A Thinking Rider

I am very, very behind in my blogging. I've been doing so much extra 'stuff' and after hours training/riding/working, that I haven't really had the time or motivation.
Lots to catch up on!
I feel like even since I've last written I have improved in my riding and teaching. I have now had it from several of the instructors that my body position is solid. So relieved. Didn't think I'd ever get there. No more corrections about shoulders back and heel down and leg back etc. etc.
My current list of corrections to work on R.E. riding:

• Clearer with the aids. I need to be 100% certain what I'm asking for and how.
• Consistent contact on reins (still have curly wrists!)
• Strengthening the left side of my body. Turning my upper body to the right is extremely difficult for me. Makes lateral work on that side not-so-good, and hinders the horse.
• Using my core more than my hands/seat/leg.
• Sitting more on my butt during high collection movements.

I still need to concentrate pretty hard to keep my leg long. I do tend to get tense in my thighs and hips, but as long as I'm paying attention it's not too bad. I have gained so much body awareness in my time here!

I have been consistently riding the more advanced horses which is good fun. Particularly Lula, Gigi, Puro, Real (the Warmbloods) and Unico, Xairel the Lusitanos. I still have the odd ride on Ted, but haven't sat on Romeo or any of the ponies for a while (at least in lessons).

In the advanced lessons I'm (obviously) working on more advanced movements. Collecting exercises (e.g. halt to canter to trot to halt), lots of laterals as per usual (e.g. shoulder-in, travers, renvers, half pass in all three gaits) and some of the higher school movements. (e.g. canter pirouettes, tempi changes, piaffe/passage).

I think I had this idea in my head when I first came that once I knew how to ride properly, these movements would be easy to ride. The horses are well trained, after all, and if you give the right aid they should give you the right movement.

Reaaaaalllyy not so simple. I'm working harder now than I was at the beginning. It is VERY hard to get a horse collected properly to perform these movements, let alone keeping the collection consistently WHILE keeping my position and asking the horse to do something with upmost precision. This dressage is hard, yo.

There is so much running through my head while I'm riding. Like a mental checklist which I need to constantly be addressing as the instructor puts us through our paces. Serious brain power!

Lets take my last lesson as an example. I was riding Unico in a no-stirrup private lesson with Dawn. The first exercise I was to switch between shoulder-in and travers on the inner track along the long sides. Just to ride the movement, I'm thinking of the quality of his trot, the angle of the shoulder-in/travers, keeping him collected and pushing off his inside hind, making sure the bend is correct and true and that he stays straight on the inside track (which is really tricky to do!! no wall to support or catch him if we bobble!). While I'm concentrating on riding that exercise, I'm also running through my mental checklist to make sure my position is correct. Body turned to help bend, inside leg on girth, outside leg behind, 50/50 feel on the reins in each hand, leg long, core engaged, thighs/knees relaxed, eyes looking across the arena, shoulders open, inside seat bone weighted etc. etc. AND THEN Dawn is talking at the same time, giving me corrections. Too much bend in the neck, You've lost the outside shoulder, your rhythm has changed, You're on four tracks, not three, horse needs to be rounder, where's your body. Oh also, there was another rider in the arena with a horse Unico thought was pretty sexy. So keeping his attention while we passed the other horse was on my mind too.

So it's pretty tough on the old brain and body, and inevitably I get it wrong often enough.

Joao is always going on about being a 'thinking' rider. What he means is that during training the horse, we should think of different ways an issue can be improved, and using experience to know what correction to use. Right now I'm just trying to remember all the stuff that should just happen naturally. My hope is that by the end of my stay my position will be even more solid, so I can just ride without thinking about where my body is, and just focus on how the horse feels and what I can do to make it better.
I highly envy the riders who just naturally look good on a horse. I've had to work hard for this!!!

Merlin

In a months time or so I'm teaching a workshop on ground work (labelled as natural horsemanship but I soooo hate that label). I'm doing a demo as part of it, so I needed a project horse I could work with and show clients why ground work is important.
The horse I was given to work with was Merlin. Merlin is a 15hhish Lusitano stallion, trained as a trick horse previously. He has been on box rest for several months after his tendon sheath became inflamed. He has THE worst ground manners of any horse here (and that's saying something- manners isn't a necessity for horses here like it is in Aus). Leading him you will always be bitten, barged into and dragged around. He's also pretty horse aggressive and extremely territorial and 'stalliony'.
I haven't actually ridden him, but he is a very hot and stressy horse under saddle too. Only one client is allowed to ride him on occasion, otherwise he is ridden by Wanda.

So really, he's the perfect candidate to illustrate how basic ground work can improve ease of handling, and just how much you can pick up just by watching their body language.

I started on the lead-rope, just getting him to keep out of my space a little, and respond to basic body cues (i.e. step toward his hindquarter = move away from me). The early stages are always hard. He doesn't know what the heck I'm asking and would prefer to just be nibbling and playing (and basically stand on top of me). He is VERY smart, though so it wasn't too many sessions before we were working at liberty in the round yard.
We are doing pretty basic exercises. Back up and walk forward, lead with me at his shoulder, following, changing directions on a circle, moving sideways etc. and he now knows exactly what I'm asking. The difficult is keeping his attention and keeping him 'under the thumb'. If he even hears another horse walking close by he will just ignore me and start his territorial behaviour.
Also, if I relax for a moment and am not paying attention, he'll still try to sneak in a bite or a barge. Cheeky bugger.

I think he has improved quite a bit. He will get out of my space without too much trouble now, and his leading at liberty and on lead is dramatically better. You still  need to be on top of him, but as long as you keep one eye on him, he's wonderful and relaxed. I haven't actually been bitten by him yet (touch wood!) so if I can keep that going I'm sure it will make him easier to deal with.

I also really just love him. I think he's very misunderstood and needs to just chill for a bit. He doesn't like dressage- he's trained a trick horse and that's what he does well. Ask him to bow and rear and his whole facial expression changes and all stress leaves his body. The ground work is good for him too- I get some real relaxation from him.
Most of the staff are either scared of him, or dislike him because he's difficult. Poor bub! Meanwhile I sneak him in some hand grazing and make him flower crowns :D

Thankfully Wanda is on my side and has convinced Tina to offer him for 'trick training' lessons, instead of dressage lessons, which I think is fantastic. I get to also continue my work with him while I'm here, and come September he is possibly going to go into the mounted falconry business.

