No Lesson...

Sigh, no lesson tonight. Which really sucked because Craig skipped karate so that he could video it. He did video my ride though, which went really well. Not as good as our last lesson, but there was definite improvement even still. I think between there not being a lesson and the camera I was a little tenser than normal.

Sad...

Last night Kim told me that her husband is pushing for them to move to Florida on the weeked of the 5th instead of on the 10th. It's bittersweet, since we are much further now than I thought we would be by the end of winter, which is good, but I can't help but wonder how much further we'd have gotten by the end of winter if I could take lessons the whole time. I had found another instructor, but from talking to Kim about her I don't think that she's an instructor I'd like to use. I may ask Kim if the person she had suggested last winter was still in the area, and would be a good match. Even if I can only take a lesson once every couple of weeks I think it would help.

I'm also thinking I'll ask Kim if we're ready to work on Shoulder In during tomorrow's lesson. She did ask me if there was anything I wanted to work on last night, but I didn't think of anything and like just going where the lesson takes us. But I'd like to get some eyes on the ground help with Shoulder In if we're not pushing it by working on it too much, that way I have a starting point for schooling it on my own. We did work baby Shoulder In a little during a previous lesson, when Sophie wasn't nearly as forward or steady in the bridle, so I'm hoping it's something we can do.

So this is what it feels like...

Today I learned what it feels like when Sophie is truly "in front of my leg". We had another lesson tonight to make up for cancelling last Tuesday's and it went great. We warmed up by walking for a while again, and then trotting big circles and laps around the ring on a long rein, but on contact. Our warm up lasted 15 minutes and I even had time to take off my sweatshirt and tighten the girth again. Then the lesson started.

Sophie is accepting of contact now, at the walk. I generally let her walk with her head wherever she wants it, as long as I have a steady contact (she no longer throws her head at the walk, otherwise I would worry about it more). I will half halt and use my inside leg to push her into the outside rein to encourage her to come round, but I don't focus on it by any means. I collected Sophie back up to begin, using a lot of strong half halts to encourage her to walk up and into the contact, it wasn't the best walk in the world, or the most through, but definitely an improvement.

We then picked up the trot, have I mentioned how good our upward transitions are getting? I really think Kim is astonished by how quickly we've been progressing and how *good* Sophie is. We did laps around the arena, working on really improving the trot and getting me to focus on making half halts nearly constantly, to keep her active, forward, but engaged. First we would get it just right for a stride, and then two, and then four. It was amazing how different Sophie felt. Once we improved enough around the arena we began a 20 meter circle in the center, where we worked on more half halts to encourage some actual suspension.

After that we moved on to trotting leg yields down the long sides, as well as working on lengthening the trot down a short diagonal. The lengthenings kind of sucked, but the leg yields were great. After a short walk break we worked on the canter. She was still sucking back and then raising her head when we cantered, so we worked on trot-canter transitions. My big problem is I still tend to brace through the transition, and I had to work on letting go, half halting through the transition. Unfortunately I needed a break after a few of those, so we walked for a bit and then reversed.

Once we reversed we worked on the canter to the left and tried something different. Sophie was so *on* that we decided to ask for a lengthening for a few strides before asking for the canter, to avoid the sucking back. It worked, I had three or four nicer transitions with some good jump to them and less bracing. After that we worked on leg yielding, which wasn't as good in this direction. After the leg yields we worked on walk-trot transitions which were *much* better. I discovered that they are lovely when I release the inside rein in between half halts entirely. Poof, perfect transition, so I'm going to try that when cantering to see if it helps there as well.

We also did some more lengthenings on the short diagonal and they were much better, thanks to the feel we'd discovered while doing the canter work. We did try some side passing around the corners, which also helped us work on our trot-halt transitions (which were lovely!) but Sophie was getting tired and let us know that she wasn't thrilled with more work. So we did a couple of stretchy trot circles in both directions and called it a night.

In all I rode for about 45 minutes with the warm up and the lesson. It was a very good lesson and Sophie was awesome. She's lost a little weight, so we'll probably up her hay soon. Kim said that when she was getting 2 flakes at night she wouldn't eat it all, and would have some leftovers when cut back to a flake. But once I restarted lessons she's been cleaning up every bite.

