what a difference 2mos makes...

You guys remember back in February when Charlie and I went to that Circles + Cavaletti + Cocoa clinic? After all winter of Charlie being in full regular work?? Remember how he came out looking strong and relaxed and focused?? Ha. Gosh. Those were the good ol' days.

my sweet elegant boy

Since coming back into work, we've been dealing with a kinda unpleasant trifecta: a weakened horse who is especially unconditioned to the rising temperatures, and whose work ethic feels flimsier than ever on that flat.

Plus, we really haven't jumped much at all recently -- I had been holding off in expectation of jumping both days this past weekend. But obviously with Charlie feeling stiff and sore, that didn't happen. Sigh.

So as far as he's concerned, all we've been doing lately is the drudgery of dressage and conditioning work, with none of the fun stuff to keep him happy and engaged. And unluckily for him, dressage trainer C visited our farm this week for a lesson. Yay! for me haha, but sad for Charlie to continue enduring these nitty gritty rides lol.

Oh well.

video from exactly 2 months ago.... take me back, plz!

Anyway. In some ways, it feels like the rawest, most "green" portion of my and Charlie's journey together is truly finished. Think about it: At the beginning with a green horse, everything is so shiny and new. Every ride is better than the one before. There are so many "Firsts!" to tackle, and so many new highs (bc when they're that green, there really isn't any lower to go, right?).

But once a horse is confirmed in his basics, all those shades of gray in the spectrum become more obvious. Like, how just 2 months ago Charlie was fit as a fiddle and killin it in his work. But now after time off, he's all blah and flat and weak again. He's not any less trained; he's just not at his peak performance potential right now. Not fully tuned up.

not fully tuned up, but still damn cute!

Which is totally fine, right? Obviously haha. It's just a very different feeling from the roller coaster ride of developing new skills in a green horse. And I guess that's kinda exciting in its own right?

Anyway. Again haha. Moving on to the lesson. It wasn't one for the record books. Just working on the same basics forever and ever, amen.

Trainer C wants to see a continued focus on relaxing and loosening my legs. I think I had some breakthrough feelings in this regard during the ride: When I think about relaxing my leg, I'm mostly thinking about my calf. But to compensate for taking my calf off the horse, I end up gripping more with my thigh and knee. But then I can't easily do the quick dressage "bump bump" with my lower leg bc my upper leg is still too tight.

When I focused on loosening my thigh and knee, not just the calf, C seemed to like it better.

pic from a couple weekends ago when we got to school in a proper court for the first time this year!

In the same vein, my toes must point forward. I swear I've really been working on this in my rides, but it's a hard habit to break. And in some ways is a symptom of bigger positional flaws. I've also been working a ton on the position of my seat/pelvis, but am now wondering if I've gotten too heavy in my seat along the way.

C wants to see me "standing" more in my stirrups, esp while posting. Using my big toe in the stirrups to rise, instead of using the grip from my legs. Charlie is maybe happier when I lighten my seat and release my legs too. Go figure lol.

this isn't a miracle worker, but it *is* helping corral my wayward hands!

I asked about my little ribbon situation tied to the d-rings, and C liked that it helped me keep my hands more square out in front of me. Which... is exactly the point, so that was reassuring lol.

She also felt like the ribbon made me keep my reins too long, but honestly I think that habit is rooted in my loose floppy fingers haha. At least with the ribbon, when my reins are too long, my hands don't go wandering off to never-never land....

pictured: wayward hands haha

For Charlie, right now he is so freakin disengaged, it legitimately feels like we get up to the ring and realize we left his entire hind end back in the barn. Like, "whoops I knew I forgot something!"

He's completely disconnected from front to back, and it creates all manner of issues. Like trying to steer his shoulders that suddenly weigh 8 million lbs. bc they've got no support or lift from behind. Well. Ok. His right shoulder is only 3mil., but damn that left one I swear is a full 5mil., and probably magnetic too for how strongly it wants to pull away.... Ugh.

