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 finally moved off the circle and made him super sharp working on canter/walk walk/canter transitions using the whole arena. Finally, he started feeling better. We did a couple canter halfpasses, which felt okay. I need to keep him on the inside hind so that I can allow the shoulder to lead. I honestly never thought I would have a problem with haunches leading in the canter halfpass, when it took me 2 years (!!!) to feel like I could actually move his haunches sideways.
We then tried a couple changes across the short diagonal. The first couple, I did not half halt and he just threw himself through the change and barreled away afterward. The next time I lifted him back onto his haunches and got a decent change and more collected canter afterward. We schooled a couple walk pirouettes, and he said they need to be smaller for fourth level, but when I kept the haunches from swinging to the right, they are actually not terrible. Thank God for small miracles.
The second day, we really worked on the trot halfpass. To the right, Gadget really bends his neck and throws his haunches sideways, but doesn't actually take any weight behind. I honestly thought his right halfpass rocked. I am so clueless sometimes! Ryan had two key exercises to fix this halfpass: 1) shoulder-in focusing on inside hind to a few steps sideways, then right back to shoulder-in and 2) position in renver to the right, then move him into halfpass, then slowly change the flexion at throatlatch. The takeaway is the neck needs to feel straight to me, and the inside hind needs to feel powerful. It's all very, very hard for me to coordinate. Gadget got very frustrated and was throwing some mini hissy fits. He is not used to carrying that much behind and not used to me keeping my reins so short and making him stay light.
The highlight of the lesson was when Ryan got on Gadget. He worked mostly on the canter. He said that in the collected canter Gadget must stay quicker behind (with little taps and reminders from the leg), but he will immediately dive down on the forehand, so he needs half-halts up front. It will be tricky to teach him the balance. Watching Ryan school the changes on Gadget was awesome. He stayed in this small active canter and explained to him each time to stay active and up. He was sometimes late in front, and Ryan said he just needs to learned to stay lighted in front while staying active behind. He also showed me the trot halfpass and made it look effortless. He said I have to get a better balance, so Gadget can actually lift and cross sideways.
He also said we look much better than last year, so it's always nice when others see the progress.
Next week I am a demo rider at third level in a symposium with an "S" judge. I really hope that Gadget and I don't embarrass ourselves! I am making a goal to have fun and not be ashamed of my weaknesses. I find a I learn more when I watch through a rider work through the tricky areas -- I may be that rider for someone else at this symposium, because we have lots of issues!
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 finally moved off the circle and made him super sharp working on canter/walk walk/canter transitions using the whole arena. Finally, he started feeling better. We did a couple canter halfpasses, which felt okay. I need to keep him on the inside hind so that I can allow the shoulder to lead. I honestly never thought I would have a problem with haunches leading in the canter halfpass, when it took me 2 years (!!!) to feel like I could actually move his haunches sideways.
We then tried a couple changes across the short diagonal. The first couple, I did not half halt and he just threw himself through the change and barreled away afterward. The next time I lifted him back onto his haunches and got a decent change and more collected canter afterward. We schooled a couple walk pirouettes, and he said they need to be smaller for fourth level, but when I kept the haunches from swinging to the right, they are actually not terrible. Thank God for small miracles.
The second day, we really worked on the trot halfpass. To the right, Gadget really bends his neck and throws his haunches sideways, but doesn't actually take any weight behind. I honestly thought his right halfpass rocked. I am so clueless sometimes! Ryan had two key exercises to fix this halfpass: 1) shoulder-in focusing on inside hind to a few steps sideways, then right back to shoulder-in and 2) position in renver to the right, then move him into halfpass, then slowly change the flexion at throatlatch. The takeaway is the neck needs to feel straight to me, and the inside hind needs to feel powerful. It's all very, very hard for me to coordinate. Gadget got very frustrated and was throwing some mini hissy fits. He is not used to carrying that much behind and not used to me keeping my reins so short and making him stay light.
The highlight of the lesson was when Ryan got on Gadget. He worked mostly on the canter. He said that in the collected canter Gadget must stay quicker behind (with little taps and reminders from the leg), but he will immediately dive down on the forehand, so he needs half-halts up front. It will be tricky to teach him the balance. Watching Ryan school the changes on Gadget was awesome. He stayed in this small active canter and explained to him each time to stay active and up. He was sometimes late in front, and Ryan said he just needs to learned to stay lighted in front while staying active behind. He also showed me the trot halfpass and made it look effortless. He said I have to get a better balance, so Gadget can actually lift and cross sideways.
He also said we look much better than last year, so it's always nice when others see the progress.
Next week I am a demo rider at third level in a symposium with an "S" judge. I really hope that Gadget and I don't embarrass ourselves! I am making a goal to have fun and not be ashamed of my weaknesses. I find a I learn more when I watch through a rider work through the tricky areas -- I may be that rider for someone else at this symposium, because we have lots of issues!
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