Training the Not-Hot Horse: Part the First

I've been contemplating writing a draft cross vs. ottb sort of comparison (because trust me, ITS WAY DIFFERENT), but the truth is that I haven't had Zoe two months yet and there is so much more for me to learn that I have no business saying too much. Yet.

thx google photos!

I think one of my favorite (and least favorite, haha) things about Courage was how hard he pushed me to learn and do better both by him and in my own life. It was a challenge, but I definitely think I'm a better horseman and human because of him.

The whole point of Zoe is that she's NOT LIKE THAT and I can just go DO THE THING.

But Ms. ZoZo Bird is still a horse.

my talking face ruins another great photo

And when Roxie's mom came out to play last week, I showed her what we were working on. We talked about where Zoe was at and what I was doing and why and what she's done with her drafties and why it worked.

That got me thinking.

Zoe is a lot of things, but none of those things is a thoroughbred with track baggage. Which like. Is the entire freaking point.

yeah never had a thoroughbred do that. twice. in a month.

But then why am I riding her like she is?

I mean, the "horse" thing transfers a lot--we take baby steps and build from the bottom up and do ground work and go slow. But there are differences. For example, I just spent four years riding a horse that LOST HIS SHIT if I ever sat down on him. So I just didn't. I'd do a happy lil jumper perch and go around off his back and everyone was happy.

But you know who motorcycles around COMPLETELY OUT OF BALANCE if I get way ahead of the motion like that?

pictured: not out of balance

Oh yeah a Zoebird lady. She actually prefers I sit down and give her half a chance to get her balance. In spite of being a big girl (15.2 and 1200lbs per the weight tape), she's soooooo sensitive to what I do in the saddle.

She's quieter than Courage, that's for sure. But quieter doesn't mean passive. Quieter just means I have to listen better and think differently.

And if I ride her the way she tells me she needs me to, the little lady tries her hardest.

And that, folks, is the coolest damn thing.

A Look Back

that look when I photograph someone other than him

 It's hard to get excited about people rehab. I hurt a lot, I ride badly, my horse is being a saint but nothing overly photogenic or inspiring is happening. I struggled with how to make "I toodled for twenty minutes and then I laid on my couch the rest of the day" more interesting and then Teresa pointed out I haven't done a progress post in ages.

So blame her.

Here's Courage in March of 2015.

first clinic!

We'd just started out in dressage. I think we were still planning to go back to jumping at this point. This was a very good moment for us--"put head down" was pretty earth-shattering at this point. I'm in my first dressage saddle and I I'm all set for one hell of a rough year, but I don't know it yet.

Let's skip ahead a whole year to March 2016.

so warm!

In spring 2016, we had a successful year of training level outings under our belts and were thinking about first level. My position is better and Courage is covering more ground, but we were definitely at the point of soft-or-forward, balanced-or-sideways. ie, not really ready for first level.

It's technically not March 2017 until tomorrow, but I didn't think of that until just now, so you get a February 2017 picture for this year.

awwww

This is definitely not the spring I was planning--winter was brutal and I'm coming back from an injury. I've been pretty bummed about our lack of brilliance under saddle, but even just comparing this shot to last year at this time, I guess I still see progress. From the hips down, my position is ok. Not great, but ok. My hands are actually better--less camped out on the horse and more semi doing something. We won't talk about my neck and back cuz they're angry.

Even with a lackluster ride though, look at Courage. OMG LOOK AT HIM. This is his under-powered-take-care-of-injured-mom baby trot and he's killing it over there. I can't ride his good trot right now (or let's be real, ask for it), but his work on the lunge line shows me he's developed a moment of suspension, which is a whole new world for us.

fanceh

 So yeah. I'm not thrilled with where I'm at right now. Most of this past winter is a blur of prescription drugs and Netflix marathons, but you know what?

We're getting somewhere.

this is not me but i took this picture on my phone and kinda love it

Road to First Level?

Because Courage is eh, let's say "pressure adverse", we spent all of last fall/winter/spring until last week just going as slowly and methodically as possible through the babiest basics of training level.

Like.

We spent six weeks WALKING this winter. Free walk, medium walk. Rinse. Repeat. FOR SIX WEEKS. And yes, I ride like 5-6 days a week. In case you're keeping track, that is a SHIT TON of walking. Oh and. We went like 2-3 MONTHS without cantering. Because someone couldn't deal. So we didn't deal. We walked and walked and walked and when we FINALLY could, we started trotting.

