Back in action with Dom

Like all the other pros, Dom leaves every winter to go south and continue training. That means all winter without lessons which worked out for us since we took most of the winter off anyway. Last Saturday was our first lesson back with Dom since before he left and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't slightly nervous.

Tillie really helped me out by being caked in mud before the lesson

My fitness is not where it was at the end of the season. Tillie's fitness is not up to par either. We have just been back into work maybe a month. It is one of those things you want your trainer to be proud of you and be able to notice some improvement or change for the better after such a long time away right? Normally I am fine with things being a shit show because that is why my trainer is there: to fix it! But for whatever reason, I felt a bit apprehensive and worried we would be a disappointment.

She is so excited

I was pleasantly surprised at how Tillie felt. Dom gave us some pointers for warming up and said he liked what he was seeing. His goal for this warm up was to start installing soft buttons and be able to push Tillie around a little...bring the shoulders in then her haunches without it being a big deal.

Starting to be a bit more through in the bridle

Dom gave us this as homework since it worked well to keep Tillie waiting for me rather than try to take over herself. It also helped alleviate and unwanted weight or tension in the reins. The goal is to gently use leg and thigh to maneuver her and the reins simply supplement. The haunches in was asking for a bit more while shoulder fore was the relief part of the exercise and where the reins should feel lighter.

He also had us add in some counter flexion as well to really ensure the connection was confirmed and she could be pushed in and out of her "box" without too much resistance. He had us spiral in and out using the circle size to increase the difficulty.

After that he asked me what my goals were for this season and the question initially took me off guard. I honestly spent the last month getting on and enjoying my calm, quiet horse and having fun with her. I hadnt really thought much ahead to when our first show would be or even what we would be doing!

She is tracking up superbly well here! Ignore my poor position!

I answered that I hadnt thought too much about it but was hoping to really get confirmed at Training and figure out how to gallop and make time without the adjustability in the gallop /canter being such a huge issue for Tillie. Last season, any half halt once I let her out or gallop a bit would result in a meltdown or straight up zero response and her jaw locked so tight I feared we might never stop at times.

Miss fancy pants

So Dom laughed and said not to worry that starting out the season late April or even May is perfect for us since our season runs later into the fall. He said he would tell us what he thought after the lesson, but so far was much happier with her flat work. We both agreed her hock injections and time off really worked wonders for her and supplied us with a much more agreeable horse.

and quite the overachiever

Naturally, the next exercise he had us do was focused on adjustability in the canter. He set two ground poles 5 strides apart (Well what is a 5 stride 12ft canter). He said this is also homework for us so I can keep my "feel" and eye in check. It will also help me start developing that 12ft canter stride we will need when we compete again without it feeling so foreign. 

I think we were both shocked at how well Tillie handled this exercise. Especially after we pushed for the 12ft stride then asked her to compress and go smaller. I even got a "I am impressed" from Dom when we were able to get 8 strides in there!

Workin that small canter

Dom also commented at this point he was happy with the saddle and how it helped my position, most particularly my lower leg. He said I wasnt nearly as defensive with it. Over fences, same thing. I am now able to stay up on landing and not getting so defensive on the landing side of fences. 

So next Dom wanted to challenge Tillie and keep her thinking a bit with a trot pole to jump grid-like exercise. 

I was really shocked at how well this made Tillie lift and use her own balance. Dom kept saying to not help her and let the poles do the work. Just stay patient with my body at the jump. We started with a low x then bumped it up to a vertical. Dom wanted to sharpen her front end so added a low vertical to the front and instructed me to do this on a few jumps when schooling at home. This would help prevent when we get deeper to a fence and Tillie dropping over her shoulder. 

So we started doing it off the shorter right hand turn as well. Dom really pre-warned to ride the turn very tall and not to lean. He also kept repeating it was important to ensure I rode Tillie very straight through the exercise to make sure she was pushing off evenly.

Finally when she was going through to his satisfaction and stopping straight enough, he let us string the exercise together a bit asking us to think about our lead changes over the fences:

All in all it was a wonderfully education lesson for us both. I got some really great tools and homework and Tillie definitely got a tune up from it. Dom LOVED how she finished up and was excited to see my half halt releasing create a more soft reaction rather than a running reaction we used to get. 

To my surprise Dom said he thought Prelim was a good goal to aim for late fall! I laughed and said maybe I would let him do it on her first...but I was happy hanging at Training and seeing where the season goes. If we get there to Prelim, cool. If not, maybe one day!

