On the Bit or on the Buckle: Dressage Clinic Round II

Let's just agree cold medication does not make organizing one's thoughts easier and bear with me as I try to put words in an order that make sense.

Let's also agree that trainer rides are THE BEST THING ever for working ammies because omg "phoning it in" would be a generous description of how I'd been riding the two weeks up to the clinic, but the combination of trainer rides and having a champion baby mare means it was actually a really good experience for everyone. WUT.

Soooooo we last rode with this clinician back in like... October? At that point, she said many wonderful things about ZB's ability and told me 1) ZB will be very easy to get on the bit and ride correctly but 2) she must learn to come up and over to the bit, never ever down. This is a function of conformation--if I pull her head down, she'll dig a hole to China she's so on the forehand.

This is a concept that I really stressed in my daily riding. That's why you saw lots and lots of photos like this:

I wanted her going forward with her head up out of the way of her shoulders.

Right of the bat, clinician was like "wow she looks like a different horse have you done turns on the forehand?"

I sort of made a croaking noise. (Answer: trainer has done them with her. Go trainer!)

The idea was to teach ZB that leg=stretch down. Thus, I'd ask her to stretch in the halt, then ask for a single step of turn on the forehand, then immediately ask her to stretch down again. The idea being that she'd start to anticipate the stretch and associate it with the leg. (omg let the anticipation work for you. horse nerd training brain loooooved this.)



Of course, there are other answers then the right answer and because ZB is a clever lady, she started offering those as well. I think my favorite quote here was, "You do the right thing and wait for her to come to you." The was no punishment or rushing and because ZB is a champion baby mare, she pretty consistently started picking the right option. (um swoon srsly can you ever she is just the best).



Then we had to overcome some mental obstacles on my part--I'd give up to easily (but she wants to look at that other horse!) or overcompensate and do too many other things. Since I was asking ZB to bend to the inside, she just kept taking a smaller circle and I was getting all pretzel-y trying to make it big. Clinician pointed out that "she's not going to want to stay on the smaller circle. Let her make the mistake and then let her learn to listen to your leg."

Oh yeah I guess that super makes sense too huh.



The funny thing about this lesson is how I'm describing it in so many complicated sounding steps, but the actual riding of it was very simple. Once ZB was stepping up with her inside hind and reaching down with her neck, if I rode consistently and correctly and let her come to me, she connected across her back from inside leg to outside rein.



Of course, leave it to me to find interesting ways to screw things up. The moment we switched directions, I started overbending ZB's neck, which would cause... nothing good, haha. (It's not like I have a massive amount of baggage about turning right. OH SNAP YES I DO.)



The next video is a long one, but we started really putting it all together. Basically, I needed to be aware that she's learning every stride. If she's pulling, I need to change something so she has more good strides than bad strides. "On the bit or on the buckle" is our new mantra. That means either I am expecting her to work correctly or she is free to do whatever, but no weird half assing things in the middle.



We didn't actually get to canter this time out, but we talked about how to transfer those same concepts across.

It was a really fantastic lesson for both of us--I've felt like Zoë was ready to take the next steps, but I wasn't quite sure what those steps looked like. Now I feel confident going forward that we can work on these concepts and progress. At no point did I feel like either of us was overfaced or out of our depth and there was definitely a huge change in ZB's way of going in the lesson.

And now it is time to re-up my DayQuil.

buckle sass

Smoosh Champion!

I try not to be THAT BLOG where everything is always roses and there are never any struggles and it's magic land where everything just works all the time and the toilet has probably never even backed up at an inconvenient time (real question: is there a convenient time for the toilet to back up? even if the plumber is there. do you want him to see your poop?).

sunsets ftw

But you guys.

Omg.

Have you met my baby mare?

SMOOSH

She's cuter than shit. Can't even with how cute she is.

And then like.

w/t transition champion

Ugh she's the goddamn coolest horse to ride. She shows up to work every single day. Her answer to every question is HOKAY MOM ILL TRY. She's honest and sassy and fun. If she knows the answer, she does it the best she possibly can. If she thinks she knows, she gives this adorable little ear pin/head twist like U WANT THIS and gives it a shot.

