Avandarre in Dressage

I participated in the Roz Kinstler clinic today.  My brain is overloaded! Next time I'm bringing a note book and writing this stuff down. Just listening to Roz teach the other riders was fantastic. The back story on Ava and my start to the day: Ava refused to load. Tried everything. Last November Ava was walking onto the trailer without batting an eyelash. Not today. Today, she didn't want to. My ride time was at 9:00 am, and I'm almost an hour away from where the clinic was at. At 8:39, Ava finally loaded. I was very lucky that my trainer offered to switch ride times with me so that I could still participate in the clinic today (Thank you so much, Bern!). The Ride: It started off getting Ava convinced that I could hold the right rein and move her shoulders over when going right. Roz had a great tip/tool of raising the inside hand about 2-3 inches higher than the left hand and then basically holding it in place. Kind of a "I am here, you deal with it" hold. ...

This should be so easy, and I'm totally not getting it. We went from perfectly (for us) balanced, soft, and engaged to... to... Yuck . Just Yuck. I'm seriously thinking about throwing in my helmet. It's so discouraging when you just can't fix the problem. I know there's a problem, I'm pretty sure I know what the problem is, but nothing I try fixes the problem. So then Ava hangs on that right rein, and twists her body so that it's impossible for her to work correctly. Then I get frustrated, and upset, and for some reason I think if I just try harder that that will magically fix it. HA (that was a sarcastic Ha). I feel like I'll never get this.  *sigh*

It's not really day two, but I've been busy, so I'll just mark these in chronological order. What I've learned in a week of working on a straighter horse that's using her back better, is this... it's all incremental levels of straightness, connection, and engagement. I think for some reason I've always had the idea that connection was either there, or not there. I mean, I get that connection can be better, or worse, depending on the day and other factors, but I think I was holding onto a believe that for the most part connection was just there. But it's more complicated than that. And my belief about connection was hampered by the idea that connection has to do with the bit and the horse's mouth. From what I'm learning, it has very little to do with the mouth, and so much more to do with having the horse directly between the knee's and powering off both sides evenly. This is my tentative theory on the whole thing (take it for what it...

March is over, so I thought I would do a recap of our improvements and stumbling blocks. Canter Transitions: We're still having issues with our canter departs and Ava throwing her head around.The walk/canter departs still create an immense amount of stress, and anxiety, for Ava. I've been trying everything I can think of to get her to relax, but nothing has worked. She had this same issue with the trot/canter departs last June, and the only thing that really helped was repetition. Repetition until she was so bored with it that she didn't care anymore. Until now, I haven't felt that Ava was really strong enough to do a lot of walk/canter departs so I've been fairly judicious about asking her for them. Weeeeeee! Yesterday I weighed out the pro's and con's and decided she's at the point where she can step up the engagement. I spent a majority of yesterday's lesson drilling walk/canter departs until she could do a few without making a big deal out...

When I was a kid I rode dressage for a few years (very intensely). Anyway, starting again as an adult has really opened my eyes to a lot of things I didn't grasp back then. Like the seat aids. I knew it was vital, I got the concept for the most part, but I completely failed with the subtleties of it. I thought the "seat" was the thighs and seat bones. To turn -> thighs and one seat bone; To stop -> thighs; To collect -> thighs and calves and reins; I had thighs of steel. At my last lesson I was struggling with controlling Ava's forward momentum at the canter. I tried bouncing the reins, and it half-heartedly worked, but I had to really bounce to get a response (which I'm not a fan of doing). So I whined to my trainer, who gave me a "you should know this" look, then set about explaining how to influence Ava's momentum with my hips, abs, shoulder's, and calves (I'm sure she's explained this all before, but I frequently forge...

Well... I have been informed today that dressage is memorizing patterns. I did not know that. hmm. Learn something new every day I guess. Apparently, by memorizing these patterns I will achieve Grand Prix with my mare. Who knew it was this easy?! Crap... I've been doing this all wrong for so long now.  All this time wasted with straightness and engagement.  I should've just memorized the Grand Prix test.... I could've been showing at the Olympics already. Why didn't people tell me this sooner!!! Robert Dover ... memorizing test now....... Enter A collected canter. Halt - Immobility - salute. Proceed in collected trot. ........................................... Here are the tests... I'll see all of you at GP this summer! http://www.fei.org/disciplines/officials-organisers/organisers/dressage/dressage-tests Again, I'm caught with my jaw hanging, and no suitable response. After being told that this is why she doesn't do dressage (she jumps),...

