Dressage Day by Day

Although I did not hear Michael say it, Hani insists that Michael said I should ride 20 minutes every day as opposed to 40 minutes a few times a week. So I've decided to take his advice to heart and try to get Iggy into a steady 5 days a week of shorter, better quality work. This new boot camp began yesterday, since it was 60 degrees and beautiful. I did my in hand work with Iggy outside, and he was very good as usual. We then did our walk on long rein to relax and loosen around the jumping ring. Then we moved into the power trot getting him to "take me forward" and moving into the contact. It is easier to the right than to the left. But the jumping ring feels like a great place to work on this since it has a slight grade that will encourage Iggy to really push with those hindlegs. We then moved to the dressage ring (freshly drug and delightful!) and went back to our big forward trot down the longside, counter flex through the shortside to keep him in the trot while ...

Iggy and I are still struggling with the canter. It's almost ironic that I bought this incredible horse because of his huge, amazing canter and it is now the thing that is giving us trouble. Because it is so big, it also requires more strength. I had a great clinic with Michael B. this weekend and he really challenged me to get Iggy truly in front of the leg and connected to the bridle. He said that he cannot get strong if I do not build the strength pushing to the connection. Both of my rides were difficult. It was a new balance for me and Iggy. I had been riding Iggy on a very light contact and he can mostly hold the canter in that light contact. But when pushed up to the bridle to actually feel the bit, we fell apart. So we have homework: 1. Hands down on withers. 2. Stabilize the hands. Quiet right hand. Left hand forward. 3. Careful about leg position that inside legs is not too far back pushing his hindquarters out. 4. Inside leg forward. Push the canter forward from ...

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...