Flying High - Dom Schramm clinic Day #2

Going into day 2 of the clinic I was on a high from how well day 1 went...but because of how familiar I am with how highs can also produce terrible lows if you get too comfy up there, I actually was a bit nervous. Tillie was her normal self pulling her out of the field, but I knew she would be tired so brought her in early to let her nap with her Back on Track blanket on.

Yawning tired Tillie getting groomed

The hour and a half drive on day two was just as easy as day 1 despite the ridiculous hurricane force winds we had on the east coast...but Tillie was quiet in the trailer and, I presume, asleep with her Back On Track blanket on. Because of the wind, the morning sessions of the clinic were being held in the indoor...but luckily as we were pulling in, they were in the process of moving the jumps back to the outdoor for the group before us. The wind finally seemed to die down to a more bearable speed.

Taking Tillie off the trailer on day 2, she was much more chill then day 1. Tillie took a casual look around and started munching on hay. I still chose to get on her early with it being chillier and try to go for a relaxing warm up. I got on her and instantly could tell I had a different horse from yesterday. She was still looking around and curious, but was either tired so didnt have the energy to carry on or really just that relaxed after already seeing it all the day before.

so thankful for my grooms :)

I didnt push too much in the warm up since Tillie did feel tired, she kept offering to break in the canter (the footing in both rings were pretty deep so wasnt too surprised). She was more of a push ride and seemed to feel a bit uneven side to side again. But I tried not to stress reminding myself she did work super hard the day before and our new pentosan routine wouldn't kick in until we completed the loading dose phase until the end of the month.

Once we walked out the outdoor when Dom was ready, we trotted and cantered briefly around the entire ring to get a good look at all the new jumps out with fill. I opted to grab my crop after this for added support.since she did feel a bit tired and knowing we would be jumping a triple combo and jumping a liverpool.


WARM UP

Dom said we were the big kids in our group so opted to have us warm up over a single vertical fence rather then an X to see if we all learned a bit about our approaches from the day before. Dom sent each of us through to go over it 2x each direction. He said he sent the fence purposefully to have two different approaches depending which way you jumped into it: One side was a longer approach and the other off a turn. This would challenge your eye early on the ride.

 Dom right away commended me on not leaning and staying taller on the approach (me being a silly girl didn't know what to say and just laughed).

Before I went, he discussed with another rider who was struggling to get the right ride off the turn (either too long of a take off or chipping in) how to use the turn to set up your striding. He said too many people worry too much about pushing and pulling the canter when its more about the rhythm and using the path of the curve to adjust the striding.

• To remove a stride, take a smaller turn to the fence 
• To add a stride, take a wider longer turn to the fence

He asked me on the left lead to demonstrate this adjust-ability by going to a more open stride after we did it twice before from the same striding:

LIVEPOOL

Tillie basically ran over it

Next we moved onto the liverpool. Myself and one other rider's horse had not seen one before, but Dom said he wanted each of us to trot into it first, then canter it. He folded it in half at first for it to seem less daunting and spoke to us about desensitizing.

•  Never assume your horse is comfortable with it
• Always re-introduce the liverpool to build confidence
• Youll lose more by assuming they are comfortable and wont lose anything by taking it slow

Tillie could have cared less about it and basically ran through it both times earning a chuckle from the crowd. 

BENDING LINE - LIVERPOOL - 4 STRIDE OUTSIDE LINE

At this point we started stringing some fences together and we started getting more into riding courses. I noticed many riders, even in previous groups struggled with the bending line to the liverpool to get the right striding. We took a bit of flyer to get 6 strides which Dom commented was a bit of a stretch and not a bad ride, but the 7 would probably be safer and more comfortable for us but to be able to react and make the choice in that moment.

He called it a freeze frame mid jump. He encouraged everyone to be able to take a moment mid jump and know your plan when you landed for how you wanted to ride that next fence. It showed how when 1 fell apart, the remaining jumps tended to get harder to clean up and get nice for some so Dom pointed out how important it is in stadium to have the precise ride.

ENTIRE COURSE

This is where the real fun begins! The jump started going up and despite Tillie feeling a bit tired, she really started to fly. The first time through I dont think she had quite enough canter but she quickly got it together and soared over the liverpool oxer. Dom reminded me to stay tall to allow her shoulders to come up and longer we went the better she went (or I was starting to feel a difference when I sat up!?) Its quite amazing how many trainers have all been saying the same thing, but for some reason the way Dom worded it made a light bulb go off...and clearly it did for Tillie too! 

Dom's commentary here again just excites me to no end! He again boasts over Tillie's jumping ability and you can hear him say to the group its quite amazing despite her downhill build. After this course, he was very polite and said "Please don't take this the wrong way, but your horse is build a bit down hill yea?" To which I replied "No offense taken, but yea she is." He said she really is a powerful jumper and does a great job getting really up and over the fence, but the key with her is to allow time for her shoulders to come up. Because when I do she really does jump and quite well. He seemed to be a little bit in awe about it actually lol. 

