot off but he was much more behaved than the last time we did it in a lesson.

My coach then asked if we wanted to do a few trot poles up to a little fence and immediatly my head started going into over drive and i got a little panicked... but i agreed and said as long as it was just troting up we were game for what ever. G did amazing all i had to do was direct him to it and keep myself balanced and he had no issues it felt amazing. We only did a little cross rail 2-3x then i walked him out and gave him tons of loving. We have come so far in our lessons i was so proud of both of us.

Last night after my lesson i reflected a little on where i was last year... around this time last year i was terrified to ride him he reduced me to tears a few times and i was contemplating that maybe he was in fact way to much horse for a greenie like me, But now we are doing little cross rails, our canter is coming along i have ridden through a rear, kicking out, bucking and bolting. I am so proud of where we are we are turning into such a great team! I am so blessed to have an amazing friend who knew i could do it from day one and pushed me through all my excuses and my fears.... and now im so lucky to be at a barn surrounded by supportive people who can see us going places and help encourage and cheer us on every step of the way.

I truly am blessed in the little horse world i am building. Including this blog i appreciate every single post you guys make <3

Tuesday- Off
Wednesday- Maybe a trainer ride
Thursday- Lesson w/ Jump coach
Friday- Off

Lesson #19 Dressage

Thanks to everyone who has been reading my blog and posting their thoughts. Most people are suggesting pain or something that is physically limiting his ability to canter on that lead... I genuinly do not think this is the case at all and i will explain further in this post. Just wanted to say thank you sometimes i dont think of things and its nice to hear the suggestions.

Last night i had a lesson with my dressage coach who is also an Myofacial Release whatevertheyarecalled for people and horses so i knew that if it was a pain issue or anything of the sort my coach would pick it up so before the lesson i advised her exactly what it was that we have been experiencing so she could watch a little closer and we could go from there.

We started the lesson out with circles, one small, one medium and one large and we would start a large circle then sprial down do the smaller circle then do the same down to the even smaller circle at a trot focusing on rythem and keep the trot balance and at an even steady pace which G did great at. He was flexing beautifully clock wise and pretty deccent counter clock wise which is opposite of out canter issues which really helps to push that its a balance thing.

We did some laps around the arena trying to keep that steady pace and tempo down the long wall asking for a nice flex in all of the corners. We would focus on straightness while cutting accross our diagonals and some moving off the leg in our single bending lines.

Then my coach wanted to try to play a game of "leap frog" where the first rider is trotting around the arena and the other rider canters to catch up behind the first rider and so on... Counter clock wise was no problem for G he was a little quick but i still felt like i had control and we were able to do it a few times. Then we changed direction and it was a different story, the first time i asked i got a little buck (which was ok i will take the bucking getting less and less im perfectly ok with that) The second time i asked i got no buck but he more or less grabbed the bit and fought me for it he ignored my leg and left the circle i was able to keep him on the correct end of the arena but he then proceeded to ignore my seat and it took a bit to bring him back into a trot... which he instantly tried to drop to a walk. We tried one more time but he did the same thing... after a short walk break we moved on to leg yeilds at the wall.

G has such a hard time understanding what im asking so i have been trying to ask different ways but its trying to find whats the attitude and him trying to get out of doing it and what is the genuine attempts. We would leg yeild at a walk down the long wall then trot the short wall. The other girl did great... G would ignore my request to half halt and attempt to trot the whole way. So i would bring him back come to a complete halt and try to get him into it... again he would either back away from the wall getting 90 degrees from it or he would try to walk into the wall.... as soon as i got a few steps i would allow him to trot off...

Im happy to be back in lessons because its nice having someone on the ground with more experience than me to work with G. Everyone absolutly loves him and says that he will be amazing once we get him in the proper mind set. Last night i called my old trainer T and talked with her about whats been going on... she has known G as long as i have she has ridden him on multiple occasions, i explained the whole situation to her and we both agreed that its more of a stubborness issue that come from him being so weak on that side... he doesnt want to do it because its hard and because he used to be able to bring me to tears when he pulled stuff like this he is resorting to that again, so im trying to keep my chin up and i will give G a couple days off to mentally process the lesson as well as give his body a break because we have been doing a lot of harder stuff and he doesnt have as much muscle as i would like at this point.

Thursdys lesson is cancelled so i will be out there on Saturday to do lots of lunging on his bad side and to work on some of the stuff from my lesson. Im also going to bring out my dressage saddle and do the next few rides in that saddle just to rule out saddle fit as an issue.

Tuesday-Off
Wednesday-Off
Thursday-Off

Starting Saturday back to my 4 rides a week.

Lesson # 18 Straightness + Halt

Last night i had a new girl join me in our lesson with her spunky little mare that used to be a reining horse, so this mare was doing lots of spins and FAST... the rider thought that would be a good way to get her attention back on the task.... it wasnt overly productive but it was pretty neat watching how fast this little mare could spin.