And on another note, now that my riding lessons are cominig to an end, I'm going to start taking piano lessons. Weird, huh?

Oxymoron...

That's me cantering Sophie, a big old oxymoron. Every stride it's half halt with the outside rein and ask for more jump with the inside rein. She already feels fast, why would I want to use more leg??? But if I don't do it that way she gets strung out and falls into the trot. Heck, even doing it that way we still fall into the trot every now and then. But today was amazing, we cantered a 15 meter circle, might have even been a 13 meter circle!!!!! And it was under control, collected (for us), and round. It was awesome.

Due to it being in the 20's I warmed up longer at the walk, and then moved on to trotting circles on a longer than normal rein, just to see if she would do it. She did so well (stretching down and seeking the bit) that I started working on walk-trot transitions on the circle, still on the longer rein. They were very good transitions. We warmed up for about 15 minutes and then Kim came in to the ring and we started with some figure eights and then serpentines. The turn was too steep on the serpentines for us to make with impulsion and Sophie moving forward, so I worked on making the turns at the quarterlines, if that makes sense.

After that we cantered to the left and it was ok, we did get down to a 13 meter circle but it wasn't as balanced as the same circle to the right. We also did some leg yielding which just remphasized that I need to use my outside aids more and turn her like a "steamship", in other words, turn her shoulders and not let her just bend her neck around the turn. When we reversed the canter was a little harder to pick up, but once we got it going it was more balanced, especially when we did the small circle. The leg yields in that direction were rougher at first, she was tense and bracing and I was turning her oddly which wasn't helping.

Once we'd cantered a couple of times I asked for the trot and we did a stretchy circle for a couple of laps before settling down to walk our cool down. It was a very short lesson, but Sophie was sooooo good we called it quits there. It was especially nice because Sophie didn't get sweaty, just a little warm, so it took no time at all to cool her out. I decided to start taking my tack home at night, so that it isn't as cold on her and that way I can give it a good cleaning here at home, instead of just a rinse off like I do now.

My Christmas List...

Sarah asked about my list of favorite dressage books. I've been thinking about it, because I have so many and sadly haven't read most of them. I've skimmed them, or looked up specific movements, but I haven't had a lot of time for reading them cover to cover. So I'll start with what I want for Christmas...

1. Cross-Train Your Horse by Jane Savoie
2. The Complete Training of Horse and Rider by Alois Podhjasky

"Grown Up" Books I Like
Lessons with Lendon (I *love* this book, I plan to go back to this winter)
Dressage in Harmony From Basic to Grand Prix by Walter Zettl
The Gymnasium of the Horse by Gustav Steinbrecht
The Art of Training: Lessons from a Lifetime with Horses By Hans von Blixen-Finecke (this one was my bible while doing 4-H, too bad it was beyond me at the time!)
Balance in Movement The Seat of the Rider by Suzanne von Dietze (I've only skimmed this one so far, but has some interesting ideas and descriptive pictures, good if you like Centered Riding I think)
Horsemanship by Waldemar Seunig

"Introductory" Books I Like
Dressage for the Young Rider By Pegotty Henriques (another of my bibles in 4-H)
Common Sense Dressage by Sally O'Connor (yes, that O'Connor!)
The USDF Guide to Dressage by Jennifer Bryant


I would like to get the Charles de Kunffy books at some point. As well as the other Podjhasky book (I already have The Riding Instructor I believe, just haven't read it yet). I'd like to see Tug of War in person to see if I want it. I have read Dressage with Kyra, and it was good, but I'd get the others I listed first I think. I'm also thinking about Dressage Masters : Techniques and Philosophies of Four Legendary Trainers: Klaus Balkenhol, Ernst Hoyos, Dr. Uwe Schulten-Baumer, George Theodorescu. I did start reading Dressage : The Art of Classical Riding by Sylvia Loch, but didn't get into it, that was early in my serious dressage learning though, so my opinion may have changed.

Anyway, those are the books I like, I know I have more, but they aren't all together and I think I've hit upon my favorites. I have to cancel yesterday's lesson because I was feeling nauseous and riding doesn't really help with that! Hopefully I feel ok for tomorrow's lesson, even though it's a chilly 30-something degrees.