Wanda has promised me a ride on him at some point (yay!), but until then we'll keep working away at his ground work in between some loving. Every horse needs some loving!

Advanced Lessons

I've been doing a fair few lessons on the schoolmasters this week. I personally still don't think I'm hugely ready, but the instructors here love to spring stuff on me and throw me in the deep end.
I rode Unico with Wanda in a private lesson which was pretty amazing. Unico is a 15hh Lusitano stallion, in a previous life he was a bullfighting horse, now he is trained to Advanced level and is available for lessons.
He is sooooo different to ride than any of the other horses here. Although to be honest, every single advanced horse is so different and the aids must be used in different ways. The problem I had with Unico is pressing the right button. Each aid has several possible outcomes, so it was very easy to ask for, say, a medium trot instead of a canter transition. Or a piaffe instead of a trot transition.
I found myself continually apologising to Unico for confusing him!
Thankfully for this lesson it was mostly about finding what works for him, and controlling him more with my core and less with my hands and legs.
Unico really showed the weakness in my core. I am obviously trying to compensate with my legs and hands, which works for the lower level horses, but absolutely does not work for the advanced horses. So much of controlling him was release and tense of my stomach, and weight aids.
For instance, for the right canter transition- I had to step into my right stirrup/right seat bone, lift my core and use my inside leg on the girth. The outside leg came back, but did absolutely nothing. So difficult! I kept trying to use my outside leg to pop him into canter, which just told him to half pass.
We finished with some no stirrup work, trying to make my position solid and stomach muscles constantly working. I was very sweaty after this lesson!

Crappy phone pic of me on Unico without stirrups

I've had two lessons on the Big Orange warmblood Lula this week. Really, really love this horse. Never thought I'd love a warmblood so much, but she is just so comfy and responsive. I feel like a dressage queen riding her.

First lesson was a pretty quick lesson, working over trot poles. Lula found this VERY exciting. She doesn't jump, and she mostly does plain flat lessons, so trot poles got her engine going. She is so strong (and big. 17hh is too big)

The exercise was to trot over three trot poles keeping her together (core engage!), leg yield or half pass to the track and then a canter transition.

What I particularly love about Lula is how much she teaches me in the laterals. Laterals are her strong point, but you must be perfectly positioned to get it. I have the habit of not turning my body enough in the half pass- but Lula demands it!

Just to be extra confusing after my lesson with Unico, Lula's canter transition comes more from the outside leg, too much inside leg = extended trot. Thankfully I realised my mistake after the first unexpected extended trot, and we had lovely transitions from then on.

Such a beautiful big orange

The second lesson on Lula with Dawn was SERIOUSLY intense. It was three of the advanced horses in a lesson, which I haven't experienced yet. We started with some shoulder-in down the centreline ( a lot harder to do than it sounds. No wall to block the outside of the horse!) and then going from shoulder-in to half pass.

We also did a bit of travers and renvers. I find travers very easy, horses generally travel with their quarters in anways. Renvers is a bit harder, but I find if I can get the horse into shoulder-in, it's somewhat easy to just change the bend from there, rather than trying to start off in renvers.

And then the intense part started! Started out with some walk pirouettes. This should have clued me in to what was coming next.

In the canter, we were instructed to canter down each quarter line, so basically a straight line with a 10m half circle at each end. Okay. Not too bad.

Then we were instructed down the centreline in canter and onto the quarterline. Freakin-hard! That is not much space at all! Especially for a giant orange warmblood!

I found I could get the turn, but I couldn't keep the canter after the turn, I just kept letting it fizz out. Once again it was my balance of inside and outside leg, and also my overall position- going against all my previous training, I was to sit BEHIND the movement of the canter. Crazy, but it worked.

And then... across the diagonal in the canter, half pirouette, and canter back the same way. Holy shiiiit!

Took me a few tries, but damn I got it! And even got a clean flying change afterwards! Took about every ounce of core strength I have, which still isn't enough, but damn it, I did it!

And finally, I had a half hour private lesson with Tina herself on Unico. Super nervous about this one. I always feel like I'm not riding her horses well enough, and I'm afraid to push them. Instead I'm 100% focused on my position, which is not a bad thing I guess.

Since it was such a brief lesson, we didn't do a huge amount of exercises- it was still just getting used to him, making sure his positioning was correct before I even tried to put aids on, and making a lot of mistakes and confusing the hell out of the poor horse.

We worked a bit on some shoulder-in, travers and half pass which was fine. Moving into canter I was struggling with the transition again. I kept asking him for piaffe! I really need to work on my weight aids and making sure he is on the same wavelength as me. It is so easy on Unico to move your leg an inch without realising, and suddenly he's thinking about a flying change, not a bend to the inside.

So basically, I need more control, more awareness of my body, and once again, more strength.

I did come out smiling from this lesson- Tina told me how much I had improved, and praised me heavily for the lesson. Yay yay!

I still feel like a sack of potatoes, but I'm obviously less of a sack of potatoes than I was two months ago.

I've gotta go out a ride now! Another advanced lesson with Joao on Real. Will update soon!

Success!

Had a fantastic ride on Thursday 'Cake Club'. I rode Ted the TB, and it was a no-stirrup lesson. The exercises weren't terribly difficult (rising trot, trot-canter-trot transitions, 20m circles) but I still had an epiphany. One (of many) of the weaknesses in my riding is my leg position. I tend to ride with my toes pointing out, and the back of my calf on the horse. I blame this on jumping.
When I don't have any stirrups, I am forced to ride with my leg around the horse- i.e. toes forward and the inside of my calf on the horse. This improved Ted's paces ten hundreds times. He used his back more, he was more controlled, and he had more impulsion, all because I could wrap my legs around him and use my aids almost underneath his ribcage. This is exactly what Joao was talking about in my last lesson with Romeo a few weeks ago.
As soon as I had the epiphany, I took my stirrups back to attempt getting the same feeling and position. Took me most of the lesson, but I got there!

Sooo, Friday Elite Class.
I dread Elite class. I am just not elite level, and Tina (as we should all know by now) is very tough. To make it even worse, I was assigned Saffy. Good God I find that mare so tricky to ride.
I start every lesson determined to do better, and this was no exception. Tina had us warm-up by ourselves, as per usual, and I immediately started getting Saffy off my leg. I had her marching around the arena like mad in free walk, then started walk-trot transitions, moving into a bit of medium trot and leg yields.
She thankfully was having a good day, and wasn't sticking her head up like a giraffe and plodding along. I actually had a bit of horse underneath me, and as the ride went on she got better.

