9 Year Old Trakehner/Hanoverian Mare...Day 2...

***My notes weren't very in depth for this ride unfortunately, this clinic took place a few days after I discovered I was pregnant, and 1st trimester fatigue was really hitting hard.***

****Pirouette Exercise****
Do this with the stiff side to the outside, then reverse it
20 m circle, 3 supples to stiff side (only using snaffle rein), 7-1-7-1-7-1; then haunches in and supple again, then spiral down to 15 m, do supples, down to 10 m circle

*Men versus Women*
Men are stronger so ride from strength, women are smarter and learn how to work around issues

If the horse is too deep, press with both legs, raise the hands and move them forward the same amount you raised them (2 inches up then 2 inches forward)
Needs to be one fell swoop (like the "wave" at a football game)

Supple the horse 3 times to the stiff side when half passing to raise the pressure threshold

This is the last of my notes from the clinic. I had to leave a little early because I was just exhausted and worried about making the hour drive home even

Third Level Friesian Gelding...Day 2...

****Connecting Half Halt****
Close both legs
Close outside fist
Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle the inside hand
Do all of this for 3 seconds

Do 3 supples then half halt (while thinking add, add, add); soften and let the neck fall down (ie use suppleness to improve the connection)

Too much flexion on inside is a sign of more focus on the inside rein, need to focus on the outside hand which is the connecting hand; you should still row the boat as you half halt

The outside hand captures, contains, and recycles the power

Your horse must be supple on the inside rein and connected through the outside rein

Inside/outside is not determined by the wall of the arena, but by the flexion and bend of the horse

Precede the opening of your fingers for a stretchy circle with a good connecting half halt
*Do the same thing with a test that asks you to loop the inside rein*

Second Level Morgan Gelding...Day 2...

"Amateurs ride from movement to movement; professionals ride from half halt to half halt" --Robert Dover

Don't increase the leg if the horse is heavy in the hand; just use regular leg aids

Leg aid at the half halt is just slightly more than the maintenance aid (if your horse is in front of the aids)

****Signs of Collection****
Horse is shorter from nose to tail
Height of withers compared to heigh of croup (withers are higher)
Loading of the hind leg

Frequent transitions skipping a gait improves collection (walk to canter, halt to trot, and reversed)

Downward transitions-hands forward, tighten back/tummy muscles

****Collecting Exercise****
5 strides canter, 5 strides walk, 5 strides canter, etc
No dribbling in between
Down transition through the rider's back and outside rein
Can also be done between the trot and halt

****Ways to Get More Collection****
Lateral work with bend
Decreasing size circles
Transitions while skipping a gait

Collecting half halt is a momentary closure of leg, seat, and hand (it's the "textbook" definition of a half halt)

Keep the same rhythm and tempo while decreasing ground covered by 50%, which equals a good collecting half halt
Take, give, take, give, take, give (not just add, add, add)
Once you have it down do it when doing shoulder in, half pass, etc
Needs to be timed for just before the hind leg pushes off the ground

When you feel the inside seat bone go forward when trotting that is the time to cue for a half halt

When the seat feels deepest is when to half halt when cantering (this is also when the mane flips up a little)

Training Level/First Level Warmblood...Day 2...

She had an extra long lesson because the amazing Hanoverian that was to follow had an injury. But it turned out to be good for the auditors and the rider because they were just at a breakthrough point when her ride was *supposed* to be over.

If you go +2 or -2 it's too easy for the horse to bend at the neck.

Coordinate closing of calf with turning the key, then in between be quiet

Crest of neck, left and right (flipping the nuchal ligament); try the flexing at the halt, you can see the crest flip, Conrad will start a lesson with this, do NOT wiggle the rein when you do this, just flip the wrist; then do it at the walk

If the horse tilts on a 10 meter circle of Shoulder In then it may be locked on one side of the poll-so supple it (can do it while in shoulder in as well as 10 meter circle or on a straight line)

The moment you get the +7 then release; if you hold him he breaks at the jaw

On a circle, the horse HAS to be on a +1 flexion, otherwise he's not straight; even through the transition

You don't go from stiff to supple in one fell swoop; it goes Stiff-->Less stiff-->A little stiff-->a little supple-->a little more supple-->supple

****Testing Suppleness****
1. When your horse is supple the weight of the horse on your hand stays the same when you supple because the horse just follows your hand around with his mouth

If you have a markedly one-sided horse spend 80% of the time suppleing that stiff side, you can track left and still work the right side of the body

2. When you take on the rein the horse lengthens and lowers his head toward the bit (as you supple)

3. If the horse stays straight on line of travel (doesn't swing its hindquarters)

If the horse swings you have to block the escape route by using passive non-suppleing side leg

****End Suppleness Tests****

Reiner Klimke would school a line of flying changes and then walk on a long rein plus pat his horse, then pick up the reins and do a pirouette, then lengthen reins and pat his horse, in other words-he spent more time walking on a long rein and patting his horse than drilling stuff

During a connecting half halt keep the leg on, don't pulse

Rober Dover-lots of bend, driving aids, and holding rein, on a 20 meter circle accelerate into a 6 meter circle within the 20 meter circle (at the walk), (using lots of bend, driving aids, and a holding rein)