I found an interesting article that kind of addresses some of the problems I've been having lately. Maybe it'll be helpful to some of you also. Riders Learn to Envision What They Want and Make it Happen; Robert Dover I liked the rubber band exercise he describes. I'm going to have to try that with Ava this weekend. On the second page, Robert Dover say's, "Be certain of what it is that you're asking for, clear with your aids, and envision the expected result in your mind. See the movie of your most grand vision of yourself—if you envision less than that, that's all you'll get," The article caught my eye because my trainer pointed out (several times) how I was blocking Ava during the walk/canter depart. I was expecting her to not respond. This is one of those instances where blind faith in your trainer is required in order to get past a training obstacle (my obstacle, not Ava's). Bern said Ava will canter off a light seat aid, then by ...

I had a lesson last Tuesday, and during the lesson, my instructor (Bernadette Radke) had me canter Ava down the quarter line. Guess what happened?  Yeah... Ava can't hold the canter without the wall holding her up. Doh. I feel so dumb. Here I thought we were doing wonderfully, and BAM... this glaring hole has been revealed. Thank my lucky stars I have such an amazingly, knowledgeable trainer. The lesson started off with Bern pointing out that Ava has me completely suckered into not keeping contact with the bit. Then, after I gave her plenty of room to wiggly and contort, Ava drags her body around with her inside shoulder. Not a good thing. We started off with just connecting her back end at the walk. Then moved on to the trot. Ava has been giving me fits about one end of the arena, and of course she had to throw that into high gear during our lesson. Bern had me settle in, bend her poll slightly to the inside, and ride as though I'm riding a shoulder-fore. Then I had to j...

I first learned about e-TRAK a few months ago, and honestly... I scoffed at it a bit. Not that I think it's a bad idea, but I figured it'd be the same as every other dressage oriented content where all articles focuse on either the super, baby-green horse, or how to improve the one-tempi changes.  I'm not even close to worrying about Piaffe/Passage, and I may never be at that point. I have more pressing concerns about dressage training on my mind. Like how the heck am I supposed to get a clean canter depart from a walk. While clean canter departs are still a monumental achievement for me, then I can safely say that Piaffe/Passage, flying changes, etc, are still out of my realm of immediate concern. So I scoffed, dismissed, and wasted time surfing the web on my own. Until this weekend... OMG they have some great PDF's and videos! And a ton of them are for those of us who need more than just the absolute basics, yet aren't ready for the upper levels. It's fantas...

Varying the length of the steps to develop collection. Keeping the shoulder-in the entire time, trot down the long side and ask for the shoulder in at F. P, make a full transition to walk. At B, resume trot while in shoulder-in. Every other letter make a transition. At M, straighten the horse and trot normal through the corner. While in shoulder-in, trot down the long side and ask for the shoulder-in at F. At B, shorten the stride for a few steps.There should be more steps because of the shorter stride. Do not go slower, there should be more steps with the shorter stride, but the tempo/rhythm should stay the same. Shorten the strides at every second letter. Then trot on through the corner. Looking for relaxed short steps. If the horse isn't listening to the half halt's, go back to doing the full transitions down the rail. If you're asking for the shortened steps and you feel as though your horse is going to walk, then go back to the normal trot. After the above two exerc...

The Unwritten Rules of Dressage Test Riding By Janet Foy http://www.equisearch.com/horses_riding_training/english/dressage/the-unwritten-rules-of-dressage-test-riding/ Janet Foy discusses circles, diagonal lines, free walk, transitions, and the movements in the different levels. Very informative!

A change or passing from one gait to another or from one pace to another pace within a gait or from a gait to a halt. Ava is getting more fit, so I've been asking her to collect/engage more each ride. Today, I forgot to grab my whip (which I normally ride with). At first, Ava was very unwilling to move forward. In fact, I had to two-leg boot her to get her to walk forward from a halt. I'm not a big fan of doing that. It was good though, it made me think more about how to motivate her without that false sense of power the whip gives me. I'm thinking I might set aside the whip altogether. I've been stuck on the general concept of transitions. You know... you walk, you halt, you walk. Or you trot, halt, trot, etc.  Ava's smart though, and I'm predictable, so the more I do those, the heavier Ava gets (and less responsive).  Today it felt like a little light bulb finally went off in my head. You know what? There are other gaits and variations within the gate! Why...

The flies were terrible. Ava was very unhappy with them and I don't blame her. They were drawing blood! Considering the flies, she did pretty good overall. The trot was a bit under-powered for her, but I'm still learning to sit the trot so I slowed it down. And she wasn't as over her back as I would have like, but it felt like more swing than I saw when I looked a the video. The first canter depart was like usual. She falls on the forehand and launches herself in the canter from the inside front foot (bad). The second canter depart was utterly atrocious (wrong lead, on forehand). But the third one.... Much improved! I was so geeked about it! And the fourth canter depart (left lead) was better too. I think she's starting to get it! Well, that and she's getting much stronger and more balanced everyday.

