This weekend I loaded up Dexter for my long line lesson with Trainer. To my disappointment she suggested we start with lunging, but I know how to lunge (at least I thought I did.) She made some good points so I went along with it. Long lining can be cumbersome and require a lot of walking and some jogging. And until we know Dexter is going to be obedient on the line and not freak out, its safer to work with the one line rather than 2. Picturing how Dexter currently likes to buck and throw a fit when I ask him to canter on the line, I agreed. But I did make her promise to let us start trying the long line if he progresses well on the lunge line.
But I still learned more than I thought I would. I had been lunging him at home, but don't have a whole lot of training tack so it was mostly to keep him in shape, with no particular frame. So the first thing trainer pulled out was a surcingle and side reins, the kind you loop through the bit and attache back to the surcingle so there is some play on how low he can hold his head. She explained this will act as reins so he will always have that constant outside rein to work with.... first light bulb of the lesson.
She started the session out lunging him showing me how to half halt with the line and whip and wouldn't you know it he was in a frame in less that 5 minutes. She kept saying how good he looked. Knowing my history of thinking I got it when I actually don't I decided to speak up - "OK what are you looking at specifically, I agree he looks good, but why?". She explained a little about elevation and muscle movement. I need more - "OK so what muscles are you looking at, how can I tell if he's in a frame" So she pointed out his back and ab muscles... OK I think I got it now. Second light bulb of the lesson.
She showed me how to use the whip to get him to move his rib cage vs how to use it to get him going more forward. (BTW when I say "use the whip I don't mean beating my horse with it, just shaking and pointing it at him to get him to move.) Along with some other tricks to make lunging as close to riding as possible. All things that seem obvious now. I think I was just being lazy when I lunged him before.
So now I have some new tools in my belt. We've had some sessions at home and I think its working, although I'm a little paranoid that I don't actually have it. I've also decided to switch things up a bit with some free lunging and tricks so he doesn't spend the next 3-6 months on a 20 meter circle. I'm thinking of teaching him to bow and smile... what do you think? :)
Showing posts with label lessons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lessons. Show all posts
June 24, 2011
March 1, 2011
Back to the Basics
My Trainer has been recently blessed with a new baby girl (of the human kind) so I have been on a lesson hiatus for the last several weeks. No worries, I understand, so I have been video taping myself to keep the momentum going. At our last lesson she had given me a few things to work on so we have enough homework to keep busy. I just need the visual to match what I think I'm doing with what I'm actually doing.
Watching the video I can see we still aren't getting a good bend to the right and his head is ahead of the vertical. But overall we are looking good. After the long battle with Dexter diving behind the vertical I'll take a little nose out any day.
A little proud of myself for how far we've come I sent some of the video to my old trainer back in FL. She has since retired from the horse business but we enjoy talking horsey stuff every now and then.
She agreed he is looking much better and that it is easier to bring a horse back to the vertical vs pushing him out. The she dropped a little bomb. She asked why I was consistently on the wrong diagonal. She gave me the benefit of the doubt thinking I was doing it on purpose.
She was half right, I was purposefully picking up the inside diagonal but didn't know it was the wrong one. OOPS!! I guess after a very long hiatus from lessons my brain got mixed up on which diagonal to be on. My current trainer hadn't really emphasized my diagonal, we've been too busy working on my frame and Dexter's. And the funny thing is I know if you start posting on the first stride out of a canter you should be on the correct diagonal and I noticed I never was. I thought it was weird but figured I had gotten that part wrong.
The embarrassing part was I looked back at the video from my show and yup, on the wrong diagonal. How embarrassing. I wonder why the judge didn't mention it. Maybe we were such a mess she figured the last thing I needed to worry about was a silly diagonal.
So, I thanked my old trainer and told her I'd fix it right away, no big deal, look at my outside shoulder instead of my inside. She insisted I re-learn how to feel my diagonal without looking, ok, no problem. I guess I never really paid attention to my diagonal because I saw posting as something I had to do until me and Dexter were strong enough to sit the trot. Then we'd only post when lengthening or when he got too forward. But as we have been at it a year, maybe I should pay more attention.
We spent some time during our last riding sessions feeling the diagonal. The good thing is it seems to be easy, or at least like riding a bike. I can definitely tell what shoulder is moving when. The funny thing is if I glance I can pick up the correct diagonal, but when I'm feeling it I almost always pick up the "right" (as in right or left) diagonal. Even if in my head I am saying up, down, up, down correctly I'll come up on the down.
Hmmm, guess I'm sided, just like my horse. No biggie we can handle this one. But it is funny the things you forget when someone isn't there reminding you weekly. I always felt like riding a horse is like riding a bike, but I guess the technical rules get a little fuzzy.