I do find with Saffy that even when I get her rounding and somewhat forward, she tends to tip onto her forehand and lean on my hands. This is where I had her when Tina stepped in. She instructed us in a very simple exercise to improve the trot, but one I struggled with because of said tipping on the forehand. I was to pick up counter-canter on the long side and keep it around the short side without losing impulsion or letting Saffy get strung out.
Took several tries to get it- I needed waaaay more inside leg on the girl during the canter. I must admit I tend to use my outside leg a bit more, and forget about my inside. When really I must use the outside leg to get the correct lead during the transition, and then inside leg to keep the canter going. The outside only comes back on if the hindquarter drifts towards the inside (when actually it's generally the other way around- most horses are almost in a travers position during canter on a straight line)
Once I got it, Saffy's trot was just dreamy. Light, impulsive, round, and I could keep my position effortlessly. Yay!
Tina even gave us a few compliments! Double yay!

I finally had another lesson with Joao this week (been a little while!) and rode the lovely Real. I really like riding Real. He's an advanced schoolmaster, so he is obviously very well trained, but he is also lovely and sensitive and definitely not a boring ride! We did a few crazy leaps around the arena, must admit.
In between the leaping and running we had a fantastic workout. I was sweating like crazy after the ride- Joao is just as good as a personal trainer! No new exercises- did some shoulder-fore, walk-canter-walk transitions, travers etc. But all throughout the exercises we had to try and get the horses working a little better. Real needed more oomph, but less running away, and needed to be a bit more consistent on the bridle.
I am happy to report that Joao was happy with my positioning! Not once did he say anything about my hands! Huge step forward for me. He did say I need to be a bit tougher with the horses and demand a bit more, but the fact he was happy with how I was riding was good enough for me.

Plenty more blogs to come!

Bit of this and that

Went for a lovely couple of hacks these last few days. Wanda has a giant warmblood baby that needs to do some fitness and relaxing work, so I've been tagging along to keep her company and keep Monty quiet.
The other day I rode Toby on the hack, one of the kids ponies. He's such good fun. He has the slowest walk and trot, but get him into canter and he's off! Good luck stopping him once he's on a roll.

Toby

I'm really enjoying my hacks. The English countryside is so very different, so it's very refreshing and interesting. I have always been a part-time trail rider too, so it's nice to get out.

I rode Romeo yesterday on out trail adventure. Mostly walking as we were exploring and mostly were on roads, or very hard ground. Still more than pretty! We ended up staying out for a good two hours.

Today we did a mock teaching assessment with Tina. Five of the staff were mounted while one of us did a quick jumping lesson. I started on Saffy in the warm up. I had her going forward, which was something I guess. As soon as the warm-up was over it was my turn to teach the staff over a single cross rail.
I thought I started out well. I was in teacher mode. But I will admit I completely lost my confidence and had a literal cry to Tina afterwards. As far as I can tell, I did nothing right. Placing pole is wrong. I wasn't picking up basic corrections. I wasn't being critical enough. I wasn't coaching anyone. Pretty much everything I did, Tina had something negative to say.
It seems that every lesson I have with Tina I come out with less confidence than I had before. It probably means I over-analyse and am too hard on myself, but I take it as I can't teach/ride, there was nothing good to come of it, and why the heck should I keep trying?
So me (and another of the staff who felt much the same as I did- i.e. humiliated and useless) had a few tears in the office. Tina basically told us to move on, and that we would obviously not make the same mistakes again,
I think I just struggle with tough instructors! I suppose I need some encouragement of some kind, otherwise I just give up.

For the rest of that teaching practice lesson I rode Xariel (pronounced Sha-Reel), one of the Lusitano stallions. He's not a jumper. He can't see very well out of one eye, and tends to run out dramatically and charge into walls and other horses. He wasn't too bad today- He stopped a few times, but it wasn't too crazy. He was lovely to ride. Baroque horses are for me! Lipizzaners are better, but I guess I can make do with Lusitanos!

We also had another gallop around the field on the ponies today. It was quiet in lessons, so the ponies needed exercising so they aren't completely feral for the busy weekend. I rode Bronte, my nemesis, and made her gallop around like mad with my fat butt riding her. Serves her right for being horrible!

I'm riding on the evening class tonight, so will update tomorrow on my afternoon off. Have been doing lots of groundwork too with my new favourite stallion! (on this side of the world, anyway)Until then!

More Lessons (of course)

I definitely had a week of Wanda lessons.
The next one was on Axel, who I have had good and bad rides on. He is a fabulous horse, and REALLY awesome to teach with. He has super comfy paces and is very no fuss. Responds to aids very well.
My problem has been getting him in any state of collection. He notoriously hates pressure and hard work. You could ask him to canter all day, but as soon as you ask him to canter with a bit of shoulder-fore, or leg yield for instance, he will drop out of gait and shake his head around. Too hard! Don't wanna!
I also have trouble getting him soft on the reins and in a contact. He takes a very firm connection, and needs a very particular balance of leg and hand to get a good response. Otherwise it's the stop and shake head thing again.
I was concentrating again on my wrists staying straight, using my elbows as elastic bands, leg back, stretches and on. This ended up being a good lesson with Axel! After the first 20mins I had him forward and round, bending nicely and not making too much of a fuss about being asked to work.
Another epiphany, was how much my contact controls straightness, and why John kept saying 'horse's shoulders in front of the hips!". Axel is very flexy, and one of his ways of getting out of hard work is to bulge his shoulder out, effectively making the rider's aids useless.
With my newfound contact, I was able to control his shoulders better which I think made the difference. He wasn't able to get out of what I was asking, and since he was quite forward, he all just kind of came together.
Whenever a instructor tells me to 'bring the horse together' I must keep that feeling in mind. Horse forward, shoulder's controlled so that the horse is straight, and riding into the (consistent!) contact!

Easy, eh?

I have been teaching my own lessons quite a bit and have started to get some regular clients. Most of them are under the age of 10, but I don't mind too much now that I have a few teens and adults to balance it out. It's nice that the parents ask for me again. I must be doing something right!
I have, however, had to refuse to teach with one particular pony. Bronte.