As long as I'm fair to her, she gives 110% every. single. day.

first ride in an english saddle since a wreck? HOKAY I B PERFIKT

All of that is awesome. She may not know a lot, but she makes every ride worthwhile.

See and then I get off her.

sorry/not sorry that my barn crew is this cute

And you know what?

She is just as much fun on the ground.

I love her boldness and curiosity. No timid spooking here--she marches right up to unusual occurrences and sticks her smooshy nose right in the middle of things to see what's going on. She's never met a stranger. She's not afraid of anything. She's super smart and she thinks about things without ever getting panicked.

time to go #Zoesploring

It's not that she's some paragon of perfection who's schooling third and I'm over here shopping for a double bridle. She's a baby. The steering is getting pretty good and now we work on complicated things like doing up/down transitions without hollowing and collapsing. She's not on the bit. She's not inside-rein-to-outside-leg.

oh and lunging her in a flat halter is fine

She is fun every single day.

What else could I ask for?

Better Together

Phase one of professional (half) training for Courage was two rides a week with our trainer. I knew he needed an education and I don't have the knowledge base to give it to him and it's freaking impossible to try and teach something when you have no idea what you're doing.

but cute?

That was September. I was able to watch half the rides he got and he made excellent progress.

But.

You might notice that the larger part of our problem was me and to this point, I haven't really enhanced my own education. I mean, yeah, I audit lessons and clinics and I know a lot of theory and that's nice, but riding is so much more about feel and you can't learn that from a book.

cough obviously

So this week begins phase two of pro (half) training. Courage still gets one pro ride a week, but now our other session is a lesson. We kicked it off this week and even had Alyssa on hand to document! I always love media and I'm super excited to share it with you. (As a rule, I don't share media of my trainer riding because she's not interested in being an internet star.)

will share shots of trainer on the ground

It's hard to write this lesson up in an interesting way. I mean, I don't have any crazy stories or fantastic fail pictures.

Courage kept his brain in his head and tried hard for me the entire ride. That's HUGE for us, but it's kinda normal for most people I think? Not sure. I got really excited when trainer referred to Courage as a second level horse, but of course that was in the context of "he's learning to be a second level horse now" and explaining why we had to step something up, not like "goddamn he's ready to go out at second now". Whatever. Still exciting.

right lead canter with no explosions!!

We made little changes, not big ones. She had me ask for more of everything--more bend, more softness, more forward, more relaxation. I assume this is true with most every horse, but so much of riding Courage is just plain feel. If I become electric and say HORSE GO NAOW because I want forward, he will flip his shit. If I ask him to be more soft and reach more and give when he gives, all of a sudden, I have this super amazing trot that's way, way better than anything I've ridden on him before.

i will take this.

This applies to every aspect of how I ride--give to him more, release more, get his neck longer, and ultimately, he gives me much more. It's all great, it just means relearning how to feel what "correct" is for him right now. I was already able to articulate that I wanted him deeper and lower so he wasn't stuck in a false frame, but I wasn't able to consistently get him to where I wanted him. Now I can.

butt!

I call this particular professional intervention "relationship counseling". Courage is finally in a place where he shows up to work and (mostly) says yes ma'am, but now I'm figuring out what exactly I need him to say yes to.

thinking cap on

Empathy Through Accounting

Who can forget the glorious fail pictures of Courage and I attempting to learn dressage this spring?

At the time, I was supremely frustrated with Courage. "Turning right" was the specific issue, I believe, and some days, we simply COULD NOT do it.

baby steps

Enter this fall. I'm doing some continuing education for my job. You know those people who always want to go back to school? That's not me. Didn't miss, didn't want more. But here I am. I'm taking Accounting right now. Probably a lot of you have taken it, which means you know that it's not rocket science.

It's actually quite simple, except that it's basically a whole different language. I'm a reasonably intelligent person, right?

