loch moy stadium & XC break down

I am very happy to say that this phase was the best out of all three! Don't get me wrong, we have some cleaning up to do...but considering where we were last year with stadium and XC I have a happy, adjustable horse. The cleaning up stuff is piloting error that I need to work on.

A still from the most beautiful part of our course

Warming up she was over jumping like a machine but was totally quiet and giving my both leads. The left lead still is always harder, but I realize its my lack of getting her straight and my own crooked issues causing this difficulty. I didnt jump her too much because she was being soooo good.

We marched right on down went in to do our round:

Fence #2 was my error...I buried her a bit to it, but she recovered well and we made up for it over the outside line. Tillie was forward but not bracing and came right back off my seat. 

Fence #7 after that line rode nicely, but I couldnt get the left lead...no biggie the bending line wasnt too difficult to warrant fretting...she landed cross cantering (that darn left lead) but stayed in a nice rhythm and finished with the outside line in a nice even stride. 

All in all it was sooo nice and smooth I cant complain about the lead stuff...that will come. Weve only just started working on those so I am hopeful it will come together. 

Cross Country

We suited up and headed over to XC. Tillie was cool as a cucumber and I chose to pop over a big coop to let her know what was coming. She didnt it wonderfully and we walked up to the start box.

Out of the gate, She was a bit slow (say what?!) I think she thought we were off for a leisurely stroll...lol. The first jump was friendly enough but we had a down hill approach to fence #2 which I failed to wake her up enough at. Luckily the mare saved my booty big time and I did that silly get ahead with my shoulders thing. But she handled it and we got some better steam after this one.

Haha whoops!

She started to build quite well and we got some momentum by the time we got to jump 4 and 5. 

Jump 6 was a maxed out novice fence which apparently gave a few others in my division an issue...it was angled oddly in a treeline and there was a chance for the horse to lock on to a training level fence a few strides beyond it. 

I knew I would need to encourage a bit here because of the shading issues but Tillie did it just fine!

Then onto the trickier part of the course which was a bit like a combination. We had a relatively friendly jump with a bending line to a bank up option which we could opt to do the larger one, or the BN smaller one with a log that required to go around longer. 

I opted to do the harder of the two...and it was a bit narrow to get up on the bank, but with a small tap on the shoulder she took it in stride and cantered off to do our brush jump.

I let her back off to trot for water since the approach to it was slightly hard to see if you canter it until the last second...but she came in nicely forward and was able to pick up a canter to the jump right after, which also required a hard left to a pheasant feeder. We had a bit of a gallop to the next jump which landed downhill. I dont like downhill..but it rode well and we had more galloping towards the trakehner:

You can see my shorten up at first since she started getting a bit stronger and heavier here so I had to remind her to think up with her shoulders and not get too low. She cantered up to the trakehner confidently and did sorta look at it the last stride not realizing it had a ditch under it. But a little leg and she kept going just fine.

We had three jumps to home all three which we took a bit more forward.

Once again any issues were piloting issues and minor things we will work out schooling. I am hopeful this means a positive outing at Plantation on the 11th of June!

Sitting trot = human blender

Lately our state has decided it wants to be Alaska because Saturday and Sunday (Valentine's Day) the temperatures dropped to below 20...Sunday, my truck said it was 12 degrees as I loaded up to go for a dressage lesson. Because what else can you do when all your lesson cancelled / the show is cancelled and cant ride on the rock hard footing?

I was also really excited to haul with my new truck for the first time.

Oh so excited!

Backing up to hitch up was easy peasy with the back up camera and now I am officially spoiled (I am sorry...I dont mean to brag!!! I have been driving beater cars my whole adult life - this is my first all out new with all the gadgets!!!)

I was really bummed the dressage show got cancelled...but decided to sneak in one with C to feel a littler better...

I chose to get there early again to give us some time to walk around to warm up since it worked so well the day before. Tillie was a bit more up here...the indoor is MUCH larger and the light was so strong coming in the windows from the snow reflecting it would blind Tillie and then cause her to be a bit jumpy. She finally figured out how to close her eyes going through those patches and settled in ok.

She kept being really rude about any contact with the bit and would root or dive her head down...even in really small short bursts. I worked on addressing that so by the time C said she was ready it wasnt as much of an issue.

