impromptu lesson

I kinda had to pep talk myself into going to the barn Wednesday night, after making the mistake of eating an early dinner and relaxing on the couch for a bit. But it would be ridiculous to not capitalize on good footing and daylight at our own farm after a winter of hauling around all the time, esp when the forecast for the rest of this week is rainy. 

So. Off to the barn!

And I didn't regret that choice at all - turned out Dan was coming for a lesson with two of my barn mates, and I managed to squeeze in. My initial plan was for a night of simple flat work... but whatever. I love me some lessons! 

I've ridden with Dan a handful of times (posts here, here, and here) and he generally has the same goals for us each time: he wants our canter to be teeny tiny and balanced, and we should use smaller and smaller circles to achieve this - always feeling like we can add leg.

Unlike past lessons, he really didn't offer much in the way of feedback for our flat work - mostly he just wanted us all to warm ourselves up while he observed and set fences. His only comments for me and Isabel were to really compress and collect the canter - beyond what we'd even typically want for a dressage test. 

I never quite reached the canter he wanted - but Isabel felt great and was really trying for me. Not sure what the difference is but I'm suddenly starting to believe we have a nice canter somewhere in there!  

isabel's patented tail flick

Dan set up a line measured for what he called a competition 3 strides. So probably about 48'? He had us trot and canter the vertical out jump a couple times to warm up, then canter through the line each way in 4 strides. He wanted it QUIET - but still a very deliberate 4 (no sneaking in a 5th stride, no matter how pretty it looked!).

His reasoning was that we were schooling - not showing. So he wanted us to fit in that extra stride, even if it meant a little ugliness or knocking the rail. He wanted the horses really tuned in and staying with us, not sprawling out when things got iffy. (In fact his general homework for me was to work on transitions and getting everything from just my seat.)

In a way I felt bad bc I can almost *always* stuff in an extra stride, and Isabel is usually happy to acquiesce... but the other two horses were green OTTBs who had a harder time. 

So I initially thought it wasn't really the kind of exercise we need to work on... but after watching the videos and seeing how consistently on pace we were, I changed my mind. One of my biggest problems is pushing Isabel past her distance, then chipping in to the jump. But in this lesson where we really focused on keeping that canter small and organized (but keeping forward impulsion), I found the jump nicely each and every time.

video here

The final exercise looked a lot harder than it actually was, thanks to all that work on establishing the right canter. It was five canter poles set at bounce distances. Tracking right was a ground pole, cavaletti, cavaletti, ground pole, small vertical. (tracking left was obvi just the reverse). Isabel made quick work of it each way (tho only one was caught on video) and we called it a night. 

All in all it was a good lesson. We didn't have as many rounds as the other riders bc Isabel mostly got the answers right on the first try - and the jumps were on the smaller side of what he's had us do in the past. But I'm pleased with the ride and think I'm getting a better understanding of how to continue developing our canter.