I'm afraid there are going to be far too many posts titled like the one above, but it is soooo incredibly true. I haven't had time to ride since my last so-so lesson Tuesday until my lesson today. Faren had to pick me up due to the fact that my trailer is STILL in the freakin' shop - latest scoop is that the body shop isn't entirely sure they want to handle putting on the awning to my trailer, because of the fiberglass roof. Risa (from Happy Trails) shipped them the brackets, but I think that right now, the bodyshop is running scared about liability with the awning. Argh! How difficult it is to get an awning put on my trailer? Anyway, I digress. Faren came and picked me up for the lesson because she was sharing it with me, and since she hasn't ridden her mare in a month, the jumps were on the lower side. Part of me was disappointed as I REALLY need to practice jumping Novice sized fences, but the other part of me was relieved as I'm still prone to panicking when I meet a bad distance at a three foot jump.
We warmed up on our own, and he felt fantastic. Greg Wilder (the magic bodywork guy) had adjusted him right after my lesson on Tuesday, and said he was steadily improving. I could definitely tell when he lifted into cater from the walk - very light, balanced, rhythmic, and in front of my leg. He was also wearing his Micklem with the slow-twist french-link full-cheek, and felt very solid in the bridle. Those clips let me use that particular bit without him being afraid of it, so I can use it and have breaks. Gina had us start the same way I did on Tuesday - placing pole on either side and trot in over an X. Again, Gina had to admonish me for letting me get my shoulders ahead of his withers when I felt him fall behind my leg, instead of staying behind his withers and pressing him on. I was carrying a dressage whip instead of a regular jumping bat so that I could flick him behind my leg when I felt him drop behind, instead of having to go one-handed to tap him. So, I went over it again, and then when I felt him falter over the first placing pole, I flicked him and he had a very nice jump, and from then on he was very responsive to my leg and I didn't have to touch him with the whip afterwards. Gina put it up to a 2'6 vertical, we trotted it both ways, and then rolled out the poles so we could canter over it. I found that after I approached the placing pole, and didn't meet it perfectly, I would either not do anything at all, or I would try and hold for a better distance, which inevitably led to burying him at the base and resulting in an awkward jump. After realizing this, I tried pressing him forward when I felt that icky feeling - I had overheard Gina telling Trish (who had her lesson before me) to keep "riding his hind legs to the jump" and I kept that in mind - and what do you know - instead of reaching over and jumping weakly, it turned out that it pressed his hindquarters to take a bigger step underneath him, and the pole and jump compressed him, so that we had a great jump. It took a leap of faith to do this, to soften the rein, sit a little deeper, and close my leg, but it worked. Oliver has gotten so careful about jumping that he backs himself off the jump, so all I have to do is keep my leg on and let the jump rebalance him. Gina then put it up to three feet, a little bigger perhaps, and we jumped it both ways - perfect! The first time was perfect, and then I came around the corner and didn't straighten him, nor did I ride him forward out of the jump, so we had a sticky jump. Since I knew what I had done, I came around the corner, straightened him and kicked him on, and we had a brilliant jump. I heard Gina turn to Faren and say to her, "isn't it amazing how careful he's gotten over a jump?". I also found something else interesting: before, when I would ride forward out of a turn and then try to sit on him before the jump, I found that I couldn't - his balance was so downhill that he would pull me forward so that I couldn't sit down. Today, after I made sure that he was straight coming out of the turn, I put my leg on, he stayed in front of my leg, and then I tried to sit down and found that I could - that there was a place for me sit for the first time, ever. That carried over to jumping courses - I'm not saying that I had a perfect distance to every jump, but I didn't bury him and he jumped beautifully over everything, which led me to be more confident in him so I could ride him more positively, which led him to being more confident in me. Yay! I guess this is what they call the "spiral of increasing ease" vs. the "spiral of increasing tension".
Faren didn't have such a good go of it - Dharma was giving her the same sort of ride that Oliver gave me on Tuesday, and she was getting similar results, with Dharma skidding to a stop in front of a jump if she wasn't completely straight, or got buried, or Faren pulled. Gina told us that since we were riding horses that could, and would, stop, we had to make double sure that we never, EVER got in front of their withers - we had to sit behind them at all times. Not a heavy, driving seat, but making sure to keep our upper bodies backwards of the withers so we could press on if needed. Since I'm more comfortable back there anyway, it wasn't hard for me to do, but I do have to remember that when I feel that icky feeling that I don't like my distance, I need to soften my hand and press him forward instead of trying to pick for a better spot or better balance.
Gina had me jump just a few more fences to finish, testing me by ending with a tight rollback turn downhill to a 3 foot white gate that I usually bury Oliver to. Also, Joe was sitting next to it with his camera and tripod, so Gina told me that I had to keep Oliver's attention on the jump and not gawking at Joe. She said that if I finished and didn't bury him at the jump, I could stop on that. I cantered up over the oxer, bending line to the blue oxer on the fenceline, turned downhill sharply to the right around the mounting block and jumped the sailboat vertical, and then left inside turn downhill to the white gate - nailed it. As a matter of fact, I yelled, "I got it! I can stop now!" as I was leaving the ground, and luckily Gina thought that was funny and agreed with me, so we ended on that. So, even though we didn't jump a whole course of Novice sized fences like Tuesday, we did do a few and nailed them, so my confidence (and obviously Oliver's) is soaring high now. I also think that Greg's bodywork helped to make him feel a lot better, too.
