I Cried Tonight...

During my lesson. I didn't get Sophie completely loosened up in our warm up, she was a little looky and I just didn't focus on getting her warmed up so much because, I don't know. I guess I just thought we'd work on it more in the lesson. But the beginning of the lesson was working on trotting a 20 meter circle, walking at the walk, and then continuing down half the long side in shoulder in. Except Sophie was tense and braced the entire time, it wasn't fun and I didn't want to be doing it. I felt that to loosen her up we should work on something she's confirmed in rather than something we've only worked on a handful of times. Which was just making me even more frustrated, it was a terrible cycle.

Then I started thinking about how awful it was and how the one silver lining to losing the baby was that I would have longer to work with Sophie (and getting her going really well) before getting too big to ride. I'm going to take a break from riding until next week I think. We had a walk break and I had a good cry.

Then I picked up the trot again and we had much better work. Our canter work was really good tonight, I was able to get her to canter slower, but still maintaining the canter and it was a nice canter at that. Then I worked on riding off the 20 meter circle in the center of the ring to cantering down the long side and all the way around the arena. We were trying to lengthen the canter on the long sides and shorten it on the short sides. It worked pretty well the first direction, not quite as well the next, but decent, at least.

We worked on trot lengthenings and Sophie put forth her best effort ever. So that was pretty cool. Even Craig could see that she was extending her stride. We also did some spiral circles and Sophie was trotting really nicely and was very balanced even on the 10 meter circle portion, so that was great.

It was kind of funny, seeing Kim championing Sophie when I was frustrated with her. She seems to really, really like her. Like I said, the lesson ended really well, I just would have approached it differently in the beginning, until she was already soft and supple. Probably with leg yielding and spiral circles, and some serpentines. Then worked on the new stuff.

So it was a bittersweet lesson, seeing as how it's my last with Kim. I just need to relax and not put so much pressure on myself for my riding to be perfect to make up for other areas of my life sucking. We did get a lot of nice sitting trot work in as well.

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom...

Well, today Sophie decided that my well thought out warm up was a complete waste of time, and she'd rather get straight to work. So after we walked around the arena for 3 minutes she did a big spook away from the wall on the end of the arena she liked even when she was "bad". Aaaaargh! She also decided that the other big door couldn't be trusted, so she had to keep an eye on it as well. I was not in the mood, so we went straight to work and if she even *thought* about slowing down when approaching one of the doors I smacked her with the whip to keep her forward. I only had to do that twice and she was moving off my leg well and accepting my half halts. By the time Kim came out, she was going beautifully.

I discovered that sitting trot adds an extra bit of power to Sophie's trot, and really gets her through and working over her back. So we started out with some extensions across the short diagonal, and there was much improvement. Kim gave me a new exercise with them, and that is to go from lengthened trot to walk once you reach the wall again, that way Sophie starts thinking "is she going to make me walk?" and really sits down when I do half halt just to bring her back to a more collected trot from the lengthening.

After the extensions we worked on cantering, counter canter, to be more exact. Her canter was *amazing* tonight. Much better than last lesson. We started off by cantering a 20 meter circle in the middle of the ring. Then I would ask her to trot, we would trot along the wall and begin another 20 meter circle at the end of the ring. Once we had a good canter established I would turn down the quarterline and try to leg yield over to the wall a few strides (pretty much until she broke). We only got 2 or 3 strides when we got any, but Kim seemed really pleased. It was a great improvement because we were cantering down the long side, and last lesson Sophie wasn't able to canter hardly at all down the long side. Kim had also set up three cones to give us a distance to stay away from the wall, kind of like a barrier to leg yield around.

After the cantering we worked on leg yielding away from the wall, to the quarterline, and then back. We had a discussion about my reins, because I always think they're too short and she always thinks they're too long. So I tried shortening my reins a little more, and it was like someone turned on the 4 wheel drive. There was so much power under/behind me. Sophie was up and open and actually started to get some suspension. Kim was very impressed and had us try some lengthenings with this newfound energy and it was incredible. I could feel her launching upwards as we began the legnthenings. We've decided that Sophie (and I) are ready for more sitting trot than rising trot, provided we're both properly warmed up. It's amazing the difference it makes in the quality of her trot. And my half halts are so much more effective with my butt already in the saddle, as are our transitions.

