Tuesday's lesson went really well. Jessie was a little distracted by other horses in the indoor, but I think those distractions are good for him, since there will be a lot more going on at a show! We warmed up long and low and worked on sidepassing a little. I had zero energy and Jessie was playing off of that, so we weren't very forward, especially in the beginning. We added a new exercise to our rides...cantering a 10 meter circle directly off the rail, and then riding a diagonal line back to the wall when only halfway through the circle, breaking down to a trot between the quarterline and the wall. Our transitions period are pretty sticky right now, so it was interesting. That combined with the fact that Jessie thought for sure we were supposed to be working on flying changes. He did some beautiful simple changes though, as we got the hang of the exercise. We did some shoulder in, and had a near perfect go between two letters when going counter clockwise. He was actually carrying himself along, it was *wonderful*!!!
One thing that gave me warm fuzzies was when discussing Jessie's weight Kim commented that he works hard, she doesn't hold back with us and asks a lot more of us than she normally would because we seem to be able to handle it. It was nice knowing that my stubborness pays off sometimes! There have been plenty of times during lessons that we had trouble keeping it together, but I think that in the long run pushing through has helped.
Hopefully tomorrow's lesson goes as well.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Saturday, October 27, 2007
QH Congress Fun
I've spent the last two days at The All-American Quarter Horse Congress (http://www.oqha.com/congress/congresshome.htm), the largest single breed horse show in the world. I mainly go for shopping, and bonding time with my sister, who is dying to get started on the QH circuit in HUS (hunter under saddle for you non-pleasure horse types). I bought a couple of jackets, lots of vetwrap, coolers, hair (for horses) products, and polar fleece breeches. I was looking for schooling tights, but didn't find any. I realized that was because English QH riders ride in jeans, half chaps, and tennis shoes, no need for something that will fit under tall boots. My wallet probably appreciated this though.
Ironically, I found that I enjoyed watching the Western Pleasure horses more than the Hunter Under Saddle horses, mainly due to the riders. The broken wrists and elbow windows were driving me nuts. As well as the chair seats and the constant yanking on faces. I passed the time by making lists of people that jerked excessively on their horses, and then seeing how they did. About half of them placed, half didn't. I also found it easier for me to pick the winners in Western Pleasure, I think because they just have a completely different set of standards and all of them were close, it made it easy for me since I just picked the horses that had the truest gaits. HUS, I was picking horses based on which were on the forehand the least, which rarely worked. It was still a fun experience though, and anyone that has the skill/dedication/money to show and win at Congress deserves some level of respect.
I still can't wait for Equine Affaire though. Tack of the day saved me by having dressage pads the day before I went to Congress the first time, and fortunately I caved and bought some, because my hopes of picking a couple up at Congress were dashed. I found two total, and they were $80 Professional's Choice air ride pads. Not the plain jane pads I needed.
Ironically, I found that I enjoyed watching the Western Pleasure horses more than the Hunter Under Saddle horses, mainly due to the riders. The broken wrists and elbow windows were driving me nuts. As well as the chair seats and the constant yanking on faces. I passed the time by making lists of people that jerked excessively on their horses, and then seeing how they did. About half of them placed, half didn't. I also found it easier for me to pick the winners in Western Pleasure, I think because they just have a completely different set of standards and all of them were close, it made it easy for me since I just picked the horses that had the truest gaits. HUS, I was picking horses based on which were on the forehand the least, which rarely worked. It was still a fun experience though, and anyone that has the skill/dedication/money to show and win at Congress deserves some level of respect.
I still can't wait for Equine Affaire though. Tack of the day saved me by having dressage pads the day before I went to Congress the first time, and fortunately I caved and bought some, because my hopes of picking a couple up at Congress were dashed. I found two total, and they were $80 Professional's Choice air ride pads. Not the plain jane pads I needed.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
No lesson today...