Though the Weather Outside is Frightful...

So, it snowed today. Yeah, snow has yet to be in even the 10 day forecast, but it snowed today! There is even snow on the ground! It started out raining this morning which morphed into huge snowflakes. I felt sorry for Sophie, standing in her paddock, shivering under her sheet, so Craig and I decided to go change her blanket and I was going to take some pictures of the horses.

We pull in to the barn and realize there are no horses. Hmm. So I grab her midweight out of the trailer and head into the barn. I realized that since all of the horses were up it'd be a good time to ride. So I saddled Sophie up and took her for a spin. We worked on leg yielding a bit and then walk-trot transitions on a circle (after we warmed up). After doing transitions in both directions we worked on cantering on a 20 meter circle in both directions and called it a day after a stretchy circle.

I didn't ride for long since Craig was being a good sport about hanging out and my legs were tired from my lesson on Thursday. We did change her blanket out since it's supposed to be in the 20s tonight. I think her transtions improved just from the beginning of the ride compared to the end as well.

A Foal and His Pony...

This is a Starlight son (mom is a draft of some kind), he was born May 24th and is *huge*. These pictures were taken early September. He gets along great with the pony, and the pony gives as good as he gets. The foal was turned out with another small pony for a trial and he learned very quickly that he can't treat just any pony like he treats "his" pony! He gets on his knees to get better leverage for playing with the pony at times, it's pretty funny to watch.

If you click on the Pictures tag at the bottom of this post you'll be able to find the previous pictures of him easier. Also, if you click on the pictures, you'll be able to see them full size, enjoy!

Foiled by Fishy...

I have lost my diagonals. I mentioned it last lesson to Kim, and she said she was surprised because I normally don't have trouble with them. I was having problems today too, this time thinking I was on the wrong diagonal when I was good. Then Kim said the dreaded words..."It's because you're pregnant". Apparently she had the same kind of problems when she was pregnant.

Today Sophie was bending her neck incorrectly, she counter bends while appearing to be bent correctly (to the uneducated observer that is). So I had to do lots of half halts with the outside rein to keep her neck straight and then ask for correct bend once she was straight. We started out by asking for transitions on a 20 meter circle. I have a tendency to brace with my arms when asking for a lesser gait, which just gives Sophie something to brace against. So we worked mainly on me, half halting constantly through the trainsition and keeping my elbows loose and hands playful, not pulling, but giving and taking, with more give and very light on the take, if that makes sense.

We did this on a 20 meter circle in both directions. As she improved we started doing it on the diagonal. We started getting a nice transition, but lost the quality of the walk after the transition, so I started focusing on keeping my seat and hands following and the after got better, but the transition deteriorated. Eventually I got it and the transition and the walk were much better, as was the transition back to the trot. (We were trotting across the diagonal, walking right before reaching X, walking across X, and trotting after crossing X).

Of course, after about 10 diagonals Sophie started walking automatically because she had caught on to what we were doing. So we changed it up, but doing 3 loop serpentines and walking when we crossed the centerline, then picking the trot up right away. We did those a handful of times and then we worked on leg yielding in both directions. Sophie did much better, she was much more responsive to my leg and very even and steady in the reins.

After some leg yielding we had a walk break and talked about riding while pregnant. Of course, it ended up being a long break and Sophie was kind of annoyed by the restarting work, I think she thought she was done, lol. After I had a nice trot going we worked on the canter again. It was much less barrel pony on crack and even could be considered training level dressage horse canter at times.

We cantered in the other direction and she was a very good girl, so we let her trot again and do some stretchy circles in both directions. Then I walked her for 15 minutes and put her away. It was a shorter lesson than normal, but we covered a lot and made a lot of improvements. I'm going to focus mainly on transitions and leg yielding during my off time.

I also discovered that I've been placing my foot on the stirrup wrong. Instead of keeping my foot toward the inside of the stirrup I keep it pressed against the outside of the stirrup which encourages me to toe out. I tried fixing it for the canter work, which I think is part of the reason why Sophie had trouble getting back into the swing of things. I can feel the different strain on my leg when I have them in the right place. So for now I'm retraining my feet/legs while walking (part of the reason I walked for 15 minutes after the lesson, to practice keeping my feet in the right place). After I get better at the walk I'll start adding some trotwork too. It might take all winter, but I *will* stop toeing out!