Here is our warm up trot:

She started off really stuck and pulled a few whip nae naes when I started asking for bend with some leg. C had us do things realllllly gradually and try to get her warmed up with both inside bending and counter bending before asking for more trot...rather let her offer the bigger trot when she felt warm enough. 

She lost a left hind shoe at the end of the week so I was a bit worried if she was being inconsistent from being sore on that....

Here is our warm up trot tracking left:

She still felt way too light and not confirmed in the contact so C had me start having more of an outside rein conversation and think almost mini leg yield into it so we would spiral out gradually to a large circle, then smaller into a smaller circle and back out.

Then C wanted to use some changing rein exercises to help soften her more and partially through this is when I had a nicer contact and could start manipulating how high or low I wanted her rather then her dictating that herself:

Youll notice pretty early in this video, C instructs me to gently add leg as I set to push her away and encourage lifting her back. Keyword being gently to which Tillie thought my gentle was not gentle enough.

After a few turns, we started having more conversation about softening. 

See we can soften despite the cold

We did some leg yielding each way and leg yielding from right to left was really nice and easy. Seeing it in the mirror was really cool and exciting. The left to right she was having a harder time staying straight, but C had us take a walk break and promised we'd get back to it later in the lesson...she had other plans for us - AKA sitting trot AKA the human blender.

A still of stilling trot...not as bad as it felt

 First sitting it was just all over the place. I really did feel like I was in a blender and might bounce right out of the tack. The key is to still have a good working trot from Tillie, but sit it without asking for her to slow down too much. Her trot got really elastic here and watching this footage makes me really excited.

So C wanted me to ask for canter from the sitting trot...and my muscle memory was really making it hard for me. You can hear her scold me a few times because when I started thinking about other things I accidentally post...hehe "weenie" moves she said.

I cherish these photos of my smiling while riding...this used to be so rare, and now I have found the happy place again!

Unfortunately my phone died before we really got to improving :( but it was really cool how sitting the trot and canter sort of help one another improve. This first right lead canter was the first canter of the lesson and it already felt way more solid and balanced then usual with using sitting trot. 

After this round, we changed direction and I was able to start relaxing a bit more. C noted my sitting trot was MUCH better this direction and I wasnt gripping as much...my knees were open and leg was much longer. Left lead canter was just as nice which was a huge shock considering how unbalanced and weak it has been. 

So we walked after this a bit to mostly let me catch my breath and stretch out my hip flexors which were on fire. Who knew sitting trot was soooo much work?! 

Miss fancy pants

When we picked up sitting trot again, I immediately felt better about it was was able to rock back and engage my core without tensing my upper body or gripping as much with my legs. It took a reminder to breath here and there, but it felt better even with Tillie working in the forward trot she needed to be in. 

From here we did more leg yielding this time coming down the center line, leg yielding staying straighter and asking for canter through the turn. It produced a really nice canter! Tillie did this very well leg yielding right to left into right lead canter. 

We had to practice a few more leg yields left to right, but sitting trot allowed my to close my thigh more to keep her straighter. I notice I tend to tighten my left side this way which is part of the issue in her over bending and leading with the shoulder...I simply am not riding the right side enough and letting go enough with the left side. 

All in all Tillie tried really hard and C was impressed with her work ethic and by the fact she stayed as calm as she did despite the cold and a loose horse. 

The remote start for the truck was really nice to have warm and ready by the time we were done...and I topped off the Valentine's day with lunch with the barn girls and then dinner with the hubby. 

Valentine's day dinner.

Hope you guys had a great Valentines Day!!!

Harmonious Rides

As you have read, this ridiculous snow has forced us to either haul out to ride or not ride at all...which with work being as rough as it has been, having the time to haul out hasnt been there. BUT rather then teach Sunday like normal, I couldnt with our rings being frozen so I had another free day...so of course I make a point to haul to an indoor to ride.

so pretty

Tillie was an absolute star...I did some warm up in the walk just letting her free walk on a loose rein for a few minutes. I am still really aware of this head wag thing so my goal for todays ride was to see if she did it and if it was P's theory of not being through enough....so my goal was ride her forward thinking and see what I get.

Before I continue, the notion of getting a horse through or on the bit or in a frame...all those key phrases you hear...is always taught right the back end not the head. So yes, I should be riding more forward thinking always, but if you have been following my posts you know how hot my horse gets. The tricky thing about hot horses...when they get forward but are behind your leg so not really accepting the contact. THIS is what I mean by getting Tillie forward thinking...more accepting of my leg without being rushing forward but maintaining a rhythm and willing to seek the contact.

