Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Possibly the Best Dressage Clinic Recap Ever

new fav pic from Sunday
HAPPY TUESDAY EVERYONE. Who else is pumped for a 4 day work week? Hopefully all of you.

Anyways. Courage and I had a dressage clinic this weekend and let's just say I'm REALLY glad I signed up for both days. Yeah.

Fall started Saturday. You know, it went from 95 and sunny and hot to 45f overnight with a high of 60, plus clouds, intermittent rain, and gusting wind. That meant two things in Dressage Queen Land: 1) horses are up 2) we ride inside.

Either one of those things would probably have been fine on it's own, but putting the two together was a bit much. Courage came out with the whites of his eyes showing. Plus our indoor is a pretty small space and we hadn't been in it in months and yeah... we started the session with one of the biggest spooks he's ever done (yes at the clinician) and it sort of went downhill from there. Not kidding--I had a rather large moral crisis at the end of the day and for the first time (in regards to dressage) was like "this is too hard i can't do it waaaaaah i fail at life and horses and everything".

and this. this helped too.
Hard cider helped that. So did a good night's sleep.

Sunday was a brand new day with a high of 70f, bright sun, soft clouds, and riding outside.

I usually try to warm up for day two of a clinic using exercises from day one so we're ready to progress, but LOL that didn't seem like a smart idea. (FLAIL IN PLACE AND FIND AUDITORS TO TRAMPLE THE HELL OUT OF!!! Er, no. Don't do that.)

he's so attractive
So instead we toodled a lot, did a little stretchy trot, and began.

You know when a clinician just reads you and your horse right and all three of you showed up to play and the session is a little bit mind blowing? That was Sunday. It was probably super boring to watch, since we did walk/halt/back/halt/walk/trot transitions for probably the first twenty minutes and then went waaaaaay over our time, but OMG YOU GUYS.

OMG.

I feel like Courage and I were able to make some significant breakthroughs together. Little things, but they build to much bigger things, like getting Courage's back loose and hind end engaged and changing how I was sitting on him to make me more effective (though I still stare at his ears. Someday we'll fix that too.)

i don't even care that i'm tipping
We had our best canter ever. We had some phenomenal trot work. We talked a ton about my riding and how to alter it to be more effective for Courage. We talked about how his inadequacies pretty perfectly mirror mine. I got a shit ton (literal amount) of homework to improve on for next time.

OH AND.

Without any prompting on my part, the clinician told me that we would be solid first, schooling second by spring, which is super nice (and also the goal, wheeee). And then when I was like "um so yeah my flabby crooked self wants to get my bronze medal on my pressure-adverse ottb who's tight in the back" she told me that was definitely achievable. As was silver and gold.

HOT DAMN RIGHT LEAD
Let's be real: the latter two aren't even on the table right now (because I CANNOT think that far ahead), but I'm really excited about the future with my little bay horse. He and I are rapidly getting to the limits of my understanding, which means we're launching a whole new adventure together.

And guys, that is really exciting.

26 comments:

  1. Yesssss! This is awesome! I love when all those little things start snapping into place. The lower levels are all about the little stuff, and learning to manage and finesse them. Once you have those, you can build on the cool stuff of the upper levels. First though, straightness and relaxation and thoroughness. Whee!

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  2. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! So extremely happy for you and Courage!! I'm really glad that the clinician validated your bronze (and silver and GOLD) medal goals, because you and your little bay horse are becoming quite the kick ass team :)

    And that first picture, OMG drooling. SO MUCH PRETTY.

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  3. Not boring at all, so fun to watch the progress!

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  4. I love gooooooooold! Sorry terrible Austin Powers reference, couldn't help myself!!!! You are rocking it!

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  5. I would like for it to be fall so I can have a happy Henry again. Still 100 here...

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  6. Yay! Glad you got such awesome feedback from the clinician :) And I'm really jealous of your massive temperature drop, because we were in the high 90's all weekend and I basically melted.

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  7. You guys look fantastic! Glad you had such an amazing clinic!

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  8. Few things more satisfying in life than dressage breakthroughs!!

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  9. Yay! Sounds like a great clinic. Great pictures.

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  10. So not boring. Especially with camera in hand. One of my most favorite games is watching you and Papa "get things" and then BAM, all this magic happens.

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  11. yessssss so many warm fuzzy feelings reading this - hurray for being excited about the future!!

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  12. Congrats on the good clinic. That'd a fast level succession you're lined up for. I can't wait to see you both excelling at it.

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  13. This is amazing!!! You are gonna be riding this high for a while!

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  14. Really, REALLY exciting! So great!!! Glad you had such a good experience!!

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  15. He's so ROUND and BEAUTIFUL in all of those pictures.

    HOORAY both of you. All of your hard work is paying off in spades!

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  16. Hard cider cures all!

    It's so great to have a clinician who truly believes in you and your horse! It makes all the difference. I can't wait to hear about earning all your medals! You guys look amazing in those pictures.

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  17. wow that sounds like an EXCELLENT clinic!

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  18. Yay! I love it. Pictures are BEAUTIFUL. I'm glad day two went better :)

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  19. From the lowest of lows to the highest of highs! Yaaaay!!!

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  20. YAY! That is so cool! Envying that weather, too.

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  21. So happy you had such an encouraging trainer to work with. Glad again that your discovery of dressage continues on such a positive track. Three cheers for you and your bay wonderhorse.

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  22. Oh wow-Courage looks positively beefcake in those pics! and thank goodness for day twos! :)

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  23. Love this! You two look fantastic and congrats on the breakthrough! :)

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