When you have that ride you really needed to have

As you all know, Tillie and I are competing a ton this year and doing alllll the events. After the last 2 years of being sidelined, I made it my goal this year to do all the things (obviously gauging Tillie and how she is doing). With all the events we have been doing, I have entered in a new world of learning...

The difference in test riding versus schooling and also the effect shows have on your horse.

Got our ribbon from Plantation HT!! 

Test riding you basically have to get it done and right in that moment. There is no oh wait, lets circle and get a better trot before I ask for canter...there is only ok well this is the trot I have and we have to canter now. It also means sometimes helping your horse out when you normally wouldnt at home in a training ride to quite literally squeak by on a movement.

How not to squeak in a movement

I had a dressage lesson with C yesterday...thank god!! and was telling her how I feel like our flat work has regressed lately and I am a bit frustrated by it. Our canter work is improving, but it seems like our walk and trot work has slipped back to some of her antics and generally just not feeling as consistent there.

C laughed and said not to worry!! What I was feeling is basically a result from all the showing and that "get it done" riding that happens there can sometimes mean training may take a few hits. Basically we are trying to teach our horse to do more self carriage and schooling at home doing all different levels, even harder, but we get in the dressage ring and we may have to help our horse out more or do some things we otherwise wouldnt do at home.

Makes sense...and my next questions was, well should I back off the shows then?

Going all the places

C said no...based on what she was seeing in our lesson it was nothing to stress or worry about. She actually felt the more we show, the more it will help us A) work through show day stresses and B) Get better at improvising in test riding for more correct and accurate riding - basically start trying to ride more correctly at shows and stop helping the damn horse.

Which she laughed and said Tillie is telling you she doesnt need it! I am still riding her like a green horse when she no longer is.

Yea mom, I got this!

So we started out warming up just showing her some of the inconsistencies I was feeling...surprise surprise (NOT) they are due to me over riding her and riding her like a baby when she doesnt need all that. Leg asks for the bend, my hands need to be suppling and that is IT - no more using my reins as much for bend. I need to keep my hands lower and closer together. No more high/wide hands which also makes her look way more downhill.

C then said she wants us to try to break through the cycle of me helping her soooo much and we did that by doing transitions within the gaits in the walk and trot. C was super excited with how large her trot extensions got and said they were definitely the best shes seen in her shoulder to date!

Not current, but yay lengthenings! 

We also did the same in canter, really focusing on my seat and finding a happy medium (I either lean too far back or perch and sit too forward on my pelvis). C had me think about my knees coming on and off and using my seat more over my hands to control the tempo.

We also established a stronger outside rein half halt to help back Tillie off when she starts to bogg down and get too low/heavy but then following her when she does soften. KEY: Bend the elbows!

What happens when im too straight in my arms...stiff!!!

C then said she wanted us practicing more sitting trot and that would be the key to helping Tillie get more up hill since it would force me to work on my seat and opening my hip angle properly. So that we did and her canter transitions from sitting trot were on point (when I go with her that is and not get left behind!).

Again in canter, she wants me to think still in my hands and keep them low and together with BENT elbows.

By the end of the lesson it was soooo much better...and exactly the ride I needed to feel like our dressage is getting back on track.

Rainy day dressage day

This post is a bit out of order, but I was way too excited to share about yesterdays lesson...so we dressaged on Saturday. The weather here on the east coast has been, you guessed it, non stop raining. It sucks, but I am trying to make the best of and keep on keeping on with our training.

Wet unhappy Tillie

Tillie has started her Doxy treatment and luckily hasnt been worse for ware since starting. She still feels really good and supple and happy to work.

schooling saturday and she was happy to work

We did a jump school Friday practicing what we learned in our lesson with Dom that previous Wednesday. It went and felt so much smoother which is nice because it tells me she is learning...the only mistakes were piloting error so I am trying realllllly hard to give her the best ride possible. I guess it will come with time...

Saturday was so yucky we decided to haul to the indoor where we take dressage lessons to school. I dont mind riding in the rain, but once in a while its nice to have access to such nice state-of-the art footing to ride on to eliminate the blips in the footing in our ring.

Starting to get better about those lengthenings! 

Tillie was all business when we arrived and ready to work. I started off trying to get her to stretch a bit with this being one of our goals. I know this will help keeping her loose and swinging in her back which will help her while being treated for lymes and its also a movement we will be tested on in training level tests so we need to get more confirmed at it now.

Pats for a good girl trying so hard

Tillie did a really nice job staying connected in the contact while stretching down...in the past shes poked her nose out and lost that nice full feeling in my reins.

Some video of stretching and starting canter work:

After this we did some canter work and while the transitions still leave something to be desired, the canter itself felt way more comfortable for me to ride and much more soft through her body.

Here is some video of our canter and lengthening work:

She did break once into canter, but C has told me in the past this isnt a bad thing and to not reprimand her...forward is good and its the correct answer, but usually shell break if I am not 100% even in both stirrups or half halting enough evenly. 