We then worked on shoulder in, initially at the trot, which didn't go well at all. So I went back to the walk and Kim told me to make sure I keep my inside shoulder *up*, and back, like I was turning to look at someone in a tree behind me. It worked like magic. As soon as I got my shoulder back and up I could actually *feel* Sophie snap into position. I was just sitting and she was performing shoulder in, every now and then I would use a little inside leg, but it wasn't a constant squeezing of the inside leg, asking her to bend that way. She was working almost completely off my seat. It was like magic. And it worked in both directions. I was able to more effectively half halt and use the outside rein once I was confident in my position, and Sophie looked like a real dressage horse doing shoulder in. It was incredible. We had 3 really good steps of shoulder in the first time, and then 9 the next, once I put it all together. As I get better at half halting while doing the shoulder in I'm going to start asking her to trot *while* already doing the shoulder in, instead of trying to do it after a corner or a 10 meter circle.

Our final exercise was more canter work. Sophie was no longer light and back to being more barrel pony on crack than she'd been in the beginning of the lesson. I know some of it was probably a little bit of fatigue, so I think that when I'm working on my own I'll do canter work early in the ride. Instead of the end like we had been doing. That may have been why we had so much trouble with the canter at the end of last lesson. At one point, when I asked for a lengthening I used a little too much of just my outside leg, and she picked up a lovely canter, I went ahead and rode it, and she kept it around the tight turn when we returned back to the wall and all the way up to the other end until I asked her to come back.

Today and the previous lesson were full length lessons, with lots of warm up to boot, but Sophie overall did very well. Both of us are gaining strength and stamina, I don't actually require breaks during the lessons anymore. And Sophie mainly gets them as a reward for doing especially well. We're at the point now where I'll sometimes just give her a few inches of rein and let her stretch her neck. Kim said that she thinks her neck is really coming along, and is much thicker now than it was (in a good way, lol). She was also soooo forward at the beginning from being worked out of spooking that Kim didn't have to tell me once not to let her get any lower. Sophie was just trucking along just like a real dressage horse. So, though it started badly, it was an overall very good lesson. I needed that, because I'm beginning to feel crampy, and have a feeling that I'm going to be starting to miscarry before the surgery on Thursday.

My last lesson of the year (and for the next four months) is tomorrow night, provided I feel well enough. I feel like we're in a really good place though, with *tons* to work on and continue improving while we're without instruction.

Oh, and I am officially crazy. I looked at the weather report and said, wow, it's warm today...because it was 23 degrees, and felt like 23 degrees.

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.

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!

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.

Pushing Too Hard...

Today went well. I had great plans for doing the next chapter of Lessons With Lendon. It's actually an exercise that Courtney King (or Courtney King-Dye) had a few riders do during the dressage demos at Equine Affaire in April. Courtney called it flexing and Lendong calls it bending though, extreme bending to the inside and the outside as you ride a circle. But we didn't really get to that. But, the chapter is called Active Hands, which is what I'd been playing with on my own, so it was good to read a more detailed account of what I should be doing. I was pretty much ok on my own, I'd realized after the first day that I needed to not pull my hand down when flexing my fingers because I didn't want to force her head down, I wanted her to feel safe putting it down, and just encourage it. Lendon emphasized that it's better to lift the hand, and away from the neck a bit while you do it to ensure you are effecting the lips, not the bars. So we did work on that section.

Sophie was trying *very* hard today, and she started out better than yesterday, we were doing stretchy circles after just a couple spiral circles at the trot. It was actually easier for her to do stretchy circles than to do the spiral circles. So we went large to trot past the scary end of the arena (where the light shines through the crack between the door and the wall) and did a few circles down there until her head didn't fly up when approaching the light. As soon as we were past the light, her head would come down and she would relax. Then up when approaching the light again. But she did start to relax and not counterbend on the circle, once she did that we moved on from the light.

