I sadly do not have any new media for you guys...at least not a ton of interesting stuff. But the great news is that I finally have had two rides where my horse feels back in business.
Soooo sweaty
I chose to do two dressage lessons two days in a row to help kick start us back to our happy place. Tillie showed up ready to work and I couldnt have been more relieved.
Yesterday's lesson we finally ran through Training level test A since that is what we will be tested on at our next event. Boy let me tell you what a jump it is from Novice. Here is the test for reference: USEF Training Test A
We realllly hate flies even after being sprayed
Unfortunately the test is still in a small dressage ring, which makes me nervous about the two trot lengthenings and one canter lengthening...they are hard enough in the larger, full sized ring! So definitely something Ill be practicing in the smaller arena at home.
She says I soooo pretty! Also really curious about the foals running around
Yesterday's lesson she was the perfect weight and contact in my reins...she felt willing to work both ways and we finally had some nice canter work. C commented my riding on our lateral work and said I am getting better at riding the movements and fixing Tillie when she attempts to give the wrong answer!! YAY!! Let me tell you, lateral movements fry my brain...but Im sure the more I get comfortable with them it wont seem soo challenging.
There's her pretty face!
Anyway, back to riding through the Training level test...not only is it way more going on than Novice, it all happens really fast in succession...you dont have large trot circles to help prepare, its literally one movement into the next.
Which, luckily for us, seems to ride pretty well for the most part. C hadnt remembered this test but was happy with how it rode for us and said it did tend to show off Tillie's best qualities.
After running through it once in the larger full size ring just to get the lay of the land, we ran through it again but focusing on the areas that gave us a harder time...which C said she was surprised at which parts did. She said she would have thought some other parts would but that she generally liked how we did.
The stretchy circle is tough because it comes right after the trot lengthening...so to change modes that quickly is really hard. Not to mention, stretchy trot with Tillie we always let it slowly build with her tendency to want to rudely root or throw her head down. It also happens to be the only 20M circle in the whole test...everything else is 15M.
C recommended we play it safe but to def work on it at home as long as she didnt start to pull down.
The other thing we worked on was getting our lengthenings to happen faster out of the turn because that small arena is small and there is not a whole lot of time to let things build. The trot ones we got pretty darn good!! The canter one I still am a bit of a weenie and dont really go for it as much as I could.
All in all I am super excited to have her back...now we need to go XC school to make sure *I* feel good out there too!
I have been up to my eyeballs...and trying to keep up!!! It is all good, just stressful.
We have snow in the forecast tonight and tomorrow so I am hoping that the warmer weather we have had will make it just be a blip without setting us back. I actually was able to ride 2X this week...thats right, middle of the week rides!!! Woooo!!
How Tillie feels about me riding on a week night.
I was a bad horse mom and totally forgot to give Tillie her depo Sunday so brought it to give to her Tuesday...unfortunately I do think it affects Tillie more than I realized and she was in a meh kinda mood for our ride. She just didnt have the work ethic she has had lately, which given this was our first time riding an additional day could have been just sheer tiredness while we rebuild strength.
Me tired? NOOOOOOO...
I felt a built guilty because I did get frustrated in the ride and realized I am falling into the trap of comparing to well this is what we did and how it felt the ride before. I need to ride the horse I have today and what I should have done is just did a hack around and loose rein work. But I did promise I wouldnt go down the coulda woulda shouldas so...we had an ok ride. **shrugs** they happen sometimes right?
Ah the little things like a dry freshly dragged arena
Tillie just didnt want to get off the right side, she was bending but not really bending. She didnt even really put up a fight when I kept asking for more which, in hindsight, I should have realized meant she was tired. But I tried starting slow to ease her into with stretchy trot and some light canter sooner in the rides like the clinician suggested.
She was nice and quiet in the transition, just a bit sticky. I tried to start working on some of our dressage homework of lengethnings and Tillie is really starting to understand...it isnt perfect, BUT she will quietly come back really nicely now which allows me to be able to be braver and riding her more forward for that bigger trot.
Isabelle happily hanging out while Emma sets jumps while we cool down
Tillie had a bit of a hard time maintaining the canter in our canter work when starting the counter canter exercise C gave us as homework...I let her settle and rebalance in the trot before cantering one more time before I just said ok its not our day for this. I finished the ride working towards stretchy trot.
so cut
But I have other big fun news to share!...so remember I was trailer shopping. I have been doing research and window shopping gradually getting more and more serious.
And I finally decided and put a deposit down on this beauty!!!: 2001 Exiss 2 horse with a dressing room. I ran across it on a classifieds and it was a really good price for the shape that it is in. The tires are brand new, new brakes, new lighting etc.
The only downside is now having to wait for it!! UGH sooo hard lol. I am hoping to have it by the end of the month...worst case not until April after Rolex. GAH But either way im so excited!!!!