I have a dressage show next Sunday. It's at Antares, and it's a schooling show, but they do something funky by lumping all the Training level/Beginner Novice/Novice tests together, including some first level, and then give out ribbons according to the scores, but at least you get a scored test back. I also found out that at Foxtrackd, I had the second lowest score (35) - the lowest was a 32, so even without any warmup, I was doing quite well. The judge was a hard one. I think she's going to be at Five Points as well.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
In which a former hunter rider-turned eventer learns to ride like a hunter again.
It turned out that maybe scratching from Foxtrack wasn't such a bad thing after all. To recap, we had a monsoon that Saturday so I did dressage and scratched from the rest. I had a lesson with Gina today, and it started off pretty shaky. Gina had us start over a crossrail with placing poles on either side, and Oliver was quite blase' about it, especially when it came to jumping it as a vertical. Gina told me not to "help" him over it by kicking, so he basically crashed through it. He jumped the snot out of it the next time, which shows that he is, at least, a quick learner. We cantered over it next, and Gina knows how much I hate doing an exercise like this because of the "sea of poles" feeling I get. What I need to do is to keep my leg on to the placing pole, instead of trying to hold him to the placing pole. After jumping it out of a forward stride, Gina told me to jump it "normally", which meant not to ride it like a XC jump. This worked on the first try because he was in front of my leg and straight to the jump.
Gina then set a little course for me. Start by cantering over the vertical/placing pole exercise, turn left and go down over the black barrel vertical, then canter aaaaalll the way down the field and then back up over the rolltop, right bending line over the blue oxer set parallel along the fenceline, back down to the right over the white 3' panel, gallop down and circle back to a 3' gate, bending line to the right (about 3-4 strides) up over another Novice size vertical, and then another 3-4 strides to a funky looking oxer (a diagonal pole set behind and in front, at a different angle), also Novice sized. That line made me nervous. From where I was standing near the mounting block, that line looked huge. I knew then that Gina was trying to stretch my comfort zone. So, the vertical was fine, of course, and then he was uncharacteristically spooky over the black vertical barrel - Gina said that the horses had been spooking at it all day - and then was fine over the rolltop, got buried at the blue oxer, and then then ran out over the panel. Gina asked me why I was pulling on the left rein, and I realized it was because I was holding on to the neckstrap with my left hand. Either I had to hold on with either my right hand or with both hands, or I had to just let go. Holding on with the right hand felt awkward, and with both hands even more so, so I let go. It worked. He jumped it beautifully, and even rode the bending line well - the first one at least, because I didn't realize that the vertical came up that quickly, so I missed it. I came around again, jumped the first two, and then got a little too deep to the last oxer and got a sticky jump. Gina said that i was going right-left-right-left to it because there was a tree in the way, which confused poor Oliver and caused him to be crooked. She told me to go left around the tree and to try it again. This time, I focused on keeping the rein soft and light, keeping my leg on, and not fuss with the balance too much, and then it rode perfectly and he jumped it very well. A lightbulb went off in my head. I have been so focused on riding the balance that I haven't been riding forward to the jump. It worked fine when the jumps were BN size, but not at Novice size. I have to ride him like a hunter- I have to float the rein and ride him forward. If I am insecure about the distance, I need to ride forward to it instead of trying to compress his stride in an effort to get a better distance. Kicking him forward helps him get more confidence in me, and when he jumps better as a result, I gain confidence in him. We had such a great ride up the line once I figured this out that I went on and finished off over the blue oxer on the fenceline. We did it several more times, doing it better and better each time, so I quit on that.
I thought that I was being soft in the rein, but I think that I wasn't comfortable with riding forward to the fence and mistaking it for being on the forehand, so I tried to fix it by holding the canter smaller and smaller and then I would bury Oliver at the jump. He would get sick of being put in an impossible place to jump and then start stopping, because he was getting scared with me. His canter is so much better and balanced than it used to be, more like a Warmblood who just ticks along, so I can just let him jump and not micro-manage everything. Can't wait until my next lesson!
Gina then set a little course for me. Start by cantering over the vertical/placing pole exercise, turn left and go down over the black barrel vertical, then canter aaaaalll the way down the field and then back up over the rolltop, right bending line over the blue oxer set parallel along the fenceline, back down to the right over the white 3' panel, gallop down and circle back to a 3' gate, bending line to the right (about 3-4 strides) up over another Novice size vertical, and then another 3-4 strides to a funky looking oxer (a diagonal pole set behind and in front, at a different angle), also Novice sized. That line made me nervous. From where I was standing near the mounting block, that line looked huge. I knew then that Gina was trying to stretch my comfort zone. So, the vertical was fine, of course, and then he was uncharacteristically spooky over the black vertical barrel - Gina said that the horses had been spooking at it all day - and then was fine over the rolltop, got buried at the blue oxer, and then then ran out over the panel. Gina asked me why I was pulling on the left rein, and I realized it was because I was holding on to the neckstrap with my left hand. Either I had to hold on with either my right hand or with both hands, or I had to just let go. Holding on with the right hand felt awkward, and with both hands even more so, so I let go. It worked. He jumped it beautifully, and even rode the bending line well - the first one at least, because I didn't realize that the vertical came up that quickly, so I missed it. I came around again, jumped the first two, and then got a little too deep to the last oxer and got a sticky jump. Gina said that i was going right-left-right-left to it because there was a tree in the way, which confused poor Oliver and caused him to be crooked. She told me to go left around the tree and to try it again. This time, I focused on keeping the rein soft and light, keeping my leg on, and not fuss with the balance too much, and then it rode perfectly and he jumped it very well. A lightbulb went off in my head. I have been so focused on riding the balance that I haven't been riding forward to the jump. It worked fine when the jumps were BN size, but not at Novice size. I have to ride him like a hunter- I have to float the rein and ride him forward. If I am insecure about the distance, I need to ride forward to it instead of trying to compress his stride in an effort to get a better distance. Kicking him forward helps him get more confidence in me, and when he jumps better as a result, I gain confidence in him. We had such a great ride up the line once I figured this out that I went on and finished off over the blue oxer on the fenceline. We did it several more times, doing it better and better each time, so I quit on that.