Some days are easy. Some days are so frustrating and hard and confusing that I just want to gallop sideways into the fence and never try again (that was not a good day).

I have to laugh as I flounder my way along. To someone who knows what they're doing, my work is ridiculously simple, much like turning right.

But getting mad and yelling is never the answer. If I don't understand, I have to back off, go slower, start over, or approach the problem from a different angle.

I've been known to walk away or take the rest of the day off and try again later, because it's just not working in my brain.

And you know what?

It's working. No, I'm not a bonafide CPA overnight. That would be silly.

Instead, I'm learning to trust the system a little. Believe that if I study hard enough and do enough practice, I will get this. I'm by no means a master of the concepts and that upcoming test is a little intimidating.

But.

At least now, I know I can get there.

Like Courage.

Doing dressage.

Anatomy of a Jump: Fail Friday Edition

Some of you may remember the time I broke down frame-by-frame the most perfect jump Cuna and I ever had caught on film. I thought it was a pretty great post.

Well, now we're doing it again. Only like... the other way around. Instead of a "how to jump it right", let's talk about "how green horses jump that sane people wouldn't publicly share on their personal blog".

Because, what fun is sanity anyways?

Let's get going!

The Takeoff

This is Courage and I in a jumping lesson. He's been going through the grid and the jump has been raised incrementally. We've just added a back rail, which means that in order to clear it, he needs to maintain impulsion to be able to jump both up and across.

photo via HorselessinHalifax

Unfortunately for me, Courage saw the new question and backed off while he tried to figure it out. I added leg, but he's not quite broke enough (or obedient enough) to respond yet.

So here he is trying to answer the question by leaping AS HIGH INTO THE AIR AS POSSIBLE!!!

Of course, the more discerning among you are saying, "But SB, if C-rage expends all his energy launching straight up, how does he plan to carry himself forward so you don't land in the middle of all those poles?"

The Airtime

photo via HorselessinHalifax

Not to worry folks! Courage has no intention of hitting that monstrous jump. Obviously.

The only thing to do at this point is to suck his hind end up and LEAP LIKE A DEER!!! It's a little less efficient than, you know, pushing forward off his hind end. Take it from me, though, the little man can get the job done.

Now you might critique my position in these shots. It sure looks like I'm jumping up his neck in the first one and here I'm sort of levitating above his back with completely useless legs and that oh-so-helpful indirect inside rein.

Those are all valid observations. I would welcome any and all position help, because trust me, it's all about to go downhill...

Well, all but me anyways. I stay up about a half second longer than Courage does because physics are (not) my friend!

Ahem. So the reason that upper level jump and event riders advocate for a "bascule" over a jump in which the horse springs up with his front end, pushes off with his hind end and his body describes a lovely arc in the air is because the rider is capable of staying in balance with the horse and equitating all the way through.

photo via wikipedia

If the horse rockets straight up, then generates forward momentum by sucking his ass up to his chin, well, instead of describing an arc, you are describing a roller coaster ride, complete with long uphill climb and then dropping directly out from underneath you at the apex.

You'll notice McClain Ward never looks like this.

You'll also notice that the nice folks on the roller coaster are in fact belted in so that when the roller coaster inevitably plunges downward, there is a limit to how high above the seat they can levitate.

So keep all that in mind as we approach the next stage of the jump.

The Descent

I know you're all thinking "well, it really doesn't look THAT bad. Like, what is she complaining about? Lots of people jump 4' on green horses and it clearly isn't the end of the world."

No. No it is not. 

Here's Courage doing his best roller coaster impression. 

photo via HorselessinHalifax

At this point, I should probably just give it up, throw my hands in the air, and hope for a decent picture. My vanity forces me to point out that not only did we clear this jump, but Courage landed in balance and cantered away AND I STAYED ON, but I probably shouldn't brag about that unless I want to get bitch slapped by karma.

Which I don't. 