We went to the left first, and then reversed and did the spiral circles and stretchy circles to the right after a walk break. Sophie was having a lot of trouble balancing though, even through the leg yield out, which is not normal for her at all. So we did a couple of circles by the light and then had another walk break. We finished up with a canter circle in each direction, which she was very good for. After I untacked her I went ahead and curried her really good. I always do her face with the soft side of the jelly brush first because she's always itchy and is always super and doesn't rub her head on me after we're done working now. Then I used the hard curry on her body and she was actually leaning into the curry comb. She never does that. She's normally pretty standoffish when it comes to brushing, doesn't dislike it, but doesn't really seem to like it either. Except for her face when she's sweaty, her chest curried, her mane brushed, and her udder cleaned. Those things she gets droopy eyed and lowers her head or leans as appropriate.

This leads me to the conclusion that riding four days in a row and really working these last couple of days was a little much for her. So I'm going to cut back to two days riding, one day off and see how that goes, while she gets legged up. She'll have tomorrow and Saturday off because I'm going home tomorrow. If the weather cooperates I'm going to take Jessie for a spin while home and see how he feels under saddle. At least get some new pictures of him!

Meanwhile, I've exchanged a couple of emails with Sophie's breeder, and her daddy's owner (her daddy is Advocate). They're both very nice and seemed to like getting the updates. I also sent an email to her old trainer with links to pictures and letting her know that everything's going well, I'm also hoping that she shares the email with Sophie's old owner. Tomorrow I'm dropping off two saddles at Equus Now to be sold on consignment, the money will be nice and I can't use either of them on the two horses I own (and the dressage saddle will never work for me).

Amazingness, And A Dressage Appaloosa...

Today's ride can be summed up with one word...*amazing*. I skipped a chapter in the Lessons With Lendon book (the one on hands, since I try to focus on those every ride) and skipped to the one about leg yielding. Today's ride was spent working on leg yielding in and out on a circle (while staying bent on the circle). We started out doing it at the walk and Sophie did great. It's almost like half passing when spiraling in and of course, we leg yield to spiral back out. Sophie leg yields beautifully, and the spiral circles at the walk were a piece of cake.

So we tried it at the trot after doing them in both directions at the walk. The trot was a lot harder because I had to worry about posting, maintaining rhythm and tempo, bend, and then ask her to spiral in and out at the same time while staying soft and giving with my hands. She was very soft and round throughout most of the circles, and when she would tense and brace I would push her into the outside rein with my inside leg and gently tense and relax my inside ring finger, worked like a charm, she would soften pretty quickly, considering. I did find that the key to that is my leg, without using my leg it wouldn't do anything.

She was going so lovely that after we reversed and did our spiral circles to the right I tried feeding out the reins and she followed the bit down into a nice stretchy circle. I didn't have to wiggle anything or convince her to stretch, she just did it, as long as I kept my inside leg on her at least. Then I decided she was going so well, I brought her back to me and asked her for a canter. She was wonderful, picked it up not on my squeeze but after I kissed at her. We tried two more times and each departure was better than the last.

However, I fell into the trap of being a passenger again, I kept her going at the canter, helped her to keep from falling to the inside by using my inside leg to support her and providing a supportive outside rein, but when we got back to the trot I started out so relieved just to have had a nice canter that she was racing and tense and I just let her be that way. After the second trot-canter transition I really paid attention and half halted to bring her back to a more regular and right for her tempo and she really listened. Then it was much easier to do after the last trot-canter transition in that direction. I also realized that I was pinching with my knees during the downward transition and focused on not doing that for the final transition.

Then I gave her a walk break and reversed to stretchy trot to the left and canter to the left too. Our stretchy circle came almost as easy as the right did. I played with stretchy trot, working trot, stretchy trot transitions. When she was going really nicely I slid my right leg back and prepared to ask fr the canter and she picked the canter up immediately. I think it was due to the fact that with the right going so well I was much more relaxed. Her canter-trot transitions were amazing, she went straight from canter to working trot, no rushing or tenseness. But she was rushing the canter a little. We'll work on that more later, I was mainly focusing on the transitions this time.

