Dressage Day by Day

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...