Watching the video I can see we still aren't getting a good bend to the right and his head is ahead of the vertical. But overall we are looking good. After the long battle with Dexter diving behind the vertical I'll take a little nose out any day.
A little proud of myself for how far we've come I sent some of the video to my old trainer back in FL. She has since retired from the horse business but we enjoy talking horsey stuff every now and then.
She agreed he is looking much better and that it is easier to bring a horse back to the vertical vs pushing him out. The she dropped a little bomb. She asked why I was consistently on the wrong diagonal. She gave me the benefit of the doubt thinking I was doing it on purpose.
She was half right, I was purposefully picking up the inside diagonal but didn't know it was the wrong one. OOPS!! I guess after a very long hiatus from lessons my brain got mixed up on which diagonal to be on. My current trainer hadn't really emphasized my diagonal, we've been too busy working on my frame and Dexter's. And the funny thing is I know if you start posting on the first stride out of a canter you should be on the correct diagonal and I noticed I never was. I thought it was weird but figured I had gotten that part wrong.
The embarrassing part was I looked back at the video from my show and yup, on the wrong diagonal. How embarrassing. I wonder why the judge didn't mention it. Maybe we were such a mess she figured the last thing I needed to worry about was a silly diagonal.
So, I thanked my old trainer and told her I'd fix it right away, no big deal, look at my outside shoulder instead of my inside. She insisted I re-learn how to feel my diagonal without looking, ok, no problem. I guess I never really paid attention to my diagonal because I saw posting as something I had to do until me and Dexter were strong enough to sit the trot. Then we'd only post when lengthening or when he got too forward. But as we have been at it a year, maybe I should pay more attention.
We spent some time during our last riding sessions feeling the diagonal. The good thing is it seems to be easy, or at least like riding a bike. I can definitely tell what shoulder is moving when. The funny thing is if I glance I can pick up the correct diagonal, but when I'm feeling it I almost always pick up the "right" (as in right or left) diagonal. Even if in my head I am saying up, down, up, down correctly I'll come up on the down.
Hmmm, guess I'm sided, just like my horse. No biggie we can handle this one. But it is funny the things you forget when someone isn't there reminding you weekly. I always felt like riding a horse is like riding a bike, but I guess the technical rules get a little fuzzy.
January 6, 2011
One Event To End Them All
Every time I watch Eventers on TV I am amazed at the courage and stamina of both horse and rider. They make it look so fun, galloping across the countryside, leaping over giant barrels and flowerbeds. I start to wonder if I should try eventing again.... then I remember.
Apart from Pony Club Combined Training Rallies (which were actually kinda fun) I only competed in one real Eventing Competition when I was about 16. I'm not even sure why we did it, I had been showing dressage for a while and I usually went to other shows if I was tagging along with friends, but I remember being there by myself. Maybe we just wanted to try it out. It was a learning experience none the less, I learned I am not an eventer.
Cross country was first, I had my watch, I had walked and memorized the course. It was different than our little course at home but had most of the same elements, logs, tires, ramps, ditches (well we didn't have ditches at home, but we'll be OK right?).
The buzzer rang and we were off to the first jump. LE (my QH mare) looked at it and backed off a little but sprang over it. On to the second... I see it, LE sees it, I'm looking over it and LE is looking at it. Nope, first refusal. It's OK, new course we will just try again, nope, second refusal. I start to get a little flustered, LE doesn't usually refuse. So I give her some "encouragement" with my legs and crop (sorry LE) and I'm sure there was some loud "GIIIT" noises. I think I would have been much calmer except despite that fact that this was a small event they still thought they needed an announcer. And I could hear him, I don't remember exactly what he was saying other than it was to the effect of "Rider #4 freaking out and beating her horse at jump #2, less hope she gets over this jump soon." So I think we refused one more time then got over the jump.
Onto the rest of the jumps, I think we refused every other one, and the ones we didn't we cleared by a good foot and a half (they were only 2'6" to begin with). Then we hit the ditch, a small 2ft wide ditch. LE had seen these before at rallies but I guess she didn't approve of this one. At this point I had lost all hope for the course so I wasn't so spastic, after a few refusals we walked up to it and she leaped over it. I don't remember the rest of the course, but I remember when we were done I didn't cry, I wasn't mad, I just thought "Wow, that was a disaster and embarrassing."