Work that booty!! Who'd thought trotting a 3ft fence would be so ok...and not die?!

Going back to basics

I am still catching up on blog posts since I have been a bit MIA on here for a while. But basically in our land, we are filling in holes and re-assessing basics.

Going back to basics often is a good thing, but it can often times feel like a step back. I am trying not to allow that feeling to creep in because basics are, after all, the foundation. Without those building blocks everything else will come crashing down at some point.

So we can get killer jump form like this again

My last jump lesson with Dom last week, we kept the jumps low...we tried a new bit and wanted to work on some of my own frustrations and to iron out my own inconsistencies. Like being able to see a distance.

We warmed up over a x-rail - simple enough right? But it was a great way to establish how this new bit felt:

Pretty  quickly I felt a difference and Dom and I discussed saving this bit for competing only, or schooling XC. He recommended we keep schooling in our snaffle bit in the hopes she would learn from the gag and carry it over to the loose ring snaffle.

So Dom sent us through a mini course with a line which has been giving us the most trouble lately since she locks on and gets flat through them. Basically not giving me any response to a half halt at all...but she did and it was more or less me needing to work on finding the right canter and then leaving it alone:

It would help if we didn't almost run into someone

Dom sent us through the outside line a few times to feel how riding different approaches to the first jump and how it changes the ride to the second. So here is getting the chip in, which isn't the ride we want but tends to be what I do as a rider when I cant see a distance:

So he reversed the course and had us run through it again this time we found a slightly better rhythm:

Now I need to learn how to keep her forward through the turns with her responding better to the half halt so we can get the better distance. As Dom says "Getting to the base or deep to the fence doesn't always mean by adding a stride, it sometimes means pushing the stride out to get closer"

Hello Darkness my old friend

I know I have been a bit elusive to whats been bothering me on top of some general, not feeling right with my riding. 

Its hard, after finding the complete in-sync feeling with your horse, to lose it and try to ride them without it. It just feels wrong. 

Lots of reconnecting happening over here

I have mentioned in previous posts I just want to sort of reset and evaluate. Come back to a safe zone and just wrap my brain around this whole season in addition to whats next and what my goals are. What should I being doing my next few rides? Can I work on what I learn in lessons at home and feel progress? If not why? If yes, great! 

This Novice, leading up to it and after the event I remember feeling so completely in tune with Tillie 

I took time to reflect on when I felt the most trusting of Tillie and factors around that. Her comfort is top of the list. When mare isnt 100% she lets me know and she lets me know really quick. In many ways this is good, I can order the ulcer meds, get the farrier out or the chiro...but sometimes it means a ride that mentally is a set back for me if she is really unhappy. 

For all of us, we know we are the biggest advocate for our own horses. No one else will notice the small stuff...so its up to us to listen to them. 

It always is a tremendous relief to me when I am able to pinpoint an issue of being physical or training related. 

Tillie loves her massages

I have learned how Tillie learns and our recent move up has been shockingly easy for her as far as XC goes and even dressage (Maybe not for me!! lol) but the phase that seems to be at the current forefront of my mind is stadium. 

XC will always be the beast...I will always need to manage Tillie's excitement, but in light of our recent paperchase, I think I have figured out what we need to do for galloping. 

Like being able to gallop like this, uphill!! 

Leading up to our Training debut and even up until last week, I sort of felt like we havent been on the same page in stadium jumping. Stadium is so technical, its really hard when you are out of sync to not have some biffs and shittastic moments. 

One stride lines, set reallly tightly can feel a bit shittastic

I have also come to realize rails are not as easy to keep up now the jumps are bigger. When I suck, Tillie cant do her job. 

I came to the realization I havent had a good old fashioned P lesson in ages and just riding around doing coursework was what we were missing. Sure the technical exercises are helpful, but sometimes just going around, no pressure over a series of jumps helps knock out the cobwebs. 

My lesson with P couldnt have come at a better time since Tillie had a fairly significant setback at a lesson earlier last week and was back to galloping at jumps flat and totally not paying attention...exactly what I do not need in working on allowing her to be more independent. It really makes me want to micromanage even more. 

Getting there...

I honestly resolved to hanging out the rest of the season and just lessoning. Going back to basics and taking off the pressure thinking maybe Tillie was just burnt out. 