Anyways last night i got on G and he was a bit of a brat, not listening to my leg or my seat or my hands... or anything... as my coach said he was being a "tourist" looking at everything and completely ignoring me. It took some serpentines and some 20m circles with a bend to get him focused on the task at hand, all and all about 5 minutes for his brain to get into a "time to work" mode.

My coach wanted to work on staying off the track to force me to learn to use my legs to keep him straight and how to properly get to the wall. Usually when G and i come up to a wall i would use the wall to force him to turn which is VERY lazy of me but it is an effective way of turning a large animal *ha ha*. So we worked on a few serpentines with a pole on the ground the goal was to try to keep G nice and straight while coming accross the arena and before i hit the end of the pole (which was just before the track) to have him bent around my leg starting the turn so i could then push him over with my inside leg to the wall, sounds simple huh?

Once the other girl was ready to join the lesson we worked on getting a steady rhythem and getting a nice bend on a circle while maintaining a circle... not a Squoval... believe me.. G and i are the champions of the Squoval... if there was a squoval competition we would win the olympics... just saying...

We also worked on going up and down the quarter line focusing on straightness and again turning just before the wall and pushing the horses over. My Dressage coach has completely changed my riding position so for me i also had to work on keeping my legs back a little more (i have a tendancy to push my legs forward like im riding downhill constantly) and slow my posting as well as the amount im posting.

Then we worked on the halt down the quarter line, typically i will ask for a halt and it goes like this

ask--ask----G continues to walk forward---i ask again---he takes 2 more steps----he turns --- stops for a second ---walks off without me asking him

Last night it was like this

Ask--halt...... ask to walk on---walk on

He was even squared up and everything.... needless to say G got tons of hugs and kisses and face scratches and loving, he was perfect.

Friday- off
Saturday- ride deworm
Sunday - hoping for another ride

Lesson #17 Dressage

I look forward to my Dressage lessons more than anything else because i feel like i am doing more than just riding and i can tell after my ride just by how my horse looks that i worked his mind as well as his body. (i was going to post pictures but i cant get them to rotate...)

Anyways i was running late so i had to ride my dressage lesson in my all purpose saddle. Everything started out great he stood perfect at the mounting block (both times) because i forgot my helmet the first time. I started warming him up and he was very fiesty he wanted to go and wanted to work i loved that, i loved feeling like i needed to bring him back to me as opposed to pushing him forward.

We worked on flexion on a circle making the circle bigger and smaller, when my coach noticed that G was fighting the bend to the right she wanted to work on that during the lesson. (she also corrected my possition i tend to ride with my legs to far forward and again my posting is awful).

We started down the long wall doing a leg yeild with his nose facing the wall at a walk he didnt want to move off my leg as usual so we tried it at the trot and he was much more responsive but i had a hard time keeping a rhythem and stop him from running away with me we did it quite a few times around the arena then we started on single bending lines.

Single bending lines go from one letter to x back to the same wall at the last letter G did very well with this exercise 2 weeks ago but my coach wanted to incorperate the canter so we could work on our canter to trot transitions. So the idea was to canter the short wall and do a single bending line at a sitting trot down the long wall to pick up the canter again at the end and repeat.... it didnt work out quite that way...

As i mentioned previously G has decided that kicking out and bucking is a really fun way to try and intimidate me and help us change up the exercise it didnt work in his favor because we pushed through the kicks and the bucks and even though it wasnt pretty it improved greatly by the end... anyways it usually went like this

ask for canter-buck kick---canter---ask for trot---ignored still cantering to x----ask for trot again----get some head tossing then trot--- and repeat....

Again this is not an injury thing or a soreness thing because when you push him through it a few times he gives up... also my dressage coach is a myofacial... something or other (equine massage therapist) so please dont think it is a soreness issue because he is completely sound believe me that and saddle fit was the first things i looked at.

I am quite proud of myself that this did not intimidate me and we were able to ride past it but my back has been sore the last few days as well as my inner thighs from the change in position and the balanceing a horse off my hands.

This week is going to be really busy but i am hoping it will look like this...

Tuesday- Off
Wednesday- Off
Thursday- Lesson with Nat
Friday-Off
Saturday- ride
Sunday- ride

Lesson #16 More Canter

Sorry i have been a little tardy lately with my posts, we have had some really bad weather so i havnt been getting out to the barn as much as i would have liked due to the really bad road conditions over two days we had something like 400 reported accidents in my city alone.

Anyways im back on having my regular lessons so i have a few to post about now. I keep getting told about how much progress G and i are making... i have a video but i have to 1 build up the courage to post it and 2 find a video of me riding worse so that there is something to compare too... that will be later this week im hoping.