Next was show jumping. Surprisingly LE got her jumping legs back and we did the course with no refusals, maybe a few knock downs though. But being as my trainer wasn't there to tell me different and I was so focused on the time, I took every tight turn available. If there was a long way or a short way, I took the short. Yanking poor LE around tight turns. I was a nervous wreck but she did well. I started to think I might place (certainly not win). All that was left was dressage and I knew dressage! This was the part most people struggle through, they had jumpers they were forcing to do dressage, I had a dressage horse I was forcing to jump.
Finally dressage, we could do this! And there were individual ribbons for dressage so I was confident we would at least go away with something. As we walked around the ring waiting for the bell to ring the scribe asked me if I would like her to hold my whip. What an odd question? No silly scribe I'll keep it, I don't usually use it in the test but it's nice to have, thanks anyways. We did the test well, dont' remember much of it as it wasn't stressful or brilliant, just a good test.
After a good break I went back to check my scores... Cross Country - bleh, Jumping - OK, Dressage... DQed. What?? Disqualified?? (Apparently you can't use a whip in combined training classes, you can in Pony Club so I had not clue). They still showed my score - best score in dressage... I would have at least gotten a ribbon in that class. Great. Stupid me for not reading the rules or questioning why someone would want to take my whip. Hey, they tried.
So that was my first and last Event. Not because I'm a quitter (maybe a little). But because overall I wasn't having fun, LE wasn't having fun and it just wasn't our cup of tea. We still jumped over our jumps at home, with no pressure or time constraints and still had fun, but for showing, dressage was it.
Apart from Pony Club Combined Training Rallies (which were actually kinda fun) I only competed in one real Eventing Competition when I was about 16. I'm not even sure why we did it, I had been showing dressage for a while and I usually went to other shows if I was tagging along with friends, but I remember being there by myself. Maybe we just wanted to try it out. It was a learning experience none the less, I learned I am not an eventer.
Cross country was first, I had my watch, I had walked and memorized the course. It was different than our little course at home but had most of the same elements, logs, tires, ramps, ditches (well we didn't have ditches at home, but we'll be OK right?).
The buzzer rang and we were off to the first jump. LE (my QH mare) looked at it and backed off a little but sprang over it. On to the second... I see it, LE sees it, I'm looking over it and LE is looking at it. Nope, first refusal. It's OK, new course we will just try again, nope, second refusal. I start to get a little flustered, LE doesn't usually refuse. So I give her some "encouragement" with my legs and crop (sorry LE) and I'm sure there was some loud "GIIIT" noises. I think I would have been much calmer except despite that fact that this was a small event they still thought they needed an announcer. And I could hear him, I don't remember exactly what he was saying other than it was to the effect of "Rider #4 freaking out and beating her horse at jump #2, less hope she gets over this jump soon." So I think we refused one more time then got over the jump.
Next was show jumping. Surprisingly LE got her jumping legs back and we did the course with no refusals, maybe a few knock downs though. But being as my trainer wasn't there to tell me different and I was so focused on the time, I took every tight turn available. If there was a long way or a short way, I took the short. Yanking poor LE around tight turns. I was a nervous wreck but she did well. I started to think I might place (certainly not win). All that was left was dressage and I knew dressage! This was the part most people struggle through, they had jumpers they were forcing to do dressage, I had a dressage horse I was forcing to jump.
Finally dressage, we could do this! And there were individual ribbons for dressage so I was confident we would at least go away with something. As we walked around the ring waiting for the bell to ring the scribe asked me if I would like her to hold my whip. What an odd question? No silly scribe I'll keep it, I don't usually use it in the test but it's nice to have, thanks anyways. We did the test well, dont' remember much of it as it wasn't stressful or brilliant, just a good test.
After a good break I went back to check my scores... Cross Country - bleh, Jumping - OK, Dressage... DQed. What?? Disqualified?? (Apparently you can't use a whip in combined training classes, you can in Pony Club so I had not clue). They still showed my score - best score in dressage... I would have at least gotten a ribbon in that class. Great. Stupid me for not reading the rules or questioning why someone would want to take my whip. Hey, they tried.
So that was my first and last Event. Not because I'm a quitter (maybe a little). But because overall I wasn't having fun, LE wasn't having fun and it just wasn't our cup of tea. We still jumped over our jumps at home, with no pressure or time constraints and still had fun, but for showing, dressage was it.
January 3, 2011
Bred for Dressage
As I return home from a long weekend with the in-laws I am reminded that I was bred for dressage. I love my in-laws, they are the best in-laws a person could ask for. They are loving, fun and treat me like their own. But any time you spend a length of time with a group of people so different from you, you can't help but feel a little lost and start to do some soul searching... I'll get to how this relates to dressage in a minute... I promise.
