Dressage Day by Day

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 f...

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...

Gadget and I made our official debut at third level at a recognized show on June 7-9 at the Grand Haven show. The weather was cold and rainy when we arrived on Thursday and stayed that way until Sunday. Despite the nasty weather, Gadget warmed up beautifully on Thursday evening in the indoor arena. All of my changes were clean, there were no changes in the counter canter, and Kristin gave us great advice to improve the shoulder-in and halfpass. I need to start schooling these with way more bend, then I can regulate it in the test. On the first day of the show, I didn't get him through for my first test of second level test three. It didn't feel fluid or like we were on the same page. This is normal for our first test at every show. I have no idea how to fix it. We scored a 59.7 and placed 5th. About an hour later, I was set to ride third level test one. I was the very last ride of the day. Gadget felt tired in the warm-up, but I got his neck and back softer. The rings were q...

Clinic with Kenny I had the opportunity to ride with Kenny today in a clinic about 45 minutes from where I board. Hani stayed home today, so I trailered Gadget up myself. He loaded and behaved like a pro for the entire day. It's a shame he pulled a front shoe earlier this week, as he was definitely a bit off without it. Ken immediately picked up on my left hand, weird contact issues. To the right, he suggested counter flexing, which immediately changed my left hand from dead weight to active hand. It also added needed starightness that direction. To the left, I need to use an opening inside left rein. Gadget is stiff on the left, but by taking an softening, taking and softening and overbending him a few times, he loosens. In the trot, I tend to post with my hips landing to the left. I need to think of bringing my right hip forward. Throughout the lesson, using more active hips to help Gadget was a theme. On a 10M circle in rising trot, tap with the whip in up phase of the ...

Work has picked up for me with more traveling lately, so Gadget has not had the daily, consistent work that I would like. However, the little bit of down time seems to have come at the right time. My last few rides have felt really good. Maybe he needed a few days off. I am finding a collected canter that feels strong, 3-beat, and balanced. I usually find it toward the end of the ride when I begin to really sit in and use more upward-thinking half-halts on a small circle. I am flexing softly left-right to unlock his jaw, then asking him to step up. He is staying soft in the neck and maintaing a nice canter rhythm. With more strength, this may be the collected canter I need for 2nd level. I'm interested to get Ryan's feedback in a couple weeks. The weather was crisp and beautiful today, so I rode in the jumping arena outside today. After warming up lightly in all three gaits, I started asking for flying changes while changing directions in different places. Gadget gave...

I ordered myself a pair of euro-star plaid, blingy breeches from Smartpak that I have been drooling over for months as a gift to myself for my birthday. Can't wait for them to arrive. Hope they fit! (I keep meaning to drop this extra 10 pounds!) Gadget gave me a little gift, too -- 6 flying changes with no bucks, leaps, or other acrobatics. Just changes. The key seems to be straightness (go figure). By collecting from the outside rein, cutting across the center of the ring and barely changing the flexion while giving half-halt on new outside rein, I got some nice changes.