Anyways G and i had a lesson with Nat on Thursday it was great G was forward and ready to work however he has now decided that in the canter transition he would like to buck and kick out, he does this almost every time now and i have had people watch him move to make sure that it is not a soreness issue all the coaches and other riders at my barn even the equine massage therapist says it is him testing me. So we have backed off the canter a little bit for the time being.

Trot poles are greatly improving i no longer hold my breath while going over them and i am able to go through with a posting trot as well as a sitting trot. MY biggest challenge is trying to fix my posting trot... if i get up the nerve to post the videos you will see i post like a a crazy person and thats why i have such a hard time with controling our rhythem and pace... as well as why i feel like he is running away with me all the time.

Thats my biggest challenge right now trying to fix my posting.

I also will be taking a few lessons with another coach at our barn before she goes away to compete in the states in January because she will be the one working with me in the summer since Nat will be leaving for ferrier school.

Lesson #15 - Dressage

At the new barn i take weekly lesson with one of the girl who is an experienced eventer, she is great she pushes me to try new things to not be a chicken and to just "get over it" and make my horse do it. She has been showing for a lot longer than me and i learn a ton from her every week but when i found out that my barn was going to bring in a dressage coash 1x a month i jumped on that as quickly as i could because i knew that she wasnt going to be taking on to many students and man am i glad that i did!! The best part is that today went so well that she is going to come in every second sunday!

I had my first lesson with this Dressage coach today and i was nervous because she is a judge and used to compete up to pretty high levels, not only that but the girl that was going to ride with me originally is much more advanced in her riding so i was worried that i would be holding her back or i would not be able to do what was being asked.... luckily the lessons were move around and the girl i train with on Thursdays was moved into my lesson with me... AND she called in sick so i got a private lesson for the cost of a semi private.

The lesson started out with the typical questions about where we are at what have we accomplished that type of thing. I brought out my dressage saddle so we have to lengthen my stirrups. G was still having a hard time with the far side of the arena and i dont blame him since the snow is melting right now and sliding off so we kept the lesson at the one end of the arena for the first half.

First thing the new coach pointed out to me is that i am putting weight on the inside of my foot while posting which is twisting my foot out, she wanted me to focus on putting the weight on my baby toe which will point my feet straight ahead as well a help me sink further into my heels and lower leg as well as keep my posting rhythmic and make my rise not as high. As soon as i started to focus on this our tempo was much better we kept a pace instead of him getting quick and my posting getting faster to match.

She also mentioned my head position, i guess i have a weird head tilt... which i wasnt aware of so trying to correct that is a little harder than correcting things you know you have been doing wrong. I also have a habit of looking at my horse and not straight ahead which is something i did now and am getting much better with.

I have also been having a hard time with G buging out and cutting corners as well as cutting accross the circle, the coaches biggest suggestion was to keep me hands closer together thumbs on top but ony about an inch of space in between my hands it was amazing how quickly this fixed my bulging problem.

Other than being lazy G was great we did lots of work on the circle making the circle bigger and smaller, we did some work riding from one corner to X then back to the same wall on both sides of the arena (ill look up the letters and fix this post later). We also practiced some turn on the forehand.

Did i mention that the entire lesson was at a trot.... a sitting trot because she liked my sitting trot better than my rising trot... every now and then she would throw in a rising trot but that was few and far between... G did amazing as always i am so proud of him and how much progress we have made.

He has earned his next couple days off, and i need to nurse my sore abs and legs before thursdays lesson. Sorry for the double post but i wanted to get this caught up before going to bed.

Mon-Wed- Days off
Thursday- Lesson W/ tr 1

Lesson #14

Sorry i have been bad and not getting on here as much as i should to update. I will be making up for that for sure because so much has happened!

As those of you who have been following me for a long time know i was terrified of the canter i would do everything and anything to get out of it... well that has changed... i love the canter i have found my balance in it so now its jut practice to get G's balance.

Thursday i had my lesson as usual we started with getting an inside bend at a walk and a trot around the arena but G was having very little of it so i kept him on a circle to avoid the spooking in the one area of the arena. I just didnt want to have that fight with him at that time, i wanted to work on stuff with my trainer there and get him focused mentally before pushing him into the corners again.

We did some riding in the 2 point position (which sucks royaly!) im starting to find this easier and easier as i spend more time in the saddle, i have also been practicing on my own a little bit since i knew it would be coming up in lessons.... was i ever right.

We did a little bit of canter the first time i asked i got a nice little buck out of G but a very nice canter on the correct lead, ever time after that we kept on getting the wrong lead so we moved onto something else (after he got it one last time of course).