I'm a Barbie Girl, in a Barbie Wooooorld...

Today Craig and I went to the barn to change Sophie's blanket due to the weather being rainy and in the high 50's tomorrow, she's kind of like my personal Barbie doll, except her clothes are *much* more expensive. I switched her over to her Schneider's sheet while Craig bonded with his barn kitten, who we have named Hamlet. Sophie was good and let me unblanket and blanket her without even a halter, a big change from earlier this week when I first put her turnout blanket on! The new one is all purple, though I actually prefer the fit of my cheap Showman to the Schneider's.

If any of you are looking for a turnout blanket I definitely recommend the 1200D Showman blanket from Chick's Saddlery, I posted a link a couple of entries back. Make sure you call them to see what they have in stock, since they had a lot more at QH Congress than they do on their website, and I bought my blankets the next to last day of Congress.

Sophie's fancy schmancy new browband arrived today. I already put it on her bridle, now I just have to remember to take her bridle back to the barn tomorrow. I do have a lesson tomorrow, I hope Sophie's as good as she's been. So keep your fingers crossed for us and I'll do my best to encourage her to hold her own head up!

Like a Barrel Pony on Crack...

That's kind of what it feels like when I canter Sophie.

Today's lesson was great, as what's becoming always. Sophie is on the bit, round, and starting to work over her back. She's found a comfort zone in what will become her natural frame when she's in self carriage. I'm thrilled that she's finally accepting contact, steady contact, and no longer throws her head.

But there's a downside...she is soooo comfortable with my hands that she's just fine with me holding her head up. My arms are not cut out for holding up Sophie's head. I was bad, and let her get away with it last lesson because I was so thrilled that she was so accepting of my hands and contact.

So this lesson we got to work on convincing her to hold her own head up. We started with trotting big circles to warm up and moving on to changing direction across the diagonal through round lines so that it was easier to work on changing her bend, that way it wasn't a long straight line across the diagonal. Once we had those going pretty good we moved on to three loop serpentines.

After that we did some leg yielding from the quarterline and those went much better than last week. We finished up with some canter work and it was fast, that's when Sophie started acting like a barrel pony on crack. She was fast and cantering big while about to break into a trot at any moment, she was also starting to wear out my arms with hanging on me. So during that walk break Kim and I talked about it and how Sophie was just going to get heavier if I let her, and that it'd be ok for Training Level, and even First Level, but it'd kill me any higher.

I think the turning point was recognizing how thrilled and grateful I was that she was just being so steady in her contact, that I just wanted to savor the moment. So after the walk break we worked on cantering to the right (Sophie's worse direction) and I really worked on half halting and then shaking her off. Something we'd worked on to the left, but I hadn't seen any real results. But to the right, she was like a changed horse, up, but round, Kim said she was almost there, almost completely through but at least had schwung when trotting prior to cantering.

The canter was much better, slower, but on the forehand, so I continued to really *ride* the canter. Inside leg, inside leg, half halt, shake her off, half halt, inside leg, shake her off, half halt, inside leg, half halt, shake her off, just constant. I'm sure it's not the prettiest thing to watch right now, but she didn't break into the trot and we had three *great* strides of canter. Really, really good canter. But then we lost it, and didn't get it quite back. At that point I was feeling queasy and called an end to the lesson, and cooled Sophie out.

I have another lesson on Thursday night and will have two next week, hopefully. Then just one the next due to Thanksgiving, two the week after that, and I'm not sure if I'll have another past that point because Kim is leaving on a Wednesday and I'm not sure she's going to want to give a lesson the night before she leaves.

Sophie Looks Adorable...

Sophie looks adorable in her new turnout. Today I Miracle Groomed her with a towel to get her as clean as possible and put her midweight turnout on her. It's black along the bottom half and purple on the top half, she looks sooooo cute in it! I put her in the indoor to trot around so that I could see how it looked and make sure it was going to stay in place. I got this blanket Showman 1200D and so far it's pretty nice! The buckles seem sturdy and well made, the blanket fits her really well. We'll see how it looks after a day outside with her playmates tomorrow though!