Looks angelic... quite the opposite

Bronte is a Welsh Section A pony mare, around 20yrs old and 11.3hh. Bronte is mostly used for lead line lessons, and she is an absolute nightmare. I can deal with a lot, but being lunged at, bitten, barged and yanked around is not my idea of fun. She is just evil.

Off lead she is just as bad. She knows exactly what kind of rider she has on, and if the child is not strong enough, she will just chuck her head on the floor, pull the reins out of the rider's hands and do whatever the heck she likes. Really embarrassing as an instructor. Especially when you have disapproving parents looking over your shoulder. So I will not teach with her unless it is a capable teen or small adult rider. In which case she is a pretty great pony.

On the other end of the scale is Solo, who is my favourite kids pony ever. Another Welsh A at around 26 yrs old, he is just the greatest dude. Any kid can get on and he will politely do as they say, even if they have the tiniest touch on the reins, or the tiniest flap of legs on the saddle. Love him. He's really great for teaching independent riding, and is aptly nicknamed 'slowlo'.

Slowlo Solo!

My next lesson (with Wanda again) was on Walter. I very much enjoy riding Walter. He's a big lazy lump of a horse, but when he is going well, he goes REALLY well.
This was one of the lessons where he went REALLY well. He was forward, round, engaged, and listening damn well for 98% of the lesson.
We worked through some pole exercises, but making the horses actually collect over them, instead of slop over. This was actually pretty difficult. Walter was a hunting horse before he came here, so when he sees a jump his head pops up and he starts pulling himself along with his shoulders, instead of pushing with his hind and rounding over the back.
This was hardly a jump, but it still took a bit of adjusting to get him keeping dressage mode over the poles. A heck of a lot of leg and half-halts, with transitions within the trot on the long sides to get him moving with impulsion.(i.e. collected to medium to collected)
A really good exercise for this is the old trot-halt-rein back-trot. Once again it was difficult to keep Walter 'together' through this. He's another that will bulge his shoulder and barge around if it becomes too difficult, and since he's a giant of a horse he tends to get away with it with the clients.
So during the reinback, he would swing his bum around and bulge his shoulder, sticking his head up and escaping the collecting exercise.
We did get there, I had to use the wall of the arena at first to keep him straight (he is SO strong that a firm contact wasn't enough!) but eventually we got there and had a nice few goes at the exercise.
Some really fabulous moments after this. He just felt so GOOD. Collection really changes the way a horse feels to ride. Hard to explain, but it feels 'up' and like you could make the horse do anything with little effort (all the effort is used getting the horse INTO collection!)

We did do some brief lateral work at the walk towards the end of the lesson, and this is when Walter tried to give me the finger. He is SO damn strong, and when he barges it's like holding his entire body weight with my hands and stomach mucles. Dear sweet Lord. All we were trying to do was simple shoulder-in and half pass at the walk!
Such a rude boy. Still, we got there and overall the lesson was a success, so I'll forgive him.

I'm off to go for a hack with Wanda- will keep updating when I get back!!!

On a Roll!

After the JB clinic I felt pretty exhausted mentally and physically. I just wish I had better control over my body, and that my muscles already had the correct memory.
Of course everything worth doing takes time and practice, but I want to be good now!!! I have the knowledge in my head, I know exactly what I need to be doing, but I just can't make my body do it for more than a moment here and there.

I look so dead. Saffy looks... mare-ish.

Even though I didn't have a great ride on Saffy, I came out of the clinic more determined to ride better.

I rode with Tina this week very briefly for a 1/2 hr group lesson on Tarik, a 15.2hh Andalusian X. I haven't had the chance to ride Tarik yet as he is SO popular with the clients. I think he is the highest earning horse here, which is saying something. He's not technically one of the 'advanced schoolmasters' but he has been trained to Advanced Dressage, and showjumps too.
I very much liked Tarik and can see why he's a favourite! His paces are extremely comfortable, as you'd expect from an Andy, and he is just so straightforward and easy to ride.
In the brief lesson, we did very straightforward exercises. Tina instructed us to think about what John said in the clinic, and put it into practice. Of course this meant I was focusing SO hard on keeping my wrists straight, thumbs on top, heels down and legs back.
Tarik was so comfy and forward that it was so easy to do! I came out feeling a lot more positive, and Tina didn't have many corrections, which means I did okay!

The second half of the session with Tina included the children's ponies and galloping around the field. My fav!
I was put on Toffee, who is the smallest pony we have (at around 11hh). I LOVE riding the ponies. I feel like I missed out as a child. I started riding relatively late (didn't ride consistently until I was around 12), so I had already outgrown pony size and moved right up to horse size.
We are all technically too big to ride Toffee, but he is an absolute shit of a pony and is constantly causing problems with the kids riding him, so he needs the odd ride with one of us to keep him obedient.

From left- Millie, Toby, Bronte, Toffee, Lilly

Lots of fun! Felt ridiculous. Loved every second of it.

Bronte beat us by a mile!

I rode Reg in Thursday evening class (love that granny horse!!) I know I'm limited in the amount of work I can do on Reg, so I opted to spent most of the lesson at the walk practicing my lateral work, and suppling/loosening Regitse's old bones and muscles. I started with some easy leg yields and shoulder-in, then moved onto half-pass to a half walk pirouette and half pass again the opposite way. Reg is just SO fantastic with these exercises. As soon as I get my positioning right, she just performs like the schoolmaster she is. In slow motion, I will admit, but it still feels amazing.
I joined back in the lesson for the canter, just because I wanted Reg to pick up her left lead. Nikki, who was teaching, obviously knows the horse too and we agreed we would be happy if she held it for three strides. She is notoriously bad on the left lead, so although she will canter the short side of an arena happily on the right, she just tends to bop up and down and refuse to canter at all if you ask on her left side.
Reg was feeling absolutely brilliant after 40mins of suppling exercises at the walk, and started pinging around the arena. Chucked in a buck too!!
I've heard that Reg used to be fiery, and has thrown off pretty much every staff member here. I was yet to experience one of her 'moods' but I have now! When that mare feels good, damn can she go.
We got waaay more than the three strides of left lead canter. We also got a lot of attempted bolts to the inside, and little humpy bucks, but we got the canter too. What a good girl.
Seriously love her. Love that even at her advanced age she can still ping around like a lunatic. Just shows the good care she has had her whole life!