So... boys and girls, this is why all that flatwork I talked about yesterday is important. This is what happens if your green horse isn't recognizing you as leader (leg=go now) and isn't broke enough (hm, maybe I should have some impulsion) to save himself. We certainly have a plan moving forward and I will write you a full lesson wrap up later, but for now, I hope you're enjoying my deer leaps just as much as I am. 

Or possibly more, since you just get to laugh at the evidence instead of riding through it. ;-) It's a thrill, that's for sure. Happy weekend!

Pony Weekend Wrap Up: Riding in da LESSON!

Cute bay horse. No need to zoom in.

So last week, Redheadlins took a video of C-rage I rocking sucking it up at flatwork. I mean, I knew it wasn't the best ride ever, but I saw the video and HOLY WOW I am not sharing that anywhere y'all might see it. I was riding really badly and so he didn't look great and yeah, best left in the past. I almost cancelled my lesson because I was so embarrassed by how badly I was riding, but that seemed counter-intuitive.

Lesson screen shot!

Instead I ripped out to the barn in record time after dawdling at the tack store, slipped into my new boots, chucked the ecogold pad on Courage, and started our warmup. We already looked about 100% better (I think) by the time our instructor showed up. I explained to her that I was unsatisfied with my level of riding lately.

She watched us for a minute and said, "Well, you look way better than last time I saw you, so whatever you're doing is working."

Of course, she immediately followed that up with an ongoing laundry list for us to work on.

• I am a long torso-ed person with long arms, so I need to keep my reins really short. I try to cheat and have long reins by dropping my hands and widening my elbows and any number of strange nonsensical habits. 
• To fix this, she reminded me to ride with my elbows by my sides and slightly in front of my torso. Not only does this help with keeping a solid connection and straight line from elbow to bit, but it also engages the front of my core and helps me sit more correctly, which makes my aids more effective. 
• We moved on to leg yields on a circle. I can get Courage to wiggle around each direction, but I don't have solid control of his hips and shoulder and he tends to be tight through his body, so the lateral work will definitely help us.
• To fix us, she had me focus on just moving his hips in and out a few steps at a time. I had to wait until I felt his legs crossing underneath me, then immediately reward him and go straight a few steps. He was already starting to get the idea when we moved on to...

It's an old picture, but he's still cute.

• Leg yields down the wall.
• This was a whole new concept for us, but the idea is to let the wall check his forward progress so he is forced to listen to my leg and move sideways. She warned that this is very mentally hard, especially for green horses, so we are supposed to do it every session but only a couple times each direction. 
• Then we trotted. Trotting is not always the best for us. 
• She had me focus on holding my hands level, no matter what. As soon as I drop either hand, Courage twists his head and gets fussy. He also is struggling with the concept of bending through his rib cage, which makes serpentines difficult. In her words, we need to "make his sandbox bigger". I need to widen my hands and add a lot of leg to emphasize forward without making him feel trapped. 
• Cantering was fun too. 
• We cantered a circle in each end that was as small as he was physically able to deal with, then as we headed down the long side, I pushed my hands forward and let him learn to take me forward on a bigger stride. The idea was just to let him roll along because if I ask him for more forward at this point, he tends to get tense in his underline. 
• Downward transitions. I know I said we've had a couple ok ones, but they're pretty consistently bad and I still wasn't really getting through to him. 
• She pointed out that at this point, the little man just doesn't physically know how to use his body in a downward transition. He's not trying to be bad, but he doesn't have the slightest idea of what I'm asking or that it's even possible. We're trying a new strategy--every single downward transition is on a tiny circle right now. It gives me enough leverage to help him and the actual movement should help him start to figure out what it's like to do a transition without tensing his entire underline and sticking his head straight up. 

He's always been a jump jump horse. What is this "race" thing?

Whew!! I know that's a massive info dump, but it's really good information that I wanted to remember and I know some of you are in similar training places, so hey, it might be useful. 

I hopped of Courage, hosed him down, and jetted out of the barn. It was noon, but I was off to the races!!

Happy Jumping

We're going to make it

You know that moment when you just want to shout "He gets it!" and you're all warm and fuzzy on the inside? The last time I felt that was when Courage was prepping for his XC clinic and he figured out that he was always supposed to go over the jump in front of him.

