If dressage is like dancing...

...then apparently I've been doing some of the moves wrong.


On Tuesday I took a lesson with Chemaine of Symphony Dressage. I've lessoned with her before a while ago and she is a very nice person and gifted trainer.

The night started off rough. I warmed up on my own in a different ring and it wasn't pretty. Hemie was tense and tried to spook at everything rather than work. He'd had the day before off and I should have longed but didn't have time. I was feeling nervous heading over to the dressage area for our lesson.

Chemaine is very welcoming. Surprisingly, she asked if she could ride Hemie for a few minutes. Yes please! Hemie was tense about rein contact and his hind legs barely moved forward. But then he started to loosen up. Chemaine figured out pretty quick that he likes being talked to. She demonstrated an approach she ultimately had me do.

I hopped on and the whole lesson was spent in a 20 meter circle. The first exercise was to ask for lots of inside bend, even over-flexing the neck, asking the hind legs to cross. Outside rein to be a "dumb hand" and held absolutely still, near the saddle. Inside hand to do continuous wiggling of the rein to slide the bit around in his mouth, lulling him into relaxation and softening the jaw.

The wiggling is to be done at all times, subtlety/loudness depending on what is needed at the time. I asked if this is a short term or long term solution for better contact, and she said that each horse is different but that she uses is regularly with lots of her horses.

Lots of the lesson was spent on my weight positioning, and has made me realize that (a) I'm not always aware of where my weight is, and (b) I could be hindering Hemie with having my weight in the wrong place. Specifically, I need to weight the inside stirrup when walking and trotting a circle, and on inside hip when cantering so that he lifts me up and over. I cannot let my weight shift to the outside seat or outside stirrup - that throws of his balance.

The next exercise was to slow the trot down significantly, and wiggle and leg-yield until he steadies his connection to the outside rein, then allow a more forward trot, keeping the outside rein connection and good balance for as long as possible (keep wiggling inside), then slow down again when he connects too much to inside rein or loses balance. Basically we are rewarding him with forward movement when he has steady outside rein connection. I had a hard time keeping my weight to the inside when we had a forward trot, but we kept it longer when I was more mindful of it.

This approach is basically backwards from what I've been doing: asking for forward first, then increasing connection to be more steady.

Chemaine described Hemie as worried, a term Laurie and I haven't used lately (more like naughty and tense). But worried is a good term, and reminds me that I need to reassure him about dressage. She also said that he is even in his mouth - not especially heavy or light on one side versus the other. And that he is quite sensitive to leg and seat pressure. It was good to hear all that - I'm used to him and don't ride a ton of other horses for comparison.

She also said he was better than she was expecting him to be. I'm not sure if I should be happy he exceeded expectations, or concerned that she had such low expectations to begin with...   In any case, it was a positive lesson and right now I'm leaning towards my 4th quarter lesson/clinic to be with her as well.

Something of note - there were ZERO incidents of faux spooking the entire ride. And no shoulder popping (maybe some slight drifting, though). He felt very even both directions, with no pronounced issue tracking right.

Overall I came away from the lesson being much more mindful of my positioning, and realizing that if he's stiff it probably means that I'm being stiff.

B&S BH: Why the heck did you start?

From Mel at Boots and Saddles: Why did you start riding?

I have been horse crazy for as long as I can remember. Ever since I was a tiny child. I remember being the only kid at a kindergarten play day event who chose the horse-riding rather than swimming. 

After much begging I finally started riding lessons when I was 6 years old (1st grade). I haven't stopped since.

My first riding lesson. I remember Willoughby the {naughty} pony.

I am the *only* horse person in my family. And I have a large family. I used to joke that I had a mutant horse gene. 

But it turns out maybe it wasn't a genetic fluke. Maybe even with a non-horsey family, it was nurture not nature...

Enter Camilla. She was my nanny from when I was still in utero to when I was maybe 2. I have no memories from that age, but I met her as an adult when she and her family visited from Sweden about a year ago. 

That is when I learned that she loves horses and used to tell me stories about them when I was a teeny tiny baby.

So there you have it. The reason I have been horse crazy for as long as I can remember - the reason I started riding and continue to enjoy everything about horses: stories I can't even remember from a Swedish nanny from when I was an infant.    :) 

Le Progress

Progress update to catch us up from last week's rides...

I decided to treat Tuesday's ride as a practice dressage session, to gauge what I need to focus on these next 2 weeks. We warmed up in one arena, and then headed over to the dressage arena to run through BN Test A.

Our warm up was good. I included several free walks, and really focused on straightness and stretching but with good energy.

Our first run through of the test was mixed. I was sure to not use vocal cues, and to keep on going with the test even when we had issues (we broke to canter twice). The first half of the test was decent (with a good free walk - yay!) but as soon as we changed rein to track right (Hemie's harder side) I got some resistance and the trot work was tense. I realize that asking him to connect to the left rein through such a brief medium walk right before trotting is problematic. I need to try using right/inside rein only, try bending more or bending less, try focusing on shoulder straightness, or perhaps try a mini shoulder in for that corner.

