Just goes to show you how incredibly humbling this sport is, and how you never stop learning. I think I'm understanding just why it is that people play golf....
Had my lesson today, and we started off with flatwork, since that is (was?) my Number 1 Nemesis lately. A little harder to sit up and not tip forward in a jumping saddle, but easier to put my leg on. I've switched to little hammerhead spurs so that I'm not afraid to really put my leg on, and it seems to be working. I had a lightbulb moment the other day schooling xc at the Secrists - Oliver took off with me on the landing side of a fence and I really sat back, dug my spurs in, and lifted my hands in a half-halt, and I really felt him tuck his butt underneath, raise his withers, and sit DOWN. Wow. So, that's what Christan means by leg-to-hand! Anyway, I've been using that visual a lot when I've been flatting - at first, I had to use draw reins to keep Oliver from just bullying through my hand and accept the contact, but I've taken them off recently and he seems to still understand that when I leg him up into the contact, he must sit down behind and not hollow and grab the bit and run. Which, of course, makes it easier to ride leg to hand, since he's responding correctly. We worked a little on transitions - while I can get a lovely upward transition now, uphill and into the bridle, the trot-to-canter is still a little tough as I want to tip ever so slightly forward and drop my hands into it. When I think of really pressing him into the contact and then asking for the canter, thinking about lifting my hands (so they don't drop), he tends to strike off correctly and stay round. I also have this bad habit of riding the canter to the left a bit under the pace, so I've got to sit back, ride him UP, and keep my leg on, even if it's faster than I think I need to be. We also worked on the halt transition - coming around the turn, Christan noticed that I tip just a tiny bit forward when coming down from the trot, and then he swings his butt to the right and doesn't halt straight (or square). If I come around the turn, think "up" and keep my legs pressed into him, he halts squarely.
So, Christan had me trot a vertical 2'6, one stride to another 2'6 vertical. I came in at a spanking good trot, and then Christan told me that I was coming in too fast, so we sort of blew through the exercise with him falling on his forehand. I was to think about keeping the trot exactly the same, keep my hands up, and not goose him at the last stride and tip forward. It was bloody hard to do because I felt that the trot was underpowered and at the last second, I had this need to do something and I inadvertently goosed him with my leg, which resulted in a scrambling through the exercise. Then, I went the opposite extreme - instead of goosing him, I held onto him too much, so that he felt the need to pull his way through, resulting in a jump that was over his forehand. Christan told me to ride the first jump and not worry about the second - she even had my close my eyes over the first. I closed my eyes, felt him jump the first, panicked, opened my eyes, and LEANED at the second. I haven't leaned that badly at a jump for years! Christan told me that if I were riding a trot lengthening, I wouldn't goose him with my leg or drop my hands, so I was to think "dressage frame" up to the fence, and then on take-off, soften and allow him to jump up and around the vertical. Over and over and over we did this - at the last second I'm still leaning at the first jump (just a tetch, but enough to rotate my hands backwards and take my leg off), or I gun him over it without any support from my hands. We had ugly, two scrambly stride jumps, once where I completely threw my upper body at him and he went left and didn't jump the second jump (not that I blame him - there was no way he could jump it with me hanging around his ears), a lot of jumping the first jump and then plopping over the second, but at the end I finally got it (I think) - I did NOTHING except keep my leg softly on, even if everything in my body was screaming that I needed more speed, more leg, moreSOMETHING, softened my hand, kept my chest lifted, and we landed over the first jump beautifully, sat up, put leg on, and while the second jump still wasn't perfect, it was so much better than the previous attempts. The biggest and most obvious improvement was that on the landing, I sat up, closed my leg and hand, and lifted him into a lovely, balanced canter and then down to a walk, each and every time - yay! Before, I would be so happy with finishing the exercise that I would allow him to pull me forward, tipping onto the forehand, and sprawling to a walk or trot.
At the close, I asked Christan if I could canter a simple fence, and she agreed with the condition that even if I messed up, I had to call it quits. Of course that put the pressure on, so I picked up a lovely canter, cantered toward the crossrail, the whole time thinking "dressage canter". He did try and speed up a few strides out (probably relieved that he was no longer trotting through the grid), but I kept my leg on, half-halted him, and it rode beautifully. Now, I know I should correct the speeding up, but Christan said I handled it very well.
It is soooo frustrating. The easy way out would be to allow him to pick up some speed, and then just breeze through the in and out. It's so hard to keep riding all the way up until the last stride, and then soften without tipping forward or clamping on your leg. I wish I had another horse I could ride that I could work on this, because I could tell Oliver was getting tired towards the end, and he was being a Saint and putting up with me getting left behind, hitting him in the mouth (only did that once, but had to slip my reins a whole bunch), putting him at a bad spot, etc.