When the horse steps through the closed outside fist the horse comes through and over its back

For this exercise, 20 m/6 m circles when walking, 20 m/10 m circles when trotting and cantering; think of it as if you're going to do a medium gait just before beginning the circle

Once the horse has it on a circle do the finished half halt on the circle

Think add, add, add as you do the half halt, then relax and the horse will round and come on the bit if it was right

Connecting half halt-aid to put your horse on the bit and make it straight

Unilateral half halt=Connecting Half Halt
1st Purpose=put the horse on the bit
2nd Purpose=make the horse even in the rein

If your horse is too heavy in the right rein then it is too light in the left rein

"Schooling is about fixing problems, competition is about hiding problems"

Make sure to add in a way that doesn't chase him out of his rhythm

Horse stiff on right, so go left, do counter -1 flexion, twinkle outside hand, close inside hand, close legs which equals a reverse half halt

Layer half halts like coats of paint, softening in between

If the horse gets behind the leg ask for a lengthening

In competition you wouldn't flex the horse to the outside, so reverse half halt is just for schooling

Saddle Fitting Postponed...

The saddle fitter had to postpone our appointment on Thursday. I described my problem to her though, and she suggested putting a towel under the seat of the saddle, as she thinks it's sitting cantle low now. So I'll try it when I ride. I think I'll go to the barn tomorrow, maybe ride, I don't know yet. Ever since finding out I'm pregnant I'm hesitant to do much physical activity, at least until I'm further along. I'm not planning on waiting until after the baby is born to ride, but I can't help but feel as if I'll jostle it loose by riding too soon. I know it's silly, but I don't want anything to happen to "Fishy".

On a more positive note, Sophie has a full wardrobe for the winter now, thanks to Quarter Horse Congress. I did have a funny moment with a blanket rep at Big Dee's. I was looking at a 1680 denier blanket and he told me it was heavyweight, I asked if they had a midweight in 1680 denier. He said no, that 1680 denier was a heavyweight blanket, that 1200 denier was a midweight blanket. I looked at the fill and it was 300 g of fill, but I couldn't get across to the guy that the fill was what determined the weight of the blanket, not the denier. Oh well, so I got a couple of the medium weight 1200 denier blankets instead.

Pssst...I Have a New Blog...

Check it out!

http://ourlittlefishy.blogspot.com/

Training Level Friesian...

****Exercise for Putting the Horse in Front of the Driving Aids****
This was a very common theme throughout the day, Jane also emphasized that it is *very* important not to skip any steps!

1. Make a vow to give light aids and make the horse respond
2. If the horse doesn't respond, correct it, correct it with 3 kicks, 3 smacks with the whip, etc (if you use just one hard kick the horse thinks that a hard kick is the aid for going faster, and doesn't realize it was a correction/punishment)
3. You must retest with another light aid, otherwise you just taught your horse to be dull
4. If the next words out of your mouth are "well, that was better" then correct the horse again and test again
5. Praise the horse a lot when he does it right

***End Exercise***

Both Legs=transition (walk-trot, working trot-lenghtened trot, etc)
Inside Leg=activity/engagement (fixes if the horse is subpower)

Never end a forward question with a correction, go back and retest

"The horse doesn't come out of the womb knowing what the driving aids mean"

If you're not sure it was good enough, it wasn't.

When you give one cluck the horse should brighten his gait just like when you put your inside leg on him

Make sure you kick 3 times or more, so that the horse doesn't confuse the correction with an aid

Stilled seat or retarded seat-when you sit up and tighten your tummy muscles

Driving seat is to activate the gait you're in

It's not important to use your seat the same way as your instructor, just be consistent with how you use it

Visualizations for a driving seat:
Make a swing go higher
Push the back of the saddle to the front
Push the saddle forward on the horse

In the beginning the horse should be rewarded for doing too much

Use an opening rein (hand straight away from the horse's neck) to smack the horse with the whip as a driving aid, then you hit the barrel of the horse with the whip parallel to your calf; make sure you don't pull the rein *back* to do it

The horse should stay in the same gait FOREVER, or as we say in Vermont, "until the cow's come home"

Finally Starting Day Two!

I don't have nearly as many notes from the second day. It was just as informative, but included a lot of repetition, so if it was something covered the day before I didn't write it down again, for the most part. I was also extremely tired and that really impacted my note taking.

Question Session Day One...

Jane doesn't change the flexion for flying changes because it puts you in the mode of using the wrong hand (it gets you focusing on the inside hand when the outside hand is more important in flying changes)

Jane first tries to teach a horse flying changes through a figure 8 with simple changes, walking in the middle and using the horse's tendency to anticipate.

****Training Flying Changes Tips****
Use outside leg (one trainer says, "give them a reason to change")

Add outside hand

Then inner leg/seatbones become more important and gives you expressive changes

Don't teach the horse to half pass away from the outside leg because it's too easy for the horse to mistake that for a canter depart

Fix overtempo by traditional leg yield with head to the wall, keeping a 35 degree angle between the horse and the wall

Jane's dressage "bible" is "The Complete Training of Horse and Rider" by Podjasky

He also discusses connecting half halts in this book, but he calls them Unilateral Half Halts

13 Year Old DWB Gelding...

This was a stunning Dutch Warmblood gelding. He and his rider are one score away from their gold medal. She said at the beginning that the horse does one's, but she doesn't.