Random photo of my horse being a creeper.

I did the second half of the test 2 more times and got some improved work. I didn't want to drill him and make us both tense and even worse, so we worked on other things then did a nice long cool out.

Inspired by Andrea's (The Reeling) recent post, I decided to give Hemie a longe/bit-up on Wednesday instead of a ride to work on bending issues. Alas, it was dark before I got to the barn, and Hemie was ultra spooktastic. But he settled down to work after a few minutes of bug-eye-ness and was surprisingly willing, straight, with good impulsion and stretching his back up and neck down.  We ended up not using either of Andrea's 2 tips, but I'm keeping them in the back pocket for future reference. Of course, I wasn't able to capture any of the greatness on my phone, but here's some dark and blurry photos anyway.

Thursday's lesson was very productive. Hemie was not in the mood for dressage, which made for a good challenge. We had lots of opportunity to work on our recurring issue of popping right shoulder/counter-bending to the left/not connecting to left rein/faux spooking. The solution was circles. Millions of circles. And going slow, and leg yields, and tons and tons of transitions. It worked beautifully. 

Saturday's jump lesson was fun. Laurie thinks we should move up to Novice next year, so she's been making jump questions more exciting. Hemie loves it. I'm going with the flow, but to be honest I don't think I'll move up to Novice until I have better scores at BN (or unless Laurie comes up with a really compelling reason). Anyways, on to the jumps!

The two 1-stride line again, but at novice height. 

Then I had just a few strides to turn through a steep angled line, with sharp right turn. This remained a ground pole, but was challenging enough as is!

Then to the red box, this time with pole on top.

Then left to the logs into the water, up the middle bank, then down the steepest bank! Hemie was a rockstar, meanwhile I was thinking "Jesus, take the reins!" Down banks are intimidating to me.

After the lesson I rode Henry for Laurie. He's an OTTB but very night-and-day different from Hemie.

Then I practiced again with the truck and trailer. I drove it to a local public equestrian center, with beautiful trails and public arenas. No horse inside, though, as I was driving solo and didn't think that would be wise. Soon, though...

Sunday I hopped on bareback to cruise around while others got a lesson. He loves being a couch sometimes. I love it too.

Q3 Review & Q4 Goals

2014 Goals
Q1 Goals
Q1 Review & Q2 Goals
Q2 Review & Q3 Goals

Q3 Horsey Goals:

1. Focus on Hemie's enjoyment of flatwork. Some success. We certainly focused on it quite a bit, but overall it's still not something he is enjoying. Need to continue with this.
2. Relaxation, relaxation, relaxation. Fairly good success - both with my relaxation and Hemie's throughout rides. I'd say we have a lot less tension at this point, but still need to continue on this.
3. Schedule a clinic OR do an XC school at a new location. Success - I'm going to be taking a dressage lesson with Chemaine next week sometime (technically not in Q3 but that's ok).

Q3 Non-Horsey Goals:

1. Continue with garage organizing. Great success. It's all done and organized!
2. Continue with working out and eating healthfully. Good success - been good about both items, and have even started a new program to help me achieve my goals. 
3. Review short, medium, and long-term financial goals with hubby. Nope - we've talked about finances quite a bit, but never got around to really focusing on goals. More like getting a grip on our present situation and dealing with large emergency expenses (sewer line replacement -_-).

October-November-December/Q4 Goals

Horsey

1. XC school at a new venue.
2. Participate in a clinic or get a lesson from another trainer.
3. Continue to focus on relaxation and Hemie's enjoyment of flatwork.

Non-Horsey

1. Continue with healthy choices for weight loss.
2. Get my act together with remembering people's birthdays. 

Other than riding...

A blog hop from Now That's The Spot:  

What other activities, hobbies, or sports do you do outside of riding?

My other hobby is volunteering, primarily through the Young Leaders Society. It's an affinity group of the United Way of Ventura County and is made up of young professionals. We create and implement programs and events to enrich local youth, especially at-risk youth, in the areas of education, income, and health. I currently serve on the Board, and I have also been a member of the executive team (Vice Chair and Membership Chair) as well as serve on planning committees for multiple programs.

So what does my involvement look like, you ask?  I'm the blonde in the below photos.

We volunteer at various youth enrichment events throughout the year:

We've created an annual family health and fitness event (Fun In The Sun, or FITS)

to expose children and families to various forms of exercise:

We give out scholarships to hard working students:

We table at community events to promote our programs and share resources:

We have fun together as a group:

Surprisingly, a 5k can be fun!

We have planning meetings. Lots of them:

Last week, I was awarded the Youth Empowerment Award by YLS at a large fancy awards luncheon in front of 400 people!  A videographer pre-recorded my acceptance speech and I was commended by numerous local dignitaries and politicians for my years of service with YLS. Several people and organizations were awarded, but I was the only young professional. It was a fun and inspiring event.

