This is how I kill time....cute though!

Merry Christmas!

It's cold again and the barn has been quiet the past couple days because of the holidays. I rode on Thursday though when there was snow falling and blowing all around the arenas.

Today Deuce and I had a good ride. It didn't take too long for him to relax. We worked on straightness and also on keeping him active to my leg. I need to make sure that I stay right in the middle of my seatbones unless I mean to shift my weight. I think this is contributing to his crookedness...though not totally. Most horses are naturally more flexible to the left than to the right - so same with Deuce. I also have gotten him much better at the walk by making him march forward at the walk and really swing his back.

Tommorow I guess we will work on shoulder in and some counter canter. I'll keep it light though. Maybe go over some cavaletti in the jumper arena. :) Should be a fun week of riding ahead too since I don't have to work!

Great day!

I worked with tons of horses at the barn today! I get there this morning and worked with Van Gogh on the lunge. He's building more muscle gradually and I think after just 4 days of me working with him he's looking a lot better. I also trimmed his mane and he looked like a different horse. :)

After working with Van Gogh I rode Silver for A. Silver is a phenomenal horse - he's a big beautiful grey off the track thoroughbred who just needs to be ridden correctly to get stronger and better at using his body. He also has trouble striking off on the left lead but we think this is just phsychological. Once he gets the left lead canter it is relaxed and easy. He's just a little weak on that side. He was a good boy and we got the left lead canter easier than yesterday. Sometimes I get anxious and look down as I ask for the canter - this never works. I need to make sure i sit up, keep him on my aids and straight. If I keep this throughout the canter transition, he will pick up the left lead when asked. I think a few more rides like this and the left lead canter will soon be no big deal!

After Silver came Captain. This is my first time riding Captain and he is really fun. He gets really tight though and it takes a while to work out his stiffness. S. got on him first and did some leg yields, shoulder in, haunches in etc.He seemed to be a little heavy in the bridle when S was warming him up, but once I got on he was better. I just did more loosening exercises and circles and a little bit of canter. He's really fun and apparently a pretty good jumper. We'll have to try it soon!

Next I got on Picasso just to give him a workout before his owner got on.It was funny getting on him after riding Silver and Captain because he has a really short neck and he's kind of small to begin with. It looked like there was nothing underneath me! He's a young horse too (about 3 or 4 not really sure) so I just tried to get him to relax and get his rythymn. I did lengthening down the long side and shortening on the short side. He also tried to resist picking up the left lead but I got it after a few tries. I just held him on my outside aides so he couldn't pop his shoulder.

Finally i got to ride my baby. I took a lesson with C. to see what it was like. It went okay but Deuce and I were both off because of all the different things going on. I was riding in a jumping saddle, and Deuce was unsure of what to do when he couldn't feel me sitting on his back ( I was riding in half seat and in 2 point. I think I need to do more canter in half seat or 2 point to get him used to his own rythymn and balance at the canter. I was tense and I think Deuce really feeds off my behavior. He did a few jumps really nicely but then he ran out on one of them. We let him stop and think, then lowered the fence tried it again and he was fine. After that though he just got even more flustered and decided that he would rather just stop instead of going anywhere near the jump. Again, I was tense too and this really affected him. I had to really push him to get him to trot and canter around the arena and show him it is really not a big deal. We ended the lesson just cantering and trotting around the arena and randomly going over poles and cavalettis. I think the lesson ended nicely and we got over our tension, but i feel bad that he got so worried. poor guy. Will try to have a nice easy ride tommorow and just let him have fun! He's such a great horse and I love him SOOO much. Mwah!

Oh if I had a trailer!

It would be so fun to just take Deuce places and not worry about how to get there. I could easily take him to lessons and clinics or out on a trail ride somewhere. I've been looking into Brenderups...you can pull them with your car...but I just want to make sure that whatever I buy is completely safe. Plus, buying a trailer is wishful thinking unless 8000 dollars materializes from somewhere...haha. If I decide against a Brenderup I'd have to get a truck too so that's even more money. It's fun to dream though...

So brave

I just had an easy ride today. We did some poles and cavaletti work. I was finished riding and had turned Deuce outside when P got to the barn and asked if I could go out on the trails. I couldn't resist and we just planned on walking on the trail so I saddled Deuce up again and went with P and Jake on the trails. The two were not such a good pair because they were afraid of the same things. We had trouble getting accross the bridge and under the overpass, but after that it was a nice ride. I even trotted Deuce over a little log. He didn't want to jump it at first but once he did it felt really good!

