Dressage Day by Day

Last year, I set the goals below for 2014. In looking them over, I actually am quite satisfied with our success in meeting these 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.   Well, it's officially the end of December, and his back has felt good all year! I honestly think keeping a lighter, more active contact is a big part of the equation. I'm so glad to have made this change in my riding! 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 goin...

It has been so long since I have updated that it is hard to know where to begin. Before leaving for trial in October, I was really struggling with my rides. I finally had one good ride before taking Gadget to Kristin's where I was finally able to start to feel the rhythm for the 4's. After the trial, I took 3 lessons from Kristin on Gadget before bringing him home. He felt so amazing - so active, light, and round. Overall, I start him in the trot quite low and round. He needs to keep a god tempo, but not run. After trotting some circles and doing a little shoulder in, we move into a nice round canter for warm up. The key is to keep his shoulders up, but work on keeping him low and round in the contact. This requires short reins and forward hands that are active and playful. I need to constantly check not to pull back with my left rein. Also on circles, I need to readjust and lift my left side. My motto is not to get lost to the left. To the right, Gadget like to travel with ...

So I am back to plodding along in the snaffle bridle trying to figure things out again. I feel like I want to get Gadget a little softer in the bridle and just more honest in the connection. I've been warming up by really separating my aids -- legs mean go, then half-halt means balance. I am really focusing on keeping my head back "in the headrest," maintaining pointy elbows, carrying my hands, legs at the girth, and giving the squeezing half halt and the release. The basics take so much thought to do well.  This week I really could feel how important it is for me to have the squeeze in the thighs in the collected canter. After he is warmed up, I can put pressure in my thighs (like squeezing toothpaste out of the tube) and get him actually powering from behind in the smaller canter. When I ride from the thighs, he is quieter and happier in the contact. If I try to kick him up to it, be bounces all over the place in the contact. I think this is because my seat is b...

Part 3 of 3 of my husbandless and horsey-filled weekends included a dressage symposium on September 6-7. After my awesome clinic the previous weekend, I recreated the collected canter on Tuesday and probably asked for more than I should have from Gadget. On Thursday he felt stiff, and I was worried about the upcoming symposium. Day one of the symposium did not go well for me and Gadget. The format is tricky as there are lots of walk breaks while the other rider in the session attempts a movement. There isn't much time to warm up, and Gadget never quite got through enough to do anything well. We worked on my position during the ride. I rode in the double bridle, and by the middle of the ride, the trainer told me to tie my curb rein and place my stirrups over the saddle. The trainer told me that I am too loose in my hips and my thighs need to stay snug on the saddle. I also need to move less in the saddle - try to keep my seat on a postage stamp. The lesson was a blow to my confid...

This weekend I rode in my first clinic of the year with Ryan. I felt good going into this clinic since Gadget worked well last week for Kristin. I had a really nice ride on Friday morning  working on getting him back on his haunches and off of my hands in the snaffle bridle. I started in the walk, by making him carry his own head. After some dramatic head flinging, he had such a better balance. I put Gadget in his (beautiful, blingy) double bridle for the Ryan clinic, and he felt good initially but got heavier through the ride. I told Ryan my goal is to ride fourth level next year. We worked on making his trot smaller, then larger in the correct balance. To the right, I need to ride him in slight shoulder-fore without bending the neck. After all these years, this is still tricky for me. We schooled simple changes and they were horrible! I was so surprised, but Gadget just kind of shuffled into them. I was really collecting, collecting, then asking for walk. Bad. Terrible. We f...

After not having a lesson for several months, I finally made it to a clinic with Kristin at a lovely private farm of one of my friends. For my first ride, we warmed up in the double bridle by getting his neck a little lower and softer. We then did a couple shoulder-ins and I worked to keep Gadget from traveling with his hindquarters to the outside. We also really emphasized being able to get true bend through the body, not just the neck.  We moved into canter and got him a little softer through the bridle doing some big circles. We then moved into the canter halfpass. First, it's important to have an active but organized canter. Turning onto centerline, I should move his haunches to the inside a bit. Then step into left stirrup, keep the contact soft, and bring the outside shoulder forward. He moved readily over by just making sure I was not blocking him with my outside shoulder. I did the same thing to the right and it actually felt even better. Amazing!! In the changes, w...

