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.

Weekend recap #1

Saturday

I managed to get in a quick ride before going to work that night. There was some people who trailer in on weekends to use the arena in the arena but i was happy to see that all the jumps had been cleared out of the arena to make room for the dressage lessons. I didnt have time to lunge him but he did very well at the mounting block stood nice and still and waited until i asked him to walk on before going anywhere.

He was a bit fiesty so we spent lots of time walking the arena he is not used to there being no jumps set up. He spent a good amount of time spooking in one of the corners the first couple times wasnt a big deal but he started to do it every time so at the walk and trot i really had to push him into those corners. We did a lot of trot work focusing on contact and a steady pace.

Then we started our canter work and counter clock wise he was great and could go forever there were no bucks and no major spooks. However clock wise which is by far his worst side he tried to get out of cantering that way by giving me a few big bucks (big for my horse that rarely ever bucks). My back was sore after that ride from lifting my hands up to stop him from getting his head down. After he tried a few times to get out of having to canter on that lead and me bringing him back and asking again he finally cantered on that lead, it wasnt for long but we got the canter on his bad lead with no bucking so i called it quits for the day and wrote it off as a win.


Sunday

I ended up getting off work early this day so i was able to get out to the barn before i picked my little guy up from his dads (they just got back from Disney Land) so i snuck out for another quick ride to try to work on our canter situation. I admit i was a little defeated with all this bucking nonsense from a horse that has never offered to buck and i have been thinking that it must be something wrong that i am doing but i tried to swallow my fear because G is the type of horse you allow him to be in control the issue just escalates. So i put on my big girl panties and a brave face and went to work with my horse. I made sure that i went out with time to lunge him so i could get him cantering on his bad lead as much as possible on the lunge hoping that that might make the ride go a little smoother.

I lunged him in his good direction for a few minutes then did a little longer on his bad side.. he was pretty good other than the head tossing going into the canter transition and other than needing constant encouragement to stay at the canter he was very good.

He was definitely not as patient this time at the mounting block but still stood still long enough for me to get on. We started out at the walk (again the arena was clear of all jumps) again he was spooking at the same corner so i spent a lot of time pushing him into that corner in both directions but still he would hop to the side he was also ignoring my seat and would speed up. Trot he was good, Canter counter clockwise was perfect no bucking nothing smooth rythmic and he didnt try to stop without me asking him too.

Clockwise was a different story he bucked harder this time everytime i asked and one time i had to turn him sharply to get him to stop and to get his mind back on me the other time i had to run him into the wall. I was so disheartened and i know he is weak on that side but i felt like there must be something i was doing wrong... this is typically where i would have quit and tried to find someone else to ride him and work him out of this, but i stayed on and we started doing figure eights at the trot, we did quite a few when i finally mustered up enough courage to ask for the canter again and it was perfect no bucking or anything we didnt canter for long but he got lots of pats and praise.

Im so glad to be starting lessons again i need to make sure that its not something that im doing wrong. Im also going to try to use my other saddle and see if he bucks under the other saddle as well... i really dont think its anything wrong because he doesnt do it every time and he doesnt do it in both directions only the side he is weak on. But i am very proud of myself for not giving up and not giving in... however from my back being sore from the ride the day before i did feel myself leaning forward and collapsing in so i will have to keep that in mind and make a concious effort to correct that again.

Monday-Dressage lesson
Tuesday-Off
Wednesday-Off
Thursday-Jump lesson

Scariest Place on earth

Yesterday i played hookey from my full time job so i could spend a day relaxing and riding it was +4 C here so it was a perfect day to get out and spend the day at the barn.

G was a tourist the entire time i was bringing him into the barn had to look at everying walking slower than molases, causing the barn manager and one of the trainers to make jokes about how pokey horses arent very good eventers (joking of course they would never say things to be mean he was just going that damn slow...).

We got in and i tacked him up and lunged him and i could tell from his cutting accross our lunge circle and throwing his head around that he was going to be nice and fresh to ride (lucky me)...

Now, our arena is heated but its the type that you have to turn on and it makes a lot of hissing and banging noises after the loud clicking just to turn the timer dial.... that combined with the snow sliding off the roof, the jumps set up in the arena, the fog that the heaters created and the dripping water from the roof made for an eventful ride....

It look a good 10 minutes of walking/circles/serpentines just to get G to settle down and pay more attention to me than everything else going on. There were tons of spooks... lots of slamming on the brakes... lets just say that by the end of 40 mins we were both exhausted me from trying to stay on and him from trying to do what i was asking even though we were riding in the scariest place on earth.

On the way back out to the paddock he got to relax and enjoy a nice roll in a big snow hill. Going to be a busy next couple of weeks trying to get him back in shape and ready for show season.

Friday-off
Saturday-ride
Sunday-off
Monday- Dressage lesson

2013 Resolutions

I have been away for a while taking some time to myself and allowing G a little more time off, mostly because i lost my second job and had to try to hunt for another one in order to start my lessons up again but now the new year is back in full swing and i cannot wait to get back at it and get ready for show season.

Starting next week i will be having 2 lessons a week one will be Dressage and the other will be with a Jump coach. I absolutly adore both of these coaches and consider myself very lucky to have the opportunity to work with both of them again on a regular basis.

G will be getting started over fences within the next few months that should be an interesting experiene, we will probably be going to mostly eventing shows this summer.

As for my resolutions....

    1) stick to my 2 lessons a week no matter what
    2) Even if i dont have time to ride get out there and lunge G
    3) Go to at least 3 shows this summer
    4) Continue to work on my own personal fitness get to my goal weight and increase my cardio
    5) TAKE MORE PICTURES!!!

Back at it

When i found this image on Pinterest i must have laughed for a good 2 hours i couldnt even look at my phone without laughing... sassy starfish... ha ha!

Anyways I hope everyone has been doing great i will have to go and read through everyones blogs to get caught up. I took a little bit of time off to work on me on my physical fitness and to work on my mental state, there has been so many positive changes in my life lately and i have been trying to keep those going and stay positive focus on getting caught up with work.... not to mention i had my CAIB 1 exam last week... fingers crossed i passed.

G has had some time off but seemed more than happy to be back at work when i was out there last night I lunged him first because i was expecting him to be a little hot after so much time off but he wasnt bad he was a little quick and a little sassy going clock wise (yes i did giggle a little bit when i wrote that) but it was very minimal and easy to get his mind back on what we were doing.

He stood better than usual at the mounting block and was very well behaved considering there was about 6 other riders in the arena.The entire time i was riding he had his ears back on me listening waiting for me to ask him to do something and he tried so hard to do everything that i asked... he has just lost a lot of his conditioning, he was huffing and puffing after about 20 mins so we took a little walk break then cantered both directions... again clock wise he was a bit of a brat and through a buck in but he does it once then goes into this beautiful flowing canter.

Saturday is our barn christmas party so i am sure i will have more pictures for you guys... before that we are having a show meeting so everyone who wants to show this summer can "sign up" with our barn so we know who all is going to what shows and we all have some goals for our training. G and i will be back in lessons for sure by January i figure by then i have to have another second job.

Im excited its going to be an interesting 2013, we will probably go to a few dressage shows and a few eventing shows... probably a few more eventing shows.

I also have 2 videos that i am trying to get uploaded :)

happy riding!! 

Wordless Wednesday

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