Kim's dog had to go to the vet to get a C-section so I ended up not having a lesson today. So I rode on my own, practicing lots of transitions and some leg yielding. A little shoulder in, but I can't tell if the angle is right on my own, so not much. One thing that was helpful was cantering the long side and short side, then changing direction on the diagonal by coming to a walk at X. Then walked to the corner and asked for a canter halfway through the first turn, then cantered down the long side and the short side and did it again.
Another thing we did was practicing trotting the quarterlines. He was anticipiating leg yielding when we would turn early, so it was good to work on just going straight. Also made it easier to check us out in the mirror, lol.
One more thing we worked on while taking a walk break was gathering him up and then doing a free walk on the diagonal and practiced gathering him up again, we did X's like that. And of course, lots of circles and riding around the whole arena. A bit on lengthening, but not much. Overall it was a good ride. Started out rocky because he was calling for his new buddy again, but overall a nice day. It helped that I came home from class to my new saddlepads! If you don't already check it every day, http://www.tackoftheday.com/ is *the* place to go for deals. It's like an addiction, lol, but one that saves you money!
Another thing we did was practicing trotting the quarterlines. He was anticipiating leg yielding when we would turn early, so it was good to work on just going straight. Also made it easier to check us out in the mirror, lol.
One more thing we worked on while taking a walk break was gathering him up and then doing a free walk on the diagonal and practiced gathering him up again, we did X's like that. And of course, lots of circles and riding around the whole arena. A bit on lengthening, but not much. Overall it was a good ride. Started out rocky because he was calling for his new buddy again, but overall a nice day. It helped that I came home from class to my new saddlepads! If you don't already check it every day, http://www.tackoftheday.com/ is *the* place to go for deals. It's like an addiction, lol, but one that saves you money!
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Good site for shoulder in help...
I found this site helpful in learning more about the shoulder in. The directions were clear and the rest of the site is pretty good too! http://www.geocities.com/gerrypony/shoulder-in.html
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Rough Day
I've had a rough couple of days, so I was looking forward to relaxing and having a good lesson...but was I expecting a lot.
Lesson started out really rocky, it took a while for Jessie and I to relax, him due to his new buddy constantly calling for him and me to get over my bad day and being tense about Jessie's lack of attention. Long and low was not happening, so we worked on side passing in the corners and transitions to warm up after a bit of attempting long and low at the walk and trot.
Kim came in as we were working on canter to halt transitions, so she had us do some more canter work. I have been trying very hard to sit up tall and straight with my shoulders back and chest open. I know I'm improving, but it's taught me how bad my position was because Jessie canters in a perpetual state of readiness for a flying lead change when I sit upright. His hindquarters are cocked and ready to switch at a moments notice. I need to evaluate my position to ensure I am sitting evenly on my seatbones and then I guess he'll just get used to this being the normal way I ride and that it doesn't mean we're going to do a lead change. We got a couple of nicer than normal transitions, and also worked on encouraging the *jump* in every stride with my inside leg. One of the hardest things for me to remember is that I need to lower my outside hand a bit and keep the inside hand raised up a bit more. He was very stiff so I was doing lots of playing with the reins and my inside leg to keep him round and bent.
After that we picked up the trot and worked on some trot to walk transitions. We attempted a shoulder in, but it just wasn't happening because I didn't have it together with trying to soften him and refind the proper position. So we went back to the walk and tried it with moderate results and then were able to retry successfully at the trot. Doing shoulder in at the walk really improved his trot and softened him to the point where we ended up having a very nice ride.
We took a short walk break following trying shoulder in in both directions, and tried a couple of test movements (turn left at E and then right at B). Then we went large and worked on leg yielding from the quarterline to the wall, as opposed to the 1/8th line where we normally do it. We did quite well going to the right, barely any bend and stayed very straight throughout. Going to the left was a bit trickier, he kept falling over with the shoulder so I had to use my right hand to keep his shoulder over and remember to move my inside leg back further and hold my outside leg steady to keep his shoulders from moving over too quickly.
