friday flatwork finish

Happy Friday, guys!! If I’d known I’d have these video clips today, I would have waited to post yesterday’s dressage lesson recap, bc they’re fairly well representative of how we’re going!

Oh well, as it is, you got cat pics yesterday, and then my barn mate surprised me by snagging a bunch of nice clips while Doozy and I rode last night, so here ya go, more footy!

in case you wondered whether 3 months of yoga was enough to make me not tip forward LOL

And I am who I am, so obviously I like to pore over the videos and try to connect my feelings to how it looks. Bc it basically never looks how it feels. 

This ride was a little tricky too, bc I wanted to keep working on the test practice, while also continuing (as always and forever) to keep establishing “solidly on the aids” as status quo. Versus the alternative of just letting Doozy spin around at trot or canter for a few minutes each and calling it good. 

our combined biomechanic imperfections made tracking left a little softer in this ride

It’s easy to get suckered into avoiding a lot of contact at the walk, lest the mare anticipate and get tense or jiggly. And practicing a lot of transitions is a great way to make a fizzy horse boil over. Except, obviously, we have proof that when done tactfully and intentionally, the opposite can be true too. 

I don’t know that I totally succeeded in this ride with the whole “tactful and intentional” bit, let’s be real LOL, but it felt like productive practice anyway. 

i think i’m just getting greedy bc the soft moments feel so nice when they happen!

Doozy got a bit tense and tight at times, but mostly kept her shit together. I’ve been working on really exaggerated half halts lately — bringing the pace and tempo wayyyyyy down in trot. Mostly just to try to show her the pattern. Make it as clear as possible, vs kinda just hanging on at a dull roar while she flattens into a run. 

And I think it’s working? My hope is that we could in theory carry a little more forward tempo in an actual dressage test (well, real talk, I might not actually get a choice there!), but that by practicing and schooling in a more contained manner, maybe it’ll be less likely for us to get completely strung out?

trying not to throw myself forward at the mare the second she gives a little lol

I also am trying to be really aware of whether my posture really looks braced against the horse from the judge’s perspective. Which, in the video, it totally does in places especially when I’m tipping forward with my arms straightened down instead of elbows bent. Again, in theory it’d be a lot easier to mask how strong Doozy is if I don’t give it away to the judge with my posture. 

this is a better representation of the “workmanlike but not soft” feeling we have most of the time. 
still miles better than the totally tense and inside out feeling!

Then ya know. There are all the other normal observations we can make every time I get new media lol — I still collapse through my inside core, while twisting my seat to the outside. It’s like my body has this weird idea that if I drop my inside shoulder, that’ll magically get my weight down into that inside leg. Hasn’t been true yet, but for some reason I keep doing it LOL!

canter is still a bit of a hot mess, which is a shame bc she has such a nice canter naturally!
all things in time, tho, amirite?

Our canters in this ride were particularly rough around the edges, but kinda a little bit on purpose. And maybe in a productive way? The transitions I was quite happy with in general (tho none are in the video), which gives me hope that we really are more truly connected on the aids — since, recall last summer we were having problems bucking and kicking into the canter, which I attributed to being behind the leg. 

However Doozy’s a bit habituated to just kinda taking off once in canter, and in this ride I really tried to bring her back together, almost too collected, right from the very first stride. Like, right away, trying to get almost a “square turn” or “spiral” feeling with the outside aids. Again, I think in an actual test environment the horse will naturally already be traveling more forward — so hopefully we can find a happy medium?

about 2.5min of various clips from our ride

As always, I’m just happy to have the media. Mostly bc I like seeing where we are in general, but especially right now bc I feel like there are real glimmers of excitement in this work, real moments where things kinda come together. 

Obviously I’m biased, but I quite like Doozy’s natural gaits — she can have a very handsome way of going. It’s just dealing with the tension, which is obviously compounded / limited by my own abilities etc. Like she’s not just gonna magically go better than how I ride, right? 

But then again, thinking back to where we were last winter when we first got more serious about dressage saddle shopping… Ya know. Some things have changed, ahem, for the better. LOL. It’s not always easy to see in the day to day, but it’s nice to have the reminder!

Anyway. Happy Friday, friends! Hope you’re all looking forward to a nice weekend! We’re actually supposed to have our first show of the season (omg!) which I’m normally too superstitious to post about in advance… but eh, the only folks left on this platform are either kindred spirits or AI bots sooooooo there it is lol, wish us luck!