Trot poles are something that i have never really done a lot of and G is not used to it either, the first 3 times we went through he felt the need to jump the first rail then managed to trip over the last one. My trainer quickly pointed out that i am looking down instead of straight ahead that i need to keep my head up after that small change we where getting through them much better he was picking his feet up... most likely because i was not preparing myself for him to trip and tensing up. After clearing the trot poles we were suppose to stop for 3 seconds then continue for another round.... we clearly need to work on our halts... G would do a 180 take a few steps, try to pull the reins out of my hand then finally decide that stopping would be acceptable.

Friday-no ride
Saturday-ride
Sunday- Dresssage lesson

Lesson # 13 Canter.. Finally

Last nights lesson was great it was a huge leap forward for me in my confidence with riding G i have so much to write!

My new coach has recommended some tack for us to try to hopefully help us move forward with out training. I was previously riding in a standing martingale because G at one point would get frusterated and turn to tossing his head which i found terrifying so that helped me get passed the head tossing and not cause any further anxiety but we have now outgrown the standing martingale so last night my coach had me ride in a breast plate with a running martingale.

Made a big difference it helped keep G's head night and low and helped to keep him off of my hands as well as keep my jiggling hands somewhat off of his face. Now to come up with $100 to buy one of these bad boys... until i can afford this my trainer is going to let me use hers, i am very happy i can retire the standing martingale. YAY for progress!

She also had me try out a new bit one that would prevent G from grabbing onto the bit and resisiting originally i was riding in a typical Eggbutt Snaffle like this one. (not quite that thin... mine was much thicker than that)

And last night i rode in one that looks like this.

The combination of the change in tack made a huge different in our ride, he felt amazing (not to mention was back to being sound after having his shoes pulled). Our trot work was great it was very forward and he kept his head nice and low as i had mentioned.

Some of the other boarders brought a few horses into the arena that were causing some craziness at one end so Nat had us stay on a circle at one end and work on riding a circle with an inside bend in both directions at a walk and a trot. Then she asked for us to pick up a canter... oh no... this is something that we had done virtually 0 work on because i had such bad anxiety towards it for no apparent reason is started to make excuses for why we should be able to "practice" on the weekend and work on it in our next lesson (thank fully before i started taking lessons i told Nat that i was full of crap and i had no reason for the anxiety and had asked not to buy into my excuses and to make me do it) she gave me a look and told me to canter down the long wall behind the other girl in my lesson. I kissed at G and squeezed and because the horse in front was doing it he started cantering as well we did pretty good werent as unbalance as we usually are.

We came back to the circle and did a little more trot with an inside bend asking with our outside leg to make the circle smaller and smaller. Then Nat asked us to canter on the circle this was something that made me a little nervous because in my head i could see G running away with me over the jumps and what not in the arena but we did it Nat was awesome she kept talking to me and telling me to slow the trot down before asking for the canter and explained we wanted a nice slow trot before the canter to put him on his hind end before asking. The first couple times we cantered on the circle i was really heavy in the saddle and very active with my hands but with each attempt it got a little bit better and i gained a little bit more confidence, there was very little head tossing and that was curbed with the martingale very quickly.

I felt very accomplished after yesterdays ride even though i have the worst cold on the planet im an excited to go out tonight and ride, i am hoping that we will be able to canter again by our selves so we can be ready for next weeks lesson.

Lesson #12 Another New Trainer

So now that i am settled into the new barn i have started taking lessons again with a new girl Nat i have watched her ride she is very patient and what she says makes sense i have gotten the opportunity to watch a few of her lessons as well so i figured she would be a great fit... But of course she is an eventer and teases me constantly that my horse would make a great eventer ha ha... we will see....

One down side is i prefer private lessons (i like things to be all about me ;) lol) but i dont like the cost of $50 each but luckily i found a girl that i get along with really well that is fairly close to the same level as i am in my riding so she is jumping into my lessons slot with me and now i only have to pay $30 yay for saving money that means i can now afford a dressage lesson 1x a month!

Anyways, i brought G in from his paddock (loving him being in paddock especially now that he is in there with a little baby Trakehner that he gets along with really well) i didnt notice anything off with him because we were outside but he was very hesitant to walk on the cement in the barn and on the wood around the arena but i tacked him up and let him warm up a bit before lunging him.Nat was in the arena teaching a lesson when i went to lunge him and G was definitely a little sore on his front feet from getting his shoes off he was worse in one direction than the other but as he warmed up he started moving much better still a little short in his reach but better.

I got on after a few minutes of fighting him at the mounting bucket and walked him around the arena to feel how he was moving at the walk he was fine but the trot he didnt want to extend very much but all in all was moving good in the sand so we decided to go forward with the lesson but keep it at a walk.

One of the big things that Nat wants me to work on is my inside bend currently we have none lol G does not like to bend to the left so we spent a good amount of the lesson walking around the arena with me trying to hold an inside bend and not allow him to push through my outside leg then we would do a few circles in this same movement the circles were the worst because G tends to ignore my outside leg.

