the latest in lessons

As promised, here are notes from our most recent dressage lesson. It's been a bit of an up-and-down process lately with our lessons, which are occurring at a frequency slightly more often than once a week. We've had some really great moments, and some serious frustrations too.

mondeuse and her ponies <3

And I think that's kinda just the way with horses, ya know? Not just 'green' or 'new' horses, either... Just... horses. Like I remember some of my last 'serious' rides on Isabel were replete with major swings on the satisfaction scale, from an amazing clinic ride with Stephen Birchall, to an irritating and exasperating solo ride trying to recreate the magic. 

cutest shark attack ever <3

It's just cyclical, I guess. Like, at first, everything is hard bc the horse doesn't really know what you're asking... Then there's the breakthrough 'Aha!' moment, the lightbulb, the thunder bolt. 

And then... ya know, back to a place of resistance again bc it turns out it's actually hard, and sometimes horses say 'No' bc they're uncomfortable or uncertain (or experimenting bc #green); or, more often, bc the rider is doing something wrong or confusing to the horse. Crystal clear parameters, and all that....

goofy mare

My objective as a rider right now isn't actually to eliminate that cycle either, but rather... to kinda embrace it. Be a bit more scientific about it, vs emotional. Enjoy the great moments, and explore the rest. 

Q: Am I not getting the response I want from Doozy bc something in my position is off? A: Go through my 'rider checklist' and make adjustments. 

Or, 

Q: Am I not getting what I want... but actually this is a good enough effort for now? A: Accept it and move on. 

still kinda in disbelief that charlie's gorgeous french monoflap is kiiiiiinda working --- we're playing with my Prolite foam halfpad right now, might try shims eventually too

In other words, right now all the accountability is on me in being strong in my position. And in this lesson, I had a few good 'Aha!' feelings as we worked through our warm up. 

it's a little wide on her, to be expected, but so far so good!

We started the ride with constant turns -- building off the last lesson's concept of 'always finding the bending line' in our line of travel. 

This time, tho, the constant turning started to take the form of legit figures and movements -- a 3 loop serpentine, ridden back and forth again and again... Tear drops ridden off the diagonal, and also off the wall. Full half turns from wall to center line, or center line to wall. And broken lines from diagonal to center line (like the exits from the eventing Starter and BN tests). 

went for daylight walkies around the farm with a couple friends (behind us)

The idea was to be constantly turning, but SLOWLY. Taking my time. Focusing on my position. 

I aimed for a really really fixed position -- stabilized core and spine, with my shoulders kinda like the crossbar on a "T" -- not moving. But my spine rotating from my hips/seat like a swivel. And elbows hanging down heavy from my shoulders. 

So as we moved through all these turns, basically nothing above my waist ever changed, tho I could rotate my torso in the direction of travel, and let my thighs kinda work in unison.

explored some new riding spaces --- like the Orchard, that pristine paddock that charlie's spent time in lately, that is also used as the warm up dressage ring at our farm's horse trials. it's a nice riding space!

Importantly, tho, we worked on finding the 'softness' in the stability, not a rigid unforgiving hold, but like a neutral bit of scaffolding that could be built up if needed. 

have also started dabbling in cantering bounce poles! doozy is basically a #childgenius 

Doozy responded really really well to this consistent reliable steadiness. Especially in the moments when I tried to sorta 'slow down' the turns. It felt like she really started filling up in a good way (vs the backward rising tension I felt last lesson), and started pushing into the contact, vs me pulling back on her. 

ever feel like you're being watched??

The trot work was.... still not quite so good, haha... But much better than the last couple lessons in that we could actually trot in a semi stable rhythm lol. So ya know. Progress haha. 

i've been letting charlie get an hour or two of unsupervised turnout in our smaller barn yard paddocks. they're way muddier, but i time it so that he gets a fresh dry wrap immediately after coming in

Working on the transitions seemed to help the overall picture too. For both up and down transitions from trot, MP wanted me to try to find the leg yield feeling, try to find the bending line. 

This was a bit easier for the up transitions, and significantly messier for the downs... which were themselves pretty slow to develop. But, eh, some of that is a strength thing, ya know? 

jealous pony.... heal your heel and this could be you!

We also worked on finding those moments where Doozy felt really "full" in her body, filling the contact and puffing up (softly) in front of my leg, for our upward transitions. To really develop that 'pushing' feeling. Again, harder to recreate going to the downward transition, but a good feeling to chase. 

omg and the ponies went christmas caroling! it about blew dooz's brain to see candee in the barn lol

The last sort of really specific exercise we worked on related to the transitions between free and medium walk. And MP broke this down to basically a specific "Order of Operations" for Doozy. Which ya know, means it might be slightly different for your horse, right? 

lol toodles was enthoodles haha <3

But basically, in free walk I should still have a some feel for contact on a longer rein. Don't be slack on the buckle, but do let arms get more loose and forward in front of the saddle. Then for the transitions, with my arms still in front of the saddle (ie, elbows pushed forward), start to establish the rein length I'll ultimately want for the medium gait (which should be a length from which I could strike off into trot or canter or whatever). 

Next, start reintroducing the the full stability of posture, starting with stable back and shoulders first, and only then start to let my elbows become heavier and eventually sink back to hanging down from my shoulders vs floating out in front. And at this point, we should now be in medium walk in full contact.

loki and candee on their way to join the parade

We repeated that exercise a few times, and it'll basically be how I go about picking Doozy up for work for the foreseeable future. Right now I'm kinda slow in going through the process haha, but eventually it should only take a few steps.

meanwhile this one just went back to her field haha --- we're plenty Red + Green right now, just, in all the wrong ways for caroling LOL

Last key notables from the lesson --- we rode in Charlie's monoflap jump saddle instead of either dressage saddle - my old Bates or MP's lovely Custom. It might be a fluke that Doozy was less tense this ride, but, eh, I don't really think so. We'll probably still ride in the Bates intermittently, since it is a pretty neutral "starter" dressage saddle, but the Custom was returned to MP, maybe to be tried again in a year or so. 

Also interesting -- we had multiple moments in the lesson when Doozy became distracted or tense, like when unseen horses outside the arena started screaming, or folks in the attached barn were singing and going about their chores and whatnot. In each case, however, Doozy was able to recover and return to concentration. 

And so far, she never seems to lose her swinging slinky over-tracking walk, even when she's kinda a mess. So it's all good stuff, all good practice. And I'm looking forward to time off over the holidays to get in more daytime practice!!