Charlie also feels extremely under-powered when he's this disengaged. And I *hate* that feeling. It makes me want to chase.chase.chase him around the ring, clutching and nudging at him with my legs, driving with my seat, etc etc etc. To which, naturally, he responds by simply running even more flatly along on his forehand. It's real cute, I promise.

meta data from the lesson - the 6.6mph trot felt awful to me but C liked it

But trainer C had us in this lesson just going on along in this trot that felt totally gross and under powered to me, but assured me that it really didn't look that bad. And that for where Charlie is in his condition and fitness, this trot was the lesser of two evils compared to the running flat trot. Which, when put like that, I can go along with.

And overall, she really wants me to do less, to work less hard, even as Charlie feels so blech. Especially in the walk, but also in the trot. Don't hold him up. Don't keep at him every single step. Be soft, be loose, be more relaxed on him, and wait for him to need input before I say anything. Esp at the walk, trainer C warned that my tendency is to want to nag him into a bigger more tense walk than we currently need.

compared to the meta data from our ride the day before, where i kept kicking charlie up into more trot. C wants to see me doing less of that right now

At trot, we didn't really do anything spectacular. Mostly large sweeping circles, and a fair amount of leg yields. She actually quite likes Charlie's leg yields right now, which is nice bc we practice them a ton haha. But reminded me to not cling my leg onto him the whole time. Bump bump and then be quiet. And for the first time, I actually got that feeling from Charlie of "putting him into a movement" and then letting him just stay in it of his own accord until I asked him to straighten. So ya know, that was cool.

Despite our overall crappy condition of late, Charlie's canter has actually been on fire. Who knows why, but it's easily been a huge highlight of all our rides recently. Which has worked out well for my purposes bc canter is a great gait to use for building strength. In our schooling rides I've been doing a ton of canter leg yields, loops and counter canter. All hard work for Chuck, but he's been slaying.

older ride tracker from april 1, but i love how clearly you can see our canter (pink) loops and figure 8s. all of this ride kinda sucked, except that canter work felt incredible!

So for the lesson, trainer C had us keep working on that same idea of using the canter to help him engage and step under -- esp with that perennially sluggish right hind. Tho she switched it up a little bit - having us do what she alternately called a 'half pass' and a 'side pass.'

Basically, coming down the long side tracking left, she wanted me to step Charlie in laterally for 3-4 steps, then travel straight again (parallel to the long side). The "ride straight" part was equally important for the exercise too, and I was *not* to hold him up with my outside leg for it.

I guess the intent here is to engage that RH by stepping it under and over, and then make it hold its own self in place for the remainder of the straight line. Charlie accomplished this surprisingly well and easily, good boy.

Tracking the other direction at canter (so, on the right lead instead of left), she wanted us to do a more traditional leg yield from quarter line to rail. Again, bc we were aiming this exercise at Charlie's RH.

these pretty blossoming willows are planted at both ends of the dressage ring and give it all kinda a magical feeling this time of year haha

After the canter, trainer C got to help us through Charlie's patented "deflate" mode. Wherein he gets tired and completely sputters out. It's tricky to ride bc you transition from canter to trot, but then he wants to walk so he drops his nose to the ground, heavy as can be in the bridle and on his forehand, wanting you to hold him up.

But that's no bueno, Sir, you gotta hold your own self up before we can walk! But then if you loosen on him and refuse to carry him, he starts running again and will break back into canter.

It creates this really ugly vicious cycle at the end of a ride bc maybe you just had an awesome canter and want to finish on that note. But then the transition to trot is so freakin shittacular that it ends up taking eons to get him back into a balanced trot before you can walk again. All bc homeboy is just like, "Ugh, too tired, can't do!"

also an old pic haha, and this is actually pre-ride. charlie loves his naps in the cross ties lol

So it was useful to work through that. Which basically just entails patience, ya know? Then to finish, we had a sorta long walk break to talk through things, then asked Charlie to pick back up again for just a little more trot work (simple serpentines). The point here was not the work itself, but the act of asking Charlie to focus again when maybe he wanted to be done.

He answered that question well enough, and so we quit on that. Charlie, for his part, was honestly quite good for the whole ride. Not necessarily in quality or whatever, but in attitude and obedience. Which, in Charlieland, are equally important and laudable qualities haha.

It's not really where I want to be, but it's good enough. Realistically I didn't buy this horse for dressage haha, and at times like this it's pretty obvious why. But he's such a good boy. Once he's a bit stronger again, the work will come more easily. For now, I'm just happy to get back on track with our lessons!