Dressage Day by Day

I've been feeling a it down lately about my own riding and Gadget's struggle with this dressage stuff. I've not been riding as often as I would like and then when his back got a little sore, it was one more reason not to ride. I really think he becomes more sensitive when he starts shedding out as the sensitivity seemed to go away even before he got his hocks done. Regardless, he had his spring maintenance injections this week, and I've been doing some light lunging and serious grooming, which is a nice change of pace. After our last lunge session, I let him loose in the outdoor to roll. Instead he headed for the small pile of hay in the corner. After shooing him away, he wandered up to my cavelletti, which are set up in the grass beside the dressage ring and walked through them, then turned around and trotted through them. This is the horse that reared two weeks ago to avoid going through them at the trot at the medium height. I'm thinking maybe he is actually f...

It's been one heck of winter with lots of snow and frigid temperatures. The horses were not turned out for weeks, so I tried to make a point to keep Gadget working so he would not go completely stir crazy. We really had some breakthroughs! I think I am finally finding the way to ride him uphill in light contact while still keeping an active seat. The trot and canter quality has much improved. Yesterday after my ride with Kenny he said it was the best he has ever seen Gadget go. It made my heart sing to hear that! The video confirms that Gadget is looking more elastic and generally happier. He worked so hard yesterday! It was so much fun! We worked on medium trot and canter: In the canter, cut the corner by a step and leg yield him that last step on the rail, then start the medium. To bring him back, tap him lightly on hindquarters. Reacts well to this by becoming very active. In the trot, train the medium from quarter line to quarter line on the diagonal. When you turn on to diagon...

This past year was a great year for me and Gadget. Although we had our ups and downs, I've learned a lot this year. We made our third level debut, earned our bronze medal in only two shows, improved the flying changes dramatically, and earned Champion for Adult Amateurs at third level in my GMO.  For 2014, I have several goals: Keep Gadget's back feeling good. I think I have found a good combo of chiro, shoeing, saddle fit, and vet maintenance to prevent him from getting sore rather than waiting until he's in pain. Hopefully it works this year. Continue improving Third Leve l. Last year was a great intro to third level, but I am finally learning to ride Gadget more uphill, which is improving everything. This year I want to try 3-2 and 3-3. The canter-halfpass is still tough for us, but it's looking better. I am going to work to fix things that are easy points -- halts, turn on the haunches, transitions, and good centerlines. I am going to focus on the quality o...

I started this blog thinking that if I could chronicle my rides, I could go back and read what works and what doesn't. What I am learning is that what works one month or week, may not be the same approach the next day. And maybe that is a more important lesson for me. Gadget is becoming more and more fun to ride as we figure out some of this collection in the canter. I really can't believe how much we have progressed over the summer. The thought of competing at fourth level with him NEVER occurred to me previously. I really thought that third level was a lofty goal. So the fact that I am now thinking about fourth level with Gadget is exciting. I am trying to do a longer warmup with lots of long and low and very forward work a la the 2012 Bent clinic. I bend him around my inside leg, push him a little sideways, and give him even more rein on the inside so he stretches. The key to the stretching warm up is to get him moving forward so he actually loosens his back. I have a...

Gadget had his first chiropractic appointment on the Thursday before the clinic while I was out of town for work. The chiropractor is a vet and his findings were very accurate to what I and every trainer has identified as points of tension. The one extra finding was the tension in Gadget's face from an old fracture. The chiropractor said he believes that Gadget probably gets headaches. This absolutely broke my heart. He recommended massage for that area of his head, which I now do religiously every day. My poor baby. Anyway, I rode the next day and had the most amazing ride. He felt soft and so steady in the contact. It was unreal. I can only think that the chiropractor must have made a great difference in how he felt. On Saturday, I loaded up and headed to the Ryan Yap clinic without my sidekick, Hani. Of course when I don't have the best videographer in the world, I have the best rides in the world. I may be exaggerating slightly, but I definitely had a soft and happy ho...

We did it! With out first ride at NODA, Gadget and I earned our last score needed for the USDF bronze medal.  Hani and I were thrilled and we toasted with our mimosas to a once far away goal accomplished. Although Hani is not a horse person, he has been my person during my entire ownership of Gadget. He has seen the many ups and downs, and he truly knew that this was once a very unlikely accomplishment. The rest of my rides were anticlimactic to the big achievement. Gadget is becoming such a steady eddy, and we are figuring out third level. One thing is for certain after this show -- no more second level. It's time to put that miserable level to bed. Here's a video of the ride that got us the last score:  

I've been in a bit of a slump since the last show. I had a great clinic with Ryan, but I didn't feel like I was riding my best or getting the best work out of Gadget. Ryan remarked that the flying changes are looking better, which was good to hear. I sometimes forget that it wasn't very long ago that Gadget would crow hop, get very crooked, or generally bounce around to change. Now, he gives me fairly quiet changes when I ask. They are sometimes a few strides later than I would like, and the left change is sometimes late behind. However, they are overall getting much better. This week I looked back at my videos from May and realized that I need to be riding Gadget more up and asking him to carry himself. With that in mind, I started my ride on Friday with a really long warm-up focusing on keeping him up and getting him forward and reactive to the leg. I also focused on not holding the left rein and generally asking with soft, squeeze and release half halts. This made suc...