Bella seems to be improving slightly. Greg did a quickie adjustment on her and she walked out much better afterwards. She is out in a bigger paddock with grass, and seems to be content walking around.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
King of the Hill (umm....pasture)
So, little Oliver is testing me….
We went to the dressage show (Antares) this past weekend, and he warmed up like a superstar. We went in, proceeded to have a very relaxed test, and then I asked for the first canter transition – buck, buck, buck. Luckily, they weren’t that big of bucks and I was able to stuff him forward out of it and we were okay to the next canter transition – more bucky bucky. Argh! I was surprised at how well I handled it, though – I just sat down, and rode him through. So, Christan came and watched me warm up for my next test (Novice A) and she watched as he bucked in the warmup arena for those canter transitions, too – now I was getting really irritated because he has NEVER done this before. It’s not like I was tense and digging my spurs into him, for Pete’s sake. Christan told me that I didn’t have him connected enough, and that I needed to ride him more “up” and “out”, especially in the canter. We had a lovely warmup – C said that if I rode the test like that, I would be in the 70% range. Of course, that didn’t happen. He tried to buck into his first canter transition – I nailed him, and he was okay. The next canter transition, he fell in around the turn, picked up the wrong lead, and I couldn’t bring him down until we almost completed half a circle. The rest of the test was okay, except that he fell in around the last turn down the centerline and we had a sprawly halt.
OK. I wasn’t expecting great scores, due to the disobedience, but he got the exact same score for both tests – a 39pp. Which, oddly enough, was enough to earn him 2nd place in both classes. I guess the judge was scoring rather high that day, as Christan won one of the classes with a 36pp. I guess there was some improvement as normally there would be no way I could get a 2nd place finish with lots of bucking J. So, now we need to work on connection – we’ve obviously got the relaxation. The judge’s comments were all along the lines of “get better balance and you’ll get higher scores”, blah blah blah, which all mean that he needs to be more connected. As least he’s not getting pinged on “tight back” or “tight neck” anymore.
Christan told me that when I get into the arena, I start to tip slightly forward, and my hands drop and allow him to fall behind my leg a bit. I don’t realize it’s happening, so I decided to download a hypnosis for the eventer MP3 online. It seems to be working – the first one I downloaded was on concentration and focus, and I’ve noticed that even my riding at home has gotten so much better. I had a flat lesson on Tuesday and it was probably one of the best ones yet. C told me that there was nobody in the world who could get their horses through by holding in front and kicking them up behind. She said that the only way to get them to soften over the back was to ride inside leg to outside rein, which meant lots of leg yielding to start. She said that she doesn’t do a lot of lateral work with her horses because she’s ALWAYS riding them from inside leg to outside rein, but when they get stiff, she incorporates it. So, to start, she had me leg yield from quarter line to long side, really focusing on keeping him straight and not allowing him to pop his head above the bit. We did this several times to each side, also concentrating on keeping him forward off the leg, and then we cantered. C had me canter as small as a circle as I could without losing the impulsion, and then allow him to spiral out into my outside rein, again keeping his body very straight. This worked wonders for keeping him solid in the outside rein, and also helped me realize when he fell behind my leg or got crooked. It was pretty intense work, but not once did C have to tell me to keep my shoulders back or to lift my hands – yay! I understand more than ever now why he’s not getting good marks in dressage – I’m too happy with allowing him to stay light in the contact and just passively ride him, instead of riding him every stride. C says that when she rides the little Appy mare she has in training, she is riding EVERY SINGLE STRIDE. She’s probably going to always have to ride this mare this way, whereas I won’t always have to do it with Ollie because he’s built more uphill. He just needs to be ridden that way until he gets strong enough to hold himself there. As far as jumping goes, he’s coming along really, really well. He’s allowing me to half-halt him back onto his haunches without him inverting, and we almost always get a perfect spot as a result. I took him for a hack today to ride the hills out back and to go over the biggish ditch back there. He needs more work on the hills, for sure, but it was really humid and hot and I don't blame him for running out of steam before the top. We jumped a few little Maiden/BN jumps, and then I cantered him up the hill and aimed for the grey bench at the top. Well, I made a mistake - first, that jump is much bigger than it looks at first glance, and second, I need a lot more impulsion up the hill if he's going to be able to rock back and jump it. We came in a little crooked, I took my leg off and leaned, and of course he ran to the side. No biggie - all my fault. I took him back over a little BN ramp a few times, and then attempted the grey bench again, this time with more impulsion and I really focused on keeping my leg on, sitting back, and framing him with the reins. He popped over it, but it was awkward and that tells me that it probably was too big for him. Afterwards, I walked him up to the ditch. Predictably, he stopped and tried to run out to the side, but I popped him on the right shoulder ( he naps to the right), made him face it, and within 20 seconds he went over it without too much fuss. I brought him around, trotted it, and he went right over. Went around the other way, and he did gawk and stop, but I stuffed him over it from a walk and then next time, he went right over, and landed so balanced that I hopped over the Novice grey ramp afterwards. He's such a good boy!