The first thing Jane said was to make sure to keep the seat bone arrows pointing forward (ie lean back)

A half pass with no bend is 3rd level.

To improve the quality of bend at the half pass trot down centerline, LY with bend 4 steps, half pass with same bend 2 steps; repeat

Don't begin to half pass if there is no bend, and begin the leg yield *before* the horse flattens its barrel against your leg in the half pass

Leg yield from centerline curved like a C, suppleing as you leg yield

Pick up the trot, 10 meter circle, supple on circle, then leg yield to the wall from the centerline while maintaining the bend

If you pick an exercise to improve a movement, do the exercise to a few times and then try the movement to see if it actually improved

To get engagement use half-steps

****Half Steps Exercise****
Collect the walk, he should feel like 211 degrees boiling over; think jig with the legs forward; then slide them back and let him jig for 3 steps

When schooling Half Steps with a horse that likes to cheat by slowing down then work on raising the tempo

Jane and Sue Blinks never school Shoulder In down the long side, they always throw in an exercise like piaffe in the middle to get the horse to always be thinking "up" and loading the hind end (stay in Shoulder In though)

Covering less ground and going the same tempo or faster means he's lowering the croup and collecting

To improve the canter half pass, add 3 collecting steps (on straight line) then half pass again--this encourages snappy hind legs

You shouldn't half pass across the diagonal alone, so that the horse gets used to those collecting steps and expects them (this is how you go from a Prix St. Georges horse to a Grand Prix horse)

If the horse isn't doing enough strides in the pirouette make it do extra steps

If the horse wants its head too high then put him deeper so that his neck is lower for pirouettes (note--deeper, not rolkur)

The lower they are the slower they should go, otherwise they're just somersaulting around

Teach the horse on 20 meter circle what quick taps on the outside mean, before using it for collection in the middle of the half pass

20 Year Old I-2 Horse...

This guy was a handsome sweetie. She didn't mention his breed, he looked like either a TB, or a horse with a lot of TB in him. He was a dark bay and looked a lot like my Jessie. She wanted to work on getting more impulsion and more lift.

Your back controls the tempo, holding the reins just shortens the neck and may slow the horse; use the back/sit up muscles to steady the rhythm or slow the speed

Look straight up at the ceiling to keep from leading with the chin; also look side to side to loosen up the neck

Imagine that there are arrows that point straight down from your seat bones, whichever way the arrows point, so go the hind legs. --Kyra Kyrklund

****An exercise for getting *more* from your horse****
SI on long side, SI in medium trot 3 strides, regular SI, then SI in medium trot 3 strides (do the SI at medium trot twice on each long side)

As you do this exercise, start coming less back from medium trot at shoulder in each time you do SI at medium trot
****End Exercise****

****Half Pass Work****
Do the half pass, medium trot, regular trot, medium trot, less trot, medium trot, just a little less trot, etc--it's better to have 3 or 4 strides of medium trot a bunch of times than to have a couple of long medium trot half passes

When half passing, think that you're going to dismount off the horse with the leg the horse is bent around

The aids for half pass are inside leg and outside rein; stepping into the iron is why the horse goes sideways

Traditional American preparation is from shoulder fore, Jane doesn't prefer this method because the horse may tangle up its feet getting repositioned once it switches for the new movement

Klaus Balkenhol also doesn't like the Shoulder Fore to Half Pass method, he prefers to bend the horse and then "take" the horse; it's kind of like doing SI and HI at the same time; practice maintaining a 10 meter circle bend on the long side, once it's easy, take them into the half pass

Make sure you canter with your arms so that the horse doesn't nod behind

Finish the half pass in shoulder fore, so that the horse doesn't open the joints

An 8 or 9 half pass at 3rd Level=6 at Prix St. Georges=5 at Grand Prix

****Rober Dover Half Pass Exercise****
In the walk to the left, keep the horse equally bent from nose to tail, leg yield, 2 steps half pass, 4 steps leg yield---the bend should be the same whether Leg Yielding or Half Passing

"When I do it that way the half pass just happens"--this is what the rider said after trying the Dover exercise at the trot, her horse looked amazing during the exercise too

For the Riders...

If you were a rider in the Jane Savoie clinic and are uncomfortable with anything I've posted please let me know and I'll remove the part that you are uneasy with. I really only wrote down exactly what Jane was saying, her exercises, explanations of why you do (or don't do something) and visualizations.

All of the horses and riders were so good I don't think that any rider would find a fault with something an auditor says, but I don't want to offend anyone.

9 Year Old Trakehner/Hanoverian Mare...

I was excited to see this horse go, as she was a mare, and part Trakehner! She's was lovely and doing 3rd/4th level work. She'd only been in a double bridle for a couple of weeks and was doing wonderfully.

It's better for your heels to go down-level-down-level when sitting the trot; not up-level-up-level.