I haven't read ahead to see what chapter we'll be doing tomorrow, but we may do some more canter work, even if it's just working on transitions and helping her to be more balanced. Spiral circles may help as well. One thing I've noticed is that Sophie tends to carry her haunches a little to the inside when tracking right. I'm not sure if it's me, or if she's extra sensitive because we've been playing around with moving her side to side with my legs.

Oh, and the ride lasted right around 20 minutes, maybe a touch over. We could have gone longer, but she was so, so, so, so, so good I wanted to reward her by not doing too much. The temptation is there to do more, but I'm a little sore from our short sessions and know that my riding will be helped by not being *really* sore and it'll be easier for Sophie to realize that I'm pleased with what she did. Lendon Gray mentioned in her book that often she has ridden a horse a few minutes and then dismounted, because the horse had done everything well. So I figured it was a good thing. Of course, stopping at 20 minutes means that we aren't ready for a lesson yet, but I feel like we're getting a lot of progress made on our own, and Kim hasn't been around when I've been riding anyway. I also don't want the shock of a lesson to be too much for Sophie, going 45-60 minutes straight and being asked to do more than what I ask on my own.

Because Sophie was so good for our ride I hosed her off after untacking her and handgrazed her while she dried. She loved it. And she loved all of the treats she got while I was cleaning my tack post-drying!

And finally, some pictures, since it's been a couple of entries ago that I posted pictures. No kitty walking pictures though, they haven't been downloaded yet, but instead, a neat Appaloosa that was at Champagne Run Horse Trials a couple of weekends ago. He's a neat color and put in a lovely test. Enjoy!

First lesson was a success...

I had my first lesson on Sophie yesterday. It went really well. There were two instances where I had a moment of panic where reality set in that this was *my* horse and there was no turning back. And a little voice in my head cried out "walk away! walk away!" But I'll get to that.


Stretchy Trot Circle


We drove through Columbus and stopped to pick up Amanda so that she could meet Sophie and watch my lesson. We arrived at Linda's and saw Sofie over in the roundpen, standing in a sea of hay. She didn't want to come see us, even when we offered treats, but she did walk toward me when I entered the round pen to catch her. I took her into the barn and Amanda and I groomed her. She was a mudball, especially since she still has so much of her winter coat. At one point we had to move her to the back of the barn while they took two mares/foals out to the pasture and Sophie got a little upset about them leaving, but she calmed down right away. That was moment number one.




After we groomed her Linda saddled her and we headed out. I rode her from the get go, and had moment number two. We were just walking around and her head was in the air and I couldn't establish a connection at all, and things didn't get much better when we trotted. But then I started riding her more like Jessie and she came round and was moving much nicer. My big problem is that I expect her to trot faster than what her tempo *should* be. So I need to relax and let her trot more slowly. The majority of the lesson was spent developing contact and slowing the tempo. So it pretty much went...half halt, half halt, squeeze inside leg to push her into the outside rein and sponge the inside rein to remind her of where my hand is. She very much seeks steady contact and will stay there when it's provided with a giving hand.




We mainly worked on a 20 meter circle. After establishing a steady trot we worked on stretchy circles, then walk-trot transitions with a few trot-canter transitions. After we worked in both directions we did a stretchy circle to cool down before walking her out. She was great though, looking around a lot (there was a stallion galloping his field just 20 feet away) but when I actually rode and didn't just sit there I was able to keep her attention focused on me.




My biggest challenge when riding her is her canter. She has a lot of jump to her canter, and it feels like she's coiling to buck. So I almost don't *want* to ask her to round and come onto the bit because I know that if her head is up she won't be able to buck very high, if at all. Once she's round it would be much easier for her to let fly. But I got a little better about it by the end of the ride. I also need to ride every step, especially remembering to use my legs to push her forward into the bridle, instead of just being a passenger. I just need to remind myself that she has never offered to buck, either with me or Linda and trust her more and let go. I'm definitely too tense at the canter, and my hands block her because I get a little nervous.





I just finished adding pictures and am really disappointed with how much I let my core collapse. I think I'll break out the Core Secrets videos tomorrow and get to work.