the return of 'squeeze + hold'

Or, in other words, trainer Dan C is back from Aiken! Readers may recall that for most of last year we took two jump lessons each week - one with trainer P from OF, and one with Dan, who travels to our our home barn.

Trainer P is wonderful for a variety of reasons. For instance, we get a lot of mileage in her lessons - lots and lots of reps over coursework and a variety of fence styles and grids. She's a big believer in letting the horse sort itself out and learn from repetition.

This is great for me, as my shoddy confidence requires that jumping feel routine and mundane rather than a cause for nervous excitement.

no media from the lesson today, so here's a head shot of izzy contemplating her life choices

Dan, on the other hand, is a master technician. He wants every step ridden correctly and schooling treated for what it is: Training. He clearly distinguishes between 'getting it done' at a show, and day in, day out practice at home. Bc when you're home? No cutting corners.

My experience riding with both of these trainers simultaneously has been overwhelmingly positive. Dan's lessons are often cerebral and mentally and physically exhausting, with high expectations on the rider. And P's lessons serve as the perfect melting pot to work on those nitty gritty details in a lower-pressure (but still safe and educational!) environment.

So it's a relief to know lessons with Dan still fit into my schedule despite everything turning upside down for the new job. Weekday evenings are a crap shoot, and weekends are out for professional competitors for obvious reason... But weekday mornings? Especially when I'm working from home? Turns out to be a reasonable solution. 

And who doesn't love lessons at ass o'clock in the morning? lol

oooh but here's some media from a lesson with trainer P at OF right before loch moy a couple weeks ago

So anyway, I had my first lesson with Dan of the year. And as might be reasonably expected, it was predominantly a flat school with a small one-stride grid almost incidentally in our path.

The biggest focus was straightness. Dan called me out on Izzy wiggling every which way, and said that using bending and flexion to get the horse round might work - but that it's almost become something of a trick or gimmick. That it didn't matter if Isabel was round and steady up front if her hind end was fishtailing all over the place or if she wasn't truly engaged.

He had me use the rail, rather than endlessly circle through no man's land in the center, and gave the most basic of instructions:
-   use both legs equally, from hip to heel ("squeeze and hold!")
-   feel Isabel coming into both reins equally
-   counter bend (or even just think of counter bend) into the corners with outside aids on to keep her from fishtailing through

the ground was nasssssty out - you can easily see why i was unsure how running xc the next day would go!

The whole idea is to keep the horse round with just my seat and legs, rather than needing to bend and flex her every which way with the reins. I don't think we're quite there yet - but I appreciate the idea. She needs to be STRAIGHT first since getting overbent and disconnected from front to back is already so easy.

Other focal points included:
-   focus on the right tempo (hint: it's probably slower than I think)
-   but keep the horse ACTIVE behind. feeeeeeel the push
-   keep my legs ON, but without the horse scooting forward or speeding up

Despite the horse feeling not particularly accepting of my legs on this day (making it a very good lesson on being purposeful and clear with my aids), I could really feel the difference when we got her totally straight front to back and pushing from behind.

THAT'S the trot we need for her to actually give me a place to sit, for instance.

puddles errrywhere! mare was (mostly) fine tho. just do the adds on a collected stride and wait for the horse, emma!

Anyway, more of the same at canter. Plus working on collecting + moving forward, which pleased me especially given my notes from the Janet Foy clinic. Collect for a few strides, then ride forward. Then a few more strides of collected, then ride forward.

It's the same stuff I've been practicing, with the sole difference being a heightened focus on the horse moving equally from both hind legs into both reins and staying STRAIGHT.

Dan said it's natural for Isabel (given her particular way of going) to swing her hind end around as I ask for more engagement - which somewhat echoes JF's concept of moving from stability to mobility as you go up the levels. It's just something I must pay attention to and fix each and every ride before trying to add complexity.

It's such a simple concept - just the fundamental building blocks of all things dressage... And yet it's been so easy for me to ignore Isabel's hind end falling in and out when the mare otherwise seems to be going well.

and here's a random between the ears shot. don't say i never gave you anything!

Straightness was the whole point of our jumping exercise too - which, as mentioned, was just a small one stride grid. Dan wanted us approaching from a "comfortable" canter - not too collected, not too forward, just going and balanced. No worrying about a distance - just ride it straight.

Despite Isabel being pretty fucking hot to the touch (and absolutely DRAGON-ing into our canter departs...) she jumped beautifully every time. Found the jumps nicely without fail, and was supremely rideable. We got called out for our left drift issues (shocking) - but I could fix it with minimal effort. Just needed to, ya know, actually DO it.

So ultimately a very straight-forward lesson (puns haha). But I'm left feeling pleased about getting back into the routine. We need more discipline, more focus on the details, and, more than anything else, I need to be a stronger and more effective rider on both sides of the horse. And these lessons have historically worked reeeeally well for us.

Plus, it was actually kinda nice to enjoy the peace and quiet of an empty sleepy barn at such an early hour lol - especially compared to the busy weekends and weeknights. Do you ever seek out ride times when you know your barn is deserted? Or do you prefer the hustle and bustle of lots of activity?