Ears will be level when the horse is through at the poll; if the inside ear is lower the horse isn't through

The outside rein keeps the horse from dribbling through the trot into the canter; closing the fist asks for a more correct walk-canter transition

Shoulder fore is the easiest way to get walk rhythm to stop being irregular because it breaks up the lateral pairs

When doing a flying change act as if you're snatching a fly out of the air with the outside hand (keeps the horse from popping the shoulder out) IOW-close the outside hand->croup goes down->forehand goes up->put other hand forward (soften)

If the horse is stiff, ride the changes in right flexion (for this horse); if the horse gets too antsy doing 4's across the diagonal canter left circle while suppleing to the right

In flying chanes legs have to be quick, like windshield wipers or you'll never be quick enough for 1's or 2's if you have to hold your leg

To improve quickness of the changes you need to improve the canter transition (from walk or trot)--you can't just hold the leg on the horse for a few strides, it doesn't teach the horse to be responsive

Priouettes-canter 10 meter circle, haunches in 3 strides, then straight, HI 3 strides, etc

Test to make sure your working pirouette isn't just a leg yield; if too much HI then just "sit" the HI, don't use your outside leg

Need to slow the collected canter to a pirouette canter (almost in place) for a few strides before halting or the horse will fall on its face

HI on the 10 meter circle encourages bending of the joints (inside hind)

Third Level Friesian Gelding...

This guy was a complete sweetheart. He's trained to I1, his owner is riding at Third Level. Her big complaint was "Friesian neck", or how he likes to carry his head really upright, as Friesians are prone to do.

"A straight arm has no give" -Micheal Poulin

Push your hands DOWN as you rise in the trot; put your hands on the wither to maintain it as you get the feel for it (nearly every rider had problems with stiff elbows at the trot and canter)

When suppleing (7,1,7,1,7,1); keep the hand doing the suppling close to the neck, so that it is an indirect rein, pulling it far away from the neck is a wide opening hand; remember to close your inside leg and visualize a "falling down neck"

Tighten your tummy muscles as if doing a sit up; it slows the horse because it stills your hips, slowing the forward motion

You can do the suppleing on a quarter line leg yield

At the halt, maintain steady rein pressure, close calves, let horse pull the reins through your fingers as it reaches forward and down.

In the beginning Jane stood next to him and helped to encourage him to stretch down. In a very short time he was reaching his head down and out with just a squeeze of the legs and steady rein pressure.

Then, Jane had the rider try it at the walk, the response wasn't as immediate, or as noticeable, so she had the rider stop the horse while maintaining the pressure, let the reins slide as he reached, and asked him to walk forward again as he was reaching down.

"The transition can't be any better than the stride before the transition."

Second Level Morgan Gelding...

I missed his age as I was still in my car, warming up, when he started. He was super cute though, a lovely deep chestnut color.

If you ask for impulsion you're asking for more; and you're going to get more of what you have (more cookedness, more above the bit, etc; which is why it's important to follow the training scale-and why impulsion is so far down the training scale)

Close the inner leg to ask for impulsion, then check rhythm and suppleness and connection

The whip is generally carried to the inside in order to back up the inside leg (ie impulsion)

Add impulsion a degree at a time, then check the first 3 ingredients of the training scale, if they're good, ask for more

Outside leg and inside leg together ask for transition within the gait; inside only just asks for impulsion

To follow in the canter get into 2 point and practice "jockey arms" to get elbow elasticity back.

To canter, push the inner seat bone toward the horse's ears and push your hands forward

Straightness-there are two kinds, spine straightness and leg straightness; you can check shoulder straightness by riding in -1 flexion

Fixing Leg Straightness-this is needed to achieve collection and is done by riding in First Position;

First Position-teaches the horse baby steps of flexing the inside hindleg joints; it's bassically a baby, baby, baby shoulder in.

It's a lot harder as a rider to do the little things as opposed to the big (ie +7 vs +1, shoulder in vs 1st Position)

First Position lays the foundation for collection

Always straighten the horse by bringing the shoulder over; not the haunches over to the shoulder.

Every step in First Position strenghtens the inside hind leg

Seunig's "Horsemanship" discusses First Postion and Second Position.

BEND + SIDEWAYS = ENGAGEMENT

Every corner should be ridden as if it's a quarter of a 10 meter circle

Keep the hands forward, don't be "stealing" from the hindlegs

Shoulder In-make sure the hind legs are parallel to the wall

Straight ahead from now on is really First Position

****Shoulder In Exercise****
Straight, SI 2 strides, straight, SI 2 strides, HI, SI, HI, SI (the rider keeps the legs the same throughout during the SI/HI changes.)

5 Year Old Training Level Hanoverian...

This horse was super, super, super nice! Absolutely exactly what a training level horse should be. Unfortunately he was off today, from a week old splint, so the Saturday notes are all I have.

Keep your hands together (side by side, in alignment so that you only see the closest one from the side) or you block the outside hind

When the horse is lookier in one direction it's because their dominant eye is away from it, generally that's also their stiffer side.

To figure out what *your* dominant eye is, point at an object in the distance, without moving your finger, keep pointing and the object and close your left eye and then close your right eye, whichever open eye causes your finger to seem to not move compared to where it was with both eyes open is your dominant eye!

