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.

Photo dump!

Don't have enough energy to write a 'real' blog, so here are some photos! All credit to Tina Layton for photography.

 Above- vaulting horse Puro, who put up with my scrambling around very nicely!

Some Pas de Deux training on Romeo

Saturday staff meeting. With champagne!

That's all for now. Will update properly soon!

Three Lessons Today

Yeah wow. Three lessons in a day! I also taught two lessons, so it was a seriously tiring Wednesday.

First lesson was with Tina on one of the advanced horses Real (pronounced Ree-Ahl). Real is a 3/4WB, 1/4 TB and has been here since he was a foal, trained by Tina and her team. Other than Regitse (who doesn't really count, since she's a hundred years old), Real is the first advanced horse I've been allowed to sit on. I've watched a few lessons with Real, where the riders were mostly working on piaffe, passage and pirouettes. No pressure.

Tina put me on Real so I could start getting a feel for 'the next step up'.

Real. He always has this look on his face

 Real is around the 16.1hh mark and verrry long and bouncy. I prefer his kind of bouncy to Romeo, though, since he is so well schooled he gives me a nice seat to sit on, instead of Romeo who tends to hollow. We started with shoulder-fore to soften and warm-up the horses, then moved into an exercise which I rather liked.
We would walk down the long side in shoulder-fore position, halt (keeping the position) and then trot on in shoulder-fore. Doing transitions through lateral movements was a really testing exercise, but one I actually could achieve on Mr.-I'm-really-really-well-trained.
We did the same exercise in travers and shoulder-in. Don't think I've ever done these movements with such little effort. Love me a sensitive horse!

Of course being a schoolmaster, Real very much told me my weaknesses (which I am more than aware of right now). Mainly my inconsistent contact on the reins, my wonky hand-to-leg ration, and a sneaky twisty wrist. Usually on my left hand.
So I need more leg, keep my bloody hands still and straight, and for Godsake stop letting the reins slip.

We finished off with a tiny bit of canter. Hello! There's another weakness. Damn, my transitions suck.


I had to finish the lesson a little early so I could get ready for my next lesson immediately after on Axel with Wanda.
I've ridden Axel twice now, and I rather like him. He has really correct and comfortable paces, and he is nice and reactive to my leg aids. Took me a little while to get him into a frame, and I must admit by the end of the lesson I think I was just pissing him off.
Axel doesn't want to collect. It's hard work. He'd rather stick his nose in the air and trot like a giraffe. At first he listened to my almost constant reminders to stay round and active in the hind, but by the end he was sucking back off my leg and tossing his head. Sorry mate. Such is life as a school horse.

Axel

We started with a bit of trot work over poles, where Wanda had us concentrating on keeping out position as the horse changed his movement, and keeping the horse straight.
We moved into a counter-canter exercise which I found rather difficult. By this time in the lesson Axel was starting to resist a bit, and I think I was probably pretty tired. We were to counter flex in trot and pick up counter-canter, then transition down to trot, change the bend, and canter true.

Axel, bless him, wanted to pick up the true lead every time no matter how I flexed and bent him. He was sure I was asking the wrong thing!
We did get there, I needed to really exaggerate the bend aids from my legs (like, inside leg waaaaaay behind the girth), vibrate the outside rein, ask for counter- canter, and not completely flop and drop him, as is my usual style during a canter transition.

We did a little shoulder-in as well, but honestly, I think that's a given for every lesson. It really is the most super exercise which achieves so many things.

Wanda had me thinking about my contact and connection, as always. I need shorter reins, but a softer feel. I can get the feel, but those naughty hands of mine keep creeping backwards towards me, and those reins just keep sneaking out of my grip.
My leg still needs to relax and wrap around the horse better, heels pushing outwards and knee soft.

The last lesson (at 7 pm- give me strength!)
Was with Joao on Walter. I've been eyeing off Walter ever since I arrived. He is a BIG (aren't they all big?) Irish Draught gelding who is owned privately by one of the long term students, but is also used for lessons. He'd easily be 16.3hh, and almost as wide.