Reggie schnozz!

I also rode Reg in a lesson with Wanda. I somewhat dread my lessons with Wanda (although love her as a person) because she is so tough on me!! I usually end the lesson feeling like a terrible rider.
Of course because I was riding my fav granny Regitse, I was feeling good. A few adjustments with my contact as per usual (reaaaalllyy gotta train my wrists!) and we had a fantastic lesson.
We did one of my favourite exercises, which is a leg yield from the center line, and mid-way through the leg yield the bend is changed to a half pass.
I find it really improves the flow of the half pass, and simplifies the whole exercise. Half pass IS just a leg yield with the bend in the opposite direction.
We also did a bit of work in counter-canter on a shallow loop. Of course just a few strides for Reg, but pleased to say we got both the leads without any fuss, and no bucking.

On a roll with Reg!

JB Clinic

I participated in a John Bowen clinic yesterday. John has been holding clinic days at Contessa for some 30 years and teaches dressage up to Grand Prix, as well as competed in eventing to an advanced level. I was able to watch a session before I went on, and although I couldn't hear much (too much noise from the peanut gallery) it was interesting to watch the change in the horses from the start of the lesson to the end.

More amazing, John was teaching three extremely different horse and rider combinations. Not as a group lesson, but three private lessons at the same time. Each rider was working on something different, and John would keep his eyes on everyone. Pretty impressive teaching!

My lesson was on Saffy (insert eye roll here). Dear Lord that mare does my head in. She's such a beautiful, talented girl. But also so very hormonal and strong-minded.

Saffy

My written notes from the clinic:

• Question yourself as a rider- Is the horse responding? Is the horse supple? Forward? Am I riding effectively?
• Play with the aids and tools you have to try and improve the horse.
• Ride both legs to both reins.
• Outside aids to inside suppleness
• Horse's shoulders in front of their hips (i.e. straight)
• Thumbs on top- no twist in wrists (locked wrists)
• Elastic elbows, like a rubber band
• Horse must be forward before rider can balance.

I about died of exhaustion from the lesson. I was actually a little dizzy afterwards, which is unfortunate since I jumped off and immediately taught a beginner lead-line lesson. It's all go!

Saffy was having a difficult day. I really struggled to get her forward, so my position extra sucked. Pony-club kicking a horse is not helpful to a solid position- which is exactly what I had written in my notes. Without Saffy's back supporting me, I was being bounced around in between kicks to her ribs.

In a 45 min lesson, it took probably 35minutes to get her forward.

When I did get some kind of reaction to my leg, she just bombed off, threw her shoulders around and spooked. Good God why, mare.

Once she was forward, John had me take a rather firm contact on her to control her shoulders. Like, it was actually hard work to physically just hold the reins. To keep a consistent contact, John told me to lock my wrists. This is something I've been told about a hundred times since I've been here. I KNOW I hold the reins incorrectly if I'm not paying attention. However this is the first time someone has actually taken the time to explain WHY it is incorrect, and what a twisting wrist will do to the connection to the bit.

Next time you are holding a pair of reins, give this a go. Hold the reins with thumbs on top and straight wrists. Cool. correct.

Now rotate your thumbs inwards (I usually only do this with my left hand unconsciously). You will notice that the reins go slack by about 2 inches.

So by letting my wrists curl around, my contact is not just a little inconsistent, it's off by about 2 inches. So I'm losing the entire left hand side of the horse.

It also forces by forearms to do the work, not my core. This also effects the consistency.

So with a seriously firm and consistent contact on her mouth, and some forward activity going on, Saffy finally came together for the last 10mins, and I was able to ride like an actual horse rider, instead of a sack of potatoes.  Just in time for the lesson to be over.

I think Saffy was just as tired as I was. Serves her right. Mares, I tell ya.

That being said, the few times I've seen Saffy being ridden by an advanced instructor (and looking/working a million bucks), they have been wearing spurs and haven't been soft with them. So that makes me feel marginally better.

In other news, went on an after-work hack the other day which is always fun. I rode Ted the TB, who showed off his racing skills. That horse is fast!!

Also rode in Jump Club again. Always good fun jumping Walter the great white beast!

That's all for now- stay tuned.

Back to Dressage!

Looking back on my posts, I wrote a blurb about Gigi the horse, but neglected to actually write anything about my lessons with her. As a reminder, Gigi is a Grand Prix level Dutch Warmblood who lived life in the limelight years ago, and has been teaching students here for the last four years or so. She's probably around the early 20's age mark.
The first lesson I had on Gigi was half an hour with Tina. Such a fail. Hence why it was part of the 'Lousy' blog post. Gigi is a fan of passage and piaffe, and if you do not give her clear aids she will just start bouncing up and down.
I couldn't get her forward, round or anything, and any canter attempts turned into a little mini passage. In my head I was thinking "I am not qualified to ride this horse!"
Major misunderstanding of aids. Turns out my legs were in the wrong position (again!). With every other horse I've been riding here, my legs need to be further back to be effective. So of course when I wasn't getting results with Gigi, I kept trying to force my legs back. Little did I know this was also the aids for piaffe, hence the bouncing.
As soon as I got my legs on the girth, we were away into canter and everything went well. Of course this was in the last 5 mins of the lesson, but at least I got there! Kind of!

The second lesson was WAAY better. I actually started out on Walter (being taught by Dawn this time) and someone else was riding Gigi. Mid-way through we all did a switch around, and I ended up riding G again.
Dawn instructed me through her canter, which still took a few tries to get, but much easier, and then had me work on shortening the stride. To do this, it was very much just a lengthening of my body, and engagement of my core. I was basically holding this giant Warmblood mare together with my abs.
Just out of no-where, Dawn instructed me to come down the long side and do two flying changes. Here I was, just getting the hang of her canter, and now I was expected to do some advanced movements!!
Needn't have worried. That mare is a saint, and first try she gave me one lovely change. Took a tiny bit of adjusting from my aids to get the second, namely holding my outside leg where it needs to be, so that I can move it forward at the correct moment. Really technical stuff. Pretty chuffed with myself! It felt amazing.