Bright eyed and ready to work

Today, I took dressage trainer C's advice and put her together in the walk before trotting. She was wonderful and remembered how to turn off my seat and bend with the use of my inside leg while keeping a nice marching walk. So without expecting anything other then a willing transition into trot I tried use the quick leg aid like the windshield wiper and she did a nice little spring into a trot. She settled into a nice rhythm and I only wanted rhythm and tempo to maintain at this point...after a few laps in each direction she naturally started seeking the contact on her own. AND NO HEAD WAGGING! 

I noticed tracking left she will tend to get forward more since she gets off balance more easily...while going right shell back off and I shockingly found myself using my driving aids to promote a bigger step. I am starting to think the head wag comes from my tension when she feels unbalanced...

I let her have a walk break keeping in mind we havent been in consistent work before picking her up again and boy was she in work mode. Normally shell start pulling and diving, testing the contact at the walk after I let her stretch...but she was quiet and our trot transition was spot on and connected. 

So we did our homework from a few weeks ago of lengthening and shortening the stride...lengthening on a smaller circle to prevent building or excitement and then shortening on a larger circle. She did it shockingly really well so I went ahead and tested them across our diagonals. 

They may not have been text book correct or pretty, but boy was riding that line fun. You could feel Tillie playing and testing her balance and get close to teetering into canter and re-balance with a small lift of my reins. 

She say oh yea thats fun!

Whats harder for her on these is coming back and restraining herself...which she surprised me again and was willing to come right back to a working trot. 

So after some laughs with my barnmate that hauled with us (she also tried these but on her green and very uncoordinated baby) We moved into leg yielding into canter transitions which my hopes would help a two things: 1) get our leg yields straighter through the body and not lead with the shoulder...and be soft / relaxing into it 2) improve the canter transition which would improve the balance of our canter. 

That sounds hard

It is a great exercise C has had us do a few months ago...and with Tillies left lead being much weaker and being unbalanced decided it would be a good thing to do. 

Tillie did the leg yields only first like a champ and was pretty darn willing to move her butt over when I asked her to keep it in line. So I went ahead and started on the harder lead first and the first canter transition into the left lead was slightly muddled but definitely not as bad as it was before the snow storm. So a few laps in left lead canter I was going to inside leg on and off to get her inside hind "jumping" and could hear C in my head saying "pop! pop!!" and got a pretty nice canter that didnt feel like our dressage lesson where it was on the verge of diving into the ground.

By the 3rd transition, it was spot on. Right lead canter was nice and I worked on getting more canter without getting flat. Its hard for me to think about adding more leg to get uphill when it feels fast, BUT this ride was nice because she felt in a good rhythm that I could push for more. 

After that we called it a day and ended with being a good quiet adult horse and gave a lead over a x-rail to the green bean and Tillie was such a good girl for that too! A few mere months ago that would have sent her exploding!

Now just to get in more riding time!

Biding Time until winter is over....so we dressage

So far we have been pretty lucky with winter...its been fairly warm and mild until the biggest snow fall in the history of our state's snow fall happened (and I am not exaggerating...it really was the largest recorded snow fall in the history of my state).

Sooo much snow...and this is from a few weeks later!!!

The snow fall was enough to put me over the edge...because it means not being able to ride unless I haul out and my job has been limiting that happening since no one wants a stranger in their barn later then 8pm. So anyway, I havent been riding nearly as much as Id like to and its sad. Very sad.

BUT once in a while I can haul somewhere and shockingly Tillie has been pretty behaved and, better yet, ready to work with a nice work ethic.

Is it me or does she look eeevvvvilll here?

Without boring you all too much longer on the intro, I scheduled a dressage lesson with C and finally got the opportunity to try hauling with my trailer with the partition open to see if Tillie's scrambling around turns would be better, worse or the same. 

Luckily all of our self loading practice came into to great use here since with keeping the divider open means no butt bar. I did minimally put up a lead rope but if Tillie realllly wanted to run backwards out of the trailer she could break it easily...but shes really good about waiting for me to ask her to back out.