Well my girl showed up and we rocked it:

Patti even had some of them set to 3'9....like whoa. They didnt feel that big at all, and Tillie soared over them quietly without getting too heavy and generally showed up feeling like a trained horse. 

Absolutely no effort on Tillie's part on this one

Between my extra dressage lessons and this one, It was just the lesson week we needed to catapult us back into that comfort zone I love, even though its doing the higher or harder stuff. I am still planning to keep the rest of the season light and just explore. We dont have anything planned as far as events until October, but we wont be slowing down on lessons anytime soon! 

Getting our jump on

I have come to realize in the weeks since our fall that while I initially wasnt all that shaken about it, it definitely had a way of creeping in. All my hard work of not riding so backwards to fences seemed to have reverted and I found myself getting really frustrated for always wanting to do the add before jumps...which isnt always the right answer.

Jump chute day with the campers...Tillie clearly prefers going long

I hate being that student you have to be a broken record towards. So I have promised myself I need to be sure I find the time to make it to more P lessons to get in the coursework since that seemed to really help us earlier this year. Dom lessons are wonderful for thinking about the set up, getting the correct form and jump and definitely is helping, but I need to add the P coursework back in to really practice what we work on in Dom lessons. With the shows on weekends, its been tough getting those in, but I have a bit of a break now before the next one.

Mare's got hops!

With that said, Dom came Friday to help us prepare for Waredaca and promote Tillie getting the nice jump that will get her landing softer and not so downhill and ready to take off. He started us with a simple low wide oxer to work on finding the right canter, distance and stride and slowly built it up to Training level.

Notice the "V" poles which helps Tillie jump more uphill with the front end. Dom raves about her tidy hind end so its about getting her better with the front half of her body now.

That portion went pretty well...then we added the grid/triple to let that do the work for me and allow us both to focus on ourselves and get out of the habits we tend to pin each other into:

Tillie wasnt really wanting to give me the left lead but Dom said not to worry that we have been working on it, it would come when the straightness got there.

Then we tried to put it all together

Needless to say there were ups and downs, but I am pretty proud of this horse...she has come so incredibly far this year!

old habits die hard

Happy belated 4th of July everyone! I hope it was a safe and enjoyable holiday for all of you...As you saw, we competed on Saturday which I blogged about. Sunday Tillie had a much deserved day off but we hosted a jumper show which ran me totally ragged. I painted and built jumps, moved and set courses and it totally paid off!! We had a great turn out and all was good, I felt productive and good...that is until Monday rolled around.

Caution jump!

Patriotic Theme jump

Part of the whole course

Lattice jump

Closer view

New Skinny!!! I am soo excited to try this :)

I was ok at first. I was well enough to even do a lesson with P at the old stomping grounds...but boy I was exhausted, nauseous and just down for the count afterwards. Luckily some rest and fluids did the trick, but I am aware of now of needing to take note and pace myself.

Anyway, this post is meant to recap the lesson and me trying to break those pesky old habits. I am really trying hard to release more in the air, keep my butt up and out of the saddle and my heels down on landing. I also need to figure out that fine timing of setting her up for a fence but watch I do it without holding her.

My face is priceless...took a bit of a flier to this one

She knows her job well and she is starting to let me know when I start trying to micromanage. Warming up she felt tense and just tight. P said she clearly was in heat and it made sense because she was super spooky the last few days...she only gets like that when shes in heat so I should have suspected. She didnt want me touching her not with my reins or legs but otherwise was happy to do her job...guess she also is channeling her inner hunter ;)

Me getting left behind on this one!

 As much as I dont like riding her like that, its good for me because its forcing me to leave her alone. I need to work on not doing soooo much and it was kind of nice the longer we went, the more I could just stay out of her way. Its a bit different than when I lesson with Dom or Dan jumping, but I like this side of it too...It kind of is a nice test to see what Tillie is retaining on her own.

As you can see we kinda struggled with this blue jump and getting the right distance. Then P changed it so the white was the front rail and stripes on the back and VOILA - perfect distances to it every time. So odd?!

I worked on trying to stay out of the tack and be softer, but my shoulders kind of crept forward before fences, but I cant say I hate it entirely.

P gave us a few things for homework to help, but all in all was happy with what she saw and said she did see more power from behind rather than Tillie pushing from her shoulder. As much as I worry she felt off from being in heat or sore or whatever, re-watching the videos and she looks pleased to do her job. Her ears are up, shes tracking up and looks pretty relaxed.

So I am trying not to worry and just let her tell me when she needs rest.