I think I’ve discovered why he’s acting naughty lately. C told me that she’s had to turn on the wire tape around the pasture, because Oliver apparently thought it would be a great idea if he grabbed it in his teeth and pulled it, post by post, off the fence. Not only was he doing that, he also decided to play “King of the Mountain” by climbing his front feet on top of the big Training level rolltop we have in the fenceline (it’s definitely max height, and it’s made of round timbers). He’s also trying to hop his hind feet up there, but it’s too slick. We were afraid he’d get tangled up in the wire – it’s mostly tape, but the jumps have wire across them so you can unhook them easily when you want to jump in and out of the pasture. Oliver is being really cheeky, and I think it’s because he’s out in that pasture with three other young horses, all younger than he is. He’s definitely King of the Pasture, and I think he’s testing his dominance by testing ME. He’s been sort of wiggling one step forward, inch by inch, in the grooming area (he’s ground tied), and so when I realized what he was doing, I had to nail him for it. He’s been much better since then.
We went to the dressage show (Antares) this past weekend, and he warmed up like a superstar. We went in, proceeded to have a very relaxed test, and then I asked for the first canter transition – buck, buck, buck. Luckily, they weren’t that big of bucks and I was able to stuff him forward out of it and we were okay to the next canter transition – more bucky bucky. Argh! I was surprised at how well I handled it, though – I just sat down, and rode him through. So, Christan came and watched me warm up for my next test (Novice A) and she watched as he bucked in the warmup arena for those canter transitions, too – now I was getting really irritated because he has NEVER done this before. It’s not like I was tense and digging my spurs into him, for Pete’s sake. Christan told me that I didn’t have him connected enough, and that I needed to ride him more “up” and “out”, especially in the canter. We had a lovely warmup – C said that if I rode the test like that, I would be in the 70% range. Of course, that didn’t happen. He tried to buck into his first canter transition – I nailed him, and he was okay. The next canter transition, he fell in around the turn, picked up the wrong lead, and I couldn’t bring him down until we almost completed half a circle. The rest of the test was okay, except that he fell in around the last turn down the centerline and we had a sprawly halt.
OK. I wasn’t expecting great scores, due to the disobedience, but he got the exact same score for both tests – a 39pp. Which, oddly enough, was enough to earn him 2nd place in both classes. I guess the judge was scoring rather high that day, as Christan won one of the classes with a 36pp. I guess there was some improvement as normally there would be no way I could get a 2nd place finish with lots of bucking J. So, now we need to work on connection – we’ve obviously got the relaxation. The judge’s comments were all along the lines of “get better balance and you’ll get higher scores”, blah blah blah, which all mean that he needs to be more connected. As least he’s not getting pinged on “tight back” or “tight neck” anymore.