January

Whee! Trotting is so exciting.

Too exciting, it would seem. Courage is completely re-learning how to use his body. That's a good thing, but it's also an explosive thing. And it causes pressure. And remember, he is "pressure adverse".

Sooooooo even when we adding trotting back in, we kept the trotting slow. We rode under the rhythm for weeks. MONTHS. So slow. Lots and lots and lots of bending. Transitions. We never rode a straight line. Circles. Bending. Downward transition. Bending. MOAR BENDING. COUNTER BENDING. ALL THE BENDING.

he learned his body can do this

All very, very slow.

Most of this was in the indoor, which was good because it's tiny and makes the under-the-rhythm thing feel less pained than it really is. But then we moved to the outdoor and I tried to do bending AND forward.

That was a flail.

MOAR SLOWER.

Truly, this is what makes Courage so hard to ride. He's obviously capable. I'm not stupid--I can watch our videos and say "wow, he's not really using his back or going forward and once he's forward a lot of the connection problems will take care of themselves", but the ability to recognize that isn't the hard part.

The hard part is explaining it to Courage at a speed he's comfortable with.

Which is slower. MOAR SLOWER. YOU SLOW DOWN. NOW GO SLOWER.

I was really excited when we finally got to work on lengthen trot in a lesson. I was less excited when it was pointed out to me that the lengthening we got was basically just the working trot I need. For like. Training level. Which is not the level we are trying to get to.

Headdesk. Go us.

But instead of curling up in a ball and deciding to give up on this whole dressage thing (while keeping the precious, of course), I've been asking for just a little bit more. After all, we've done MONTHS of basics, right? Maybe Courage is ready for just a leeeeeeeeettle push?

Redheadlins came out this past Saturday and took some video for us. It's mega boring (look! SB is trotting in a circle!), so you can watch it here and here if you want, or just look at the screen shots below, which is what I would do.

tracking!

hock action!

What I liked was that I finally rode Courage forward and he dealt with it.

What I disliked was that I threw any sort of "roundness" or "connection" out the window. I mean, it was the expedient choice at the time. I know that if I throw too many new things in Courage's face at one time, he won't deal with it.

But is it so bad to want to look at a picture of us and be like "yeah that chick looks like she doesn't always suck" instead of just apologizing for all the things I know I'm doing wrong but can't fix right now?

Jury is out on that one.

Then Redheadlins came out again Sunday. I had watched our videos and I decided that if I had to let go of the forward thing, I would, but I need to step back a little and really just focus on getting a little roundness. (DQ alert: yes, I know you can't be "round" without being "forward", but until C learns the training scale, I will keep doing "a little bit of this/a little bit of that" and finessing and trying not to die.)

So anyways. Project Keep CRage From Sticking His Nose Out Like a Pony happened Sunday. He was tired. I was tired.  We started slow. We discussed my aids and how he would respond to them.

BAM. (Yeah I know--I finally have a normal trotting picture BUT YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW LONG IT TOOK TO GET HERE.)

I was so pleased. Courage not only acquiesced to trotting like a grow-up horse, but also when I asked for a lengthening, it happened.

four off the floor

It's not automatic and there's always room to improve. I'm not apologizing. This was a damn good ride for us and I am so proud of how far C-Rage had to come to have this ride.

If you watch our (also mega boring) videos (here and here), you will see that we spent a large percentage of the ride working in the canter. And that the canter is kinda yuck. I am also not apologizing for that.

I mean. We spent literal months not cantering this winter and finally now in mid-ish April, Courage is in a place where we can start working on the canter without him trying to leave. It took us that long to get here. Now we can get started. That's good enough for me.

We can skate by in training level sorta. I don't know if I can get his canter to a place that it makes sense to show in first level by next month. Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe we're doing another year at training level while I get this sorted out.

But maybe the road to first level is finally starting to look like something we can accomplish.

And THAT is really exciting.

One Year of Dressage!

I meant to do this wrap up a year to the date from moving to our current barn (11/24) and that didn't happen. Instead you're getting it more or less a year after our first-ever dressage lesson (12/6ish).

Here's an honest trotting shot from our first-ever legit dressage lesson. In the post, I talked about how Courage had a short, quick stride (thanks to me), just dropped his neck at the withers, and took multiple laps of the arena to do a single decent transition from walk to trot. At this point, the plan was to do dressage for three months, then go back to jumper land in the spring.