The fences went up again for our final course:

Dom coached me through this course to stay tall and "give her time" to come up under me. I learned my mistake from the first attempt and went larger around the ring before approaching the first fence to wake her canter up. Fence 3 to the triple rode so NICE...but in my excitement we lost it on fence 1 of the 4 stride line. Dom sent us around to try again to get a better approach and ended with discussing how the more up my shoulders are the more up hers will also be.

Honestly, I was so in love with my horse in this moment and beyond excited at how much Dom loved her I am so glad I had the footage to re-watch and re-listen. I am really hoping we can recreate this feeling at home with P and I am actually thinking of trying to see if Dom would come down to me for some lessons - having a trainer/instructor so excited about your horse is just so neat. Of course we all want to hear that, but there is something about when they truly like your horse that makes you get it.

AHHH!!! All in all so excited for this year and feel more confident then ever to go into this season.

Stressful Sunday

Sunday was quite stressful for me and I wont bore with the details...but it was filled with a lot of good things too. I am choosing to focus on the positives :)

I FINALLY got my truck back from being fixed! YAY!! After months of it sitting because I was going off of a dealership quote that was ridiculously high, I finally found a trustworthy mechanic through word of mouth that was able to do it at half the cost. I am so beyond happy to have it back I almost cried.

Nighttime photo...hard to see :(

So some other stressful things happened and when things started settle, I decided to squeeze in a dressage lesson with C to de-stress since her lessons always have a knack for soothing any anxieties (riding and non riding). Lucky for me she had an opening!

Tillie knew what was up when the BOT blanket came out and was not entirely thrilled...
maybe if I dont look at her she cant see me?

In my excitement to add some positives to my day, I got the barn a bit early and gave Tillie a spa day complete with trimming her mane and brushing out her tail. She LOVED her tail being brushed and was literally following me with her butt so I could scratch it.

I got done a little early so decided to go help with the first dragging of our NEW footing! This stuff is so cool...it has rubber in it and Im told riding on it is so elastic and wonderful! This is our smaller "dressage" ring and our larger ring is supposed to also get some as well.

New footing!! EEK!!

Once that was done, it was time to load up. This is the first time I hooked up my truck to my trailer...The wiring was all recently redone on the trailer and I was disappointed at first to find the lights not 100%. BUT with some cleaning, they all worked!! YAY! I also noticed I need a bit more of a drop hitch to get my trailer sitting more level. But it was good enough to get us the short ride to C.

Tillie was a bit skeptical to load on this trailer as its a bit narrower then the others we have been in lately. She just sort of hesitated once on the ramp, sniffed around to make sure all was fine and then loaded on. I really need to make a point to teach her to self load...she close, but not quite there yet.

You can see how not level my trailer is here.

Once there, Tillie was a cool calm customer. I think shes starting to get this all down and taking it in stride. C had to go turn out and bring horses in so we had 15 minutes to play in the indoor on our own and I really wish I had gotten a photo...but I had left my phone in the truck knowing I was by myself for this lesson and didnt have my trusty friends this time to get video.

As soon as I picked up rein contact she started trying to root. She tends to go in phases with this it seems...she'll try to do it to evade, realize it doesnt work and it will go away for a while, but it always surfaces again. It irritates me to no end because she'll do it especially when I allow for the free walk or try for stretchy trot which Ill touch on a bit later in this post. 

Tillie says its all good as long as I have hay

So after some additional warm up when C returned, we touched on me trying to open and close my elbows more in trot since Tillie now is consistent enough in the bridle, I have to work on being more quiet with my arms and not lock my elbows. It felt a bit ridiculous, but C had me look in the mirror and it was totally normal. LOL funny how that works.

Her right lead canter was on point, left lead she felt a bit down hill and falling in a bit. C wasnt too concerned and decided to have us try running through a few training level tests for an upcoming dressage show in Jan. we would like to attend.

We talked about the differences of test riding - corners vs circles and since Tillie does corners so well, to show them off when not riding the circle portions.

So then went through 2 different ones to see which worked better for us. We went through USDF Training level test 2 first and it worked quite well for us. There is a lot going on in this test, but C liked it because there was a lot of time to allow for preparation for each movement. I liked it because there were a lot of circles, changing rein etc which means I can ride Tillie more forward and start showing off her trot and canter without her building too much.

The stretchy trot and free walk each time she tried rooting which C gave me tips to correct, but said not to over stress it since she thinks its her learning to likes opening her throat latch, albeit rude...yes correct it but by pushing forward not using rein.

C was so excited about her right lead canter and remarked "it is on fire today!" haha. Left lead wasnt as sharp but definitely started feeling better and more balanced by the end of this test.

So then we moved on to try USDF Training level test 1 which C was concerned would invite Tillie to build with the canter being somewhat on a straight line and the transitions happening right in front of the judge.

Shockingly, she did the test quite well and by riding into the corners helped half halt her quite well. We both agree though, test 2 would be the better choice and we would try test 3 next lesson before we go.

All done! Isnt she just the cutest! 

I ended up staying for a bit after to watch C ride her new 3 almost 4 yr old baby and it was lovely!

Unfortunately, the weather isnt looking too promising this week, so not sure how many new updates Ill have :(