Walter would prefer to sleep

I really get a lot out of my lessons with Joao. He pushes me so damn hard! It was probably about 12 *C , but I had sweat dripping down my back.
We started with- you guessed it- shoulder-fore and shoulder-in. We would shoulder-fore down the long side, 10m circle at either B or E, and then finish the long side in shoulder-in. This was a test in accuracy of angles, as well as effectiveness of aids and obedience of the horse.
I felt quite good on Walter. He is responsive to the leg and light on the contact. I could actually get him to collect (which is nice) and hold a frame without too much effort.

I did find him a bit blocked on the right rein. It was reeeaaallly hard to get him bending easily that way without me forcing it. With Joao constantly on my back to get this horse to bend, we got it.

We moved on to some 1/4 walk pirouettes on a square. This is actually an exercise I use a lot in my lessons at home. The old dressage squares. So it was easy enough to switch from doing turns on the haunches to a walk pirouette. The only difference is forward momentum and a bit more bend!

We finished off with some walk/canter/walk transitions. I am proud to say that I actually managed to hold it together and ride some nice transitions instead of flopping around. More core! More support! More leg!

Walter was fab on the left rein in this exercise, but on the right he was just finding the bend too difficult in the canter, so started doing some bargy stuff. Now we had been doing laterals the whole lesson, so I know he knew what I was asking when I put my inside leg on to move him back to the track, but Walter (with his giant size) instead took every leg aid as FORWARD and counter-bend. It wasn't very dressage like. I'll leave it at that. Not a great way to finish, but we did manage some decent bend by the end, and in his defence we had really been working his bad side, so he was probably as exhausted as I was.

The biggest thing I took out of that lesson was that I am trying too hard. In Joao's words "I can see you really want it, but you are trying too hard. Just chill, and it will happen." And of course he is right. This was the main issue with my horrid lesson with Romeo on Sat. I tried to hard, got tense, and it all fell apart.
Go with the flow, man!

I am in desperate need of rest, so I'm off to bed. Only have a half day tomorrow, so might duck into the village to do some more sightseeing.
Until then!

The Weekend!

Saturday:

Taught my first lesson on Sat! Wee! I really do love teaching. I've never wanted to go to the Olympics, or even be terribly brilliant in any competition, but I DO want to teach.
As expected, they are starting me out with the kids. Around the 5-6 age group, so little itty-bittys. I like the little ones, so easy to entertain!

My two ponies I am working with currently in my lessons are Solo and Bronte. Both are around the 11hh size (so little! Ah!) and both are very different to work with. Solo is a red roan Welsh A who has had some serious training back in the day. As soon as the kids sit properly he goes into the cutest little frame- bless!
Bronte is a little more evil. Also a Welsh A, but shaped like a hippo and grey. As you put the child on her back, she bites, if the child asks her to move forward, she bites, if she is just feeling like it, she will bite. Unfortunately, with this age of child the ponies need a leader, and since I'm lucky I get the crocodile pony.
Tina seems happy with my teaching, so I'm sure I'll be doing plenty more of that in the future.

Keep forgetting to take photos. So enjoy some English scenery

My lesson on Sat was an absolute disaster, and I very much struggled not to lose it and leave the lesson in tears. I'm not usually one for a tantrum- but it was bad!
The lesson was with Tina, and this was her 'Elite' class which consisted of two of the instructors, and her son Zak (who is 15yr old competing Advanced on his Grand Prix Lusitano stallion) and then me, some random ring-in riding Romeo again.

So as we're going through some exercises (of our own choosing, Tina just made adjustments), I look around and see everyone else piaffing and passaging around, and I can't even get my horse to move forward and round up. I was trying SO hard. Panting, sweating, wracking my brain for anything that might help, now and again stopping to ask advice from Tina...and I just got no-where.
My position sucked, and as the lesson went on it got worse. I was exhausted from trying, my hands had blisters from the contact THROUGH my gloves, and Romeo was just bouncing me around like a sack of potatoes. Fail.

