Dressage Day by Day

Obviously, I am very goal-oriented and I will work harder knowing that I set a certain goal. I also love mentally checking them off through the year. Last year, I set the following goals:   GOALS FOR 2015 Learn how to set up and ride the working canter pirouette.  We are now reliably getting the smaller pirouette canter, but I still don't have a feel for this movement. I need more instruction so that I can feel more confident schooling it at home. Check! Although I haven't been schooling actual half or quarter pirouettes much this year, in the last couple months, they have finally started coming together. I definitely still have a lot to learn in this movement, but we've made huge progress in the pirouettes. Get consistent 3 tempis.  These oddly feel easier than the 4 tempis. However, it still takes me several attempts before I get in the rhythm of the aids and it sure doesn't feel easy yet. I hope these become more flowing this year. Check! The threes are feeli

A month after working with Michael, I had a clinic with Kenny -- my first since riding with him in May. As usual, Kenny has a way of getting the best out of me and Gadget. In a weekend crammed with holiday parties, I was determined to make this clinic. So Gadget and I loaded up in the early hours of the morning and hauled to Timber Ridge for a 9:30 lesson. It was 65 degrees at 9:30 -- absolutely gorgeous! We rode outside and Gadget started out lethargic. However, he revved up after doing some gear changes. This included working on extended trot, which turned out amazing. EXTENDED TROT On the longside and diagonal, I would ask for some lengthened steps, then leg yield either way a few steps, then lengthen again. The first few attempts looked fairly average. But once Gadget understood the exercise, he started really using his whole body and really getting some suspension in the trot. They were the best extended trots I've ever had!  Kenny also reminded me to keep my

So I have been having an amazing summer of lessons with Ryan Yap. He really helped me feel how to collect and energize the canter, which has been the biggest challenge. He also made huge improvements in my halfpasses and helped develop more suspension in Gadget's trot. Writing these things make it sound easy, but it has taken years to get to a point where Ryan could work on these things with us. As he said, we were finally ready. So when Ryan's clinic date changed to one that conflicted with the Michael Bragdell clinic, I was so disappointed. It would have been awesome to have back-to-back weekends of clinics with those two. But I will have to wait until the spring to work with Ryan again.  As for the Michael Bragdell clinic, it was really quite amazing. I typically don't have the highest hopes for lessons when someone is seeing me and Gadget for the first time. We have lots of little issues going on and it sometimes takes a little time figure out the right way to a

So I have been neglecting to update this again, but I have so much good news! The biggest news is that I won the Carol Lavell Gifted Scholarship from the Dressage Foundation for Region 1!!! This means that I get $1000 to spend toward concentrated time spent with my horse away from work and other distractions to focus on training. I am beyond thrilled and can't wait to get to bootcamp with Kristin Stein! I'll also be writing about my experience for the dressage foundation, which will be a fun opportunity as well. Other big news:  Gadget and I were champions at Third Level and Fourth Level  for Adult Amateurs in the Western Pennsylvania Dressage Association year end awards. Our average at Third Level based on the scores submitted was over 70%!  Not only did we win those big, beautiful ribbons, but we also won the Joe Lane award for highest score achieved between 2nd and 4th level. It's a beautiful glass award, and I was so surprised and thrilled to win it! More big n