I rode Axel in two lessons this week and found him difficult in both. I really liked Axel the first time I rode him, but for some reason we're not meshing anymore. Not sure what I've changed. He is SO difficult to bend, so I actually spent most of both lessons doing walk/halt transitions with a bend, and trying to get some kind of suppleness and obedience. I didn't mind. Honestly, since I couldn't get any bend, there was absolutely no way I was going to get a passable leg yield or shoulder-in. I could have hauled his face around, but that's not really bend now, is it?
On the plus side, he's super comfortable. So I had that going for me!

I also had another lesson on Regitse. Seriously love that old mare. She is just so cool. I only participated in half the lesson, since Reg isn't up to much canter work, but that mare is really helping me with feel and precise application of aids. Again we had some stellar shoulder-in and half passes. I was able to keep her round and forward, which is exciting. I had her round the last lesson, but I didn't get a whole lot of forward movement. I don't want to push her too much, she IS a million years old. But the old girl was charging across that diagonal doing her best to manage a medium trot! Go girl.
Joao praised me heavily for that particular ride. Feels good when I get it right!

And Lastly (I've got to hurry, I'm riding very soon!)
I had the most AMAZING private lesson on a dear mare named Lula. Lula is an absolutely ginormous Hanovarian. Like, 17hh big and long as a train. She works at Prix St George level, and to be honest I was a little apprehensive about riding her. My first lessons with the advanced schoolmasters have never gone well. They are all so different, and I am just not used to a horse that well trained!
I am pleased to report that I had a stellar lesson on the Big Orange. I only had half an hour, so I briefly got to know her buttons a bit (she is SUPER soft. Love it.) and then straight into half-pass and flying changes. Half pass was a bit shaky to start, but that was all to do with the positioning of my body. Once I had my shoulders pointing across the diagonal, and my outside leg further back, she did a lovely half pass.
Flying changes were spot on. I'm really getting the hang of the timing! I think the work I did on Gigi prepared me really well for Lula.  Her canter just felt amazing. Very adjustable, and just fabulously together for a horse her size.
So basically I'm in love, and can't wait to ride her again.

The Big Orange

I've got to go! Jump Club starts soon and I need to tack up Walter. Tomorrow I'm riding in a dressage clinic, so stay tuned!!

In Memory

Today we lost the oldest member of Contessa, Lanzo. I obviously did not know him as well as the long standing members of the team, but I still cared for him over the last month, and it is never easy to see a horse in it's last moments.

Lanzo, a Dutch Warmblood gelding, competed to Prix St George with both Tina and Dawn many, many years ago. He turned THIRTY TWO years old this year which is absolutely amazing, and has lived almost his entire life at Contessa.
He has been retired for some time now, but also spent many years as an advanced school horse, teaching riders all he knows, particularly his spectacular flying changes. I still saw him practicing his changes in the field no more than a week ago.

It is a testament to Tina and her high standard of care how long Lanzo lived, and it was obvious that it was a quality life in an atmosphere where he was well loved and spoiled.
Up until his last evening he was bright and happy, making huge amounts of noise demanding to be fed first, and begging for attention.

This morning Lanzo was lying down in his stable, and he could not get up. His body was exhausted, and his system was shutting down. He was euthanized not long after. Everyone was extremely sad to see him go, but I can only imagine how Tina is feeling. To have a horse that long, to develop such a close bond and then to see him to his last moments of life. Heart breaking!

Rest in Peace, dear Lanzo!

Something Different

This week I was SO in need of a break from dressage, or thinking about dressage, or being around dressage.
On Monday night I was able to join the Jump Club which was super fun! And super freezing!! We are having a cold snap right now, and I KID YOU NOT it was snowing very briefly. Ridiculous.
I rode Saffy, which was my first time jumping her. I have seen her jump, and she is a very determined jumper. Always has this mean look on her face, and charges at the fences!

Saffy at the jump clinic with student Katie

Because it was bloody freezing, the horses were more than a bit fresh which just had me giggling. Saffy was plunging and leaping around, but nothing terribly dangerous. Just hilarious. It's like, what are you doing, mare? What do you think you are achieving?

We were working over a grid which started as a bounce, one stride to three stride oxer.

As Saffy was feeling sharp, we had trouble with rushing and jumping flat, so as soon as the fences gotr around the 90cm mark, she was knocking them. I felt like I was riding a freight train. She was both difficult to get forward ( she was preferring the rear, side-step and then launch) and difficult to stop. Once we were on that grid I could heave, half-halt, pull with all my strength (which is saying something, I have strong arms) and she wouldn't slow an inch to get her weight back and jump cleanly.

Leila, who was teaching the jump club, started standing in my direct line and hopping out of the way at the last second to make Saffy hesitate a bit and listen. This actually worked very well! I'll be using that with future students and rushy horses.

Lots of fun. Hopefully I can do jump club every week.

I really did have a week with Saffy. The staff all gathered to try her out as a vaulting horse. I personally don't think she'll be a particularly good mount as she is rather touchy and moody, but it was fun trying it out and I do believe they will continue to train her up as a backup.

Mostly I just sat on Saffy while she was being lunged, lifting my arms around and swinging my legs, getting her used to being touched in different places and carrying a rider in all sorts of wacky positions.

We all had a go on Puro the vaulting horse too, and I got to practice my moves, such as they are. Good fun!

Lastly today I went on a hack with Leila and her partner Derek, who have their horses at the yard next door. If you go back a few posts, that is the yard where I found the delightful little donkey and the fabulously haired cob, and was able to ride one of Derek's Paint studs.

 My ride was Brody, a Quarter Horse mare now retired from riding (other than the odd gentle hack) and is being used as a broodmare. The little bay colt on the left in the photo above is her Baby Daddy, and the filly I played with last time their daughter.
It was sooo much fun playing cowboys again!!

She was really sweet and really really comfy. It was still freezing and kept alternating between sleeting and hailing, but I was still pleased as punch to be on a trail and not having to work hard. Sometimes you forget that we all started riding because of the love of it!

Lousy!

Over the weekend I did a heck of a lot of teaching which was great, especially since I upgraded to slightly more capable riders. Don't get me wrong, I love the little kiddlets and they are SO easy to entertain, but it is nice to be trusted with teaching older students.