I really struggled not to burst out sobbing on the walk back to the stables. I very kindly asked Tina not to put me in that class anymore- I am very obviously not ready. She agreed (also kindly) and did admit I was probably riding the most difficult horse (as he is a beginner/intermediate horse, not a Grand Prix horse). Still, I bet if you put the coaches on Romeo they'd have him looking a million bucks.

I went back to the Bungalow  and had a sook, then started Sunday fresh.

Sunday there was a Cancer Research Dressage comp being run and held at Contessa. Originally I was going to be competing too, but we ran out of time to organise me a horse and practice tests. (Kinda glad- I'm so not ready to make a fool of myself in front of everyone!) Instead I did some stewarding in the warm-up arena, and some pencilling for the judge (as well as running around helping where needed, of course.)

Before the show started I had a lesson, on a horse named Regitse. Reg is an elderly (in fact, very close to being retired) advanced schoolmaster. I believe she is a Danish Warmblood, but I was almost certain she was a Clydesdale on first sight. Seriously, these horses are so big!
I have this feeling they put me on Reg to get a bit of confidence back. It took a bit of a smashing in the last lesson, so I really needed it.
She was lovely. So easy to ride, and such an excellent teacher. Started off with some leg yields and shoulder-in, which felt flawless. I had absolutely no trouble getting her collected, and even got to feel some half-steps of piaffe on her!
Wanda (who was teaching) likes to take my stirrups away, but it felt good with Reg because she was giving me her back willingly.

The big lesson Reg taught me was about precision of aids. She's obviously trained to the 9's (I believe she trained and competed to PSG level?) and she's got a bit of attitude, so Miss Regitse would not give me a canter until I had my legs placed EXACTLY right. I'm talking a matter of inches difference. The same went for collecting her. If my legs were an inch too forward, or my back not 100% supported by my core, she would just kinda hop up and down and pin her ears.
Once I re-adjusted, she delivered!

She is ancient, so it was a short lesson with only a few strides of canter, but I'm keen to ride her again.

The rest of the day was exhausting, as competitions generally are. So exhausting, in fact, that my immune system had a shut down and I am now on day 2 of a stomach bug. Bleurgh.
Think I'll be back to work and riding tomorrow, so stay tuned!!

Moving up

Tuesday was a huge day for me. We had a pony day (up to 12 kids for the whole day- lucky us), back to back to back lessons, and I was on shift for evening classes and feeds. A mammoth 13 hour day. whewww! I didn't think we'd get everything done, but thank goodness it's school holidays, and we have lots of volunteers scurrying around helping where they can.

For my ride on Tuesday I rode another of the older, steady cobs. A 14.3hh girl named Suzy.

Suzy (website photo)

For this lesson with Wanda, I was denied my stirrups, just like the poor chap in the above photo. She's pretty comfy, so it wasn't terrible, but sitting trot for a whole lesson is tiring to say the least.
The great thing about having so many different instructors at different levels of teaching is that they each pick up something slightly different about my riding.
Wanda picked up my crooked seat. As I'm right handed, my right seat bone takes slightly more weight than my left, which is enough to put me completely off balance. To test me, Wanda had me putting Suzy through some shoulder-in, leg yields and half passes.
Suzy is one sided too (as all horses naturally are), so she would not give me good lateral work until I was sitting properly, relaxed, and using my aids effectively.
I am pretty proud to say that our laterals were fabulous by the end- really flowed and felt effortless!! For a stiff old mare and a wobbly rider, I'm feeling good about that!

I still couldn't get her round enough for Wanda's liking. She kept telling me to 'feel' the outside rein. In my head I was thinking "What the hell does that even mean!?". I tried half halts, I tried little vibrations, I tried widening and lowering my hands, more leg, less leg, more seat, less seat. Nada. I left that lesson feeling good about my balance, but still frustrated that I couldn't get these damn horses on the bit!!

(Oh, and my canter still sucked a bit. Or a lot.)

Indoor on the left, stables to the right. Returning for the evening shift!

After a brief trip to town to grab some Subway with Wanda, I spent the evening tacking up, feeding, watering, and stumbling my way through the office procedures. I think everyone forgot I hadn't been trained in the office yet, so a lot of interrupting lessons to try to figure out what the hell I was doing.


