May 1-2, 2015 Lessons with Kristin

Had another weekend of very insightful lessons. I rode Isaac Friday night briefly and he showed me how hard it is for me to keep my body aligned, because he quickly went crooked when I did.

Big takeaways from lessons on Gadget:

1. "Keep your basket to the outside." Kristin tells me to pretend I am pushing or holding a basket on my hands. In my mind, my basket is squarish. She will often tell me to take my basket to the outside and it helps me take both hands one direction. I really ride with too much bend to the inside and I need to learn this new feeling of straightness that feels almost counter bent.

2. "Look at the outside ear." This keeps me from twisting my chest to the inside. It's actually shocking how well it worked.

3. "Go and whoa." This is how I have to ride the canter. Quiet seat. Left hand up, not holding. This keeps him off his left shoulder. Right hand maintains connection. I have to go from leg and quickly put him together. But the half halt also has a lot of give when it's working well. This is so freaking hard.

4. "Whoa and go in walk pirouette." I need to take a step and think "whoa" to give a little half-halt. This lets us keep the movement from getting out of control.

5. "Sit quietly." When the canter and trot are correct, I can think of doing less with my core and sinking into my heels. I need to make him do the work.

6. "Shoulders forward in trot." I lean back in trot and I feel like I am leaning forward when I am actually sitting straight. Kenny has picked on me for the same thing.

Comments

When old becomes new - update to my old Pikeur Diana!

Here is the finished product! It was a plain black jacket so I added white and light blue trim with RHINESTONES! It's very sparkly! Here's a closeup of the collar, which looks better than the pocket. Now I am going to try to add coordinating trim (minus the rhinestones) to the saddle pad.

Catch-up Post -- Putting Together the Puzzle

It's been a long time since I have actually written any updates about Iggy. Partly, that is because it is difficult to write about things when you are still very much in the experimental stage. I think I have loved dressage since I was a teenager because of the constant experimenting, strategizing, and problem solving of every ride. I love the intellectual side of it. However, puzzles are more fun when you are making progress toward solving them. They are less fun when you spend a lot of time wondering if you have made progress, stayed the same, or actually screwed things up. From Iggy's first show - trying to keep the big canter in one piece! Iggy is my puzzle. He is a puzzle that makes my eyes light up and my heart sing when I see him. He has this sweet baby face and the personality of a labradoodle. When I look at him, he is everything I ever wanted. Yet, our journey has not been quite as straight forward as I thought it might be. When I sat on Iggy for the first tim...

Hard Decisions

I wrote the below in mid January but it was too hard to actually finish this post at this time: It has been a long day. After nearly 9 hours in the car for the trip to Ohio State to the equine hospital in PA to home, I am physically and emotionally spent. After getting positive updates the last couple days, I was looking forward to seeing Gadget without the furrowed brow of pain. However, again Gadget was toe-touching lame this morning. It has been 7 weeks that we have been fighting the infection and the pain. He has been through countless procedures, and even when clearly in immeasurable pain, Gadget tries to do as we ask. My emotions have been close to the surface for weeks, but it is when I think of the pain that Gadget has and continues to endure, that I can no longer stop the tears. I want with all of my heart for him to get better and I feel like we have tried everything available - surgeries, 5 antibiotics, countless lab panels, MRI, and more than 4 weeks of hospitalization...

Dressage Day by Day

Search This Blog