Well, Gadget is back in the game. We have been back in full work for several weeks and he feels really good. I think the focus on my position during those first slow conditioning weeks has also paid off for me. I am really focusing on keeping my hand position - hands in front, following, thumbs up, half halt without pulling back. It feels like I basically tell Gadget with my hands to carry his own head and stay soft. As long as he does that, I have a very soft, light contact. When he tries to start poking his nose or lean on the bit, I give a little leg and a squeeze of the rein. I have also been riding exclusively in a simple KK ultra snaffle to make these adjustments. No double bridle right now, although I couldn't help but add an old but favorite picture of Gadget in his double bridle below. I plan to move him back into the double next week before my upcoming clinics. Gadget in 2013  The trot really is becoming nice if I remember to hug with my legs to get power from behi...

As this is mostly a training blog, there's not much to report as there is no real training going on. I started walking Gadget under saddle last week and I am working trot into each ride this week. I will say that I am really trying to focus on keeping my back and hips loose and moving during our rides. I find that when I start working on lateral work (such as the shoulder-in at the walk), I tend to stop moving my hips. I need to find a way to keep my seat following in all movements. I am also trying to retrain my hand position. I am not good about keeping my thumbs on top, and I also tend to keep too much contact on the left rein. I am making a conscious effort to ride thumbs up, elbows down, and hands even. I am also really trying to stay soft in the contact and make Gadget walk or trot up to it. So while Gadget is getting better and building fitness slowly, I am going to try to focus on my position. Maybe we will both be improved by the end of this ordeal

In other news, the great Gadget has pneumonia. After several days off, I rode him on a Saturday night and had a crappy ride. The next day, Sunday, during the warm-up, he began coughing and actually coughed up yellow phlegm. On Monday, I took him to the vet clinic and he was coughing as soon as he stepped off of the trailer. Otherwise, he was perky and acting fine. They listened to his lungs, took blood, performed a trach wash, sent away a sample, and sent scope down so we could see inside his lungs. The lungs were just completely full of yellow gunk. The vet said he was much sicker than he first appeared. We went home with a bundle of meds, including antibiotic shots to be given twice daily. The vet actually wanted to keep Gadget in the clinic to administer IV antibiotics for a week, but I told him that as sensitive as he is, I wanted to take care of him. I felt confident he would let me give him his meds and, sure enough, he has been a saint. He is on complete stall rest so I hand ...

After Gadget popped a gravel abscess and broke out in hives the week before the show, I was nearly dreading the show. I also was having hard time even getting Gadget on the bit in most movement, so not feeling very optimistic. On the Wednesday before the show, I put on my smooth rowel spurs and snaffle bridle and rode in the indoor. Anytime I schooled turns on the haunches, Gadget got very bulky. I think this was partly because he would knock the abscess wound and partly because I ride with too much leg and hand in that movement. I still completely suck at the TOHs.  Anyway, to get him out of his bulky phase, I rode a couple medium/extended trots remembering Kenny's words to wrap my legs around him and hold him a bit in the bridle, then let him go. This wrapping my calves around the horse into a stead rein really picks Gadget up. I can feel him grow a little taller in his front end. I decided to just ride with this idea for the rest of the ride. I tried to not touch him with the...

So April and May flew by in a flash, and I forgot to summarize my clinic in April with Kenny. It was a beautiful weekend for the clinic, so I had the opportunity to ride in Robin's beautiful outdoor arena. I also decided it was time to ride in the double bridle in front of a trainer and get feed back. The ride was great. I was rushing Gadget too much, instead of getting cadence in the trot. We worked on the trot halfpass and, oddly enough, the right one is now his better one. We worked on a few steps of half pass, then medium trot forward, then keep the forward and half pass again. I need more vroom in my half pass and shoulder in.  In the shoulder in, I need to do less with the inside rein, particularly to the left. Get him listening to the inside leg and get the bend there, not with the inside rein. I know this stuff, and I don't know why I continue to do it! Canter work felt really good. It actually felt so much better than it looked on the video, but I'm ok...