Nat pointed out that i take up so much of my reins which isnt a bad thing but currently where we are at in our riding i want to be promoting him to stretch long and low and to allow for him to reach for the bit. She had me go to the buckle and try to same exercise and it helped a little.

The lesson went really well i am really excited to continue with her consistantly, she suggested moving G into a rolling snaffle to help stop him from grabbing the bit (she hopped on G for a couple minutes after my ride to help her determine were to go from here kind of thing) She also suggested draw reins to help teach him that being a Giraffe is not pretty in an event horse or a dressage horse. So now i am going to troll my barn to see if anyone will lend me a rolling snaffle before i go out to buy one. The girl i ride with in my lessons said she has a set of draw reins that she will lend me to try out before i go and buy some as well.

Friday-day off (i work both jobs and G needs to feel better)
Saturday-lunge in side reins and ride to work on what we learned
Sunday-possibly a dressage lesson if i can make it work with my 2nd job

Have a great weekend everyone :)

Lesson canceled

I went out to the barn last night and brought G in to have him stand in the cross ties for a bit next to other horses while i watched the lessons that were going on. I cant wait to be able to ride like some of these girls cantering around in 2 point i was very envious. I love this barn the atmosphere is amazing everyone is very friendly and actually loves and cares about their horses.

There was 2 young kids riding in a lesson on some lesson horses so i figured i would sneak in and have a quick ride. I didnt lunge G because these kids were still learning the basics of steering and i didnt want to cause a disaster so i just hopped on. His mounting skills are spectacular i can use anything a bucket or a jump and at the moment he is standing still relaxed waiting for me to get on and once i am on he does not walk off he waits until i am ready and settled... not to sure what happened to change this because we really havnt done much work on it but i am definitely not going to complain.

We did some walk work pushing him into the corners of the arena, trotted different directions walked and trotted over some rails and once the kids were done there lesson we did some more trot work with the lengthening and shortening of his stride. For a little bit i dropped my stirrups and did some laps like that at the trot then came back to the walk for a cool down where i was finally able to get him on the bit again so since he offered we did a little more trot on the bit and then finished our cool down.

My new trainer was in the arena so i had an opportunity to talk to her about where i wanted to be and where im at, some of my mental issues that have hindered my riding and i am really excited to start with her next week. I was suppose to start last night but unfortunatly i didnt have the funds to be able to do it.

Today G is getting an assessment done by a massage therapist to check and see if he could benefit from massage therapy or by seeing the Chiropractor. He has a bit of a click in his hips at a walk so i wanted to get it looked at and see if maybe it has something to do with our straightness issues and above all i want him to be comfortable.

No riding tonight since i have a dinner to go to but i will be out tomorrow to ride and spoil my boy. Next wweek is lesson and ferrier day.

Happy Thanks Giving everyone (Canada)

Lesson #11New Trainer

On Sunday almost a week ago i had an assessment lesson with Stacey T to possibly start having lessons with her i was pretty nervous she had a lot of experience and was managing to fit us into a tight schedule.

So i went out and got G all ready to go tacked up and was about to lunge when SURPRISE she was there early and the arena was being watered so i was not able to lunge. Usually this is not a big deal but it was very windy outside so there were a lot of big sounds in the arena which G is usually pretty skittish around.

So Stacey asked me to hop on and warm up how i usually would so i went to get on and wouldnt you know it G decided to pick today to NOT stand at the mounting block, after a couple minutes of fighting with him Stacey came over and held him for me to get the ball rolling.

I hopped on and started our usually walk around the arena in both directions... we made it down the long wall and thats about it G started his freak out in the corner that he usually finds scarey. He was backing and going sideways trying to change direction, he tried everything and was very successful to pull me out of my seat. I was always taught you dont change direction you dont allow them to get out of what you are asking them to do but Stacey requested i try from the other side... same thing spaz attack in the corner.

I tried to carry on and trot him out but he was dropping his shoulder as he has started doing and counter flexing was only helping so much. So Stacey stopped us and asked if she could try, so back to the mounting block we went were again i had to hold him so she could get on.

One in the saddle he immediatly walked off and wouldnt take any sort of contact with the bit, he tried the same stuff he did with me but couldnt get her out of the saddle which of course did not make him very happy at all.

I watched for about 15 minutes as she fought with my horse to get contact and to get him moving forward, he did everything in his power to evade her to ignore her leg. Stacey just went with the flow at some points i felt kinda bad for my horse he is so used to getting away with murder from me and now he is being schooled by a rider that knows what she is doing and is able to make him do what she wants.... eventually.

So things i learned:
           -My horse is not forward.... i finally know what this means... and he is not it
           -My horse is not straight.... i can feel it now how crooked he is

Are these things my fault? Yes and no.