December 2014

 December actually brought nicer weather and more lessons. Courage and I were making great, if elementary, progress. Our next shot in in another lesson. You can see Courage is taking much better strides and starting to go forward. He's pretty well on the forehand, but he's at least thinking about the contact, even if that thought process=gaping mouth. Still in jump tack, still aiming for jumper land.

December 2014

Don't worry--I'm not going to make you look at a trot picture from EVERY SINGLE MONTH (not today, at least). If we fast forward a year, we have this:

It's been a long, personal struggle, but Courage and I are committed to dressage. It's a great fit for us right now. We've spent the year doing lessons and clinics, plus getting out and showing in pursuit of a more broke, less-green horse. We did decently at training level for the year and have now doubled down in pursuit of first level next spring. This shot is Courage in a clinic a couple weeks back. I just love the engagement and connection he's showing.

November 2015

 And then this is less spectacular, but it's me riding on my own in the almost-dark at the end of the month. Courage has really starting accepting the contact and letting me ride him. We've switched over to dressage tack, my position has started changing for the better, his neck is developing like whoa, and GODDAMN look at the difference in his ass(/topline).

November 2015

We have been through a lot together in the last year. Courage is turning into a really awesome horse, I'm learning things I never knew about dressage, and I'm excited for our goals together.

More than that though, I love what this year has done for our relationship. After everything this spring, we finally reached an accord. Courage is really MY horse now. I don't threaten to sell him after another giant spook at whatever-it-is this time--I just laugh at his antics and put him back to work. I've had a crappy history as an adult with horses in which the longest I've had any creature is 3 years.

I'm looking forward to blowing that number out of the water with this little guy. <3

Why Dressage

February lesson

I'll be the first one to tell you that I am sooooo not a dressage queen. I'm not picky or obsessive or overly controlling. I'm honestly more concerned that pookie-kins goes forward when I kick him than I am that everything is always only ever in a perfect balance. I like jumping. I like jumping my horse over fences now.

But here I am with a big dressage goal and nothing really written down or formulated even in my head about jumping.

March trainer ride

See, here's the great thing about dressage: it is imminently amateur friendly. I mean, yeah, it's freakishly hard and panders to the weirdly-over-controlling-detail-oriented-ocd folks out there (not that we don't love y'all), but there are clear levels of achievement. Logical progressions. Legal trainer rides. Tons of coaching.

Dressage not only allows for an ammy needing a pro ride now and then, it makes room for it. There are awards for achieving a score at a certain level. Medals for achieving scores across several levels. Dress code to (somewhat) permit sparkly things.

April practice ride

I mean, sure, if I wanted to be competitive on a national stage, I'd need a 90k horse and a very fancy trainer, but if I just want to work on training my horse?

All I need is a saddle and a snaffle bridle and maybe a flat surface to ride on. I can literally ride intro through fourth level* with the set up I have now (though I might need to cave and buy a show shirt).

May horseshow

I have no illusions of grandeur. Courage and I aren't going to grand prix dressage any more than we were making it to rolex, and I'm fine with that. What my structure-phillic brain is really embracing about dressage right now is the ability to track our progress and advance (at our speed).

June horse show

I know he's not fancy enough (and let's be real, I'm not rich enough) to be wildly successful. That isn't the point though. My goal with Courage is always to have fun with my horse, and right now, dressage is the structure that keeps me from losing my mind**.

July riding

*Help me out, dressage people--at what point do you have to wear tails? I think you don't as long as you're in a snaffle?

**Never fear, western Courage fans. New outfits and fun plans are in the works. We can't do competitive prancing all the time.

Ultimate Trotting Picture Progression Post

IT'S HERE!!! I got really excited about progression pictures, so I went back to my beginning with Courage and took a trotting picture from each month to the present. 90% of these are pulled off the blog. I tried to get them as late in the month as possible. I wanted them to accurately represent where we were at, training-wise. None are taken while approaching poles/jumps and all of them feature me as rider or handler. Enjoy!

August 2013 - right off the track

September 2013

October 2013

November 2013

December 2013

January 2014

February  2014

March  2014

April 2014

May 2014

June 2014

July 2014

August 2014

no trotting pictures in September so enjoy cute puppy

October 2014

November 2014

December 2014

January 2015

February 2015

March 2015

April 2015

I realize that's a lot of pictures and I'd probably be better served by consolidating down to quarterly or something, but now that I've done the work to run down all these pictures, you get them all.

Besides. Look how far my little man has come!