I really didnt think Tillie and I were ready to embark on a dressage clinic and just recently turned down the change to enroll in a few in early spring...but a good barn mate just has major surgery and was feeling pretty down about her green bean not getting ride time and convinced me to take Tillie her her horse (I did not ride her horse in it, our trainer you all commonly hear me talk about "C" did).
I couldnt say no and decided to forgo our normal saturday jump lesson to attend the clinic instead. all in all it was a great experience...It felt more like was really a really expensive lesson, but it was totally worth it!
Sneak preview from the video
I was a bit more aware because I had a lot of eyes on me with auditors...I even forgot my phone to ask someone to video. Luckily, some of my helpers caught some and I am hoping I can round up a few more clips in the next few days from a few others.
I got on a gave a brief overview of Tillie but didnt want to share too much to try to keep the clinician coming to their own conclusions and have a fresh perspective. Basically - Tillie: Red head mare, coming 7, competing at BN currently feeling a bit stuck and not adjustable in the frame.
Ill refer to the clinician as "P"
P had us start at the walk and said go ahead and start doing your thing and Ill speak up as I see things...well it didnt take long for her to speak up lol. Initially it was all good things about the walk. She really raved at how great Tillie's walk was and complimented how it was deliberate, clean and would score well.
Then we pushed up into trot and P immediately picked up on my crooked issues but amazingly pinpointed what to do to resolve it:
Basically look over her outside ear and think outside hip to outside ear since I tend to twist my torso. She also commented that by doing this I can use my seat and hip to make the turn rather then my lower leg. I really took this to heart and am glad to have something to really start working on to fix it! I was even more thrilled when P just kept swooning (ok maybe im exaggerating here) over Tillie.
But in all seriousness she did keep remarking at just how lovely she was and loved her build and bone. She said she had 3 really nice clean gaits but seemed to be the most impressed with her walk.
Next, we discussed the adjust ability of Tillie's neck and how to stay ahead of her getting "stuck" and getting braced or stagnant in a certain frame. Of course the first thing to do - more inside leg. AHHH the more inside leg fix! Who woulda thought...Its so silly how clear and simple that is. To build on that P described it as getting her bending more off the leg. She also emphasized playing with the bit more and keeping her mind active...counter flexion without changing anything with the reins, all from the leg and just keeping the bit moving.
It was nice since she has us go large around the ring quite a lot...which is a bit out of my comfort / familiar zone of staying on a circle. I really didnt think too much of it, but it forced me to test the bend I had more since the circle naturally tends to help achieve it easier. I was please to find Tillie was pretty consistent either way.
Unfortunately our first canter attempt didnt get filmed, but it involved some leaping through the air which is unlike Tillie lately...although P had us canter pretty quickly into the lesson which we normally do not canter for quite some time in our rides or other dressage lessons. I also think the crowd being there mimicked a show atmosphere which has led to some resistance to the canter aid and bucking in past tests.
Getting that bigger stride!
P gave me a few tips:
Canter sooner in the ride and make it not a big deal. Do it often so its routine.
Sit on her in the transition (P said Tillie has trained me to get off her back in the transition with her sass and she is capable of handling me sitting on her back...in fact she said she gets more confident the more I do and rely changes into a more relaxed horse when I can use my seat).
This will also prevent her getting croup high in the transition
WIDE hands...She complimented the height I carry my hands, they need to be wider though in the canter to promote using both hips not hands.
I was a bit nervous clearly and horror of horrors got the wrong lead at one point...but P didnt mind because it was a better more correct answer through the tension. We spent way more time in canter then I normally do in general and I am excited that it is moving towards one of my monthly goals in getting her canter more rideable and adjustable. We cantered the long side, circles etc and for the first time didnt feel like I had a freight train of a horse.
When we changed direction, we discussed the left bend since I clearly know this is our harder side and want to over bend her. P on the other hand told me no...and in the clip below can hear her coaching me on a more accurate ride. When we rolled into left lead canter, I had a much better balanced left lead then usual (i believe you can hear her remark how improved it looked even from right lead).
I am hoping someone got footage after this I can share of working on our trot lengthenings and stretchy trot...P was right in line with what C said that the key to getting Tillie to do a stretchy trot is the lengthenings...it will get her stretching out her back and spine, trusting her balance which will lead to trusting the stretch.
P also kept telling me to ride mini leg yields with a stronger right leg aid since she could tell thats the side she hangs on which is the left bend issue i feel...its the outside right muscles making it harder and heavier. She reassured ALL horses have one rein like this and its just something you have to know and ride accordingly. Describing the weight difference she also said it was good it wasnt THAT extreme and riding the bigger trot this was would help even more to even it out.
fancy pants canter
so in line with C's homework is riding tillie larger and asking for lengtehings not just on the diagonals but around the entire arena. We had two brief breaks and each time I picked Tillie back up P really raved over her walk and at one point gave us tips to get the higher scores that would make us "unbeatable at the level we are riding" :)
Dont be afraid to ride the walk forward. Tillie stays soft through it so ask for it.