When suppling don't hold the +7 for more than a second, or the horse will break at the jaw.

The first ingredient of a connecting half halt is to close the calves and the outside hand so that it captures, contains, and recycles the energy back to the hindlegs; it lasts 3 seconds, long enough to inhale and exhale; give it by closing the legs, close the outside hand, and vibrate the inside rein while thinking "add, add, add"

Don't use the inside rein until just before the horse bends to the outside due to the closed hand.

When the horse can learn to go forward through a closed outside rein then you have a horse that can truely be on the bit.

Half halt through the transition to make it nicer

Work on keeping the horse from subtracting the gait, when half halting

****Exercise****
Lengthen trot on open side of a 20 meter circle, half halt on the opposite side, the half halt should have the same power/energy as the lengthening; use tummy muscles to shortern from the lengthening

Lengthen long enough to get an answer

When you close your eyes you should get the lengthening for 1 stride before closing the hand when half halting

After the half halt allow the neck to "fall down"

You need an extra insurance policy in the beginning by having more go than you need

Saddle Fit Reattack...

Looks like the saddle fitter will be out Thursday afternoon this week. Wooohoo! I talked to a saddle fitter this weekend and asked if she reflocked saddles of a different brand and she said yes. So I asked if she ever came to the area my horse is boarded at, and she said no, she's located in Denver, but I could send my saddle to her. Ummmm, how is that supposed to help? Part of the reason I went with Albion as opposed to Custom Saddlery was because I didn't want to have to fit the saddle myself, if I was paying for a custom saddle I wanted an expert to look at the saddle on my horse and make sure it fit in person, not look at some wither tracings I did on my own!

Training Level/First Level Warmblood...

I didn't catch this horse's breed, he is a 7 year old WB whose rider wanted to work on elastic hands and accepting contact as well as working on the horse's tendency to go BTV.

The rider had a tendency to ask for flexion at the jaw, instead of the poll, which is why the horse was going BTV.

She also was not following the horse's mouth with her elbows so the horse was nodding *in* because he couldn't poke his nose out as he walked and his neck naturally oscillated.

Jane started out with a visualization of imagining the reins are two solid sticks that you need to push forward; push your hands forward until the elbows are almost straight.

If one arm is more elastic, bridge the reins and let the elastic arm guide the stiff arm (this rider had a tendency to follow well with the right hand, but not the left).

We can't ask the horse to be on the bit if the contact isn't elastic.

The horse is built like a parallelogram, you need to get it slanted forward, with the neck out and the hind legs under the horse, rather than the horse's neck sucked back with hind legs trailing.

The nose should be 5 degrees in front of the vertical, though can be on the vertical during some Grand Prix movements.

Flexion-pinkie goes as close to the center of withers and stays there when you flex it (suppling the poll, not the jaw). This closes the gap between the jaw and the muscle in the neck under the poll, not the throatlatch.

This is also what's called being "through the poll"; flexibility is needed at the poll

Uberstreichen tests that the horse is really in the left poll (after asking for flexion to the left) because he won't look to the outside when given that release

The horse should be flexed at +1 in the direction it's going, meaning, head directly center is 0, and 1 inch to the inside is +1 and 1 inch to the outside is -1.

***Really good suppleing exercise that when done correctly, it's really good, done incorrectly, it does a lot of harm (see below)***

"The horse's neck is simply his back out in front of you"

Suppleing in the neck is when you bring the horse's neck to +6 above the regular +1, so for a total of +7.

What the rider does, quickly and without holding the horse in the flexion, is go +7, back to +1, +7, back to +1, +7, and then +1 again.

However, don't fall into the trap of replacing the leg with rein; squeeze with the leg on the same side as you're suppling when you supple the horse, this is why this exercise can do more damage than good, when the rider depends on the rein

Keep your hands in a box, side by side, and don't leave that box...don't give too much with your outside hand and don't pull your inside hand back too far

This exercise is like giving a fit 3-day event horse valium; it relaxes the body, which relaxes the mind.

It's important to do the suppleing with the horse, but it's just as important what you do AFTER the suppleing (ie row the boat when walking or wash the clothes when trotting), in other words, keep an elastic connection

After suppleing the horse would chew the reins out of the riders hand instead of needing it to be wiggled down.

When doing this exercise, ride at least 6 or 7 strides between suppleings, this gives the horse time to answer you.

Training Level Friesian...

This was a 5 year old Friesian that was very lazy. The rider had to help him with just about every stride. I'm just going to write down my notes as I took them, hopefully they make sense, but I can try to explain anything if there's a specific question.

Warming up...it's ok to warm up under tempo to ensure the horse is calm and adjusting to its environment, but when schooling piaffe/pirouettes over tempo because they tend to go slower because they have to lift their knees.

If you look too much to the inside of a circle fake yourself out by looking at the outside ear

The length of the horse's neck is proportional to the length of stride of the hind legs

"There's no laughing in dressage."

The first few riders Jane spent a lot of time emphasizing elbows. When walking, you push the elbows forward and backward, like rowing a boat (she would often say row, row, row your boat to the rider). When trotting you open and close your elbows like a door hinge.

