Dressage Day by Day

After not having a lesson for several months, I finally made it to a clinic with Kristin at a lovely private farm of one of my friends. For my first ride, we warmed up in the double bridle by getting his neck a little lower and softer. We then did a couple shoulder-ins and I worked to keep Gadget from traveling with his hindquarters to the outside. We also really emphasized being able to get true bend through the body, not just the neck.  We moved into canter and got him a little softer through the bridle doing some big circles. We then moved into the canter halfpass. First, it's important to have an active but organized canter. Turning onto centerline, I should move his haunches to the inside a bit. Then step into left stirrup, keep the contact soft, and bring the outside shoulder forward. He moved readily over by just making sure I was not blocking him with my outside shoulder. I did the same thing to the right and it actually felt even better. Amazing!! In the changes, w...

Well, Gadget is back in the game. We have been back in full work for several weeks and he feels really good. I think the focus on my position during those first slow conditioning weeks has also paid off for me. I am really focusing on keeping my hand position - hands in front, following, thumbs up, half halt without pulling back. It feels like I basically tell Gadget with my hands to carry his own head and stay soft. As long as he does that, I have a very soft, light contact. When he tries to start poking his nose or lean on the bit, I give a little leg and a squeeze of the rein. I have also been riding exclusively in a simple KK ultra snaffle to make these adjustments. No double bridle right now, although I couldn't help but add an old but favorite picture of Gadget in his double bridle below. I plan to move him back into the double next week before my upcoming clinics. Gadget in 2013  The trot really is becoming nice if I remember to hug with my legs to get power from behi...

As this is mostly a training blog, there's not much to report as there is no real training going on. I started walking Gadget under saddle last week and I am working trot into each ride this week. I will say that I am really trying to focus on keeping my back and hips loose and moving during our rides. I find that when I start working on lateral work (such as the shoulder-in at the walk), I tend to stop moving my hips. I need to find a way to keep my seat following in all movements. I am also trying to retrain my hand position. I am not good about keeping my thumbs on top, and I also tend to keep too much contact on the left rein. I am making a conscious effort to ride thumbs up, elbows down, and hands even. I am also really trying to stay soft in the contact and make Gadget walk or trot up to it. So while Gadget is getting better and building fitness slowly, I am going to try to focus on my position. Maybe we will both be improved by the end of this ordeal

In other news, the great Gadget has pneumonia. After several days off, I rode him on a Saturday night and had a crappy ride. The next day, Sunday, during the warm-up, he began coughing and actually coughed up yellow phlegm. On Monday, I took him to the vet clinic and he was coughing as soon as he stepped off of the trailer. Otherwise, he was perky and acting fine. They listened to his lungs, took blood, performed a trach wash, sent away a sample, and sent scope down so we could see inside his lungs. The lungs were just completely full of yellow gunk. The vet said he was much sicker than he first appeared. We went home with a bundle of meds, including antibiotic shots to be given twice daily. The vet actually wanted to keep Gadget in the clinic to administer IV antibiotics for a week, but I told him that as sensitive as he is, I wanted to take care of him. I felt confident he would let me give him his meds and, sure enough, he has been a saint. He is on complete stall rest so I hand ...

After Gadget popped a gravel abscess and broke out in hives the week before the show, I was nearly dreading the show. I also was having hard time even getting Gadget on the bit in most movement, so not feeling very optimistic. On the Wednesday before the show, I put on my smooth rowel spurs and snaffle bridle and rode in the indoor. Anytime I schooled turns on the haunches, Gadget got very bulky. I think this was partly because he would knock the abscess wound and partly because I ride with too much leg and hand in that movement. I still completely suck at the TOHs.  Anyway, to get him out of his bulky phase, I rode a couple medium/extended trots remembering Kenny's words to wrap my legs around him and hold him a bit in the bridle, then let him go. This wrapping my calves around the horse into a stead rein really picks Gadget up. I can feel him grow a little taller in his front end. I decided to just ride with this idea for the rest of the ride. I tried to not touch him with the...

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...

I am two weeks away from my first show of the season, and I have not shown my 3-3 test to anyone yet. Feeling a bit nervous about this, I contacted a local trainer back from Florida to see if she could work with me a couple times this weekend to help me improve my test. The lesson was very frustrating and very discouraging. I think I have been very fortunate to ride with some really talented trainers who are also great communicators (namely Kenny, Kristin, and Ryan). These trainers have a way of making even very challenging rides feel positive and upbeat. It's some sort of magic that they know just the ride words and exercises to transform Gadget in each lesson into a better horse than the day before. Even when I fail to get an exercise, I feel that each of them is quick to praise the right reaction and encourage me that we will get it. Yesterday, Gadget actually felt good in the warm up. However, he felt worse as the lesson went on and we weren't able to really supple or w...