Yes because i have allowed him to develop these bad habits, i have allowed him to get lazy because i am some what lazy and i am not challenging myself or him.

No because i am also very inexperienced and i dont think its fair to myself to beat myself up over something like this or get discouraged, i have a very forgiving horse that is going to help me learn and move past and correct all these habits.

Plan of Action:

I have found a new barn and am transfering by the end of the month, i then will try to have either a lesson every week or every other week with the trainer on site. Now that this barn is closer to my house i will be out there to ride minimum 4x a week. I will start getting over all my irrational fears, i will start jumping again, and i will CANTER MY HORSE. The new barn is very supportive and a lot more like the barn family i have been looking for it may be more expensive but we need to get our butts in gear if we ever want to get to where i want to go.

Lesson Cancelled- yet another injury

Last night i was suppose to have a lesson but it would appear that G has decided that he is going to grow a little bit more *sigh*.

I brought G in at lunch because it has been raining here non stop for days on end so i figured he would need to dry before i could ride him. When i got back later i took him out of his stall and while tacking him up BAM he has a few little cuts and was swollen on his right hind leg just above the hoof. He was visably stiff so i went to the arena and started to lunge him he was incredibly fiesty on the lunge line trying frequently to rip the line right out of my hands and stopping and trying to run the opposite direction.

I called my trainer in and he didnt look sore to her so i got on once he settled a bit to trot him under saddle to see if we could see anything. And immediatly he took off at a quick walk ignoring me completly the second i so much as touched my reins he threw his head back at me. I asked him to trot and i had very little control so we came back to a walk he was giving me such a weird awkward walk like he was bow legged it was the weirdest feeling in the world T couldnt help but laugh and be confused as to why he was walking like that some of the time.

T couldnt see anything but we both agreed that his head was not in it. From when i saw him on Sunday he has grown he looks all legs again all gangly and awkward so we are assuming that with everything we have been throwing at him and him growing that he is in no condition to learn and have a productive lesson with.

I love T i will be devistated when she leaves, i love how she works with people and their horses she really focus's on the horses mindset.

So last night we just worked on the lunge line doing walk trot canter transitions trying to get G to be more responsive to my cues and make sure he picked up the right canter lead EVERYTIME in both directions. He was exhausted afterwards so it was still worth while and he stopped with the duck walk which was good.

We are going to try for a lesson on Sunday again and hopefully work in the round pen if it is dried up so we can work on the canter leads in a controlled area were i can focus on keeping him balanced and myself balanced and not so much on keeping him going were i wanting him at this time.

I hope he stops growing soon, hes already almost 17 hh he doesnt need to be any bigger than that ha ha. Then i can get a chiropractor or massage therapist out to work on his back and make him feel good. The duck walk is not something that he does often nor is it due to an injury its just his hind end and front end still are not quite in sync especially when his head is off in the clouds.

Lesson #10 Contact and... ugh... canter

My lesson last week was cancelled so we made up for it on Sunday. My Trainer had a fall off of a horse she was working with, and ended up with a severe concussion and a bad neck sprain and possibly a broken rib so we had to put the lesson off for a few days until she was able to move a little better and could coach me from the ground.

Sundays lesson was hard because usually if i cant get my horse to do something with T's instruction she will get on and work on it with him, so on Sunday i had to fight that fight by myself but im glad i did. We started out with a warm up loose rein with a nice swinging walk around the arena and a nice loose trot around the arena before picking up the reins.

We started with getting G on the bit in both directions (my legs were burning from pushing him up into the bit) i am still struggling with the concept of inside leg to outside rein give away the inside rein, i also need to focus on not bracing with my elbows. Hes starting to pick up the contact much quicker and its getting easier to keep that contact which i am assuming it is due to him strengthening his neck muscles making it easier to keep his head in that position.

We attempted to keep the contact at a walk and a trot which wasnt bad he would occasionally have a moment were he would attempt to head butt me while i was on his back which was lovely lol being pulled forward then leaning back quickly to avoid a head butt... man wish i had that on camera.

Then T asked me to try it at a canter and to make sure he is picking up the proper canter lead, i tried not to think about it and just got him cantering.. i managed to stay on and counter clock wise he picked up the correct lead everytime, i was trying my best to stay balanced and help him find his balance it was ok not as beautiful and graceful as it was on a lesson horse i used to ride Kyra (but she was also only like 14hh and had a tiny stride) but G practically clears the arena in 2 strides. We tried a change of direction and it all went down hill, he would not pick up the canter when i asked him too, when he did it was the wrong lead and he refused to listen to my leg as i tried to keep him along the rail he would pull me accross the arena. We got to the point were he wouldnt even keep the contact he would just toss his head nonstop and lose all forward momentum we had. I tried asking him to canter in the corners i tried with a kiss like he knows on a lunge line, i tried more leg pressure i tried using the crop to reinforce my aids... nothing i got nothing from him on that side. We even tried on a circle and he still wouldnt pick up the correct lead.