I am two weeks away from my first show of the season, and I have not shown my 3-3 test to anyone yet. Feeling a bit nervous about this, I contacted a local trainer back from Florida to see if she could work with me a couple times this weekend to help me improve my test. The lesson was very frustrating and very discouraging. I think I have been very fortunate to ride with some really talented trainers who are also great communicators (namely Kenny, Kristin, and Ryan). These trainers have a way of making even very challenging rides feel positive and upbeat. It's some sort of magic that they know just the ride words and exercises to transform Gadget in each lesson into a better horse than the day before. Even when I fail to get an exercise, I feel that each of them is quick to praise the right reaction and encourage me that we will get it. Yesterday, Gadget actually felt good in the warm up. However, he felt worse as the lesson went on and we weren't able to really supple or w...

With all of the throw back Thursday posts on facebook, I started looking through some of my old pictures and videos. I found videos from my first recognized dressage show, which was also Gadget's  very first show at Grand Haven. I planned to ride all training level tests, but when my good friend had trouble on Friday with first level, I gave her two of training level spots and took two first level spots. The improvement from day one and day two shows that my nerves were probably playing a huge part in Gadget's performance, but it's so neat to look back and think how far we've come since 2010. (The narration from my coach at the time is pretty funny too.)

I'm still trying to figure out to ride Gadget up and not lock up his neck in certain movements. Our nemesis is the shoulder-in currently, particularly to the left. So hard for me to remember how to not screw up everything about the shoulder-in. What seems to work: Do not pull back! Position lightly and keep hands up (like puppeteer). Move  shoulders first, but do not let him lean on your hands Remember to keep legs wrapped around to keep him stepping Keep seat moving - think of bouncing and actually pushing with the seat a little more. This also keep my hands/elbows a bit looser

I finally feel like I am getting back into the swing of things. Last week Gadget was acting sluggish and generally unenthused about any of his work - even his changes, which always perks him up. This week, we are both working so much better. I put him back in the double and decided to really work on getting him more uphill. I, unfortunately, can't really tell whether we look like a saddlebred or a dressage horse, but it feels better. I figure I can always make him a bit rounder once he learns to carry his own head. He still likes a lot of contact in the snaffle, but about halfway through the rides, he becomes softer and more through. I've been able to work him outside the last couple days, which makes all the difference in the world for both of us. Yesterday, he was full of himself and he basically blew through my aids. I was sharing the ring with a hunter rider, two ladies picking stones from the ring, and about 15 jumps. I decided it wasn't the day to pick a fight. So ...

I've been feeling a it down lately about my own riding and Gadget's struggle with this dressage stuff. I've not been riding as often as I would like and then when his back got a little sore, it was one more reason not to ride. I really think he becomes more sensitive when he starts shedding out as the sensitivity seemed to go away even before he got his hocks done. Regardless, he had his spring maintenance injections this week, and I've been doing some light lunging and serious grooming, which is a nice change of pace. After our last lunge session, I let him loose in the outdoor to roll. Instead he headed for the small pile of hay in the corner. After shooing him away, he wandered up to my cavelletti, which are set up in the grass beside the dressage ring and walked through them, then turned around and trotted through them. This is the horse that reared two weeks ago to avoid going through them at the trot at the medium height. I'm thinking maybe he is actually f...

It's been one heck of winter with lots of snow and frigid temperatures. The horses were not turned out for weeks, so I tried to make a point to keep Gadget working so he would not go completely stir crazy. We really had some breakthroughs! I think I am finally finding the way to ride him uphill in light contact while still keeping an active seat. The trot and canter quality has much improved. Yesterday after my ride with Kenny he said it was the best he has ever seen Gadget go. It made my heart sing to hear that! The video confirms that Gadget is looking more elastic and generally happier. He worked so hard yesterday! It was so much fun! We worked on medium trot and canter: In the canter, cut the corner by a step and leg yield him that last step on the rail, then start the medium. To bring him back, tap him lightly on hindquarters. Reacts well to this by becoming very active. In the trot, train the medium from quarter line to quarter line on the diagonal. When you turn on to diagon...