We tried lengthening our stride on the diagonal at rising trot a few times, there was some change, but not a whole lot. We finished up with a turn down the centerline and halting. It wasn't the best halt ever, but pretty good for us.
I finally got my other dressage saddle back, and gave it to Kim to try. She is looking for a new saddle and I'm trying to sell this one, so it works out. I'm hoping it works for her because I would love to trade it for board. If not, she has a friend that is looking for a new saddle as well, so hopefully I'll get it sold one way or another. She commented that I take really good care of my tack too, so that gave me a warm fuzzy.
Lesson started out really rocky, it took a while for Jessie and I to relax, him due to his new buddy constantly calling for him and me to get over my bad day and being tense about Jessie's lack of attention. Long and low was not happening, so we worked on side passing in the corners and transitions to warm up after a bit of attempting long and low at the walk and trot.
Kim came in as we were working on canter to halt transitions, so she had us do some more canter work. I have been trying very hard to sit up tall and straight with my shoulders back and chest open. I know I'm improving, but it's taught me how bad my position was because Jessie canters in a perpetual state of readiness for a flying lead change when I sit upright. His hindquarters are cocked and ready to switch at a moments notice. I need to evaluate my position to ensure I am sitting evenly on my seatbones and then I guess he'll just get used to this being the normal way I ride and that it doesn't mean we're going to do a lead change. We got a couple of nicer than normal transitions, and also worked on encouraging the *jump* in every stride with my inside leg. One of the hardest things for me to remember is that I need to lower my outside hand a bit and keep the inside hand raised up a bit more. He was very stiff so I was doing lots of playing with the reins and my inside leg to keep him round and bent.
After that we picked up the trot and worked on some trot to walk transitions. We attempted a shoulder in, but it just wasn't happening because I didn't have it together with trying to soften him and refind the proper position. So we went back to the walk and tried it with moderate results and then were able to retry successfully at the trot. Doing shoulder in at the walk really improved his trot and softened him to the point where we ended up having a very nice ride.
We took a short walk break following trying shoulder in in both directions, and tried a couple of test movements (turn left at E and then right at B). Then we went large and worked on leg yielding from the quarterline to the wall, as opposed to the 1/8th line where we normally do it. We did quite well going to the right, barely any bend and stayed very straight throughout. Going to the left was a bit trickier, he kept falling over with the shoulder so I had to use my right hand to keep his shoulder over and remember to move my inside leg back further and hold my outside leg steady to keep his shoulders from moving over too quickly.
We tried lengthening our stride on the diagonal at rising trot a few times, there was some change, but not a whole lot. We finished up with a turn down the centerline and halting. It wasn't the best halt ever, but pretty good for us.
I finally got my other dressage saddle back, and gave it to Kim to try. She is looking for a new saddle and I'm trying to sell this one, so it works out. I'm hoping it works for her because I would love to trade it for board. If not, she has a friend that is looking for a new saddle as well, so hopefully I'll get it sold one way or another. She commented that I take really good care of my tack too, so that gave me a warm fuzzy.
Monday, October 22, 2007
No riding today...
We had a rough physical training session today (workout for you non-military types) and I have a big presentation for tomorrow, so I decided not to ride. I have a lesson tomorrow and Thursday.
Something I wanted to get down in regards to working on shoulder in and my last lesson, because I was kind of surprised that we were working on shoulder in, it seemed sudden, but then I was reading a shoulder in tutorial on the internet (http://www.geocities.com/gerrypony/shoulder-in.html) and it all made sense after that. You really should read the full tutorial, but I'll recap what we did in lessons leading up to the shoulder in, which really helped it fall into place.