I thought that I was being soft in the rein, but I think that I wasn't comfortable with riding forward to the fence and mistaking it for being on the forehand, so I tried to fix it by holding the canter smaller and smaller and then I would bury Oliver at the jump. He would get sick of being put in an impossible place to jump and then start stopping, because he was getting scared with me. His canter is so much better and balanced than it used to be, more like a Warmblood who just ticks along, so I can just let him jump and not micro-manage everything. Can't wait until my next lesson!
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
In which Kim finally learns what "ride every stride" means...right before a move-up and a show.
Oliver and I are moving up to Novice at Foxtract this weekend. I know, I know - it's FOXTRACK, so the XC will be on the easy side but the stadium will be regular Novice height. For some reason, I get a little nervous thinking about it, which makes no sense as I regularly school Novice at Gina's with absolutely no issues.
I've jacked the jumps up in the field to Novice height (well, one I think was actually Training height) to practice for the weekend to come. We've been jumping quite well these days, so I thought I was safe practicing on my own. Plus, Gina was supposed to come and give me a lesson, but she spaced it and left me hanging out there in the sun, so I decided to jump anyway. Couldn't hurt, right? Wrong. For some reason, I tend to start worrying about all sorts of stupid things. Yesterday, Oliver was in his Micklem bridle, which is giving me a fabulous feel in the rein (for once!) but with the clips, it seems to be too little bit for him. He was tanking around, getting all sorts of stupid spots and either getting too deep to the base or going for the long one, which left him standing on his head (leaning on the bit and falling on the forehand) on the landing side. A tug of war ensues, which I lose, and today I can feel the strain in my shoulders and biceps - not good. In fact, I kept buying him to the base because I couldn't seem to get a good balance to the fence, and the one I jacked up accidentally to 3'3 is the one he stopped. Three times in all, I think. I probably should have just quit while I was behind, but being the mule-headed idiot that I am, I plugged away and we finally had some good fences over that damn gate, but we were both quite unhappy about it, and not liking each other too terribly much. Poor Oliver. I know that I wasn't giving him the best ride to the jump, but to be fair to me, he wasn't trying terribly hard, either.
Enter Gina, the WonderWorker. Because she was feeling sorry that she had forgotten about me and I begged, she consented to give me a lesson today (thank God it was cooler - only - ONLY! - 95, but there was a nice breeze blowing) before she headed off to Maryland with Caroline. She found the problem immediately - I wasn't riding him when we got to the base - I was sort of giving up. I have this issue that when I get him to the base and I dig my spurs in and make him go over it, we have this horribly awkward jump and then I feel that that is taking away his confidence in me. Of course, the alternative is to either 1) be perfect so that doesn't happen, ever, or 2) let him stop or run out. Option 1 is never, ever going to happen unless I can somehow channel Mark Todd in my riding, and Option 2 will make me lose confidence in him and him in me. Of course, I couldn't figure this out on my own- Gina had to be my sounding board for this. So, as I rode, I had to count out loud, and I mean LOUD (counting softly to myself really doesn't work for some weird reason), and then when I saw an icky spot, I had to sit back, dig in, and really ride him over the jump. Gina said that when I did that, he would know that he would always get to the other side and gain confidence in me when he did safely, however awkward it may be. That worked fairly well, but the distances still stucked, until Gina started yelling at me for not riding him through the turn. Ah-ha! I was letting him fall behind my leg in the turn, and not really turning him so that he was straight to the jump, which is why we had such weird distances. Gina said that I can't allow him to get his head down in the turn, because he pinwheels then on his head and he's still turning as we get to the jump, which throws off our distance. I have to turn, and raise my hands and kick him up, and then I can soften and ride forward to the jump. At last, success. I have to set up the turn early enough so that I can put my hands back down (another weakness of mine - high hands to the jump), and then use my hand to grab the neckstrap and then kick him to the fence, and then, even if he gets a long spot, he still lands in balance because he approached in balance and then jumped in balance.
So, what seemed to happen yesterday was that I was allowing him to pinwheel through the turn, which caused him to run toward the fence on his head (and in my hands), and because I didn't fix it soon enough, he would pull and I would pull to the jump, and because I was worried about giving him an awkward jump, I wouldn't ride assertively enough ACROSS the fence, which resulted in terrible spots. Gina said that because Oliver has gotten so careful he doesn't want to hit the jump, so that if I get to a bad distance (read: deep) and don't ride my way across, he freezes and reverts back to thinking that I'm going to pull, and then doesn't want anymore of it and opts out. Gina says that we know each other too well, and don't entirely trust each other to do the right thing, so it tends to snowball downhill. She says that she and Errol are the same way, so I feel a bit better about that. Maybe, after Five Points, it might be nice to have Gina ride Oliver for me for a couple of weeks so that we can break this cycle. I hate to do it, because I like to do the work myself, but I also know how busy the beginning of the school year can be and it won't do to have Oliver sitting around, getting fat (a visitor at the barn today thought he was a pregnant brood mare! :^O).