And then there was Sunday. We were in the midst of the fun photoshoot for the Dream Horse Studios contest and I pointed Courage at a little crossrail. I felt him slow down and look at it. I was just beginning to wonder if he was going to slam on the brakes when his front end lifted off and we were jumping over the tiny jump.

Actually jumping. Folding his knees and taking off, landing in balance and cantering away.

I was so proud of him. Of us.

He jumped four tiny crossrails, each one nicer than the last, before we called it a day.

Attack!

Monday we tried again, this time over a little course. Courage seemed to know he'd gotten something right. He regressed a little and tried some stuff he hadn't even thought about in a while--wiggling, stopping, and leaping--but it wasn't mean or naughty. He was just re-establishing that he knew what this was all about.

And he jumped.

He landed cantering, expressing his enthusiasm. I got him pointed in the right direction. I even got him calmed down to the point that we could trot a crossrail without going airborne on the landing side.


I wanted him to accomplish some specific goals that day, so I put a more experienced hand on the reins and watched my little man canter over his first jump. Jump his first related distance.

He did them with vigor and panache. I felt all warm and glowy as he completed a little course with cantering and a vertical and a line. I don't want to push him, so we let him end with that.

And then we jumped Wednesday. It's like a switch has flipped in his brain--no more awkwardly collapsing over the first jump and then going "O HAI THIS AGAIN."

He is the best at jumping me out of the tack

Instead I pointed him at the first little crossrail and he locked on and went for it. He was jumping, just like the past couple of times. We were forward and confident. I started stringing a mini course together--the second jump in the line, the crossrail on the diagonal, around the corner to the vertical. I stayed light in the saddle with my hands wide. I didn't grab him and I didn't scoot him with my seat.

Courage LAUNCHED over the fence. I came flying out of the saddle and landed in a heap on him. My feet were somehow still in the stirrups on the other side as I just barely got him turned away from another jump he'd decided to do.

Knees!

We laughed and laughed and told him what a good boy he was while I got myself put back together. Despite my discombobulation, he'd landed in balance and didn't even offer to do anything naughty.

I hopped him over another crossrail to make sure he hadn't scared himself, but he jumped it like an adorable little hunter and cantered away softly. I couldn't wipe the ridiculous grin off my face. Heck, it's still there.

He gets it. He still has plenty to learn (so do I!), but he's taken another big step forward towards being a sport horse. I'm so proud of him.

Making the Transition

I had the unique advantage of working with Courage (and a whole barn full of horses) at the race track before I brought him home. I highly recommend this route to anyone looking to snatch up their own OTTB--I've spent days handling him hyped up on grain and hay and know a lot about his reactions to stimuli. That said, most people have "lives" and "real jobs" and "mortgage payments", so I realize it isn't always an option. For those of you looking at bringing home an OTTB of your own, here are some thoughts on the transition from someone going through it for the first time.

 At the Track

Typical morning routine

I met Courage at the track. He's old for a racehorse (2005), so he's pretty well set in his ways. That said, he was on a normal racing diet of INSANE amounts of grain (seriously, have to see to believe) and lots of alfalfa. This high energy diet is what it takes to fuel a high efficiency athlete like he was, but it also affect the horses personalities. 

Several of the younger horses seemed a bit nuts, but I'm pretty sure that if they ate a regular sport horse diet, they would have calmed right down. Instead of focusing on that behavior, I looked for patterns that indicated personality in the various horses. This is Courage getting ready for a morning work. He's out of his stall, but he's quietly standing while he gets ready.

His exercise rider would drop his stirrups and ride on a long rein to and from the track while Courage walked along calmly. He knew when to run and when to rest. 

Good morning fans

After a bath, his next stop was the hot walker. Due to space constraints in a racetrack environment, turnout is rarely available. This is basically the next best thing. The horses are able to cool out and dry off while getting some exercise. Some of them take the opportunity to bounce around like nutters. Some walk calmly. Most are somewhere in between.