I never know what to write. :) I've been working on Ava's tension issues for the past couple of weeks. She has a tendency to stiffen her neck and back... which defeats the whole idea of dressage. So I've been trying different techniques on her that I've learned in lessons and clinics. One of those was when she became strong and inattentive was to bounce the rein (as hard as required to get her to set back). I'm not talking a sharp jerk, just a one second heavy contact and release. Well, I realized that only works if you don't drop her afterward. I was bouncing with a full release afterward. I tried thinking of it more as in a rubber band type of release while still keeping a feel of the bit. The idea of just slightly opening the hand with a reminder from the seat leg to go forward. That really helped! It took about 4 of those at the very start of the ride and she progressively got softer and rounder. She was like butter at the end! It felt so cool. I believe ...

I've been having problems with Ava for the last week. I need a lesson so badly! It's so frustrating not being able to fix whatever is wrong. Bern, you're going to be so pissed when I come back in October! We were going so well when we left the barn just a month ago. *sigh* Until then, I have to find a way to fix this. Here's what's going on.... We walk out to the mowed area behind the house at 5:30-6:00. She's fine on the walk out, leg yields softly both ways, calm, relaxed. We step into the mowed area and she turns into a board. She braces against the bit, doesn't really listen to the seat, kicks out at the leg when I put it in, gets really tense. Walk back to the barn and she's relaxed and calm, leg yields easily and softly. She always goes out to pasture after our ride. I'm not sure if she's in pain from the saddle, anxious about being turned free for the night, upset with the footing in the "arena", or if I'm tensing and caus...

I'm so sore today. I don't know what happened yesterday, but both my husband and I have serious neck pain today. I know how he got his... I bounce his head like a basketball when I wake him in the mornings.  ha. All I know is I got off Ava last night, and immediately my shoulder and neck started killing me. It's been non-stop since. But whatever. Real Dressage riders Ride. :) The ride tonight went okay. I couldn't find my seat to save my life during the warm up. Flopping around like a wet sock up there. My poor pony!  I did finally get it together enough to center myself and we got down to some work, but it wasn't anything eye popping or great.  We did work on our walk/canter transitions. I've dabbled with them a bit previously and they were horrendous. Terrible. It stressed Ava out and made her into a board that refused to relax. So I stowed that one in the closet until today.  I feel she's got the muscle and balance that she can at least begin to work ...

It was actually nice out on Wednesday! Yay!  I tacked up Ava, who was very "UP", and we jigged our way out to the field to practice. Man the horse flies were atrocious! Five of those suckers were bombing us on the ride through Pine Tree lane. The warm up started out poorly with Ava doing her Friesian spook every other stride, interspersed with impatient trot strides.  I worked on leg yields and turn on the forehands and I was very happy with how she settled down to work. So we've been practicing haunches in at the walk for a few weeks now, trying to get her to calmly accept my leg further behind the girth area. Some days are better than others, but overall she's progressing.  On Wednesday I had decided it was time to work at it in the trot.  I bent her into the corner, got her nicely on the outside rein (going to the left) and gently slid that right leg back behind the girth... AND BAM! Haunches were wrapped around that inside leg like she was born to it....

I rode yesterday, even though it was pretty dang hot. The more I avoid working her in hot weather, the more unfit she gets. So we bit the bullet and rode anyway. Ava was STIFF . Usually with Ava, this is a result of not being straight. She was popping her right shoulder out on me. So I put her in a small counter flexion, and did a couple decreasing circles to the left while leg yielding. It seemed to help, and I had more connection with the outside rein. On a side note: Ava is convinced that if she throws her body out of the ring that I'll HAVE to stop working her and go for a trail ride. She stated this very bluntly when I asked for the left canter lead near the opening. She's enjoying her new roll as a trail pony a tad too much I think. ;) I felt like (even though she's out of shape) that Ava was more engaged during the ride. At least during portions of it. This was something I was working on at my previous barn, but had issues motivating her to work harder. I...

I take back everything I said about the backyard rider. I didn't know! I've been so ignorant. :) I remember an idealized childhood of riding everyday at my parents home. It's HARD to ride consistently without good footing or a covered arena. I much prefer both of those options. I've almost admitted defeat of my 3 month outdoor riding goal. We are 23 days into it and I'm dreaming of dry, covered arenas. I had hoped this trial would help Ava mentally, and help me overcome my fear of riding outdoors. I must admit, we've grown a lot as a pair. The first trail ride I took on Ava at the beginning of the month was a half hour of stress and tension (on my part, not Ava's). We've been gradually improving. Even taking the lead at times. And we venture out into the field out back with semi-confidence. The large, hidden, bird helped me. It flapped and squaked when we trotted past. Ava jumped five feet sideways and slammed the brakes on. I was jerked sideways, bu...