I've jacked the jumps up in the field to Novice height (well, one I think was actually Training height) to practice for the weekend to come. We've been jumping quite well these days, so I thought I was safe practicing on my own. Plus, Gina was supposed to come and give me a lesson, but she spaced it and left me hanging out there in the sun, so I decided to jump anyway. Couldn't hurt, right? Wrong. For some reason, I tend to start worrying about all sorts of stupid things. Yesterday, Oliver was in his Micklem bridle, which is giving me a fabulous feel in the rein (for once!) but with the clips, it seems to be too little bit for him. He was tanking around, getting all sorts of stupid spots and either getting too deep to the base or going for the long one, which left him standing on his head (leaning on the bit and falling on the forehand) on the landing side. A tug of war ensues, which I lose, and today I can feel the strain in my shoulders and biceps - not good. In fact, I kept buying him to the base because I couldn't seem to get a good balance to the fence, and the one I jacked up accidentally to 3'3 is the one he stopped. Three times in all, I think. I probably should have just quit while I was behind, but being the mule-headed idiot that I am, I plugged away and we finally had some good fences over that damn gate, but we were both quite unhappy about it, and not liking each other too terribly much. Poor Oliver. I know that I wasn't giving him the best ride to the jump, but to be fair to me, he wasn't trying terribly hard, either.
Enter Gina, the WonderWorker. Because she was feeling sorry that she had forgotten about me and I begged, she consented to give me a lesson today (thank God it was cooler - only - ONLY! - 95, but there was a nice breeze blowing) before she headed off to Maryland with Caroline. She found the problem immediately - I wasn't riding him when we got to the base - I was sort of giving up. I have this issue that when I get him to the base and I dig my spurs in and make him go over it, we have this horribly awkward jump and then I feel that that is taking away his confidence in me. Of course, the alternative is to either 1) be perfect so that doesn't happen, ever, or 2) let him stop or run out. Option 1 is never, ever going to happen unless I can somehow channel Mark Todd in my riding, and Option 2 will make me lose confidence in him and him in me. Of course, I couldn't figure this out on my own- Gina had to be my sounding board for this. So, as I rode, I had to count out loud, and I mean LOUD (counting softly to myself really doesn't work for some weird reason), and then when I saw an icky spot, I had to sit back, dig in, and really ride him over the jump. Gina said that when I did that, he would know that he would always get to the other side and gain confidence in me when he did safely, however awkward it may be. That worked fairly well, but the distances still stucked, until Gina started yelling at me for not riding him through the turn. Ah-ha! I was letting him fall behind my leg in the turn, and not really turning him so that he was straight to the jump, which is why we had such weird distances. Gina said that I can't allow him to get his head down in the turn, because he pinwheels then on his head and he's still turning as we get to the jump, which throws off our distance. I have to turn, and raise my hands and kick him up, and then I can soften and ride forward to the jump. At last, success. I have to set up the turn early enough so that I can put my hands back down (another weakness of mine - high hands to the jump), and then use my hand to grab the neckstrap and then kick him to the fence, and then, even if he gets a long spot, he still lands in balance because he approached in balance and then jumped in balance.
So, what seemed to happen yesterday was that I was allowing him to pinwheel through the turn, which caused him to run toward the fence on his head (and in my hands), and because I didn't fix it soon enough, he would pull and I would pull to the jump, and because I was worried about giving him an awkward jump, I wouldn't ride assertively enough ACROSS the fence, which resulted in terrible spots. Gina said that because Oliver has gotten so careful he doesn't want to hit the jump, so that if I get to a bad distance (read: deep) and don't ride my way across, he freezes and reverts back to thinking that I'm going to pull, and then doesn't want anymore of it and opts out. Gina says that we know each other too well, and don't entirely trust each other to do the right thing, so it tends to snowball downhill. She says that she and Errol are the same way, so I feel a bit better about that. Maybe, after Five Points, it might be nice to have Gina ride Oliver for me for a couple of weeks so that we can break this cycle. I hate to do it, because I like to do the work myself, but I also know how busy the beginning of the school year can be and it won't do to have Oliver sitting around, getting fat (a visitor at the barn today thought he was a pregnant brood mare! :^O).
Friday, February 4, 2011
Hello Mary Wanless - meet Gina Fiore
My last lesson with Gina was a revelation. So many things she's teaching me go hand in hand with the reading of Mary Wanless I've been doing. We were flatting at my place and she had me starting in shoulder in- she even told me to point my seatbones so that in S-I to the right, my right seatbone was at 1 and my left was at around 5.I found that I had a tendency to sit on my back (right)seatbone, and left my left one so that I had to concentrate on riding the top edge of the seatbone. Gina also had me be sure to use a strong, supporting outside rein. We talked in depth about the outside rein. Gina suspected that someone along the way had never really told me HOW to use the outside rein. I had to make sure that it was short enough, because if it wasn't, I would curl it in towards my body and then tip over it, especially with my left reiN. I had slightly better control over the right rein.
the canter is still our Achille's heel. gina says that I have to be painfully aware of how quickly his canter will get strong out and build. My core is basically responsible for keepin the canter contained - if I bear down and firm up my core, I hardly have to cue with my outside aid for the canter at all - I just have to think and breathe it. Gina showed me that I was using my things wrong - instead of pointing them so the knees turned out, I had to invision a jockey with his knees turned in to the saddle, so that my entire thigh pointed straight ahead of me, and left my lower leg loose. She got very excited when I tried it and I started to loose my stirrup, because that meant I was taking weight off my stirrup and taking it into my thigh. I also found that this worked well to help me sit the trot better - it kept me from pushing into my stirrups and bouncing out of the saddle. it's harder for me to keep this in the canter, but as long as i feel like I'm limbo dancing with my hips open, i have a good chance of affecting his canter, and if I think "hide the flab" with my thighs so that they turn in and my knees point ahead, I can maintain a solid position up there.
the canter is still our Achille's heel. gina says that I have to be painfully aware of how quickly his canter will get strong out and build. My core is basically responsible for keepin the canter contained - if I bear down and firm up my core, I hardly have to cue with my outside aid for the canter at all - I just have to think and breathe it. Gina showed me that I was using my things wrong - instead of pointing them so the knees turned out, I had to invision a jockey with his knees turned in to the saddle, so that my entire thigh pointed straight ahead of me, and left my lower leg loose. She got very excited when I tried it and I started to loose my stirrup, because that meant I was taking weight off my stirrup and taking it into my thigh. I also found that this worked well to help me sit the trot better - it kept me from pushing into my stirrups and bouncing out of the saddle. it's harder for me to keep this in the canter, but as long as i feel like I'm limbo dancing with my hips open, i have a good chance of affecting his canter, and if I think "hide the flab" with my thighs so that they turn in and my knees point ahead, I can maintain a solid position up there.