I tried to take him for a trot nice loose and long hoping we could get his head back in it to get it just once on the correct canter lead.. but nope he had mentally shut down so we called it quits and i gave him lots of love for trying and getting most of what we were doing.

I know some people would say... "you let him win next time will be harder... blah... blah... blah" but honestly my trainer is leaving in 3 weeks and we are trying to fit in as much as we can into our lessons before she leaves so i have some direction and the tools to be able to work on it more. G is an amazing horse and always tries his best to do what i am asking with occasionally a little bit of a fight but in 2 weeks we have taught him contact and engaging the hind end at a walk trot and canter and now as he is still learning that we are throwing in canter leads... i dont care we got it one direction thats a win for me... AND and i didnt fall off or feel like i was going to fall off which has done tons for my confidence at the canter.

Lesson #9. Dissapointment and the dreaded Canter

Last night i had another lesson, im trying to fit in as many as i can afford with T before she leaves even if that means that my cell phone bill doesnt get paid and i lose contact with much of the outside world. *sigh* we decided to have the lesson in the outdoor arena with all the jumps set up because it was way to nice to ride inside.

T had me start out by warming G up at the walk and the trot, he burst into little head tossing fits here and there.... no biggie deep breath we worked through it... he would start to take a few canter steps.... deep breath force self in the saddle just go with it and ask for him to come back to the trot... change direction... same thing on the other side... all the while trying to avoid the jumps that G is possitive that we need to jump over while still taking him in between them so he doesnt spook at them later, warm up done time for trainer ride.

T hopped on him to see how much he remembered of his contact lesson last week. He fought her for a few minutes then went right into a beautiful form through walk, trot, canter and all around the arena in and out of the jumps no issues.

Now my turn. This was by far probably one of the worst rides i have had in a long time... it had nothing to do with my horse this was all me. I didnt feel stressed or tense or anything but something was off and it showed in my riding. I was for some reason bracing constantly with my arms and T kept yelling at me to bend my elbows and i would try but 2 seconds later subconciously they would go right back to being straight and on my lap. Then we started to work on contact in a walk i could get him to take contact but i just couldnt give that inside rein away i kept it tight just like the outside and no matter how much i tried to fix it it went right back 2 seconds later. I couldnt get my body to coordinate to work with other parts of my body but independantly. I was so dissapointed in myself, i know this is going to happen there are going to be bad rides but i hate those bad rides... After 30 minutes of struggling to sort myself out i managed to get it here and there and we chalked that up for a win.

Of course T feels the need to push me... she wanted me to canter at very least in the direction he is good in, We ended up going the direction (right) were he picks up the wrong lead and it was not very good i flew forward and hurt my peepee on the front of the saddle *sad face*. T laughed and told me the good way which i then started going left he picked up the correct lead it felt much better i was seated when all of a sudden he lost his marbles under neath me. Aparently he did a flying lead change and had no idea what just happened and had a bit of a melt down, i managed to stay on and chalked that up for a win as well and we called it quits.

Im feeling super down on myself today i cant wait to get out to the barn on saturday and work on all the things we learned and try to have a better ride. As always though G was a fantastic boy trying his hardest to do what we were asking i am very lucky for that and to have such a forgiving partner because im sure while i was riding yesterday he was like wtf....

I do however need to get a saddle fitter out because im starting to really worry that my saddle is doing harm to G's back.. i have been noticing a few hot spots along his spine and am thinking about getting a bareback pad and riding that way for a little big while i sell my saddles, get a saddle fitter out and save up for a new saddle.

Lesson #8 Contact and Birthdays

Poor G, today was his birthday and we celebrated it by having an awesome lesson with my favorite trainer. Sorry if this post is full of spelling errors it is late at night and i am trying to use my T.V to write this post and unfortunatly the web page doesnt get big enough for me to see it super good and the heating pad just feels way to darn good on my back to move. so anywayr;

Today was G's 6th birthday, i thought it was on mothers day but according to his registration papers (which i recently recieved YAY me) June 13th is his birthday.

My favorite trainer T is leaving in 4-5 weeks to move back to B.C so i finally managed to get a few lessons from her for the next couple weeks before she leaves. Ill be very sad when she goes because i have learned more from her about myself and how to ride than anyone else in the short period that i have known her.

Tonight we worked on contact with the bit and engaging the hind end. G and i had not done any work on this prior because i was not sure how to ask properly for such a big thing like contact with the bit. T taught me to keep my outside rain tight and give with my inside rein while keepiing pressure with my inside leg to keep G straight forward and prevent him from turning his head, then gently give and take with my inside rein until he started to give to the pressure. He did fantastic for me going to the left took about 5 minutes of him having to figure out what i was asking then he started to get the hang of it, it wasnt perfect but i was completely happy with it. To the right i struggled to keep my inside leg on mostly due to the fact that that is his "bad" direction and my bad hip/pelvis so it is something we will need to work on majorly is building those muscles up so 1) he is not always compensating for me on that side and 2) im strong enough to keep the leg pressure on long enough to get a response.