A *Real* Dressage Horse...

Hopefully the future little one doesn't catch on, but Sophie *really* pleased me these last two days by being such a good girl, so I'm getting her a present. Her very own bling browband! This is the style I'm getting...



I think it will look lovely on her. It's from this site http://simplechangebrowbands.com/browbands1.html and then as her style changes I can get her new chains to fit our mood!

I did visit Sophie today, gave her a good grooming to make up for skipping her grooming on Wednesday. I also took her bridle home to measure her old browband. I decided not to ride because she had two good days in a row after a break and I want to ride Saturday/Sunday so that she can have Monday off, and is ready for my lesson on Tuesday.

The Most Amazing Horse in the World...

Sophie's new name is "The Most Amazing Horse in the World". Yes, that's right, she is now the most amazing horse in the world. I mentioned yesterday that she was very good after being longed when I tried my newly flocked saddle and I wasn't sure why. Well, today she was even better, and I have another possible reason, though can remove one from the list.

I warmed up while Kim was giving a lesson and the little girl was practicing barrels, Sophie didn't care. Kim's daughter was riding her young barrel horse, often cantering around the ring, Sophie didn't care. She didn't care about the clucking, she didn't care too much when the first horse left and she cared even less when the second horse left.

She was on the bit, round, soft, and wasn't tossing her head at all. We warmed up with 20 meter circles all over the ring, then went to leg yielding on the long sides, starting at less than the quarter line and moving further out from there. She was great, especially when I remembered to use my outside aids when turning for the quarterline.

She did really good leg yielding to the right and then we changed across the diagonal and cantered a 20 meter circle to the right, working on the upward and downward transitions as well as maintaining jump in the canter, keeping her round, and not asking for a bigger canter with my seat at the same time.

We had a break then and worked on leg yielding to the left, which didn't go so well, she wasn't nearly as responsive to my right leg though, and was very forward today, so I had some trouble with the leg yield to the left until I started utilizing the right rein, and then they got better. After that we reversed at the trot and I had my best change of whip ever. She stayed round and forward the entire time I switched it, then I fell forward after that and she walked, but it was a good sign. Then we cantered to the left and worked on transitions for a bit.

We ended the ride with sidepassing around the corners to work on her moving off my leg. We quickly learned that she gets a little anxious, so we can't do two corners in a row, instead we have to do a corner and then a lap, then do a corner again. After we did the exercise a few times she was much quieter though, and started to stay soft and round while leg yielding and we were able to use just a long side in between. We only did corners 6 or so times and she got much better about it, she also was trying to stop at the original corner when we passed it after just three times.

I couldn't believe how wonderful she was today though. There was one point during our warm up where I whacked her beind my leg with the whip because she was losing momentum, and after riding without a whip yesterday my legs were already tired and sore. After that, she was full steam ahead with no encouragement from me! But it also meant that when I tried to emphasize my right leg moving her left she sped up rather than sideways. So I plan to work more on the sidepassing to work on her sensitivity and my transitions.

Oh, and when the saddle fitter was here, looking at my saddle, she said "wow, you've really been taking good care of this", I thought it was funny, lol. I made sure to clean it tonight because I had to run yesterday after the saddle fitting was done and didn't have time to do anything but put Sophie away and get home to change for class. So, today was great, and I forgot that Sophie's been on Raspberry Leaves for just over a week, so who knows if they are a big contributing factor to her new attitude under saddle, but I'm not complaining!

*This* is why I bought an Albion...

The saddle fitter came out today and reflocked my saddle. It feels so much better, more like the trial saddle that I borrowed from the tack store that led me down the Albion road in the beginning. Sophie was *not* happy about being in the barn by herself, but she was pretty good. I did longe her before riding and she was a bit of a brat on the longe (makes me think I ought to longe her a couple of times a month just as a refresher) but she was great when I rode her. I left my whip behind and she was great, walking, trotting, cantering. There was less head tossing than normal as well (actually, none), but I don't know if that's because she worked out her kinks on the longe, the chiro visit, or the reflocked saddle. I have a lesson tomorrow and then 2 a week after that because Kim is leaving for Florida on 10 December and I want to get a lot of lessons in before she goes and I'm on my own.