We worked on encouraging Jessie to stay forward and round
We taught him to move off of my leg by sidepassing around the corners of the arena
We used that new willingness to move off the leg to begin sidepassing
Leg yielding to the wall from the quarter line and from the wall to the quarter line
Spiral circles, both in and out, changing the size of the circle, but maintaining the tempo
Counting strides on each half of a circle to see if they match
Learned how to really do a sitting trot
After that, it was easy. Kim explained the aids for the sitting trot, inside leg FORWARD at the girth (very hard for me to do), inside hand a little higher, twist torso to face where his head should be facing, but don't break at the waist when twisting, outside rein pushes the horse toward the inside and the inside hand asks for the bend, the outside leg stays still and heavy, encouraging the horse to bring it's shoulders over, but not really asking for anything unless correction is needed. The inside leg pulses with every step of the inside hind leg, to maintain the impulsion and momentum.
The hardest part was not bringing the horse too far over, the angle just doesn't seem like enough angle when there is the right amount of bend. Additionally, we lost a lot of the impulsion by the end of the wall, but that is due in part to needing to build up the stamina and muscle strength to maintain the movement, both on my part and Jessie's. It was very exciting though, the only thing more exciting than shoulder in will be half pass, but we won't be ready for that for quite some time.
Anyway, just wanted to recap my shoulder in experience, while it was still fairly fresh in my mind. One good thing about this blog is that it gets my thoughts together in one place for my review prior to my lessons.
Something I wanted to get down in regards to working on shoulder in and my last lesson, because I was kind of surprised that we were working on shoulder in, it seemed sudden, but then I was reading a shoulder in tutorial on the internet (http://www.geocities.com/gerrypony/shoulder-in.html) and it all made sense after that. You really should read the full tutorial, but I'll recap what we did in lessons leading up to the shoulder in, which really helped it fall into place.
We worked on encouraging Jessie to stay forward and round
We taught him to move off of my leg by sidepassing around the corners of the arena
We used that new willingness to move off the leg to begin sidepassing
Leg yielding to the wall from the quarter line and from the wall to the quarter line
Spiral circles, both in and out, changing the size of the circle, but maintaining the tempo
Counting strides on each half of a circle to see if they match
Learned how to really do a sitting trot
After that, it was easy. Kim explained the aids for the sitting trot, inside leg FORWARD at the girth (very hard for me to do), inside hand a little higher, twist torso to face where his head should be facing, but don't break at the waist when twisting, outside rein pushes the horse toward the inside and the inside hand asks for the bend, the outside leg stays still and heavy, encouraging the horse to bring it's shoulders over, but not really asking for anything unless correction is needed. The inside leg pulses with every step of the inside hind leg, to maintain the impulsion and momentum.
The hardest part was not bringing the horse too far over, the angle just doesn't seem like enough angle when there is the right amount of bend. Additionally, we lost a lot of the impulsion by the end of the wall, but that is due in part to needing to build up the stamina and muscle strength to maintain the movement, both on my part and Jessie's. It was very exciting though, the only thing more exciting than shoulder in will be half pass, but we won't be ready for that for quite some time.
Anyway, just wanted to recap my shoulder in experience, while it was still fairly fresh in my mind. One good thing about this blog is that it gets my thoughts together in one place for my review prior to my lessons.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Cool dressage link...
This is a really neat dressage link, it has all of the tests for the US (and other countries) in various formats, one with a diagram for each movement drawn out, as well as a version for readers. Really great resource, and there are tons of links grouped by state that I know I'll be using next time I move!
http://www.dressage.net.au/natestdia.html#firsttests
http://www.dressage.net.au/natestdia.html#firsttests
First post...
I decided to start a blog to document my efforts to become a "real" dressage rider. I am starting out with my 18 year old QH gelding, Jester Jigger, whom I have had the pleasure of owning for the last 13 years. We had a rough start, as he was originally my All Around 4-H horse. We have done everything from showmanship to western pleasure to hunter under saddle to dressage to jumping to trail to reining. We did pretty much everything but weren't stellar at any of it, at least not on a real statewide level. Granted, we placed third at state in Training Level Test 1 and Test 2 in 1996 or so, but we didn't have a clue.