Night hauling makes taking pictures harder :(

Tillie didnt scramble AT ALL...and majority of the time did keep herself fairly straight, but around turns you could see her swing her butt and angle herself. So I think I need to get myself a wider trailer and haul like this in the meantime...

Lesson Time: (sadly had no one their to take pics or videos)
I get on and just start going through the normal motions of loose rein walk around the whole indoor both directions a few times while waiting for C to finish another lesson. Tillie was quiet, had a bit of a speed walk going on, but not terribly looky like she can be. 

I start picking her up in the walk a bit to test her mood and see how much resistance Id be dealing with once C was ready...and Tillie was quite pleasant and even with a longer rein moved right into contact without missing a beat. Typically even after warming up walk trot canter, going from a loose rein to contact isnt as smooth as this! 

Once C started with our lesson we moved into a trot fairly quickly and her first transition was quite nice and she stayed connected without going inverted. Another Win! We treadmilled it at the trot a bit just to let her warm up...and C thought she looked off right front so we did a few changes of posting diagonals and changing direction see if it was worse on turns or a certain direction....but luckily it went away and Tillie seemed not bothered at all so we pressed on. 

C right away when I trotted again said "no bigger trot then this" which was interesting because I felt like we werent covering enough ground....I attribute this to me getting more comfortable riding her trot now and not always trying or needing to slow things down. 

Can winter and the early darkness be over yet?!

Tillie was pretty consistent in the trot and we worked on getting more inside bend both directions...for this ride, her right bend was much harder. My inside rein would end up touching her neck which C pointed out there should be a clear gap and the inside hand should be open and away...so more inside leg to push her away. But do not lose the outside elbow (I tend to straighten it out too much). 

Leg yielding 

Moving on from that we went into riding down the quarter line and leg yielding, but this time rather then using the entire length of the long side of the arena, C wanted us doing them pretty quickly without leading with the shoulder and focusing on a straightness. Tracking left she nailed every one, tracking right we had a few at first where she really didnt want her booty to stay in line, but a tad more inside leg and outside rein fixed it pretty easily. 

Tillie eating ALL the hay

Tear drop exercise
Then C had us ride tear drop formations (trot and at E make a 10M circle and trot a straight diagonal line between H and F and ask to change the bend). Once I got the hang of the actual figure Tillie rode through this exercise REALLY nicely. C remarked she was impressed!

We took a bit of a walk break and chatted about the upcoming dressage show and discussed strategies...when I started to pick Tillie back up again I reminded myself shorter reins and really felt I found that sweet spot (you know when your seat feels solid, your rein length feels right and the stars align?). Tillie on the other hand didnt appreciate the shorter reins and despite another lovely trot transition and half circle started "whip nae nae-ing" with her head when I applied inside leg (tracking left).

She did it a few times when trying to re-establish bend and I wasnt letting the reins out...C recommended I verbally reprimand her for this....that a physical squeeze or crop for her would be too much but I need to at least tell her NO.

I will admit, I felt like the contact in my reins was heavier then I like (I tend to waiver it seems or say this after not riding for a period of time). I never dislike when this happens...just seem to notice it and feel like its not "soft" enough contact which is false. She is soft...just not behind the contact like she used to be more often a few months ago. I think I just need to re-calibrate my feel...

UMMM...wheres my food?

So we treadmilled a bit at the trot again to let her get those out and C said ok, canter NOW! OK it wasnt quite that abrupt, lol, but it felt sort of sudden...as I wasnt really expecting to move into canter so quickly in the lesson. We sometimes only get to it briefly!

Test riding - being smart about placement of transitions

C did set me up for it talking about the strategy of riding in the test and prep for the transition depending on the horse I had that day. If Tillie was more up to ask earlier to use the corner or turn to back her off, if she was going well ask a bit more in the middle of the corner to present the long side of the ring to promote her opening her stride. 

Canter

So we started on left lead and it took a few steps at first, but she did a nice little jump into it I sort of didnt expect. She felt a bit unbalance on it again so I do a poor job being soft in my arms when this happens...but C talked me through it, we achieved inside bend and she felt a bit smoother once that was better. Her downward transition was a bit strung out and as we changed directions on the short diagonal Tillie was a bit fired up and ready to jumping into right lead canter which I promptly did a strong half halt which C agreed with. It sort of took away the rhythm but it was needed...and we regained a nice balanced trot tracking right within a half circle. 