Wednesday was a tiny bit less tiring. A relatively normal day of work, and then an evening lesson with Joao on Axel, a TB gelding who was a decently successful dressage and showjumping horse before he became a school horse.
When asked what Axel was like, I was told it would be difficult for me to get him on the contact. As if that wasn't a problem with every other horse!!
I am pleased to say, however, that Joao found the problem. Woohoo!! And fixed it, I should add.

The problem was my hands, which I knew, but more specifically it was how I was holding my reins. We all know we ride with out thumbs on top, but I didn't know you could get that wrong! I needed to point my thumbs more towards the horse's mouth, thus taking the contact on my ring fingers.
Oh the difference!!!!
I now had a steady contact (for the first time since I've been here) and instread of jiggling and bending the horse to try and get a response, I just held my hands still/consistent and it happened. Hallelujah!

We spent the lesson doing shoulder-in in trot and canter which felt fantastic! Some more minor changes to my position- elbows glued to my sides for stability, and my shoulders staying parallel with the horse's during shoulder in.
Once again, when I got that positioning right, it all just fell into place and felt effortless. I could have kept shoulder-inning the whole night!

My canter transitions and position during got the thumbs up from Joao, but I still struggled to keep an active canter. Also struggled to pick up the correct leg on the straight. This will be fixed once I can learn to be effective AND sit on the horse properly.
A girl can only do some much at one time, you know. ;)

Earl Grey the cat!

And now it's my day off! I took a trip into Hertford with Tina to visit the local tack store (oh dear Lord, it's all so much cheaper!!! NICE tall boots for around 80 pounds, which is approx. $130. You can bet I'll be investing in some of those bad boys. )
I picked up some blingy gloves, since one of my gloves didn't make it to England. Also cheap, but it was difficult to find gloves that weren't double or triple insulated. Don't know what I would do with insulated gloves in Aus.
And then a trip to the grocery store. I am slooowwwly starting to figure out the food here, or rather, what I like. As long as I stay away from the traditional English food I'm all good. (pork pies sound good. They are NOT good. Just FYI.)

Speaking of which, it's dinner time!
Until tomorrow :)

It's Hard to Change!

I think I've had....four more rides since my last lesson blog? They're really cramming them in. I ride daily, sometimes twice, and all have been formal lessons except one.
The informal lesson was darned good fun. I switched between two teeny tiny ponies (Toby and Millie) and we literally just went racing and galloping around the field. I'm not sure what we were meant to accomplish, except maybe to give the kid's ponies a bit of a lively ride. I had my eye on those ponies since my first day.

Toby (website photo)

The day I own a tiny pony is the day I will know pure happiness.

Let's see....the next lesson I had was on Saffy again, and I must correct myself, she is a British Warmblood not a TB. We didn't do terribly much in the lesson in terms of exercises, mostly working on keeping my seat and contact in the canter transition (seriously, I'm starting to hate canter work because I'm realising how bad I am at it.) The lesson was with Nikki, and she picked up straight away what kind of horses I have been riding for the past few years.
In fact, she warned me not to let Contessa change me TOO much, lest I unlearn the ability to ride the feral young horses. So basically, it's okay to ride like a crazy person sometimes when needed, but I must learn to ride like a refined princess too.

I figured out Saffy a bit better this time (I think) and managed to get her a bit rounder and connected, which is much more than I achieved my last lesson with her. I was still feeling a little disappointed in myself, I know I shouldn't compare myself to the other riders here, but I can't help it. I'm just not there yet!

Next day I was on a fabulous little buckskin paint cob named Maisy, coached by Emma. The cobs here are SO much fun. In every way. We just don't have cobs like this at home. Super heavy, wide and hairy. Love it.

