All The Kings' Horses

So, I'm still trying to catch up on my blogs and this is the one from the show this past weekend. I took Gia to the Heather Ridge Farm Schooling Show. I had originally entered her in the Starter horse trial, but after her last performance I had been doing a lot of thinking. she had seemed very stressed out there, and I know we didn't really have our canter work together yet anyway. She doesn't really need to continue in the Green as Grass horse trial division, but the canter work is really holding her back in the Starter horse trial division. Her jumping is coming along very well in that division, however. So, I emailed the show secretary and asked her if it would be possible to ride unjudged in the show, and instead of doing the Starter dressage test could we do the Intro Test B which doesn't have any cantor in it? She was perfectly fine with that! I warmed Gia up for dressage the same way I do at home. The familiarity should help her relax since it's what she'...

 I'm a little behind on my blog posts so I will try to catch up a couple at a time.  Last week on Wednesday Gia and I worked on our flat work. We did a little bit at the walk, trot, and canter. First I worked on getting her to go forward. Then I added in a bit of straightness. I would alternate asking for a little bit of forward then a little bit of straightness, then a little bit of forward, then a little bit of straightness. It helped her that I did not try to ask for both at the same time. she seems to get confused when I do. We also worked on transitions moving up into each gate. She is getting better about responding, especially since she is being less resistant to my aids to go forward. Finally, I started to add a little bit of collection to the work. Only a little bit, and at the very end. I try not to collect her by using my hands, but rather by leaning backward and engaging my back muscles. And I want to keep using my leg and forward aids to keep her impulsion. She di...

 Gia and I did a little more of the same work today that we did yesterday.  The only difference today is that she understood things a little better, and we were able to work through things a little quicker.  We also worked a little bit over some small jumps, but nothing spectacular.  Finally, we worked a little more at the canter today than we did yesterday.  It was rough at first, but once she got through the resistant part at the beginning, it got a lot better!  I just had to stay very clear with my aids, and clearly alternate between going forward and asking her to move off my leg.  I think she even felt a little relief at the end because it was all starting to make more sense.

 I worked with Gia on her flatwork today.  We started by relaxing at the walk, and just wandering around the ring.  She had a little more natural impulsion today.  When I was ready to make my first request, I applied a very thoughtful and light leg aid, in rhythm with her walk.  When she didn't respond, I added a tap of the whip.  She immediately became anti-forward/ "youcan'tmakemedothis"/ Iwillnevergoforwardagain.  I had been noticing something like this in her recently, but I wasn't quite sure if that's what it was or not, so I had been giving her the benefit of the doubt, just in case.  But I had gone through all the doublechecks, and nothing else was wrong or incorrect.   So, I just kept tapping, very nonchalantly, with the whip, as if I could care less if we got a reaction or not. (they feed hungrily off your emotions, you know 😉).  As soon as I did get a reaction, begrudgingly though it was, I completely relaxed everything, ...

I warmed Gia up on Friday with a main focus on impulsion first.  She was a bit resistant to go forward to begin with.  I doublechecked I wasn't applying any opposing aids, or sending any mixed messages, and then I gently kept asking her to move on.  When she responded, I immediately relaxed and verbally rewarded her before asking again.  That part is soooo important to her, especially.  She gets mad at me if I don't reward her. 😂 (Not my version of the jump, but where I got the idea.) As she became more forward, we were able to work on becoming more supple and straight, and then we got to jump.  We had to stay close by, since the vet was here for spring check ups, in case he needed to chat with me.  So we didn't go out in the field, but that gave us a chance to play with the box jump that I had set up in the arena for everyone else to play with, but had yet to play with myself.  Gia mostly trotted it.  I was hoping she would trot in an...

 I've been crazy busy this week, so no time to write.  Gia and I worked on flatwork on Monday and Wednesday, with jumping on Tuesday.   On Monday we focused on impulsion and suppleness.  We mostly stayed at the walk, and worked on her responsiveness to my cue.  I want her to pay more attention to the tiniest cue I can give her, so I only gave her leg cues that would feel like I'm touching her like you would touch your touchscreen phone - using no muscle at all.  When she didn't respond at all, or promptly, I reinforced the cue with a tap of the whip.  Eventually, she was moving much more forward, with hardly any effort on my part.  Then I worked on encouraging her to bend her ribcage around my inside leg, and we finished with a nice, long stretch! On Tuesday we went out to the field and focused on impulsion, straightness and obedience to the aids.  Once she was forward, I could start to ask her to become straighter, by keeping my positi...