Monday, January 31, 2011
I understand how to do a crest release!!!
Yes, after 10+ years of riding, I finally figured out how to do a crest release. I wanted to jump somewhere other than at my place or Gina's (which is practically home to us, too) so she booked us some time in Charlie's arena down the road from me - yay! I could have hacked there, but it requires some riding along Lake Bay and I wasn't totally comfortable with that. I'll have to find a back way into there. He had some nice wide oxers set up, I guesstimate at about 2'9 or possibly 3', a dark red aqueduct, and some verticals. Oliver's eyes were bugging out of his head at being somewhere new, and was super-impressed with everything there, but being very good and controlling his impulse to get-the-heck-out-of-dodge. After walking him around and putting him in shoulder-in to get his brain thinking of something other than the New Arean, Gina came out and started us over a little crossrail, which he proceeded to jump as if it were the Rolex. It was pretty funny, though, to see him putting that much effort into a little jump, so G had me going back and forth over it until he settled. When he is sproingy like that, I have a tendency to tip my shoulders forward because I'm afraid of being left behind, so I had to concentrate on keeping my hand low, giving him a couple of tugs before the jump but leaving him alone about two strides out, and waiting for him to jump. That settled him very quickly, so we trotted the aqueduct - again, power leaping it so that he cracked his back and it felt like his knees were wrapped around his ears. After settling over that, we trotted the crossrail, cantered on around a curve and took the little aqueduct. Next, we incorporated the single blue oxer - of course,I got a little nervous coming in, so I picked my way into it, which caused him to jump from a dead spot. Gina said that she predicted that would happen, and told me to get the canter from further out, then leave him alone and just wait for him to jump. In an effort not to pick up my hands, I (for some reason) decided to put them together, thumbs touching each other, in front of me, which kept them lower and then when we jumped, it was a piece of cake to press them into his crest over the fence. It was also easier to keep my upper body back because I could press my hands down and push my upper body away from him - something which came in very handy through the two stride. When I see a long spot, I have a bad habit of leaning at it and sort of gunning him through, which causes him to dump his front end and get very flat.
Gina told me that when I see a long spot, I need to sit still, put my leg on, and HELP HIM THROUGH IT, instead of abandoning him and gunning him at it. he doesn't like the longer spot any more than I do. So, using my new found technique of keeping my hands together, I jumped the vertical in, then saw that it was going to be long so I pressed my hands down and sat up, keeping my leg on, and the out over the oxer worked out perfectly. Yay!
The last thing I took from yesterday was that the minute, and I mean the instant, Oliver's head starts to drop and he lugs around, I need to lift his head up and kick him on. When he starts to get deep and drag me around, we get very flat and on the forehand and then everything afterwards just sucks. Gina says that Oliver's canter changes so much and so rapidly that I always have to be on the ball with him and manage the canter. Once the canter is good, the jumps are quite good. I also have to get used to jumping from a bit more pace, so I don't worry him into charging at the jump at the last second by holding him back. That's going to take getting used to as we've been keeping the canter a bit more quiet in the past to keep him rocked back over his hocks. Now that the pace has "upped", I have to resist the urge to pick my way to the jump - instead, if i pick a spot above the jump to stare at, I can usually do a pretty good job of riding the canter and not the fence.
Wonderful lesson, because certain things Gina has been telling me all along have started to click because I've figured a way to do it in my own body. For example, when he starts to charge at a jump, I have to think "bear down and pinch" because that causes me to sit up, hold my core steady, and keep my thighs ON instead of flapping around off the saddle, which stabilizes my lower leg. That whole discovery of pressing my thumbs together also worked great for keeping my hands from coming up. All I know is that I'm so thrilled to have found Gina - if she hadn't helped me with Oliver, he probably would have been sold long ago. Now, because I trusted her methods, I have a horse that jumps and moves much better than we thought he could!
Gina told me that when I see a long spot, I need to sit still, put my leg on, and HELP HIM THROUGH IT, instead of abandoning him and gunning him at it. he doesn't like the longer spot any more than I do. So, using my new found technique of keeping my hands together, I jumped the vertical in, then saw that it was going to be long so I pressed my hands down and sat up, keeping my leg on, and the out over the oxer worked out perfectly. Yay!
The last thing I took from yesterday was that the minute, and I mean the instant, Oliver's head starts to drop and he lugs around, I need to lift his head up and kick him on. When he starts to get deep and drag me around, we get very flat and on the forehand and then everything afterwards just sucks. Gina says that Oliver's canter changes so much and so rapidly that I always have to be on the ball with him and manage the canter. Once the canter is good, the jumps are quite good. I also have to get used to jumping from a bit more pace, so I don't worry him into charging at the jump at the last second by holding him back. That's going to take getting used to as we've been keeping the canter a bit more quiet in the past to keep him rocked back over his hocks. Now that the pace has "upped", I have to resist the urge to pick my way to the jump - instead, if i pick a spot above the jump to stare at, I can usually do a pretty good job of riding the canter and not the fence.