Some background... My husband and his family are very laid back, I am not. They go with the flow, I like to steer. They are happy-go-lucky people who have a loose plan but for the most part, things happen as they happen. For better or worse, I am not one of those people, I am constantly planning, thinking about what is going to happen next and what time it needs to happen. Its how I was raised; it is what makes me comfortable. Without a plan I feel lost and disconnected. So as I was sitting there with my husbands family trying my hardest to be easy going and deal with the constantly changing up-in the air agenda I started thinking about it. And I started making parallels to the horse show world. And I realized my need for a plan is probably why I gravitated towards dressage so easily.
In dressage training there is a specific pyramid you are supposed to follow to train your horse. And the tests are very specific tests, they tell you what to do, when to do it and even what they are looking for when you do it. No question left unanswered. And you get the test well ahead of time, so you can train and know what to expect. In the jumping world, sure you know you are going to jump a course and you know how high it is going to be, and you get the course... but not until the day of the show. You usually have a few hours at best to memorize the course and you and your horse don't get to practice it, the first time you ride the course is in your class... yikes. But at least you know what is coming next. The worst (for me) is the flat hunter type classes. You know the ones, where you ride around in the ring just waiting for the judge to yell out commands. You trot along never knowing when they are going to ask you to canter and for how long. I'm not bashing these types of riding or shows, I'm just saying they aren't for me. I remember when I used to ride hunter/jumper I would get so nervous in the ring; waiting, anticipating what was to happen next. Would I be in a good spot for the transition? What if I'm hidden behind another horse? How long will I be expected to hold my 2-point?
Now that I ride dressage, I go in the ring knowing I'm ready. I know the test, I know my horse, I know exactly when and where our transitions will occur. And because I've practiced the test a few times (not enough that the horse has memorized it) I know our trouble spots and will be prepared for them. This kind of preparation may be seen as a crutch in other show circles; a good horse and rider should be able to think on their toes and not need so much preparation. I don't disagree, in fact other than the anxiety I enjoyed hunter/jumper classes. But dressage came along and took away the anxiety so all I was left with was fun and determination. As always, I may have veered away from my point a little. I just think knowing my challenge at hand makes me a calmer more confident rider, and even if no else does, I know my horse probably appreciates it. Now if I could get the in-laws to send me an agenda 6 months in advance everything would be perfect!
Some background... My husband and his family are very laid back, I am not. They go with the flow, I like to steer. They are happy-go-lucky people who have a loose plan but for the most part, things happen as they happen. For better or worse, I am not one of those people, I am constantly planning, thinking about what is going to happen next and what time it needs to happen. Its how I was raised; it is what makes me comfortable. Without a plan I feel lost and disconnected. So as I was sitting there with my husbands family trying my hardest to be easy going and deal with the constantly changing up-in the air agenda I started thinking about it. And I started making parallels to the horse show world. And I realized my need for a plan is probably why I gravitated towards dressage so easily.
In dressage training there is a specific pyramid you are supposed to follow to train your horse. And the tests are very specific tests, they tell you what to do, when to do it and even what they are looking for when you do it. No question left unanswered. And you get the test well ahead of time, so you can train and know what to expect. In the jumping world, sure you know you are going to jump a course and you know how high it is going to be, and you get the course... but not until the day of the show. You usually have a few hours at best to memorize the course and you and your horse don't get to practice it, the first time you ride the course is in your class... yikes. But at least you know what is coming next. The worst (for me) is the flat hunter type classes. You know the ones, where you ride around in the ring just waiting for the judge to yell out commands. You trot along never knowing when they are going to ask you to canter and for how long. I'm not bashing these types of riding or shows, I'm just saying they aren't for me. I remember when I used to ride hunter/jumper I would get so nervous in the ring; waiting, anticipating what was to happen next. Would I be in a good spot for the transition? What if I'm hidden behind another horse? How long will I be expected to hold my 2-point?
Now that I ride dressage, I go in the ring knowing I'm ready. I know the test, I know my horse, I know exactly when and where our transitions will occur. And because I've practiced the test a few times (not enough that the horse has memorized it) I know our trouble spots and will be prepared for them. This kind of preparation may be seen as a crutch in other show circles; a good horse and rider should be able to think on their toes and not need so much preparation. I don't disagree, in fact other than the anxiety I enjoyed hunter/jumper classes. But dressage came along and took away the anxiety so all I was left with was fun and determination. As always, I may have veered away from my point a little. I just think knowing my challenge at hand makes me a calmer more confident rider, and even if no else does, I know my horse probably appreciates it. Now if I could get the in-laws to send me an agenda 6 months in advance everything would be perfect!
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