eventers lesson in the rain

Another day another lesson recap. Lately my riding has been mostly limited to lessons or events. It's been such a flurry of activity in preparation for moving up to BN, and a balancing act between being ready and souring the mare. Luckily she shows no signs of burning out and, to the contrary, is hungry for more. Game mare is game. 

We have our second BN outing this weekend at Waredaca (anyone else going?), then a little lull before an event at Tranquility on the 21st, followed by a longer break from competition for pretty much the month of July. (But oooh boy we've got plans for July!!!!)

mare awaits her doom with pricked ears (and hay. always hay!)

In the meantime, let's talk about our recent ride with Dan. I'm really loving that it's become a weekly thing (just don't ask my wallet about it, k?), and his lessons nicely complement my weekly lessons with P from OF. Plus riding in both negates any perceived need to jump on my own. Which, for the record, I've never minded - but having professional eyes on the ground (esp as we raise the bar) is always reassuring. 

This lesson was a trial too since we've had lots of (much needed) rain and it drizzled the entire ride, but the footing held up mostly ok. My philosophy about riding in weather is: 'if you would show in it, you should train in it.' Plus I wanted to get a feel for Isabel's confidence in sloppy conditions, just in case we face them at an event. Turns out she's fine. Good girl!

blurry mare is still cute

We warmed ourselves up, tho Dan instructed me in the canter (#canterstrugglebusforlife). He observed that I was trying harder to sit down (I really really am trying!) and that I needed to let go more with the reins while doing so. The mare needs to carry herself, and I can't balance on the reins - esp the inside. 

His recommendation is to just transition back and forth from trot to canter - not holding the canter for very long (as it's likely to become flatter and more difficult to sit the longer I fuss), and only cantering from a very organized trot - no rushing! 

Then it was jump time! Our exercise was kinda a mish mash between last week's and the bending line from a few weeks ago. One outside line had a bounce then 4 strides to an oxer, and two large cross rails made a bending line through the center. 

deceptively simple, no?

We warmed up trotting to the left over the white X, left turn circling around to trot the white X again, then bending right to the red/purple X in 4. Guys. That bend. It was no fucking joke. And I rode Isabel directly into the standard and the poor thing stopped. I couldn't believe it. I rode my game horse sideways into the fence and she didn't want to stop but had no other choice (or really any clue what I wanted). Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Sorry pony!!

We started again and I actually *steered* and she jumped it fine-ish in 5. Dan said the 5 was ok for trotting in, but that I needed way more outside leg to make the turn without relying so much on reins. He said if the horse is against my hands going into the first fence, there's no way I'll be able to turn it using reins anyway. It has to come from my body. 

you can see the Xs here. getting 4 in that bend was NO JOKE. 

We repeated this line for a while - trotted in once or twice more then started cantering in, at which point Dan definitely wanted the 4 - but without jumping the fences on an angle or turning midair. Very tough - that extra 5th stride was suuuuuper inviting haha. 

He also wanted our canter to be super organized too, and wanted us taking our time to establish the right canter. This kinda confused me bc last week he talked about the strength required to carry the super collected canter and that I needed to be economical in my approach... but I guess it's a balancing act just like everything else. I should NOT approach the jump without being in the right canter - but I also should NOT circle endlessly to establish that canter.

two-toned saddle nicely hides the wetness, but the saddle pad is visibly quite damp

We continued this theme after switching directions - cantering into the red/purple X on the right lead, bend left to the white X in 4. Readers might recall that left turns are tougher for my right-side dominant mare... Izzy was amazing tho and actually got her lead every time! 

It was all about developing the correct canter. Dan wanted us starting from a very organized, collected trot - interestingly, the same trot we worked on with Kirsten a few days prior. Very reassuring to have the same concepts arise with different trainers! 

I was only allowed to canter from the right trot - and the canter had to come immediately, no fast trot steps! Done correctly, the resulting canter was slow and collected with that 'jump' Dan wants to see. He also wanted me raising Isabel's poll - both in trot and canter. He said my problems with finding distances happen when Izzy's poll gets too low. Cue a huge light bulb moment for me!

Kaitlyn demonstrates the line exercise from oxer to bounce (sorry no media of me riding!)

Finally, we got to move on to the 'fun' stuff. Dan likes starting lessons with challenging exercises that force the horse and rider to be organized and powerful on a small canter. Then he finishes with an exercise where you can really open up the stride and let 'em go. 

We started on the right lead through the bounce, then a forward 4 to the oxer. The 4 had to be REALLY forward too - and a couple times I was afraid we wouldn't make it. But all that work on the canter had Isabel really sitting back and pushing, so she had more than enough power. We were directed to let go as soon as we got to the bounce, and I actually just held the mane with one hand the whole way down the line. Yay for honest ponies that travel in straight lines!

Then we turned it around to jump the oxer off a short left turn in a competition canter (ie forward), 4 strides to the bounce. Dan said the 4 would be shorter in this direction and was proved correct when we demolished the first bounce element haha. He didn't mind that tho since I let Isabel adjust herself (tho he added a placing pole before the bounce).

We did this once more (and it felt like we were FLYING!!!!!) before calling it a day. 

soggy mare is not amused

He told us about the motivation behind his lesson plans: saying a competition canter needs to have a longer stride full of power. You can always adjust to collect at the last moment - but it's much harder (if not impossible) to add power at the last moment (he used the example of coming to a wide oxer off a short turn - pretty much impossible if you're under-powered). 

So he has us develop that power on a small collected canter first, so that we can maintain it after opening the canter up. Methinks this has repercussions for my stadium warm up plan at events lol....