He was really brave. I love doing fun stuff like that with him to break the monotony of the arena and circles.

Tommorow is his day off, then we have some gymnastic jumping and a dressage lesson planned this week. :)

Winter Break

I've just been trying to ride Deuce lightly this week. I need to keep track of how much time I walk him in the beginning and then how long I work him for. I think I'd like to make sure all his workouts are no longer than 45 minutes (including warm up and cool down). I also need to make sure I give him walk breaks periodically. He's such a fast learner that I always forget to go slow.

Tried riding with no spurs and no whip today. Deuce went forward decently but was a little bit of a struggle. Wondering if it's possible to make him more forward without spurs or whip - I don't want to be dependent on them.

Tommorow we'll work on some lateral excercises, bending, and cavaletti at the trot.

Lastly, here's a sweet pictures. SUCH a cute baby!

I cried watching this

Slow and Steady

I think the message for me this weekend is that I need to go slow and steady with Deuce. This is hard to do because he is such a fast learner and so willing to learn new things. I really would love to be at a barn where I could go on trail rides easily and could walk in the field instead of in the arena to warm him up. I can also go back and make sure he has the most basic stuff like:

- voice commands during lungeing (so it can be used while riding)
- staying still at the mounting block while I get on

I need to remember that he is 4 and I can't push him too hard - I just need to teach him new things playfully.

The other thing I learned this weekend is that I need to make sure my body stays relaxed. I tense my arms for some reason at the canter and also when I do lateral movements. Deuce can feel this and gets tense himself.

Working Equitation

is awesome!

www.maryrosedressage.com

There is a clinic at the barn this weekend with Mary Rose. I had never heard of her before last week, but I thought it was awesome that she trained with Nuno Oliveira. She has been so many places and has trained internationally - you can tell she has LOTS of experience!

I took the first clinic lesson this evening and I really learned a lot. The first thing she told me was how I can slightly change my leg position to be more effective. I had no idea that I was putting weight in the stirrup on the outside of my foot. She said that I need to put weight on the inside of my foot and spread my toes in my boots. This will direct my knees forward and open my seat more. I could really feel the difference too...it's amazing how just a slight change can make so much difference.

Mary Rose also told me how to improve my balance at the rising trot. She helped me see that Deuce is sometimes unbalanced in the trot because my body gets behind his center of gravity when I post. She had me post up, up down, up, up, down for a while to help me feel how to keep in balance with the horse and help him have a steady rythym. It was great to see how much more relaxed and balanced Deuce's strides were once I corrected my position in the rising trot. I just had to be careful to keep my knees and ankles relaxed so I didn't grip him.

After these two position corrections, we did some counter shoulder in at the walk and trot to get his hind leg to step under. At the shoulder in, I have to work on making sure that my hips are aligned with Deuce's hips.

The last excercise we worked on was a figure eight. We did a large trot circle to the right, then followed by a small walk circle to the left. This really helped me pay attention to the direction of his bend and the quality of the walk-trot and trot-walk transitions.

Can't wait to see what we'll learn tommorow. Mary Rose also said i should be able to go to the top levels with Deuce. Grand Prix!? how exciting. :) Just can't move him too fast or make him sour to the work. What a good baby!

Leaps and Bounds

Rode Deuce today and had a lot of fun. Canter departs are a peice of cake, so I worked on lengthening/shortening strides in the trot and canter. By the end I felt like Deuce's canter was floating. I feel like this is the first time I've really felt him reach under and step into the contact at the canter. It was a really good feeling!

Did a little shoulder in. I guess the seat aid in the should in is to put more weight on the outside seatbone? Still confused but I do know that Deuce will naturally move towards the heavier weighted seat bone to get back in balance.

Did some trot/halts today and made sure they were from the seat. He did okay at them but not at first. I need to do these first thing before he gets tired. Will hopefully get a little jumping in tommorow. Just for fun. :)

Now what?

So now that Deuce canters from my seat I've really been questioning my aids for all the other movements to make sure they are still consistent. I realized that I've never fully understood how to use my seat aids correctly. I've read that the basic concept is that when you put your weight towards one side, the horse will step underneath your weight to regain balance. I guess when I drop my hip at the trot, it makes him want to regain balance by stepping under with his hindleg. This makes a canter depart easy to accomplish for him. I still have questions about the seat though because now might want to canter when I just want a leg yield or shoulder-in, bend in the corner or later do half pass. I need to figure out the exact aids that I should be using for each movement.