I so good!

We went right into right lead canter once we passed C and it took a half the circle to get the inside bend, but once we did C even said it was a nice canter. She urged me to step more into my right leg so I dont fall to the outside (which would push tillie in and not be able to bend in). Her downward transition to trot this direction was really lovely. 

Center line - test riding

After this, C had us run through a few center line practices again really concentrating on no drifting...especially when you continue the trot on and turn at C. She said most horse and riders will drift before reaching C and to wait as long as possible to make the turn - for example if youre turning left, you start drifting right when over prepping for the turn. 

C said Tillies weight and muscling is looking good! 

Riding Novice A

Once we got the strategy for the center lines down we moved on to riding through a test. I chose to run through Novice A with C since that's the most difficult test I signed up to do for the dressage show. I am debating now on changing that after this ride and talking with Emma...but we will see how the next week goes if I change. I am currently signed up for BN A and B and Novice A. 

C called out the test as I was riding it and for the most part it rode pretty well. USEF tests tend to be harder for us since there is so much ability to build up in the trot and canter...USDF tests are nice since there is a lot more changing directions, circling, transitions etc to distract Tillie.

Her transitions out of canter to trot were a bit rocky...but C said if I plan them accurately the judge shouldnt be able to see it too much. Her right lead canter transition I planned perfectly and C said we would work on the left lead too next time, but both leads she stepped right into without needing a few steps, I just need to time the transition better and stop anticipating the build up so much.

Nicely trimmed tail :)

Her free walk we talked about her wanting to dive when she stretches...like throw her head down and pull the reins from me rudely. She has a habit of doing this when doing anything stretchy or even when letting her walk on a loose rein. C suggested I dont ever let her go around on a completely contact free rein until she breaks this habit and earns the privilege back. When she goes to root give her a boot or slap with my leg. No pulling of the reins, just a bump using leg. 

Aside from those C was really complimentary and said we definitely earned the award for most improved. :) Its really nice to hear!!! 

I seee you barn cat

Before the storm dressage lesson recap

To get us back on a timeline...right after the vet visit declaring Tillie just fine Tuesday, January 20th (see recap post here), I was clear to start riding her but succumbed to my workload from my day job...as well as our ring freezing so not having lights to ride at night after my day job. 

Tillie in her hooded blanket all ready before the storm

I decided that since I had to take off for my house that Friday the 22nd anyway, I should just squeeze in a lesson before the blizzard hit....and boy am I glad I did because I had yet to be able to ride at the farm since with the snow overtaking everything.

Pre-ride selfie

With Tillie having a lot of time off, she start out a bit fresh complete with what I like to call the Whip-nae-nae move where she swings and shakes her head threatening to be soooo bad. Luckily, that is all she did and once she was warm, had a pretty darn good work ethic.

I continue to struggle with her tracking left head wag which C implored to try to concentrate on that because head wags could grow to more serious bridle lameness which is REALLY hard to correct. UGH. Its so frustrating because I dont feel like that left arm is locked...but after asking around a bit I Tried somethings this past weekend that really seemed to work! Ill update in a later blog post ;)

Despite this, Tillie really was trotting VERY well and C even remarked how different she looks reflecting back to the first few lessons.

A few of my favorite moments from the lesson

For comparison, a clip from one of my first lessons with C in July:

I entered a local dressage show for the middle of this month, so C had us work on our center line turns and halts since those are your first and last impression for the judge. We struggled a bit at first with straightness, but we finally started to get it.

Tillie started setting in really nicely at this point, despite all her sneezing. I LOVE this still below because she looks like shes breathing out smoke/fire like the fire breathing dragon mare she thinks she is.

Huge smile from me despite Tillie's dragon side coming out

We moved on to canter work and our transitions are really getting better! Although, this lesson her left lead was awfully weak and unbalanced...the more unbalanced she gets the more defensive I get and its sets in motion this terrible chain of events of me sitting too far back, locking my knees and just overall tension.

Unfortunately my phone died so we didnt capture fixing it or right lead canter which was so lovely even C said it looked really good...and we never get that on our canter work since Tillie usually is down hill. Her canter has been our latest struggle now that the trot is coming together...but its always something right!?

All in all, it felt good to be on and it was WONDERFUL because Tillie self loaded both ways without any issue. I even had her pause and wait at the ramp before backing all the way off!