An exercise for trot elbows is to stand with your legs bent like riding in front of a chair or a desk. Rest your hands in riding position on the chair/desk and practice pushing down as you straighten your legs to simulate posting and keeping your hands in one place, by opening and closing your elbows.

It's important to keep your elbows correct for transitions, move from walking elbows (push) to posting elbows (open/close) seamlessly and as soon as the new gait begins.

Flexion at the jaw encourages chewing which closes the angle of the throatlatch. This is the last kind of flexion that a rider should mess with.

In right/left flexion flip your wrist so that the thumb is facing away from the other hand (palm up) and then back, make sure you support with the outside rein so that he doesn't bend his neck. You need to keep the pinkie of the flipping hand close to the withers, but not over them to ensure you're using an indirect rein, not an opening rein.

The horse needs to be "thinking" forward...
1. It is the horse's responsibility to maintain his energy at a gait, not yours
2. Will be covered tomorrow

To test forward, take your legs away from the horse's sides, see how long it takes for the horse to lose just one ounce of momentum, then give a *correction*, either multiple kicks or taps with the whip, just one kick/tap is an aid, so you want to do multiple to ensure the horse knows it was a punishment

If your horse kicks at the whip, don't use it for the correction, because when a horse is kicking/bucking its hind legs are being directed backwards, behind them, rather than forward, under them.

Start the exercise at the walk, on a circle. Get a good walk, then take legs off, when he slows down a fraction, kick him until he trots, then back to a walk and repeat. The first time you do this exercise you can leave the legs off for a long period, just to see how slow the horse ends up, and if it even stops.

Tomorrow....
In front of the driving aids
On the bit

Jane Savoie Clinic, Day One Recap...

Today was the first day of the Jane Savoie clinic at Dancing Horse Farm. It was very interesting and I got to see a lot of great horse and rider combos work together. Jane gave all of the horses lots of walk breaks on a long rein. As soon as they did something well they got a break, she did add that in part this was due to not knowing the horses and erring on the side of caution, because "once the bell is rung it's rung". It was freezing but lunch was good, and they did have hot water and coffee available. After lunch Jane did a lecture on visualization and overcoming fear that was interesting and put a new spin on a lot of things. I'm going to make a separate entry for each horse so that it's easier to tag specific movements and I won't have to read a 20 page entry to find the one mention of leg yield!

Grrrr...

No saddle fitter today :-( No idea why, I tried calling twice and she never answered or called me back when I left a message. Jane Savoie clinic is tomorrow though, I am looking forward to that. Not looking forward to getting up as sleep is very precious to me, but it'll be worth it!

Chiropractor was Out...

Well, Sophie had her first chiropractor visit today. She did *not* like being inside when all of the other horses were outside. She was spinning in her stall and very frantic. I gave her a couple of minutes to settle down before trying to groom her, fortunately, as soon as I snapped the lead on her she was fine, just stood there. I didn't tie her because I wasn't sure how bad she was going to get, so I just held the lead in my hand while I groomed. So when I left to get a new brush she started spinning again because I took the lead rope with me, but as soon as I got back, once again, fine.

This chiropractor was right on time and he worked on Sophie. Kim had thought she might be out in her neck, and she did have a small problem with her poll, but nothing major. The chiro was really pleased with her and liked her a lot. He adjusted a couple of spots on her back, and actually said that was leading to her poll tightness. He said that her issues are normaly being a horse in turnout issues, nothing major or signifying a big injury or trauma. He also said her feet look great.

So tomorrow, it's on to the saddlefitter. Woohoo! Then I'll be able to start riding more frequently. It's still pretty warm here, I can't wait until blanket weather hits, because Sophie is always so dusty, no matter how long I brush her.

Roast Beef Sundae...

I'd never heard of a Roast Beef Sundae until last year either. Basically, it's a chunk of juicy, succulent roast beef, with 2 scoops of mashed potatoes on it, covered with gravy, and topped with a cherry tomato. It's to die for, especially since for me, the wetter my food is the better.

Chiro comes today. My stomach is a little upset, but I have a few hours, so hopefully it settles down.

Congress Recap...

I didn't make it to the barn yesterday because I was feeling sick, but I was showing my husband some videos from freestyle reining and thought I'd post the links here too. We were sitting to the left (but a couple of "blocks") of the person that took this video. (This horse was also the winner and I think my throat still hurts from yelling for him). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV3RZZ2uJHU

No, the horse is not wearing a bit/bridle, she did the whole thing with just the neck rope. By far the best one there.

This one was ok, the music was great, but the girl didn't really do much so you ended up mainly watching the guy in the middle of the ring mouthing the words. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPGa_IN224I

Indiana Jones http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WfiWHQ5Hz4

Brutus the Buckeye http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ5v8OTMUJ0

That's all I could find online from 2008's. There were some really great entries, a few really good ones, and just a couple that were painful to watch.

I did have my roast beef sundae and half a stromboli. I bypassed the apple dumpling because I felt sick that day and didn't have an appetite for it. My sister won two models at the model horse show, so that was cool. I spent most of the day helping her and didn't buy anything, though I'll be back and will definitely be buying stuff, probably next week since the Jane Savoie clinic is this weekend and I have chiro/saddle fitter on Thursday/Friday.