I was surprisingly moved by receiving this award. I've never been much for ribbons or trophies. I volunteer in order to help the community, but I admit it was very nice to have my efforts be recognized and publicly appreciated. It truly touched me to be commended by so many people.

I'm in the crazy patterned shirt in the middle, surrounded by some other YLS members.

Great blog hop - it's been interesting to peek into fellow bloggers' non-horsey aspects of their lives.

Join the hop here!

Ouch! - A funny story

This post is inspired by Britt's One-Sided Story (House on a Hill). She shared some of her injury stories and we can all relate. I guess that's the deal when your hobby involves a 1,000+ pound animal with a mind of it's own, eh?

If you are so inclined, I invite you to also share an injury story that is somehow horse related. Hopefully you can laugh at it now.

My story is from when I was a young teenager. In addition to horse riding, I tried lots of other sports - soccer, basketball, volleyball, etc. My parents thought it was good for me (and secretly my dad was hoping I'd fall in love with one of those sports and give up the horse-craze. Ha!)

As happens, I twisted an ankle playing soccer. It was a hairline fracture and I ended up getting a cast. It was a regular hard plaster cast, but I had a booty for walking that strapped over it - luckily I didn't need crutches. It was a nuisance, especially with the 6+ weeks off from riding. The cast couldn't fit into a stirrup and risk of further injury was the concern.

I remember giving my parents a hard time, joking that soccer was more dangerous than horse riding since I'd hurt myself more in conventional sports than I had at the barn.

I endured the 6 weeks off with minimal grace.  I still needed to get my horse out, so he was ridden by others at the barn and I turned him out and longed him regularly. I was fairly mobile with the walking cast.

The day before I was set to get my cast removed, I decided to hop on my horse bareback. After all, the injury was all healed, right? No risk of compounding the fracture. Plus no saddle = no issue with cast fitting into stirrup.

The ride completely went fine. It was very nice to be on back of a horse again.

It was time to dismount, and of course I needed to be VERY careful and not land on my casted foot. Unfortunately I was too careful and over-exaggerated the landing on my good foot - I landed on it HARD.

The next day I got my cast removed...and a new cast put on the other ankle! It had gotten a hairline fracture from the dismount!!

Also, my entry to SFTS's first blog hop is this post from earlier this year: Why Do I Event?

Training Update

To catch up from last week, we are making steady progress. Next month there's 2 schooling shows I want to do, so I'm feeling more motivated to have each ride count.

On Tuesday I did a flat ride. We worked on shoulder in for a bit, and then on being straight and very accurate in our circles. No shoulders falling in or out. Plus we did lots of work on the free walk. It counts for double so it's a real opportunity to get some extra points.

Wednesday I suited up for a jump ride, but alas it got dark so early! We hopped over only 2 jumps, and the 2nd one was a little exciting - he completely over jumped it. I realized that he probably couldn't see the jump very well because of the fading light and it would be unfair to try and do any more, so we did some flatwork and called it a night. I focused on getting him really in front of the leg and connecting to the bridle, which was a a good challenge since he was hot.

Mr. Mouthy is learning how to clean up the cross ties!

On Thursday we had a dressage lesson and it went very well. Hemie wanted to spook, but his heart wasn't in it - throughout the ride he'd give random things or sounds the bug-eye, then just move on and continue working. Laurie is having us work on more collection and asking Hemie to step up under himself more. One exercise was doing very small circles at sitting trot, then larger circles at posting trot, with lots of bend. This helped with getting him to focus, too.

On Saturday we had a jump lesson and we jumped like a boss!  First we did a gymnastic that ultimately became a trot-in to 2 one-strides, from either direction:

Then we did some bending lines such as the roll-top the tube:

Then we did the red solid jump, and finished by cantering the skinny jump a few times. Hemie really loves the more technical questions, and I could feel him lock on to the skinny and lengthen his stride to it.  Laurie kept on raising the skinny and by the end had it at  "Prelim level skinny" which we took from a very forward gallop.  

In these moments, when I'm a little intimidated of a jump, its wonderful that I can trust Hemie to take care of us. A little voice in my head wanted to slow him down and micromanage the jump, but luckily the louder voice in my head told me to not do anything and just let him do it. That is trust.

Hemie got lots of pats and snuggles of course.

On Sunday I watched TK on Levi at a local dressage show (they rocked it), did touch-up to Hemie's hooves, and did some practice driving with the trailer including 3-point-turns (which are a lot more challenging than one would think). Next weekend will be my debut trailering with horses inside!

Hemie and I then went out on a trail ride all alone. We hack around the property often, but it had been a while since we left the stable and hit the trails. We have to ride on busy public roads to get to any trails, which always makes me a little nervous. Plus the trails are not well maintained and there were target shooters out practicing in an adjacent area, so our ride wasn't as scenic or relaxing as I'd hoped, but that's okay.