I had a lovely ride on Ted with Leila teaching. It was two of the other students' introduction to jumping, so I used the jumps to get Ted more forward, and then practiced what I had been learning for the past week. So: horse in front of my leg, my positioning (i.e. everything) and relaxing. I think the little crossrail actually made me relax more. It gave me something else to focus on, so everything else was just happening a bit easier. The last two times I had ridden Ted I couldn't get him round or bending (he IS an older Tb, so is obviously a little stiff) but this lesson I had him working pretty well and I felt like I was sitting reasonably securely.
With this horse, less is more. Taking and giving the reins did wonders to getting him a bit more together instead of just take-take-take. So I would have a pretty decent contact, ask him to soften, and then hold him extremely lightly and relaxed. Lovely!

My lesson with Tina this week was on another of the advanced horses, Gigi. Now this horse has a bit of an interesting history. She is formally 'Jordan's Glamour Girl' owned by Katie Price and was the UK Horse of the Year.

If you google Gigi, Katie Price and Contessa, you'll find plenty of articles on an alleged lawsuit against Contessa. It is absolutely ridiculous and just makes me think less of Katie. Gigi is in wonderful health, is sassy , sound and only gets ridden maybe twice a week if she's lucky? None of her lessons include more than a few strides of canter anymore so it's not like she's working hard! She probably gets the most turnout out of any of the asvanced horses too.

My second lesson on Mr. Ted did not go so well as the first. I was with Emma, and she gave us free rein to warm-up and work through some exercises as we liked. This was probably a bad idea. I am really in need of constant coaching right now to keep me focused.
I started off bending Ted straight away, knowing he's stiff, and managed to improve him a little bit. I was feeling a little deflated, as I know I can ride better and make the horse work better, but I just wasn't getting anywhere.
I chatted with Emma afterwards and although I should have taken it as a pep talk, it really discouraged me. She had noticed how tense I had become, and mentioned that I wasn't that tense in the first lesson I had with her- in other words, I have gone backwards.
We did some exploring as to why this had happened (other than I'm just a really terrible rider) and have come to the conclusion that I need to work on myself first and foremost, and just forget about what the horse is doing right now.
All of the instructors here are brilliant in their own ways, but some ask me to work the horses in certain ways WHILE keeping my position and relaxation. It really is impossible for me at this time. I cannot keep constantly readjusting my position while at the same time influencing the horse effectively. I just don't have the mental capacity. It gets me flustered and angry at myself for not doing more.

A little river in Hertford

So I will be asking for some lunge lessons, and letting the instructors know that my main focus right now will be my own strengthening and position, not the horses.
The few lessons where I have had a position bootcamp (mostly with Joao and Dawn) I have ridden 100% more effectively and have achieved more from the horse without even trying. The lessons where I am asked to get the horse round, get the horse collected, get the horse forward etc. is where I fall apart and ride like rubbish.

So I'm not feeling particularly wonderful about my dressage. In fact I feel damn right lousy, and I don't think 6 months is enough time to fix all my problems. I can't try anymore than I am already trying!!!!

Standouts

I have very little either time or motivation to write blogs the last week. I had a few nights of nightmares and a few nights of evening classes, so all extra time has been devoted to sleeping! I finally caught up on sleep yesterday, had another evening class last night and am now on my day off.

I obviously did a lot of riding (an average of once per day) I'll try to sum up my standout rides of the week.

Last post I mentioned I was to ride Axel next and have a teaching assessment. Lesson with Axel was fine. I feel like I can hold my position in the canter transition better on him, and we did some reasonably nice work. In my teaching assessment I only had 20mins to show myself off, but I think I did reasonably well. Luckily my assessor (Emma) told me I needed to teach more to keep me in practice. Yay!
Next day I had two lessons. First up on Romeo with Joao. I got a teeeeny tiny bit of my confidence back in this lesson. I'm learning Romeo's buttons too, and know that if I can correct my position as much as possible, he is honest enough to give me something in return. We had a lovely forward trot, great walk-canter-walk transitions, and he was becoming round underneath me, which I still continue to be proud of.
Joao said I had improved since my last private lesson on Romeo, but of course I still need work! He mentioned my hands again in particular. Damn my hands. I say that so often.
We did more of the leg stretches to improve overall position and strength, with the focus always on forward. You cannot collect a horse until he is well forward!!

Thursday I had evening class with Nikki on Saffy again. I really do enjoy the Thursday group. Nikki is probably the most understanding instructor in terms of how I've been taught and why it's so hard for me to change. Also after the Thursday group they have a 'Lecture' which is actually just chatting about horses with tea and cake. Cake is always a plus.
In this lesson Saffy was working very well for me.  We worked mostly in medium paces, trying to improve the quality of the gaits and shifting Saffy's weight more to her hind end. This was done by teeny tiny incremental changes in my position. To collect a horse (i.e. to shift weight to the hind) all the rider does is add a smidge of leg, sit taller in the torso, keep the tummy in front and raise the hands a few inches. Half halts as necessary.
Saffy can be quite heavy on the forehand (she is quite long) and extremely difficult on the right rein to the point that if you're not paying attention she will continually drift to the left, so I found it difficult to get medium paces while keeping the purity of the gaits (two beats for trot, three beats for canter) AND stop her from dropping onto her forehand.
I feel like we achieved this in the walk and trot (she was lovely, soft and round) but not so much the canter. Not enough forward, and thus not enough drive from the hind to collect her.
As always position corrections were longer with the leg, more core, and consistent contact.

Regitse

 Friday was fun day!
I had a lesson in the morning on Regitse (the ancient advanced Warmblood) with Joao. In my last lesson on Reg I couldn't get the canter for more than a stride, and struggled to keep her round which is kind of embarrassing, seeing as she is an advanced trained horse and is supposed to be easy to collect. This time she was round the entire time, we did some effortless shoulder-ins and leg yields AND we managed to canter a full half circle on each rein. Reg can't do much more than that as she is about a hundred years old.
I was proud because I know this mare won't give an inch unless you are using your aids correctly. I knew I was riding well because Joao hardly said any corrections to me. Sweet victory.

Friday was the John Adams showjumping clinic! It only cost 25 pounds, so I figured why not. I enjoy jumping and it's a nice break from the dressage bootcamp.
I rode Walter, which was good fun. As a reminder, he is a 16.3hh Irish Draught gelding owned privately by one of the long-term students here, but also used for lessons. In his previous life he was a hunt horse, so he enjoys his jumping.
No negatives for me from the clinic! Just excellent fun. The jumps felt tiny on Walter. It was basically just a canter stride for him, and they were set at a good 80cm by the end.

I feel so much more confident jumping than doing dressage right now!

More Riding!