I'm Thinking No Lesson This Week...

My normal lesson day is Thursday. The chiro is coming out on Thursday and the saddlefitter on Friday. So, I think I may skip the lesson because I don't want her worn out for the chiro and I doubt I should ride her right after the chiro visit. But, that's ok, I think I may go for a ride tomorrow instead of Thursday, but it's too late of notice to schedule a lesson for tomorrow, and Wednesday doesn't work due to my schedule and then the arena being reserved for the dog agility people. But that's ok, Sophie's raspberry leaves arrived and for just $16.00 I have an 8 month supply...8 months!!!! I already divied them up into baggies to take to the barn (well, one 1 pound bag, it made over 65 baggies!).

The Land of Roast Beef Sundaes and Apple Dumplings...

Where is this wonderful land, you may ask? Why, it's in Columbus, OH for three weeks of the year! That's right, today, I am going to the All American Quarter Horse Congress. Yes, I am posting this blog entry at 5:27 in the morning, that's because I'm hitching a ride with my sister, who is going to the Stone model horse show today. I'll be tagging along and maybe helping, but not participating. I intend to get some shopping done too, Sophie needs some blanket liners, a spare halter or two, and some Cowboy Magic or Showsheen (and some dewormer!). QH Congress is the utopia of horse shopping. It may be possible to get through it all in one day, but highly unlikely, or you spent 12 straight hours doing it. We also have freestyle reining tickets for tonight, woohoo! The freestyle performances at Congress are legendary, so I'm excited.

First Kisses...

Today Sophie received her first nose kisses from me. I'm sure she was very, very excited, lol. I arrived at the barn a little later than planned, due to unexplained exhaustedness. The horses are now on day turnout, and my lesson was for basically bring in time, so I had to get Sophie. I was a little concerned, what with the stories about her ground manners, but I trekked out there anyway. I was amazed at the cuteness of every horse standing at its respective gate(s), waiting to be brought in for dinner. Then I realized that one horse was not standing in its respective paddock with its respective buddies at its respective gate...if you guessed that horse was Sophie then you guessed correctly!

My heart dropped, because in addition to the ground manners stories, there are the catching stories. I haven't heard them in a while (not since they changed to night turnout, really), but when Sophie first arrived she didn't want to be caught until after he pasturemates were taken in. So as I got closer and closer to her paddock (where she was all alone with Lonnie, since Maddie was sent away) I decided to call out her name in the sing-song voice I use when walking up the aisle to her (if I have a treat). Her head flew up (she's in a grass pasture now) and she looked at me, started walking, and then trotted halfway across the pasture. It was amazing and completely unexpected. Of course, she probably just wanted brought in for food, but until I try catching her *not* at feeding time I'll tell myself that she just likes me more than a little.

Of course, once we got inside, she was going to be the only one in her stall in the whole barn. I was a little worried, but she was just fine. I got her tacked up and was in the saddle at 6:28 (lesson at 6:30), I passed on braiding her mane, which was probably not a bad thing because I was a little concerned about how she was going to be with the horses being brought in and both end doors open so she could see everything. She was pretty good though, just two real moments and they weren't the worst she's ever had.

The lesson got started and went pretty well, we started with a couple of spiral circles and leg yielding on the long side. It really helped to keep half halting with the outside rein, it kept her more balanced, from overbending, and from leading with her shoulder. It was like magic, I kept my hands low (ie normal) as well. After that we worked on shoulder in! It was my first time working on shoulder in with Sophie.

We've realized that in order to help her with things like the shoulder in and the canter I need to work on keeping my outside hand steady and in one place. When she gets to head tossing I lose that steady connection with my outside hand because I'm I'm reacting to her. So we worked on me riding while holding on to the bight of my stirrup leather (pulled forward). It worked like a charm, suddenly we were able to do a few steps of decent shoulder in.

We tried it at the canter as well and she was much steadier, sometimes she would raise her head and I would ride her forward, into my hands, and she would come over the back onto the bit. After we did a couple of canters in each direction we stopped (it was a little early, but I was tired from our warm up). She was a very good girl though, and she got her first nose kiss after I hopped off of her. She got a couple in her stall too, while I was untacking her.

Also, my Happy Horse course arrived today! Woohooo! It's huge and overwhelming, but I'm not worried if I don't dig into it ASAP, since I'll be trainerless once winter hits anyway. Also, Sophie lost her bestest friend this week. Sophie had 2 bestest friends that left to move to Florida back in June or July, then she met Maddie, who was her new bestest friend. But Maddie had to leave for a new barn this week, so Sophie was moved into Maddie's stall and now she's just out with Lonnie. Poor girl. I think Maddie was the one that kept biting Sophie's neck though, so I'm not too sad that she's gone. She was also in heat 24/7 and would squeal and kick at the walls. Very annoying.

Jane Savoie is Taking Over My Life...