Christan told me that when I get into the arena, I start to tip slightly forward, and my hands drop and allow him to fall behind my leg a bit. I don’t realize it’s happening, so I decided to download a hypnosis for the eventer MP3 online. It seems to be working – the first one I downloaded was on concentration and focus, and I’ve noticed that even my riding at home has gotten so much better. I had a flat lesson on Tuesday and it was probably one of the best ones yet. C told me that there was nobody in the world who could get their horses through by holding in front and kicking them up behind. She said that the only way to get them to soften over the back was to ride inside leg to outside rein, which meant lots of leg yielding to start. She said that she doesn’t do a lot of lateral work with her horses because she’s ALWAYS riding them from inside leg to outside rein, but when they get stiff, she incorporates it. So, to start, she had me leg yield from quarter line to long side, really focusing on keeping him straight and not allowing him to pop his head above the bit. We did this several times to each side, also concentrating on keeping him forward off the leg, and then we cantered. C had me canter as small as a circle as I could without losing the impulsion, and then allow him to spiral out into my outside rein, again keeping his body very straight. This worked wonders for keeping him solid in the outside rein, and also helped me realize when he fell behind my leg or got crooked. It was pretty intense work, but not once did C have to tell me to keep my shoulders back or to lift my hands – yay! I understand more than ever now why he’s not getting good marks in dressage – I’m too happy with allowing him to stay light in the contact and just passively ride him, instead of riding him every stride. C says that when she rides the little Appy mare she has in training, she is riding EVERY SINGLE STRIDE. She’s probably going to always have to ride this mare this way, whereas I won’t always have to do it with Ollie because he’s built more uphill. He just needs to be ridden that way until he gets strong enough to hold himself there. As far as jumping goes, he’s coming along really, really well. He’s allowing me to half-halt him back onto his haunches without him inverting, and we almost always get a perfect spot as a result. I took him for a hack today to ride the hills out back and to go over the biggish ditch back there. He needs more work on the hills, for sure, but it was really humid and hot and I don't blame him for running out of steam before the top. We jumped a few little Maiden/BN jumps, and then I cantered him up the hill and aimed for the grey bench at the top. Well, I made a mistake - first, that jump is much bigger than it looks at first glance, and second, I need a lot more impulsion up the hill if he's going to be able to rock back and jump it. We came in a little crooked, I took my leg off and leaned, and of course he ran to the side. No biggie - all my fault. I took him back over a little BN ramp a few times, and then attempted the grey bench again, this time with more impulsion and I really focused on keeping my leg on, sitting back, and framing him with the reins. He popped over it, but it was awkward and that tells me that it probably was too big for him. Afterwards, I walked him up to the ditch. Predictably, he stopped and tried to run out to the side, but I popped him on the right shoulder ( he naps to the right), made him face it, and within 20 seconds he went over it without too much fuss. I brought him around, trotted it, and he went right over. Went around the other way, and he did gawk and stop, but I stuffed him over it from a walk and then next time, he went right over, and landed so balanced that I hopped over the Novice grey ramp afterwards. He's such a good boy!
I think I’ve discovered why he’s acting naughty lately. C told me that she’s had to turn on the wire tape around the pasture, because Oliver apparently thought it would be a great idea if he grabbed it in his teeth and pulled it, post by post, off the fence. Not only was he doing that, he also decided to play “King of the Mountain” by climbing his front feet on top of the big Training level rolltop we have in the fenceline (it’s definitely max height, and it’s made of round timbers). He’s also trying to hop his hind feet up there, but it’s too slick. We were afraid he’d get tangled up in the wire – it’s mostly tape, but the jumps have wire across them so you can unhook them easily when you want to jump in and out of the pasture. Oliver is being really cheeky, and I think it’s because he’s out in that pasture with three other young horses, all younger than he is. He’s definitely King of the Pasture, and I think he’s testing his dominance by testing ME. He’s been sort of wiggling one step forward, inch by inch, in the grooming area (he’s ground tied), and so when I realized what he was doing, I had to nail him for it. He’s been much better since then.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Oliver goes XC schooling!
We went xc schooling at Mari Secrist's (here in Southern Pines) this afternoon, and we had a BALL! I’ve never been to her place before (apparently, you have to be a friend of hers, or be with your trainer who is a friend) but I’m impressed - it's a little gem. Nothing too fancy, but there are all sorts of questions, from BN on up, and a lovely, LOVELY water complex and several different sized ditches and banks, with a great big hill for those balance/terrain questions. And everything is immaculately groomed. You should see her barn – it’s nicer than a lot of people’s houses. TONS of land, all beautifully fenced with split rail, and all rolling hills.