I've just come out of a lesson with Joao on Romeo, which I actually felt really good about! Whenever I find out I'm assigned Romeo, I groan a little bit. He's a lovely horse, very sweet and honest... but he really challenges me. I struggle so hard to keep my position with his giant movement and lazy nature. I am both trying to keep him going AND hold myself in position. Dear Lord!

This was actually a private lesson, which made me even more nervous. Joao pushes me hard, Romeo is tiring even if I'm not doing much, and there was no-one else to take the spotlight off of my flaws.
Joao started with giving me a few new leg techniques to get Romeo moving forward off my leg in a timely manner. Instead of bumping BACK with my heel to get him going, he had me wrap my legs and attempt to get my heel UNDER his belly and drawing it back up. This way my heel doesn't pop up, and the aid is much sharper, making the horse respond.

This worked a treat, and I had Romeo going more forward than I've ever had before.

I then was instructed to do some leg stretching to get me into a more effective position. The one that sticks out in my memory (because it was so painful) was holding my thighs off the saddle for extended periods of time. Oh, my. My muscles! Another was to violently kick backwards. Both exercises loosened (and strengthened) my thighs and knees, making it easier for me to stretch down into the stirrups and keep my heel down and leg steady.

Because I was focusing on my position with every ounce of brain power, something amazing happened- Romeo started to come together underneath me! I never thought I'd get this horse in any form of collected frame. The difference was my position, as they have been telling me since the start. Put yourself in the right spot, and it all just happens.

So:
- RELAX
- Open thighs
- Full contact on horse's side with calf muscle
- knees off and RELAXED
- seat RELAXED (no more riding with the seat allowed- just follow the movement)
- Top of the tummy engaged and up (oh my abs! So much pain!)
- Lower back RELAXED
- Hands closed and quiet dammit!

Great lesson!

And now for something completely different. I tagged along with one of my housemates to see her personal horses. Her partner is a full blown cowboy, so I was lucky enough to hop on one of his stallions and have a go.

Western is about as different from dressage as you can get. The stallion (Boysie) wore quite a long shanked curb, so it was all neck reining, and seat, with legs held off the horse and only touching when necessary. He's a very nicely trained horse, so I did some really fun flying changes and sliding stops.

Derek put him through his paces too, including some work without a bridle, and a whole lot of work completely on voice aids. Very impressive!

Just casually having a phone convo while cantering around

A huge highlight of my visit to this yard was the horses I met. I found a Gypsy Cob called Henry, a spotty Donkey that I want to take home with me, and played with a QH yearling filly. Fun fun!

Tomorrow I'm riding Axel in a lesson, and being assessed for my teaching skills again. Until tomorrow!!

The Last Few Rides

I have only had two lessons since my last post, I didn't ride at all for three days as we were running a dressage two-day course and a showjumping day-course which took all the spare time and energy we had.
And then of course I had my day off, which I don't ride on. Nevertheless! I still did loads this week.

As you can see from my last post, I did a bit of vaulting. SUPER fun. The girls who are part of the vaulting club are just incredible- extremely strong and graceful. They make it look very easy.
I was very sore after vaulting on Puro. I only did a few moves, but holding my weight up and flinging my legs around in a controlled manner is hard!

Puro

I also went on an English 'hack', i.e. trail ride. Very different from Australia. Even though we are considered to be in a very country area, we had to ride quite a bit on the road with cars, motorcycles and trucks zooming past (and some shouting obscenities. I now know what a cyclist feels like)

It's beautiful, though. Extremely green and lush, even though Spring hasn't really sprung yet. I rode Millie, a 13.3hh mare.

We had a few great little gallops (Poor Millie was left in the dust). A nice change from the arena!

My lessons were both on Saffy the Wb, but were about as different as you can get. The first was with Nikki, and I felt we really got somewhere. During the lesson we worked on voltes in walk and trot, and walk pirouettes.
Nikki had me focusing on the feel of my reins, and bending Saffy with my body rather than my hands. So instead of giving a little vibration on the inside rein (along with outside leg slightly back and inside leg on girth), she had me turn my shoulders ever so slightly and use my elbow to control the rein, rather than my wrist and fingers, and still using my legs as before.
This REALLY worked with Saffy. All the tension in the rein disappeared and it was easier on me (as well as Saffy!)
These tiny little adjustments seriously matter. It seems like nit-picking, but the proof is in the pudding. Saffy was soft, forward and round. Lovely.
We did a little bit of canter work, where I managed to keep myself together a bit more. Yay.
My biggest flaws of the lesson- I need to lengthen my leg and push down into the stirrup, which is actually a sign I'm tense in my hips, thighs and knees.
As per usual- I gotta keep those damn hands still and quiet!!

The second lesson was another disaster lesson where I felt a bit teary afterwards. This time with Wanda, I just couldn't get myself together to ride. As per usual I was trying too hard, becoming stressed, tense and frustrated- and thus making absolutely no progress.
We didn't do much in the way of exercises. More just trying to get Saffy off my leg and controlling my body to some degree.
It sucked- but you've gotta start somewhere! I don't think I can list one good thing from the lesson, other than the reminder that I need to chill out.
What can I say? I'm a try hard.

I did get to sit in on a few of the lectures for the dressage course which was very educational. We had a demo with the advanced horses where they showed us the high level movements and how to ride them. Really cool- I've never actually been taught the aids for these higher movements (one-time tempis, piaffe, passage etc.) so it was interesting to see how the buttons worked in detail.
We also did a bit of in-hand work, once again putting the horses through some advanced movements from the ground and learning the aids. Ground work is my 'thing', so I felt a lot more comfortable asking the horses to work with both of my feet on the ground.

One of the demos which I found  particularly interesting was a direct comparison of a Lusitano and a Warmblood- both trained to Grand Prix level. It is rare when you get to see these two very different breeds piaffing and passaging side by side. I'm sure you can guess which breed I prefer, but it was interesting to look from a judging point of view and analyse why each breed may get higher marks in particular movements based on their conformation and movement.
The Lusitanos (and Baroque breeds in general) excel in the movements needing high collection and energy, where the Warmbloods excel in the movements needing a more forward-and-out action. It was very clear that the Lusitano could piaffe perfectly (wheras the Wb struggled to keep it), and the Warmblood did some textbook lengthenings and tempi changes (where the Lusitano got tense).


Another post is on it's way! So much to catch up on.