But in a good way. I was reading a clinic review and thinking to myself, self, I'd like to audit a clinic. And my self responded, well, let's look and see what's out there. So we looked, and found Walter Zettl 2.5 hours away, Gigi Nutter 1.5 hours away, and Jane Savoie 1 hour away. I don't like driving long distances if I can help it (especially over a couple of days) due to a shoulder problem, so I decided to register to audit the Jane Savoie clinic. It's a USDF Adult Education Seminar or something like that. Should be fun, especially since the riders start at Training Level and go all the way up.

The clinic is at Dancing Horse Farm (http://www.dancinghorsefarmoh.com/) and registration is done through the USDF site. Depending on how much I like the drive, and the facility, I may decide to audit some of their other winter clinics.

I do have a lesson tomorrow, I've moved my lesson time from 1:00 to 6:30 though, in part due to a student call on base and also due to the fact that the horses are now outside during the day and inside after dinner. It rained all day today, so I'm sure Sophie is going to be a mess tomorrow. When does blanket season start again???

You Know Winter is Coming When...

You accidentally cut your horse's coat when trimming its mane! Oops! I can see that Sophie is getting fuzzier and fuzzier, but didn't realize how fuzzy until I trimmed her mane last week. Don't worry, it's still long, I just trimmed up the ends, I mean, people need to have their hair trimmed, I figured it would be good for Sophie too. Back by her withers I accidentally cut a bit of her fur though. I also trimmed her tail again. I think I'm going to braied it and put it up for the winter, we'll see though. I definitely don't want mudsicles hanging from it all winter but I don't want to trim it up past the mud, because that would be pretty high with as bad as the mud lots on the farm get!

Sophie is Soon to be a Happy Horse...

I did it, I took the plunge and ordered Jane Savoie's Happy Horse Home Course. The 50% off offer I got for signing up for Jane's newsletter didn't hurt by any means! I'm very excited and will probably be posting about it lots once it arrives. I think that it will help me get through the winter without an instructor.

Here's the link, if you haven't seen it http://www.janesavoie.com/shop/a_happy_horse.htm It comes highly recommended on the internetz and the three sample videos you can watch at the very bottom of the page taught me something in just a few minutes!

The Saddle Club...

I grew up reading The Saddle Club, I bought a book each month as they were published (same thing with the Thoroughbred series). It was especially dear to my heart as my name is Stephanie, and my nickname is Stevie. At Breyerfest two years ago I was working in the Kid's Activity Tent while Bonnie Bryant did a reading and answered questions, so I got to to hear her read the first chapter (which brought tears to my eyes each time, and I remembered everything, surprisingly). My husband even stood in line to get my book signed by Bonnie. He told her about the name thing and she said that she thought she'd been the first to think of it!

Anyway, the point of this entry is to let everyone know that may watch the tv show (even if you don't admit to it!) that I caught (well, Tivo caught) one of the brand new episodes on tv this morning. They changed the entire cast, though Starlight looks the same, it's a new Pine Hollow, and Veronica wears a GPA. So, check it out if you can! It's not realistic, or good tv, but it's entertaining, lol.

It was on at 9:30 Sunday morning, on PBS!

A Realization...

I just realized that we can now do 10 meter circles. When I first started riding Sophie we could "do" a 10 meter circle, but Sophie would speed up while doing it and get rushy. She no longer does that, woohoo! She's also doing pretty good with the sitting trot, we don't do it often, but she's very accepting of it so far.

The Thinline pad/Wintec girth combo did not help the slipping saddle. I tried taking the Thinline pad off and the saddle was even worse, so the Wintec girth is definitely a no go. I've called the saddle fitter and am waiting to hear back but if she doesn't make it out before my next lesson then I'll try just the Thinline pad.

Another Good Lesson...

I had a lesson yesterday. It went really well. I discovered that Sophie really likes cats. I was standing next to Sophie in the ring, talking to my instructor and one of the barn cats decided to lay down on Sophie's front hooves. Sophie didn't do anything but bend her neck down to get a better look at the cat. Then Sophie watched the cat while we warmed up at the walk until the cat was shooed out of the ring.

We started on a regular 20 meter circle, developing a good connection and then moved on to changes of direction through the diagonal. We did that to keep her thinking, and distracted from being more comfortable in just one direction. After that we moved on to leg yielding on the long side of the arena. It went a lot better once I concentrated on keeping my hands low and wide. Though, my hands weren't actually wide and low, they were at the right height and I wasn't overbending her to the inside. When faced with something other than a 20 meter circle I sometimes revert back to what my old picture of a dressage rider is, at least my hands, even though I recognize that many dressage riders today *do* ride with high hands. So when I try something new or not completely familar I move into dressage hands frame.

After the leg yielding we did some 3 loop serpentines which went pretty well. We also did an exercise where we did half a 10 meter circle and then rode a diagonal line back to the same wall (but in the other direction) where we leg yielded the last 3 or so steps.

We then worked on some cantering, our transition to the canter was great, and very quick, but then she would throw her head up. So I worked on half halting with the outside rein and then giving with the inside rein, and it worked like a charm! It was crazy because it completely went against my instincts (we did this mostly going to the right, which is where she's the most crooked) but it worked. Then I could focus on asking for some jump in the canter with my inside leg.