Maisy is a 14.1hh older girl, who has a big sign on her stall saying "this horse bites and kicks". Bless. She was actually fantastic to ride. I felt much MUCH better on a horse of her size. Even though she's wide, I could actually wrap my legs around her and felt more secure in my seat. Not really an excuse for my riding- I need to be able to ride all shapes and sizes, but it made me happier for the brief time I rode her!
Emma was trying to help me get her round- which is a problem I've been having with every single horse I've ridden so far. I just can't seem to sort myself out! My hands are far too inconsistent, and the balance between my hands and leg aids are way off.
As I've always told my students, you can't teach 'feel', no-matter how you explain it, so I'm kind of fumbling around in the dark trying everything I can think of to find these horse's buttons. They are all trained Classical (even the kid's ponies), so it's very obviously my lack of training that is letting me down.
By the end I could get her (and myself!) into position, but couldn't keep it going for more than a few strides here and there.

English Countryside. Because pretty.

The canter was still a problem. I could pick it up, but continually got the wrong leg or lost forward and dropped pace. It is SO hard to change your entire riding technique and still be just as effective as I was before. So SO hard.
Around this point (or perhaps with Saffy in the lesson before) I threw my lower back out something chronic. I've had a sore lower back before, but this hurt. An extremely sharp pain on my left side, with a tiny bump of swelling. Ouchouchouch. Google tells me it's a ligament strain, which would make sense considering my lower back is taking a beating with my new position.

I also thought it would be a great idea to walk to the nearest town. It was only an hour's walk, but it really aggravated my back. It was pretty, though. The flowers here are absolutely gorgeous. We get fireweed and dandelions, here it's daffofils and tulips!

 And the trees! Willows and oaks dominate. So, so pretty.

That recap brings us to the end of Monday- still so behind! Going to go have something to eat and will continue my writing soon. Until then!

Different but...not?

Stable management here is different... but of course looking after horses is looking after horses- they are fed, watered, rugged and mucked out as they are anywhere else in the world.
I've pretty much got the new routine down, except for the hard feeds (the managers do that, which is probably good, since I don't recognise any of the feeds) Horses are fed either hay or haylage four times a day, and hard feeds at least twice- sometimes up to four for the ones that need it, plus a good amount of carrots at lunch time (ponies gotta get their veg!) So if you're counting, that means some horses are getting fed eight times a day.

In my opinion, this is how it SHOULD be for stabled horses. I don't know how many times I've answered the question "how much should I give my stabled/yarded horse to eat?' with "As much as they can eat." Roughage should NEVER be denied a horse. They are designed to eat constantly, and we all know the problems that can occur when they don't get enough (colic, ulcers etc.)

Haylage, however, is a new roughage for me. I'd heard of it, knew vaguely what it was, but had no idea it was different than normal hay. Haylage is basically hay that is wrapped immediately after cutting, so it retains a lot of moisture and much more of the nutrients in the grass. I believe this is a slight fermentation process, so the end product is an extremely soft, sweet hay.

I can't decide if I like the smell, or if it repulses me. Never smelt anything like it! The reason Contessa feeds haylage over hay is the increased nutrients. The horses don't get a huge amount of turnout, so they need something to fill the gap of the grass they are missing out on, without having to feed grain. Doubt it would work back home. We'd just have mould.

Speaking of turnout- still getting used to wearing a helmet while catching and releasing. Probably a good idea, since they tend to gallop off bucking, but it's never been a thing in Australia. Oh, and horses are only turned out with the same gender. Mares with mares , geldings with geldings, stallions obviously by themselves.

Stable bedding is straw with rubber matting. Straw to cut down costs (and to give the horses something to nibble on if they run out of haylage) and rubber matting to decrease the amount of bedding used.

I rather like the whole 1/4 bed idea. Makes cleaning really quick (although I reckon it would be even more quick if they used shavings).  The horses seem very comfortable like this. From what I've seen, they lie down a lot more. The rubber must be nice and squishy.

Other than that, the only difference is the wheelbarrows- which are more like trolleys. I'm a big fan. Gotta get me a trolley.