Wonderful lesson, because certain things Gina has been telling me all along have started to click because I've figured a way to do it in my own body. For example, when he starts to charge at a jump, I have to think "bear down and pinch" because that causes me to sit up, hold my core steady, and keep my thighs ON instead of flapping around off the saddle, which stabilizes my lower leg. That whole discovery of pressing my thumbs together also worked great for keeping my hands from coming up. All I know is that I'm so thrilled to have found Gina - if she hadn't helped me with Oliver, he probably would have been sold long ago. Now, because I trusted her methods, I have a horse that jumps and moves much better than we thought he could!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Flatwork ruminations...
It's so much more fun to post about jumping lessons, but we've been making huge strides in our flatwork lately that I'd better post about it before I hit a snag and get frustrated and forget how much better we've been getting.
We've (meaning Gina and I) have been playing around with a lot of shoulder-in and lateral work lately, to get Oliver to engage more behind. However, the trick is doing it correctly, since Oliver is rubber-band-man and can fake a shoulder-in (three tracks and everything) without truly engaging behind and bending. so, after a lot of walking around to warm up, I start him doing S-I at the walk down both long sides. The right S-I seems so much easier than the left. To the right, it's like he just floats into it - I come off the short side of the arena, switch my seatbone placement so that my left hip points towards his inside ear, make sure that I'm "pinching" with my seatbones so that they're narrower and I can feel both of them, and make sure that my left thigh doesn't float away from the saddle (which, surprisingly, it tends to do. Surprising in that my left leg is stronger than my right, so you'd think that the left leg would be easier to keep snugly against the saddle.)I can tell when I'm losing it when I forget about "riding the withers", because he loses the bend. If I think about turning his withers to the inside with my outside leg, and leading him down the long side with my right leg, he does a very nice S-I. The left S-I is much more difficult because a) I have a weaker right leg and it's harder for me to draw the left seatbone backwards to allow the right seatbone to come forward (left at 7 o'clock, right at 1 o'clock). I think that Oliver's left hind is weaker than the right and he subsequently has difficulty stepping under himself that direction. When he starts to resist, he also tends to bulge against the left leg and not want to move. Gina also has difficulty moving him off her left leg, so I know the problem isn't wholly me, although I probably caused it in the first place.
The canter is still coming along. Oliver is picking it up quite well from the walk, especially if we've done S-I first, but he sort of plunges into it with the first stride and we have a fast, strung-out canter. I can look into the mirror and see that his legs are taking these huge, bounding strides. If I concentrate on NOT LETTING HIM MOVE ME by firming up my core, bearing down, and keeping my seatbones arranged correctly (outside seatbone at 8, inside at 2), and think of lifting him into the canter, he is starting to step into it and keep the light, airy, soft feeling. It's still not as adjustable as I would like, but it's coming along. I have to keep thinking of using my thighs to lever up his withers, and keep my upper body "small/short" by thinking of pressing down, and that really helps keep the canter smaller.
His trot work is really becoming lovely and more expressive. I've got him in a new bit (Baucher Myler with the barrel mouthpiece) and after one ride, I'm still on the fence, as he seems quite fussy in the jaw with it - he's mouthing it a lot - but he doesn't appear to come behind the vertical as much in it, either. he's also a lot more adjustable in the canter. it's freezing out right now (around 30) but I'm off to ride in about half an hour, and we'll see how he continues to like this bit.
We've (meaning Gina and I) have been playing around with a lot of shoulder-in and lateral work lately, to get Oliver to engage more behind. However, the trick is doing it correctly, since Oliver is rubber-band-man and can fake a shoulder-in (three tracks and everything) without truly engaging behind and bending. so, after a lot of walking around to warm up, I start him doing S-I at the walk down both long sides. The right S-I seems so much easier than the left. To the right, it's like he just floats into it - I come off the short side of the arena, switch my seatbone placement so that my left hip points towards his inside ear, make sure that I'm "pinching" with my seatbones so that they're narrower and I can feel both of them, and make sure that my left thigh doesn't float away from the saddle (which, surprisingly, it tends to do. Surprising in that my left leg is stronger than my right, so you'd think that the left leg would be easier to keep snugly against the saddle.)I can tell when I'm losing it when I forget about "riding the withers", because he loses the bend. If I think about turning his withers to the inside with my outside leg, and leading him down the long side with my right leg, he does a very nice S-I. The left S-I is much more difficult because a) I have a weaker right leg and it's harder for me to draw the left seatbone backwards to allow the right seatbone to come forward (left at 7 o'clock, right at 1 o'clock). I think that Oliver's left hind is weaker than the right and he subsequently has difficulty stepping under himself that direction. When he starts to resist, he also tends to bulge against the left leg and not want to move. Gina also has difficulty moving him off her left leg, so I know the problem isn't wholly me, although I probably caused it in the first place.
The canter is still coming along. Oliver is picking it up quite well from the walk, especially if we've done S-I first, but he sort of plunges into it with the first stride and we have a fast, strung-out canter. I can look into the mirror and see that his legs are taking these huge, bounding strides. If I concentrate on NOT LETTING HIM MOVE ME by firming up my core, bearing down, and keeping my seatbones arranged correctly (outside seatbone at 8, inside at 2), and think of lifting him into the canter, he is starting to step into it and keep the light, airy, soft feeling. It's still not as adjustable as I would like, but it's coming along. I have to keep thinking of using my thighs to lever up his withers, and keep my upper body "small/short" by thinking of pressing down, and that really helps keep the canter smaller.
