future elegant horse?

Ok. So. Dressage. We've actually been doing a lot of it lately! Which is a good thing bc.... Well. Let's be real. I didn't buy Charlie for his 10+ gaits. Homeboy is.... not a fancy mover. Or. At least. Not yet.

only half fancy bc we had to ditch the hind boots bc of rubs. le sigh.

Jump trainer P from OF commented upon first meeting him that Charlie has the build and expression to make for a very "elegant" picture when he's more trained up.

And.... I've been clinging to that shred of hope ever since lol - through every near-face plant, and every downward transition replete with forging, and every cancerous circle where my opinions re: control of the shoulders are wildly disregarded.

the walk ain't bad tho!

Basically, Charlie has a solid walk and canter. Arguably more important, as those gaits are less easily influenced and developed than, say, the trot. Charlie's trot is.... not exactly shitty, but certainly trending in that direction.

"Earthbound" is one word for it. "Heavy on the forehand" is an understatement. And, in fact, for a horse whose withers are objectively higher than his croup, he can have an extremely downhill way of going. #racehorseproblems

all of today's pictures are screen shots from a tripod video - meaning the video had no zoom or focus and we only briefly flitted in and out of frame at random. so... all the pics are super blurry and i had a really hard time isolating actual nice moments bc the videos were all like 8min long... kinda sorry, honestly. but i have so few pictures of our flatwork that i'm going to take 'em where i can get 'em! the above is chosen bc... well. that's about as "light" on the forehand as charlie gets right now.

So all my lessons with dressage trainer C are focused on making him more rideable off his hind end, and helping him build more strength to carry his balance more horizontally. Tactic #1 in this regard has been to ride that damn horse more forward. Get him moving quicker off my legs, quicker off the ground. Get that hind end more active.

Just... everything quicker and more active.

pretty good shot of charlie working on getting more forward, while the hind legs are decidedly slow

Trainer C wants me to be thinking about asking for more inside bend with my inside leg - pushing him out into the outside rein. Turn and push him out (much like trainer P's "Bend & Send"). Even on the short end of the arena, turn a little early and push him out.

Always be displacing his barrel a little to the outside - to encourage increased activity with his inside hind and try to get him a little quicker off the ground. Charlie is too slow on the ground, especially with his hind end, which is constantly playing catch-up to his front half.

trainer C specifically does not want me letting his head go any lower or farther out - he's maybe learning to use his longitudinal balance a bit like a teeter-totter. gotta get that hind end stepping under consistently before we worry about what his head is doing

And for me, I need to really get better about "kick then be done." Being quicker with my own aids (leg, rein, everything) then take them off. Be quickquickquick with the leg to send him on, and then be done, letting him quietly fade before quickquickquick, spurt forward again.

Every time I turn (building in half circles and frequent changes of direction across the diagonals), think about 'hitting the gas pedal' - turning him and pushing the gas. Really the whole warm up should be focused on getting the horse to be a little quicker. Getting him to respond. Doesn't matter what kind of response, just need something.

pictured: why i needed longer reins

We practiced getting a couple of these 'spurts' or 'surges' forward in a row - looking for the horse to promptly shoot forward when I ask (vs being lowkey disdainful of my constant nagging) - and then changed direction as a reward.

so annoyed that the hind boots rubbed bc flashy white hind boots would definitely help mask the fact that his hind end is so dramatically playing catch up lol

In the same vein, we practiced walk to trot transitions, where as soon as Charlie gave a forward trot, he could walk again. And I was to keep the contact in walk and keep him on the aids, then trot again. And as soon as he was 'forward' and prompt off the aids, walk again. Often after the first or second go, Charlie was shooting off immediately into his forward trot, and we could very quickly ask for walk again.

These upward transitions are the important practice for Charlie. Whereas the downwards are important practice for me. Trainer C wants me to post in a steady rhythm through the downward transition, using inside thigh to outside rein without fixing or locking anything for Charlie to lean against. Post slower and slower until he walks so that he doesn't lock up his hind end, or splat down into the floor. And it doesn't matter if it takes us 10 laps to do so.

dis our right lead canter transition. SASS!!
but. BUT! it's prompt and basically reliable. as are both leads lately!

This is the same tactic more or less that we use to work on compressing the trot, something I've tried to be a little more serious about since our last dressage show. Just keep thinking 'thigh to outside rein' and asking him to waitwaitwait in the trot (without locking against him) and when he's almost walking, trot forward again.

Go figure, this is all getting easier the more we practice.

<3 his canter even if i couldn't get a good picture

The canter has continued to improve too. We reliably have departs on both leads, tho the right depart is a little sassy right now. Doesn't matter tho. Trainer C wanted me to be careful not to get busy or "lift" Charlie into the canter. Mostly tho she's pretty happy with how he's going.

In our most recent lesson, we actually added in shallow counter canter loops, which Charlie was totally foot perfect for. That surprised C haha... but I chalk it up to Charlie's skillz at dodging lesson kiddos in a crowded indoor lol.

the trot after a canter is usually better. not always - esp not if we just get flat and race-y, but usually.

All of the above directives were put into play in practicing a little bit of test work too: center line turns and halts. For a while now I've been trying to corral Charlie's wayward shoulders by 'catching' or blocking with my outside rein... but it turns out pushing him out with my inside leg when it feels like his shoulders are falling out has actually been more effective.

Probably bc the falling shoulder is actually a symptom of a disengaged hind end, and bending him around my inside leg increases engagement, which then brings his shoulders back into line? Maybe? Idk, whatever the case, our center line turns greatly improved. Phew! And obviously all the practice on transitions into and out of and within trot made for better halts at X.

We haven't bothered actually running through our test ahead of next week's show bc... well. Idk, I feel like we're better served by letting trainer C mold and sculpt us in real time, and all this focus on Charlie's rideability and hind end engagement will play a role in making for a stronger test on show day anyway.

both saddles appear to be fitting better with the re-configured half pad shims. and i may be deluding myself, but his topline in the dip behind his shoulders is looking less pinched lately too.

Really tho, the biggest takeaways for Charlie's dressage training right now are to focus on all things 'activity behind.'

Especially bc the horse has learned how to use his longitudinal balance a bit like a teeter totter against me haha. So I need to be careful not to let him get his poll too low, or his neck too far away from me. A too-low head just means that he's pulling his weight off the hind end - instead I should be thinking about keeping him at least horizontal, and riding the hind legs more 'under' him.

The horse isn't pulling me out of the saddle even close to how he used to... but we're definitely still very much working on that inclination. Progress is happening, tho, slowly. And I'm still clinging to my dreams of a "Future Elegant Horse" haha....