 I took Gia to the Portofino dressage show yesterday to do the Starter A test.  This would be her first time cantering at a show since her surgery.  Warm up went fairly well.  She was a little nervous, but nothing out of the ordinary.  She had great energy, was nicely forward, and I was able to work on suppling her and straightening her.  When we worked on the canter, she was fairly obedient.  I came a little out of the stirrups to allow her to balance without the interference of my seat.  She cantered around for quite a bit in both directions.   Then I went to finish our warm up by running through our test.  Suddenly, she was tight, anxious, not listening to my aids, and everything I asked her to do was interpreted as "canter?"  I worked through her sudden change as best I could, as she also threw in a few bucks, showing her displeasure,  here and there.  We sort of had it together by the time we had to go in, but no...

 Gia and I worked on much of the same stuff on Friday that we have been working on.  For some reason, she was more resistant than usual to going forward.  I had the upcoming show on my mind, so I didn't stop to think about it like I probably should have.  I did offer her lots of verbal "good girl's" whenever I got any tiny response to my requests though.  Once she did get going, she was pretty good.  We even worked a bit more on the canter than we usually do.  

 Gia and I worked on our flatwork on Wednesday.  First I asked her for impulsion, and she reminded me (with a few small bucks), that I needed to reward her for the small increments of impulsion that she gives me, instead of pushing for more and more, greedily.  Once I started doing that, she rewarded me by popping up into the canter readily.  It was without being asked, but the transitions were so soft, and she was so quiet, that I let it go.   So, we worked on straightness.  When she's at the canter, I have found that it's harder to help her find her straightness when I'm sitting deeply in the saddle.  If I come up out of the saddle a little bit, and find the equal pressure in my stirrups, and the equal pressure in my hands, then she finds it easier to allow her body to follow the guidance of whichever leg I'm using to help her straighten up.  As she gets stronger, I can start to sit back and keep my leg on to keep her hind end engaged....

 Gia and I got to play in the field over the jumps today.  She was quicker to get in front of my leg, and quicker to get straight today (I also got my reins shorter more quickly today ☺).  We took a couple of jumps nicely to the left, and then went to the right.  But upon trying to take the jumps to the right, she did not want to land on the correct lead afterwards.  Often horses will favor one lead or the other, so this is not uncommon.  I had to work on getting her much straighter on the flat first, and much more supple as well.  It took a bit longer, and she got a bit frustrated for a few minutes, but eventually she got it.   I had also been doing much better myself about rewarding her more often for the smaller things, and even giving her tiny treats for larger wins as well.  She definitely got a treat for this one!  She also got a treat after conquering one of her nemesis jumps on the second try - the flat tires! We finished ou...

 Gia and I worked on our flatwork today.  We did much of the same as we have been - get the impulsion at the walk and trot, then get straight.  We also worked a little on the Starter test that we will be doing at the show this weekend.   Despite how much I tell my students to shorten their reins, it's the big thing I wasn't doing enough of with Gia today.  If I had gotten them even shorter, I would  have felt the nuances where we lacked impulsion and straightness even quicker and, then of course, corrected them even quicker.   Gia also likes to remind me that I need to reward her more often for much tinier efforts.  She's not wrong.  But I wish she would go about reminding me in gentler ways ....

 Gia and I worked towards jumping a few small fences on Friday.  But the main thing we focused on was getting enough impulsion and getting her straight enough.   But how do you know if you have enough impulsion? There are a couple of "tests" you can do to see if your horse has enough energy, or is "in front of your leg": 1. When you think they are there, relax your leg aid (but don't take your leg off, do keep it supportive), and see what they do.  Does your horse quit after a few strides or less?  Does your horse maintain their forward momentum?  If they quit fairly quickly, then they were not "there" yet.  Go back and ask for more energy, and then "test" again.  If they maintain their forward momentum for, let's say about a 20 meter circle, or one long side, or half your arena, then they are probably "in front of your leg".  You may have to remind them and tweak their tempo and energy here and there, but you should not have to...