My favorite thing about T is if she is having a hard time judging whether it is the horse or the rider she will ask you to get off and try it out herself so she can better explain what you need to do for each individual horse to get the desired result, i have never met a trainer like her and im sure i never will when she leaves *sad face*. She decided to get on G and work with him on the contact because i was struggling to that side, i trust her with my horse and trust her judgement so i let her do what she needed to do to get where she wanted him to be. I have a few vidoes of G starting to come into the bit at a walk and a trot, this is not me riding its my trainer.

After she was done what seemed like an endless battle she had me get back on so i could see and feel the difference for my next few rides so we are able to continue working on it. When i was on the ground it looked awesome when he finally came into the right frame and engaged his hind end more. When i got on it took very little to get him to come back to the bit his neck was so rounded i could hardly see his ears he was not pulling on my hands nothing and his trot felt amazing it was so forward and fluid we even went into a trot were it felt so graceful like we were gliding around the arena, i am very impressed he picked it up very quickly i am just hoping that when i go out again tomorrow morning (after his day off) he will remember what i am asking him and be able to get back into that frame.

I was trying to get some videos on for you i am going to try again today because for whatever reason my youtube and my phone are not connecting which makes me sad. I cant wait to get out and ride him tomorrow i am on cloud nine right now, contact was something i was expecting to take a long time we will for sure be a team to watch out for in our area next year.

Lesson #7

My old trainer T is leaving soon for Vancouver and has been getting really busy with her new students at her current barn so it has been getting harder and ahrder to get in to have a lesson with her at my barn which is partially why i had switched to my new trainer M, i still wanted more than anything to have T out to see how much progress we have made and i finally got that on Tuesday night.

G was on his best behaviour it took very little time at the mounting block for me to get on which was nice. So we started our warm up going around the arena in both directions doing little circles at each letter after we did this both ways we started the lesson.

T has always pushed me because she knows what i can do and as my best friend she knows that i hold back sometimes that i let my fear get a hold of me, she doesnt allow me to do that she will push me and push me until i get annoyed and i just do it, she knows how to motivate me and push me past everything and i love her to death for it.

She set up cones in the arena and wanted to work with me on a 20m circle, for some reason i am HORRIBLE with distances so it was something that we needed to start working on if i am hoping to be able to do a few training or intro shows at the end of this summer. So we started working on a circle and T was trying to teach me that on a circle i should be using my inside leg to push G's hind end over and my outside leg and rein to prevent his shoulder from bulging out and the inside rein should be lose aparently this will give him a nice bend in his chest... wtf? for some reason at a walk i couldnt grasp this concept i still cant i know with time it will become habit and i will rely less and less on my inside rein but im still sitting here writing this being like uggghhhh? At the Trot we were for the most part able to do what she was asking which was make the circle bigger and smaller using this technique but she still had to keep reminding me to give away the inside rein.

We did about another 10 minutes at a posting trot changing directions and asking for circles. Then as T always does she wanted to challenge me and asked if we had cantered yet... i told her no and gave her a bunch of excuses about how we were waiting till we were really comfortable in the posting trot and had more control.... blah...blah...blah yeah she didnt buy it she gave me a look like i was crazy and said point blank "im not going to push you but i think you guys are more than ready to canter" i knew she was right and i was holding back because of my fear that is still there down in the pit of my stomach, but i trust G and new that no matter how crazy it was he would not try to hurt me or put me in danger so we went for it.

We went counter clock wise and it was beautiful his canter is so smooth his transition was quick, there was no fast trot or anything like that he opened right up into a canter (my transitions still suck going back down in the gaits) when it came to slowing him down it was a little clumsy but we survived and made it to a walk (he didnt pick up the right lead btw). I figured that was GREAT lets try the other side, disaster, i dont know what happened but i lost my stirrup and was bouncing all over the place trying to keep myself on... but i did realise at that point... i could probably ride a trot without stirrups because i didnt fall off instead of completely panicking like i would have previously i wrappped my legs around my horse and tried to keep my shoulders back and not collapse into his neck... i wish i had a video of it... because even though it was a disaster i did REALLY good at NOT falling off lol.

I think we are going to wait to canter until i can get him to slow down by using my seat lol but all in all it was a great lesson i have some stuff to work on definatly but i am getting a lot more consistant in my riding and in the work that i am doing. Hopefully this weekend i can get Alex out to take some videos of my riding... maybe then i will post a comparision video that i have been hiding on my computer lol..

Happy trails everyone!