His trot work is really becoming lovely and more expressive. I've got him in a new bit (Baucher Myler with the barrel mouthpiece) and after one ride, I'm still on the fence, as he seems quite fussy in the jaw with it - he's mouthing it a lot - but he doesn't appear to come behind the vertical as much in it, either. he's also a lot more adjustable in the canter. it's freezing out right now (around 30) but I'm off to ride in about half an hour, and we'll see how he continues to like this bit.
Monday, January 17, 2011
The joys of Mary Wanless
It's been forever since I last posted, mostly due to lack of interest in sitting in front of my computer. However, Joe's home and he's given me his brand new laptop, so now I can watch True Blood and update my blog all at the same time! Joyous!
anyway, as the title of this states, I've rediscovered Mary Wanless again. I was first introduced to her on the flight to Ireland many years ago, played around with it, and then gave it up as my instruction at the time didn't lend itself to going with her methodology. After a recent thread on the COTH BB, I picked up the book again, had many more "ah-ha!" moments, and then proceeded to buy two other Mary Wanless books (because, typical of me, if I like something, then of course i've got to have ALL of it!). I've been struggling with juggling all of the basic tenements of MW, such as bearing down, pinching, making sure my seatbones are properly aligned, and keeping that push towards the front. Usually what happens is that I forget the pinch and start to obsess over the seatbone placement, which of course has been lost because I've forgotten the pinch. Then, if I get the pinch, I forget to bear down. Oh, and to top it off, I need to focus on my thigh keeping close to the saddle, as my right thigh wants to wander off. I know that I have a weakness in my right hip - I can feel it sort of aching right now as I'm sitting here, typing. I have very little difficulty moving my left hip around, but the right one seems "stuck".
So, I had a jumping lesson with Gina today. Fabulous. There were icy patches still in the arena, so G thought it would be a good idea to run Oliver through a grid. It consisted of a placing pole, double crossrail oxer, placing pole, double crossrail oxer again, and then two strides to an oxer. We warmed up over the blue plastic box vertical with placing poles on both sides. When the jumps are this little, Oliver tends to drop behind my leg and then barf over the fence, adding a funny little shuffle stride right after the placing pole, which makes me barf over the fence, too. Gina told me that as I'm crossing the pole on the ground, to add leg and then keep the leg all the way over the fence, while I float the rein like I was riding a hunter. I also need to keep my upper body from folding too quickly because that just gives him reason to dump his front end. G told me that we need to run through a grid with no reins so that I can realize that I don't need my reins at all with this horse. If he needs something, he needs leg. He sets himself up before the fence, so as long as I sit up and keep my leg on, I can float the rein at him and he jumps well. We went through the grid, and I thought it went well, except that G told me that I had my thighs too open throughout, even though my lower leg was on. Damn - that is a leftover from the way I was taught before for MANY years. It's hard for me to keep my thigh on because I'm scared that I will pinch with my knee and then pivot over it. So, a la' Mary Wanless, as I approached the first fence, I had to think of "hooking" my knees over that imaginary iron bar and using my lower leg over the placing pole, while keeping my rein soft. That worked quite well - he really jumped up and over and I felt much more effective through the grid. The last thing to work on was that between the second crossrail oxer and the two stride to the last oxer, I had this tendency to keep in a huntery half-seat, which rendered me ineffective and also flattened his jump. I had to make a conscious effort to sit up and keep my leg on. Gina said that Oliver tends to do what Errol does when you lean forward to ask for a lengthened stride - they sort of drop backwards out behind you. I have to concentrate on sitting up and then sending him forward. Gina raised the last oxer, and then we went over it, and although it was really hard, sitting up and pushing with my leg made for a much straighter jump. She then raised the middle element, and we went over it again, jumping really round and cracking his back. Gina said that the coolest thing was that from behind, she could see how much he lifted his back over the oxers, but that since my leg was so tight, I just stayed with him. She then put up the first crossrail oxer to a regular oxer, and we went through again. This time wasn't so good as he dropped behind my leg, so I went through again and revved him up a little before, and he sprang on through. G said that there are times when i look like a Novice rider, like the last time through, and then there are times, like this one, where I look like an Intermediate level rider. yay! That was quite a compliment! we went through the gymnastic again after a short break, and then landed, turned left, and galloped down to a regular square oxer on the fenceline, landed, re-grouped (because he got in quite deep to the oxer), galloped down to the rolltop which we jumped backwards (and this time left a little long), down the hill, and then turned to the vertical with black barrels under it. not too bad, especially since I barfed through the turn and didn't sit up and use my outside rein. The next time through, Gina wanted me to jump down the line, which started with a single grey brick box, one stride to a vertical with a grey brick box under it, and then three strides to a vertical out. The first time through, I didn't pull him together enough, and he wobbled towards the brick box, and I took my leg off and he stopped. i got chastised for that one - Gina told me that i'm a much better rider than that and when I feel him raise his head and look, that is my cue to sit back and really drive him from the back. So, we went through again, and I really collected him through the turn and drove him on, which resulted in a huge jump over the single wall, and a hurried jump over the vertical, and then three flat strides out. Not bad, not good. This next time I went through, sat him down, let him flow forward over the single wall and we had a very nice jump through. As a finale, gina wanted me to go through the natural in and out - oxer first, then the vertical. Oliver took a huge jump over the oxer, which practically jumped me out of the tack, but I quickly sat down and we jumped out in a semi-organized fashion. I got complimented on my stick-ability and Oliver's honest nature by our audience of one (the new boarder at Gina's). We went through again and it was perfect, so we called it quits on that.