I think all the flatwork with draw reins has paid off. We started by walking through the lovely water jump, back and forth, and Oliver apparently doesn't have an issue with water as he was threatening to paw and roll on me, so I had to keep him moving. Warmup in a slightly undulating field went well - he was listening to my half-halts, staying in front of my leg, and really listening. We started by trotting back and forth over a small log pile, then cantered it, staying uphill and balanced and really concentrating on getting and keeping a good canter up to and away from the jump. From there, we did the little ditch between the two feeder trees, which Oliver barely looked at, and then came down to the bigger ditch. Not sure why he planted the brakes on this one, but I guess it was wider than he's used to and deeper, but after a bit of coaxing he went over, and we trotted and then cantered over it several times. I think if I had been more insistent, he would have gone over sooner, but I'm trying not to make a big deal about things. We started to string some jumps together - pick up a right lead canter, over the ditch, right turn over the big log in the field, gallop out and then rollback to the little log pile, and then canter on into the water. He was lovely, just like a hunter, loping along and nailing his spots. After we got bored with the water jump and ditch, we walked up the steep hill to the top, where there was a picture frame (very small, but Ollie's first!). We trotted the picture frame, but I forgot to keep my leg on and we wobbled on landing, which brought us in a bit unbalanced to the bending line over the shale wall, which he's never seen before. He gawked, but I booted him over it, and then he did a lovely "out" over the hanging log. We cantered into this little combination, which is bending line question, a light-to-dark-question (from a sunny field into a copse of trees), and a slight downhill question - whew! Oliver had a beautiful jump over the hanging log in, saw the "out" (the shale wall), and then grabbed the bit and barreled down over it, which resulted in a chip. Argh. Christan had me do it in reverse, which rode very well, and then reversed it. We cantered in - again, lovely spot - I sat up, put my leg on, half-halted and got his butt underneath him, and although it wasn't pretty, we stayed balanced and then next time, I was able to give a slight half-halt with my shoulders and leg, and he rebalanced himself and jumped it like a pro. Yay! We finished with a bank question. Oliver cantered up and down a little bank, and then Christan had me canter up the bank, one stride over a hanging log, and then down the hill and left turn and drop into the water. Oliver has never done a one-stride like this, but I kept my leg on, sat back and the one stride rode beautifully, then gathered him back up and we trotted into the water. I love how he just locks on to the jump in front of him – he did the same thing at the Horse Park over the Novice bank complex. It felt like he sort of scrambled in, but he did go in without hesitating - such a brave boy - and the next time (just trotting into the water), he was brilliant. He trotted down, saw the water, and picked up a bouncy canter of his own accord and just popped in. I was pretty happy with that! So, two little bobbles (ditch and shale wall), but totally greenie moments. The best thing was that he was so rideable throughout the whole thing, so I guess all that flatwork is paying off!
I think all the flatwork with draw reins has paid off. We started by walking through the lovely water jump, back and forth, and Oliver apparently doesn't have an issue with water as he was threatening to paw and roll on me, so I had to keep him moving. Warmup in a slightly undulating field went well - he was listening to my half-halts, staying in front of my leg, and really listening. We started by trotting back and forth over a small log pile, then cantered it, staying uphill and balanced and really concentrating on getting and keeping a good canter up to and away from the jump. From there, we did the little ditch between the two feeder trees, which Oliver barely looked at, and then came down to the bigger ditch. Not sure why he planted the brakes on this one, but I guess it was wider than he's used to and deeper, but after a bit of coaxing he went over, and we trotted and then cantered over it several times. I think if I had been more insistent, he would have gone over sooner, but I'm trying not to make a big deal about things. We started to string some jumps together - pick up a right lead canter, over the ditch, right turn over the big log in the field, gallop out and then rollback to the little log pile, and then canter on into the water. He was lovely, just like a hunter, loping along and nailing his spots. After we got bored with the water jump and ditch, we walked up the steep hill to the top, where there was a picture frame (very small, but Ollie's first!). We trotted the picture frame, but I forgot to keep my leg on and we wobbled on landing, which brought us in a bit unbalanced to the bending line over the shale wall, which he's never seen before. He gawked, but I booted him over it, and then he did a lovely "out" over the hanging log. We cantered into this little combination, which is bending line question, a light-to-dark-question (from a sunny field into a copse of trees), and a slight downhill question - whew! Oliver had a beautiful jump over the hanging log in, saw the "out" (the shale wall), and then grabbed the bit and barreled down over it, which resulted in a chip. Argh. Christan had me do it in reverse, which rode very well, and then reversed it. We cantered in - again, lovely spot - I sat up, put my leg on, half-halted and got his butt underneath him, and although it wasn't pretty, we stayed balanced and then next time, I was able to give a slight half-halt with my shoulders and leg, and he rebalanced himself and jumped it like a pro. Yay! We finished with a bank question. Oliver cantered up and down a little bank, and then Christan had me canter up the bank, one stride over a hanging log, and then down the hill and left turn and drop into the water. Oliver has never done a one-stride like this, but I kept my leg on, sat back and the one stride rode beautifully, then gathered him back up and we trotted into the water. I love how he just locks on to the jump in front of him – he did the same thing at the Horse Park over the Novice bank complex. It felt like he sort of scrambled in, but he did go in without hesitating - such a brave boy - and the next time (just trotting into the water), he was brilliant. He trotted down, saw the water, and picked up a bouncy canter of his own accord and just popped in. I was pretty happy with that! So, two little bobbles (ditch and shale wall), but totally greenie moments. The best thing was that he was so rideable throughout the whole thing, so I guess all that flatwork is paying off!
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