I muddled through on my own with no trainer or instruction other than what I picked up in books, magazines, and clinics. I put riding on hold for five years, while I went to college and got my B.S. in Environmental Engineering and then started my life as an Air Force Lieutenant. Almost two years after joining the real working world I was able to move my horses to NJ, where eventually I went to a Walter Zettl clinic, where I met Vicky Gorman. She was gracious and kind enough to agree to come to where I boarded my horses and give me dressage lessons.
I felt like I was really riding for the first time. I had A LOT of mistakes to fix, from my ideas of what dressage was, to the way I used my hands, sat in the saddle, and even the saddle that I owned. We set to work though, and made great improvements. However, as is life in the Air Force, I wasn't meant to stay in that location for too long, and moved to Korea. Jessie went home to live with my parents for the year.
Upon returning to the States I moved to the Dayton area with my fiance, Craig, and Jessie soon followed. We found a stable for Jessie just 10 minutes from our house. We got married (on September 8th, 2007) and I started taking weekly lessons. That quickly got bumped up to two lessons a week, since Craig has karate four days a week anyway. I have already learned a lot in just a month of lessons, and can't wait to continue learning.
Jessie came to Dayton almost completely dead to my leg, but Kim gave us homework of working on sidepassing arcs around the corners of the arena, so that we would be utilizing turn on the forehand and turn on the haunches. We worked on that and soon I was able to move him side to side while moving forward with just my leg, this was especially helpful in leg yielding and doing spiral circles.
We still need lots of practice with our transitions, both in staying soft and round, and getting the transition instantaneously.
Last lesson we began working on the shoulder in. It was the first time we had ever tried it, and did surprisingly well (I think it helped that my warm up included the side passing exercise I'd mentioned earlier). The biggest problem we had was Jessie's neck being bent too much and I would break my body too much toward the inside. He lost impulsion toward the end of the exercise as well (shoulder in along the long side), so for our practice sessions we will probably try shorter distances.
I don't want to make the first post much longer than this, but next time I hope to discuss some of the correlations between what I did in my last lesson and what was mentioned in Zettl's book.
I muddled through on my own with no trainer or instruction other than what I picked up in books, magazines, and clinics. I put riding on hold for five years, while I went to college and got my B.S. in Environmental Engineering and then started my life as an Air Force Lieutenant. Almost two years after joining the real working world I was able to move my horses to NJ, where eventually I went to a Walter Zettl clinic, where I met Vicky Gorman. She was gracious and kind enough to agree to come to where I boarded my horses and give me dressage lessons.
I felt like I was really riding for the first time. I had A LOT of mistakes to fix, from my ideas of what dressage was, to the way I used my hands, sat in the saddle, and even the saddle that I owned. We set to work though, and made great improvements. However, as is life in the Air Force, I wasn't meant to stay in that location for too long, and moved to Korea. Jessie went home to live with my parents for the year.
Upon returning to the States I moved to the Dayton area with my fiance, Craig, and Jessie soon followed. We found a stable for Jessie just 10 minutes from our house. We got married (on September 8th, 2007) and I started taking weekly lessons. That quickly got bumped up to two lessons a week, since Craig has karate four days a week anyway. I have already learned a lot in just a month of lessons, and can't wait to continue learning.
Jessie came to Dayton almost completely dead to my leg, but Kim gave us homework of working on sidepassing arcs around the corners of the arena, so that we would be utilizing turn on the forehand and turn on the haunches. We worked on that and soon I was able to move him side to side while moving forward with just my leg, this was especially helpful in leg yielding and doing spiral circles.
We still need lots of practice with our transitions, both in staying soft and round, and getting the transition instantaneously.
Last lesson we began working on the shoulder in. It was the first time we had ever tried it, and did surprisingly well (I think it helped that my warm up included the side passing exercise I'd mentioned earlier). The biggest problem we had was Jessie's neck being bent too much and I would break my body too much toward the inside. He lost impulsion toward the end of the exercise as well (shoulder in along the long side), so for our practice sessions we will probably try shorter distances.
I don't want to make the first post much longer than this, but next time I hope to discuss some of the correlations between what I did in my last lesson and what was mentioned in Zettl's book.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)