Rein length discussion (she was impressed i brought this up). The level we are at it is perfectly acceptable to ride one length at the walk and another in trot.
Much nicer trot after canter...one more reason to canter sooner
P also really worked on getting me to keep my elbows at my body. That has been an ongoing struggle for me to learn giving at my elbow only straightens them out...and that doesnt help me or Tillie.
I really enjoyed P's teaching style and she couldnt have been more complimentary of Tillie. She so loved her shoulder movement (especially at the walk) and asked her bloodlines and then asked how well she jumped to which I sorta said, erm well she sorta jumps over her shoulder but its getting better...P said that shocked her and after further discussion reassured me she has the ability in there and it will come because you can see it in her flatwork.
It was so fast that it barely felt like an hour and it was really a marathon lesson with few breaks. Which is fine by me because we were able to cover SOOOO MUCH.
Tillie on the other hand wanted nothing to do with me after she was back on the trailer and just wanted to be alone with her hay:
and that means warmer weather and finally having a rideable ring rather than an ice rink. I was so excited to be able to take a change of clothes with me to work and go through the routine of riding and working on all that homework we have.
Tillie and Krimpet arent so sure they like this
I found myself driving to the barn feeling butterflies which I have a hard time sometimes separating if its anxiety or excitement. Excitement because I can actually ride my horse at home and not haul somewhere, but anxiety because I have only been riding her in lesson setting right now.
Its really easy to get used to that and become reliant on that instructor coaching you through everything. So I was a bit worried at trying to reproduce what we have been getting in our recent rides all on our own.
Tillie says Im Ready!
Walking down to the ring you could tell Tillie was a bit curious...like oh we havent been down here in a while, whats this thing, whats that thing. But she wasnt spooky at all and was her usual consistent self she has been as of late.
I made her stand for a while after getting on her since shes gotten a bit quick to walk away when I mount lately...Im not a huge stickler for has to stand all the time, but I also dont want mounting to turn into a game of vaulting.
Look a ring that isnt frozen!
I got on a did my usual walk on a loose rein for a while and figure out what areas were still frozen, too sloppy wet and dry enough for some of what I had planned. Tillie acted like an old seasoned pro and just went along wherever I wanted.
I picked her up to work and she was a bit reluctant and did some rooting and lost some tempo in the walk so I heard the voice in my head that said walk and get a soft rhythmic walk before trotting. It didnt take all that long and I did push into a trot. I noticed right away that Tillie was much less stuck like she has been when first trotting lately and more willing to go forward without the head tossing. In fact she didnt at all until after two or three circles I picked up contact and started asking with inside leg for bend.
Happy to be back in work!
I tried to emulate what we worked on the day before in our dressage lesson and found either she was much easier to get the exaggerated bend OR I was settling with what she was giving without C there to push for more. Either way, it felt great to me and I did a bit of testing of the bend and connection with some changing rein/serpentines and counter bending.
I continued warm up with the spiral in and leg yield out exercise C had us do before walking to give her a break. I made sure to not let her head dive or root before allowing her full freedom to stretch.
After a quick rest I picked her back with not as much apprehension from Tillie and did a few walk trot walk transitions to make sure she understood and asked for a bit bigger trot. I tried to focus on widening my hands, thumbs up and keeping that bend. I really didnt notice any head wagging so hoping it helped!
I decided to go ahead and canter before sitting trot to really make sure she was warmed up through her back...and she gave me a nice transition both ways. I worked on getting her soft in the canter with the idea of bending her more around my inside leg like C had us doing at the trot...I did the same circle exercise in canter which really produced a nice easier to ride stride.
Kisses with herd mates
I couldnt do too much more in the canter since our ring is still partially frozen limiting to me about half the ring, so I decided to leave that where it was and tell Tillie what a good girl she was and ask for some stretchy trot both ways. I tried to make sure I was sitting tall and not trying to stretch for her by leaning which would only put her on the forehand.
She still doenst quite give me as much as I want, but by a few circles into it she was starting to follow the contact without being so rude about it.
To end, we did work on lengthenings again and it was by far the highlight of our ride. I was expecting a similar response to our lesson the day before with a few blips and general going forwad but not letting go...the first two were very much in line with that. But after that we had a few REALLY impressive ones (at least they felt that way) where I felt a lifting feeling and it was a fine line teetering between breaking into canter or not pushing enough.
Tillie was so into it and so responsive and willing to come back to a more modest trot I was so impressed. We called it a night after that :)
Heres to hoping we are on the way to spring sooner than later!!!
