Avandarre in Dressage

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...

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...