WHOA BUDDIES. Break time.

Some think that the most fun game is to make the walker (and all the other horses on it) stop repeatedly.

It's probably passive aggressive, but it's a very calm way od expressing it.

Om nom nom

In the stall, Courage was easy to be around and respectful of people's space. The trainers, grooms, and riders have no interest in getting hurt, so they are pretty particular about manners. A very talented young horse might have more leeway, but generally the older the horse, the better they are to be around, much like horses in every other part of the world.

Another trait I liked about Courage in the stall was that he was an excellent eater. Given the massive caloric intake the horses are offered every day, they can afford to be picky. Some ate primarily grain. Some picked out only the best scraps of hay. Courage pretty well cleaned up all his hay every day. That means that he is a good eater (yay! easier to put weight on) and that his gut feels quite comfortable digesting. Perfect.

Just a photo shoot. Move along.

Even when we threw him for a loop by playing dress up and going in and out of his stall at an unusual time, he was pretty unfazed. It wasn't part of the usual routine, but he was a confident enough horse that changing the routine a bit wasn't a cause for drama, crankiness, or nerves. 

Instead, he enjoyed the attention and exhibited his social side. 

What a horse does on the actual racetrack doesn't necessarily translate to how he'll behave as a sporthorse. How he is to deal with on the ground, in the stable, and around the barn is more what I'm concerned about. 

Courage impressed me. 

At the Barn

Exploring

When I introduced Courage to his new barn environment, I was aware that it was a whole new world for him. He was turned out last winter, so I know he's got some basis for understanding, but I doubt he's every lived in an average sporthorse set up with daily turnout, a stall and run, and light work. I know that he's used to a structured routine and he likes watching what is going on.

As such, I immediately got him on a routine and made sure he had a stall where he could see everything. He's used to activity (and watching the races go by) and he loves attention. The BO and I were careful to follow the routine, putting him on his drylot when the horses went out, feeding at the same time, and bringing him in with the other horses. 

It was easy to understand and he's a smart guy, so he settled right in. 

Om nom nom

Some things were all new to him, like grass pastures and social interactions and metal fences. I tried to introduce those things slowly. He picked up on pastures pretty quickly--he LOVES grass.

That said, he isn't used to eating it for long periods and he isn't sure about wide open spaces. We started out handgrazing. I'd let him go once he seemed settled and bring him in as soon as he seemed uncomfortable. Yesterday he went 2.5 hours with minimal supervision and did great.

He still eats all the hay we give him (though he prefers to eat at night) and has adjusted very well to having a complete feed instead of oats every day. I don't have him on any supplements, but if/when I decide to add them, I don't think it will be a problem.

Not so sure

Other things were harder. He did ok the first day with having the retirees over the fence and learned about how to say hello and make friends. It's something he's done before, but it's not an encouraged behavior at the track.

Of course, it can't all be smooth sailing. He managed to find the one sharp place on the fence (that we can't find again, of course), and cut his leg up impressively.

It's important to remember that he's used to being handled every single day and he's used to minding his manners. My BO was able to catch him and cold hose and wrap without the benefit of cross ties, all by herself. He's used to being taken care of and he's used to behaving. To him, there was nothing weird about the situation other than that the fence bit him. 

 Taking care of his cuts and scrapes was as good a time as any to introduce him to crossties. I needed him to quit playing with the shampoo in the wash rack and I knew his clever mind and quiet personality were on my side.  The first day I used one cross tie and reminded him not to walk forward in the three sided wash rack. The second day I used both ties and kept the lead rope handy. He never made so much as a peep and now cross ties very well.

What's not to love?

After just a little more than a week as an OTTB, Courage is doing very well in his new life. I'd say his manners at the new barn have very accurately reflected how he behaved at the track. Because he was handled well, he's had a very easy time adjusting to the sport horse life.

Fancy!

I want to do more with him under saddle before I say too much there, but let's just start by mentioning that his reputation as a runaway on the track has absolutely nothing to do with the chilled out, mellow guy I see every morning.