Questions i have:
- Half pass and canter depart seem to have the same aids. How does the horse distinguish between them?
- I started just having even seat bones in the corner and bend the horse with my leg. Is this correct?
- What are the aids for shoulder-in? I've done shoulder in but now I'm realizing that it involves the inside seat bone. How can I help Deuce figure out whether I want shoulder in or canter?

I also need to work on getting Deuce to relax during the sitting trot. I think he resists my aids by being tense in the sitting trot. I'm sure this stems from when I used to ask for the canter from the sitting trot and then get tense when he didn't strike off right away.

Was Deuce's day off today. Will ride tommorow and hope for the best! I want to practice lengthenings and mediums so we will see how Deuce feels.

Cantering from the seat - woah!

Today it was really cold outside so Deuce was very stiff at first. I did circles, leg yield and stretching to get him to loosen up his muscles. It was so cold today that I put a quarter sheet on him while we were working. During warm up, I happened to look back at him butt and was pleased to see that the center stitch of the quarter sheet shows evidence that Deuce bends on the circle. As a rode a circle, you could see a gentle curve in the center seam of the quarter sheet! It's proof that he bends his whole body -- not just his neck. :)

After he was loose, we worked on canter departs and I decided to try asking for the canter from my seat. I pushed my inside seat bone forward and wanted him to canter off of that aide. After a few attempts, he did it so beautifully to the left. I was doing the sitting trot later on and i was pleasantly surprised that if I dropped my inside hip through the corner (by accident) that he would start cantering right away. This made me very aware of my seatbones and I made sure to put weight in my outside stirrup and seat around corners and circles. It's crazy how much this taught me about my position and how sensitive Deuce is. For being 4, he is so trainable and obedient.

Cantering from the seat was not as easy going to the right. This is not his favorite direction. We eventually got it and did lots of trot canter trot transitions to reinforce. I had to still use a little leg going this direction and sometimes he would strike off on the left lead instead of the right, but i tried not to make a big deal of it. He was forward, and he cantered, so I think the wrong lead is just maybe his weak side getting tired and him being young.

I think I might have ridden him for too long because he got very tired and drank LOTS of water when he got back to his stall. I will have to be sure and do something fun, easy and relaxed tommorow. Hopefully it will warm up a bit!

All about the shoulders

Today we had a great ride. I started out by lunging Deuce because it was cool and pouring down rain so I figured he would be a little frisky. After warm up we worked on counter canter and shoulder in. I really need to focus on making sure I have correct position during both of these excercises.

Deuce tried so hard to do counter canter. Good boy! We went across the diagonal to change direction and I kept the bend to the outside. We then did a half circle around the arena and the returned to the true canter again accross the diagonal. While I am making sure to keep the correct bend, I think I keep tension in my body and forget to sit straight on my seatbones. Nice time we practice counter canter I'll have to remember to relax my position more.

After counter canter we practiced shoulder-in. Deuce seemed to pick up on this pretty easily last time, but I think he now realizes it is hard and is not so eager. He did a nice easy shoulder in going track right, but track left was much more difficult. I would establish a few steps, then he would lose it so I would circle 10 m and start again. I would do this 2 or 3 times down the long side. I only got about 3 steps in a row going track left but I thought that was sufficient given it was only his second time and he seemed to be trying hard by the end. I think the shoulder in going to the right could have also used more impulsion, so maybe that's why it seemed easier for him.

The purpose of the shoulder in is to ask the horse to carry more weight on the inside hind, and to encourage a more uphill balance. When ridden correctly, the inside hind is really the only leg that propels the horse forward. To help Deuce do a correct shoulder in, my shoulders should be square with his shoulders and my head should look straight between his ears. My inside leg should ask for bend at the girth and my outside leg should act slight behind the girth to passively keep his hind end in position on the rail (or track). I don't think I was great about keeping my shoulders square and looking up today. Will have to do better next time and pay more attention to my position and aids.

By the end of the ride I could tell Deuce had worked his muscles because when I asked him to stretch forwards and down at the trot he did so easily. I could tell it felt good for him to stretch. I have to remember that for a horse even to carry a rider is pretty unnatural. Horses already carry 57% of their weight in their torso with only their back muscles to hold up that weight. Then, a rider sits on the horse's back and adds even more weight to an already loaded area. I like to allow Deuce to stretch so he can relax some of the muscles that are under such stress when he is being ridden. Praise God, I have a great horse! :)

Won't have time to ride tommorow, but next time we will work on getting more canter circles, maybe some baby shoulder fore at the canter. Then we'll work on lengthening strides at the canter, particularly the transitions down from lengthening to working canter. These are difficult for both of us.