Also the food here is really weird. I'm probably the least picky person ever, but I'm struggling to enjoy anything I eat. I thought England would be similar, but it's SO not. Everything is much more rich, salty and.... dark? tasting. I had a club sandwhich today. Almost didn't eat any of it. How can chicken, bacon, mayo and salad taste so different? Well it does. I didn't like it.
It also seems that no-one cooks properly here. The grocery store is mostly just canned and ready-meals, with over-ripe fruit and bruised vegies. I just wanted to make some Moroccan chicken and cous cous, but nope.

I'm going to go eat some stirfry out of a can now. Eurgh. Until tomorrow!

Riding so much it hurts!

Kay, so. There is SO much going on, so much I'm doing, and so much I want to tell you about!
Once again, I'm exhausted. I thought I was exhausted doing my jobs in AUS but nope. Much more tired now.

I'm going to cram my next three riding lessons into this post, which is just a fraction of what I am doing and learning.

My second lesson was with Tina herself, which was initially intimidating, but she is a fantastic, encouraging coach that instils confidence.
I rode a little Tb called Ted (I say little, but he's still a good 15.2hh) which I found a LOT easier to sit to compared to Romeo.

Ted!

As all the coaches are starting to realise, my position is my greatest fault. Riding problem horses has made me a defensive rider, and any instruction I've had in AUS was basically useless in terms of position. 

Ted was a comfy, steady boy, so it was easy to make the adjustments I needed to. SUCH a difference. I have been unknowingly hindering horses for my entire life. 

Just to name a few things I'm currently working on changing:

• Core strength. Tummy UP, lower back soft, open chest and sitting on my pockets. 
• Quiet with the seat! Pushing with your seat will only tense the horse's back.
• Relaxed knees to allow the leg to drop down and under my hip
• Hands held wider (the width of my body) weight in the elbows, and more contact to catch the energy from my leg.
• Speaking of leg aids, less is more. Instead of increasing the strength of my aids, I must increase the tempo. 

I only had half an hour with Ted, as we were down a staff member and had a million things to do, but it was a great intro to position bootcamp. 

My next lesson, on the same day, was taught by Dawn. I rode Saphy, another TB , but a bit bigger. 

Saphy

Saphy is also a steady ride, but I must admit I really struggled to find her buttons. She wouldn't give an inch unless I really rode her, yet I had Dawn I instructing me to do less and let the horse do the work. Very tricky! 

We did plenty of transitions, focusing on keeping the connection throughout (I like to throw my reins away in the canter transition. Oops.) And holding my position. Killer on the core muscles. 

When asking Saphy to come into a frame, I felt a bit frustrated as I wasn't getting results, but we got there in the end. My fault, not hers. I didn't have enough contact, and was far too tense. 

So by this time I'm dead, still have yard work to do, and with the knowledge I'll ride/work just as hard the next day. 

My fourth lesson, on the third day was with Joao, the advanced coach who hails from Portugal. I watched one of his lessons the first evening here, so I knew to expect some tough love. 

I rode Romeo again (always seem to ride him when I want to make a good impression!) In a group lesson. 

After two lessons drilling my position, I felt I was riding much better, but of course this doesn't mean the work stops! 

We started by generating energy in the trot (all while constantly checking and changing my position) through medium trots, and then moved into a spiral circle exercise. 

Starting on a 20m circle until established, then 15m, and finally 10m. 

If you remember, Romeo is huge and not easy to supple and bend (and also super duper bouncy) I think I did a fair job, but my muscle weakness showed- I was wobbling around everywhere! My hands seemed to have a life of their own, and my core kept giving out and slumping my upper body forward. 

Swear to God, I'm going to come home with proper abs. 

We finished off with canter work. My transitions felt MUCH easier now that I am keeping contact better. I didn't need to chase Romeo into the canter at all- which was kind of an epiphany. 

That is what Dawn meant in my last lesson with Saphy! You shouldn't have to work hard if you are riding correctly and containing/controlling the energy being asked for. 

• Joao is a tough coach, but damn he gets results. He is quick to point out your faults and correct them, but just as quick to praise try. He is very supportive, and will definitely push my abilities to the limit- just what I need.

I'm going to go have some canned spag on toast for dinner now. The staple diet of a tired and poor gal. 

Until tomorrow!