My right leg is still weaker than my left, so I've got to work on that. Also, my Antares monoflap isn't cut quite forward enough for my leg in jumping length, so that I slam against the block when Oliver jumps really big. I think I'll sell it and save up for a Devoucoux with a 2AA flap - this one is a 2A flap. Oliver is trying so hard these days. I'm so proud of him. He and I have come a long, long way.
next lesson - hopefully a flat on Oliver this week, if the weather cooperates!
anyway, as the title of this states, I've rediscovered Mary Wanless again. I was first introduced to her on the flight to Ireland many years ago, played around with it, and then gave it up as my instruction at the time didn't lend itself to going with her methodology. After a recent thread on the COTH BB, I picked up the book again, had many more "ah-ha!" moments, and then proceeded to buy two other Mary Wanless books (because, typical of me, if I like something, then of course i've got to have ALL of it!). I've been struggling with juggling all of the basic tenements of MW, such as bearing down, pinching, making sure my seatbones are properly aligned, and keeping that push towards the front. Usually what happens is that I forget the pinch and start to obsess over the seatbone placement, which of course has been lost because I've forgotten the pinch. Then, if I get the pinch, I forget to bear down. Oh, and to top it off, I need to focus on my thigh keeping close to the saddle, as my right thigh wants to wander off. I know that I have a weakness in my right hip - I can feel it sort of aching right now as I'm sitting here, typing. I have very little difficulty moving my left hip around, but the right one seems "stuck".
So, I had a jumping lesson with Gina today. Fabulous. There were icy patches still in the arena, so G thought it would be a good idea to run Oliver through a grid. It consisted of a placing pole, double crossrail oxer, placing pole, double crossrail oxer again, and then two strides to an oxer. We warmed up over the blue plastic box vertical with placing poles on both sides. When the jumps are this little, Oliver tends to drop behind my leg and then barf over the fence, adding a funny little shuffle stride right after the placing pole, which makes me barf over the fence, too. Gina told me that as I'm crossing the pole on the ground, to add leg and then keep the leg all the way over the fence, while I float the rein like I was riding a hunter. I also need to keep my upper body from folding too quickly because that just gives him reason to dump his front end. G told me that we need to run through a grid with no reins so that I can realize that I don't need my reins at all with this horse. If he needs something, he needs leg. He sets himself up before the fence, so as long as I sit up and keep my leg on, I can float the rein at him and he jumps well. We went through the grid, and I thought it went well, except that G told me that I had my thighs too open throughout, even though my lower leg was on. Damn - that is a leftover from the way I was taught before for MANY years. It's hard for me to keep my thigh on because I'm scared that I will pinch with my knee and then pivot over it. So, a la' Mary Wanless, as I approached the first fence, I had to think of "hooking" my knees over that imaginary iron bar and using my lower leg over the placing pole, while keeping my rein soft. That worked quite well - he really jumped up and over and I felt much more effective through the grid. The last thing to work on was that between the second crossrail oxer and the two stride to the last oxer, I had this tendency to keep in a huntery half-seat, which rendered me ineffective and also flattened his jump. I had to make a conscious effort to sit up and keep my leg on. Gina said that Oliver tends to do what Errol does when you lean forward to ask for a lengthened stride - they sort of drop backwards out behind you. I have to concentrate on sitting up and then sending him forward. Gina raised the last oxer, and then we went over it, and although it was really hard, sitting up and pushing with my leg made for a much straighter jump. She then raised the middle element, and we went over it again, jumping really round and cracking his back. Gina said that the coolest thing was that from behind, she could see how much he lifted his back over the oxers, but that since my leg was so tight, I just stayed with him. She then put up the first crossrail oxer to a regular oxer, and we went through again. This time wasn't so good as he dropped behind my leg, so I went through again and revved him up a little before, and he sprang on through. G said that there are times when i look like a Novice rider, like the last time through, and then there are times, like this one, where I look like an Intermediate level rider. yay! That was quite a compliment! we went through the gymnastic again after a short break, and then landed, turned left, and galloped down to a regular square oxer on the fenceline, landed, re-grouped (because he got in quite deep to the oxer), galloped down to the rolltop which we jumped backwards (and this time left a little long), down the hill, and then turned to the vertical with black barrels under it. not too bad, especially since I barfed through the turn and didn't sit up and use my outside rein. The next time through, Gina wanted me to jump down the line, which started with a single grey brick box, one stride to a vertical with a grey brick box under it, and then three strides to a vertical out. The first time through, I didn't pull him together enough, and he wobbled towards the brick box, and I took my leg off and he stopped. i got chastised for that one - Gina told me that i'm a much better rider than that and when I feel him raise his head and look, that is my cue to sit back and really drive him from the back. So, we went through again, and I really collected him through the turn and drove him on, which resulted in a huge jump over the single wall, and a hurried jump over the vertical, and then three flat strides out. Not bad, not good. This next time I went through, sat him down, let him flow forward over the single wall and we had a very nice jump through. As a finale, gina wanted me to go through the natural in and out - oxer first, then the vertical. Oliver took a huge jump over the oxer, which practically jumped me out of the tack, but I quickly sat down and we jumped out in a semi-organized fashion. I got complimented on my stick-ability and Oliver's honest nature by our audience of one (the new boarder at Gina's). We went through again and it was perfect, so we called it quits on that.
My right leg is still weaker than my left, so I've got to work on that. Also, my Antares monoflap isn't cut quite forward enough for my leg in jumping length, so that I slam against the block when Oliver jumps really big. I think I'll sell it and save up for a Devoucoux with a 2AA flap - this one is a 2A flap. Oliver is trying so hard these days. I'm so proud of him. He and I have come a long, long way.
next lesson - hopefully a flat on Oliver this week, if the weather cooperates!
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