Dressage Day by Day

This past year was a great year for me and Gadget. Although we had our ups and downs, I've learned a lot this year. We made our third level debut, earned our bronze medal in only two shows, improved the flying changes dramatically, and earned Champion for Adult Amateurs at third level in my GMO.  For 2014, I have several goals: Keep Gadget's back feeling good. I think I have found a good combo of chiro, shoeing, saddle fit, and vet maintenance to prevent him from getting sore rather than waiting until he's in pain. Hopefully it works this year. Continue improving Third Leve l. Last year was a great intro to third level, but I am finally learning to ride Gadget more uphill, which is improving everything. This year I want to try 3-2 and 3-3. The canter-halfpass is still tough for us, but it's looking better. I am going to work to fix things that are easy points -- halts, turn on the haunches, transitions, and good centerlines. I am going to focus on the quality o

I started this blog thinking that if I could chronicle my rides, I could go back and read what works and what doesn't. What I am learning is that what works one month or week, may not be the same approach the next day. And maybe that is a more important lesson for me. Gadget is becoming more and more fun to ride as we figure out some of this collection in the canter. I really can't believe how much we have progressed over the summer. The thought of competing at fourth level with him NEVER occurred to me previously. I really thought that third level was a lofty goal. So the fact that I am now thinking about fourth level with Gadget is exciting. I am trying to do a longer warmup with lots of long and low and very forward work a la the 2012 Bent clinic. I bend him around my inside leg, push him a little sideways, and give him even more rein on the inside so he stretches. The key to the stretching warm up is to get him moving forward so he actually loosens his back. I have a

Gadget had his first chiropractic appointment on the Thursday before the clinic while I was out of town for work. The chiropractor is a vet and his findings were very accurate to what I and every trainer has identified as points of tension. The one extra finding was the tension in Gadget's face from an old fracture. The chiropractor said he believes that Gadget probably gets headaches. This absolutely broke my heart. He recommended massage for that area of his head, which I now do religiously every day. My poor baby. Anyway, I rode the next day and had the most amazing ride. He felt soft and so steady in the contact. It was unreal. I can only think that the chiropractor must have made a great difference in how he felt. On Saturday, I loaded up and headed to the Ryan Yap clinic without my sidekick, Hani. Of course when I don't have the best videographer in the world, I have the best rides in the world. I may be exaggerating slightly, but I definitely had a soft and happy ho

We did it! With out first ride at NODA, Gadget and I earned our last score needed for the USDF bronze medal.  Hani and I were thrilled and we toasted with our mimosas to a once far away goal accomplished. Although Hani is not a horse person, he has been my person during my entire ownership of Gadget. He has seen the many ups and downs, and he truly knew that this was once a very unlikely accomplishment. The rest of my rides were anticlimactic to the big achievement. Gadget is becoming such a steady eddy, and we are figuring out third level. One thing is for certain after this show -- no more second level. It's time to put that miserable level to bed. Here's a video of the ride that got us the last score:  

I've been in a bit of a slump since the last show. I had a great clinic with Ryan, but I didn't feel like I was riding my best or getting the best work out of Gadget. Ryan remarked that the flying changes are looking better, which was good to hear. I sometimes forget that it wasn't very long ago that Gadget would crow hop, get very crooked, or generally bounce around to change. Now, he gives me fairly quiet changes when I ask. They are sometimes a few strides later than I would like, and the left change is sometimes late behind. However, they are overall getting much better. This week I looked back at my videos from May and realized that I need to be riding Gadget more up and asking him to carry himself. With that in mind, I started my ride on Friday with a really long warm-up focusing on keeping him up and getting him forward and reactive to the leg. I also focused on not holding the left rein and generally asking with soft, squeeze and release half halts. This made suc

Gadget and I made our official debut at third level at a recognized show on June 7-9 at the Grand Haven show. The weather was cold and rainy when we arrived on Thursday and stayed that way until Sunday. Despite the nasty weather, Gadget warmed up beautifully on Thursday evening in the indoor arena. All of my changes were clean, there were no changes in the counter canter, and Kristin gave us great advice to improve the shoulder-in and halfpass. I need to start schooling these with way more bend, then I can regulate it in the test. On the first day of the show, I didn't get him through for my first test of second level test three. It didn't feel fluid or like we were on the same page. This is normal for our first test at every show. I have no idea how to fix it. We scored a 59.7 and placed 5th. About an hour later, I was set to ride third level test one. I was the very last ride of the day. Gadget felt tired in the warm-up, but I got his neck and back softer. The rings were q

So Gadget is back home from bootcamp with Kristin. I'm not sure if it was bootcamp for Gadget or me as it has become clear that most of the problems are actually mine! Kristin has been working him in the double bridle, and he feels great. He really likes a lot of support in the snaffle. I have to remember to keep him active then carry him up into an even contact in the snaffle. During my lessons with Kristin, my right canter halfpass has disappeared. It was there the week before the schooling show, but now it's gone! Kristin has me think of haunches in, then move the shoulders. I have always ridden it by pointing the shoulders then bringing the haunches. Regardless, I couldn't do it any way, shape, or form in the last three lessons. Thank God I am not riding a test that requires canter halfpass at Grand Haven! The quality of the trot and canter connection and self-carriage have improved dramatically. Now I need to practice riding my tests with this new feeling. I am ri

Last weekend my saintly husband, horse, and pup loaded into the truck and trailer and we headed to the Cleveland area for a schooling show. Kristin Stein, trainer extraordinaire, was coaching other students at the show, so it was perfect. I would have coaching to get me through my first attempt at third level. We drove through 3 hours of rain and when we unloaded, the temperature had noticably dropped. It was about 45 degrees with intermittent drizzling rain. Horse shows always have miserable weather! This felt like the realy deal. Gadget warmed up nicely. Kristin was there to help me activate and "fluff" the canter. She had me give him little "love taps" with the whip to remind him to jump in the canter. We got a beautiful left flying change in the warm up as a result of her help with the canter. Trot work felt sticky in the warm-up. The test went well. His trot work felt really good. Even Kristin said his trot work in the test was much better than the warm

Here is a practice test of third level test 1 that I rode on April 27, 2013.  I then submitted the test for an online evaluation by Judge Natalie Lamping at horseshow.com. I was pleasantly surprised to get a 63.2% (which may be a bit generous in the spirit of a schooling show) from Judge Lamping. This test was before my "breakthrough" of collecting the canter the next weekend. She correctly notes that the canter still needs a good bit of work. However, our turn on haunches have improved dramatically from that year, which is great since they are a coefficient score! My right flying change received a 7, and if I can line up the left one to be clean, it is an even better change. See my scores and comments from Natalie Lamping below: Apr 27th, 2013 April Dressage Festival 2011 USEF Level 3 Dressage - Test 1 Judged by  Natalie Lamping Featuring  Lindsey S Score: 241/380 (63.29%) 2nd place Overall Rows Test Rows # Tests Score Coef Err Comments 1 A Ent