Starting to get more uphill!

I am very eager to try the Custom Saddlery VLX this week and finally get a dressage saddle again! But shockingly my jump saddle seems to have worked well for us in the meantime.

Jumping bean by day, dressage diva by night

As I said in a recent blog post, I am making an effort to be sure I get over to lesson with C more often because the difference is evident and carries over into our jumping. The more we dressage with her, the more soft and relaxed Tillie becomes. 

I was excited this time because I asked C to try her Custom Saddlery VLX again to see if it would feel just as awesome as it did a few months ago...and it didnt disappoint. 

Tillie really goes phenomenal in it. Her back swings more in all three gaits and our lengthenings were by far the best they have ever been - who knew a dressage diva lived in there! C agreed this was the most consistent in the contact and confirmed shes ever seen Tillie - yay!! 

The saddle also fits ME well, which has seemed to be a bit of a struggle. Tillie has large but flat shoulders and a very short rib cage and I have a short leg and large booty. Lol BUT I think at this point its going to finding an affordable exact match that will be the challenge. 

Here is the compilation:

I loved that right away when I got on Tillie was ready to work. She wasnt a looky at things even at the far side of the ring and when I picked her up there was much less rooting and fuss in the walk.

C had us right away ask to push the trot and get Tillie out of her comfort zone and then warm up with some gradual leg yields. Next, she had us do a bit of a serpentine/changing bend exercise that did wonders to unlock Tillie's neck and really get her supple. As the clinician said this winter, he neck is the key to getting her soft. And boy did it work! Even changing the bend from right to left was soooo smooth when usually she is a bit harder that way.

Our lengthenings are still slow to develop and she isnt quite letting all her balance go yet, but the feeling I got in this lesson was by the most "toeing the line" we have ever gotten and you can hear me in the video the last two times laughing and say "OH MY GOODNESS". Tillie LOVED doing them and it was quite fun to feel her really fill up the contact and dig in for them.

We sprinkled canter in around those...I am glad I have footage of our canter work since now we are digging more into canter. It didnt feel nearly as good as it looks and I was laughing at the end at how messy it felt. C reassured me that it wasnt, its just new so things feel a bit all over the place, but will settle the more we work on it.

So here, C had us trying to smooth out the canter transition and work on my not freezing and keeping the inside bend. What was so glorious about this, that if I rode it well, the resulting canter was really nice. C commented how nice her downward transitions have gotten and our goal is to get our upwards equally as nice. Yay!!

So all in all it was a great learning lesson. Most of them are with C lol, but I am super excited with how things are progressing!

Waiting is really hard

I have a lot of fun exciting things to look forward to this weekend...and a lot going on between now and then. All good things and as much as being busy can be a bit of a whirlwind, I tend to thrive.

We have been lucky to have quite warm weather move in so its been easy to stay motivated to ride.

Much to Tillie's dismay

I hopped on last night after showing my old trailer to a few interested people and I am reallllly hopeful it sells so I can go get my new trailer for the weekend. I kept the ride pretty light and just pushing some buttons to be sure we were agreeable and on the same page.

She started off a bit distracted since there was a lot going on...amazing when its warm how lessons pick up, leasers are around etc. So when I initially started connecting her at the walk she was a bit fussy.

floppy ears!

But I focused on using my legs and getting her forward in the walk to concentrate. Once I had a reasonable walk and she could bend and counterbend off my leg I ask for a trot. I did some gradual leg yields to help get her testing her balance and was really impressed with how well she settled into them. She stayed much straighter BOTH ways too!!

I will not look at you

I did some ground poles and felt her fill up the contact even more and it felt really nice. She even offered stretch and stated on the contact while doing it for an entire circle!!! I let her catch her breath before cantering and she did beautiful transitions into both leads and I really forced myself to not stay on a 20m circle and stay large around the ring. It paid off!! While she got a big a few times, it was never unbalanced or out of control. She came right back and down to a nice trot after a few rebalancing steps.

After another walk break, I picked her back up and we worked on lengthening around the whole ring and Tillie really seemed to enjoy it. She did break into the canter (albeit a lovely one!) but I dont hate that...she was really trying and I just need to figure out the balance of toeing the line without breaking. I know it will come.

showing off her newly trimmed mane

From here I decided to pop over a few little jumps just to test if we could keep it chill...and Tillie actually offered to jump the cross rails and come back to trot without me even asking...it felt more or less like I thought it and it happened :) So we upped the height a bit and jumped around at about 2'9 and Tillie just felt flawless. 

We jump jumps!!!

 She really cracked her back over a few and really enjoyed herself. After the last fence she dug down and was a bit heavy, but she came back after a short "victory" lap that wasnt out of control, warp speed or containing any airs above the ground.

All in all it was a great brief ride. I could really get used to these! Now we need to practice for the dressage show this weekend!!!!