I felt slightly cheated when I got to the barn today...When I left my house in Sutton, the sun was shining, and it was 40 degrees. By the time I got to the other end of the Valley, it was snowing, and 30 degrees. So, my planned ride in the outdoor was not gonna happen.
I pulled TBM out, tacked him up in the aisle way, and headed to the indoor. We shared the arena with three other horses (one tied near the door, one on a lungeline giving a lesson, and one mildy unruly pony having a very good time). TBM stayed nicely focused though the thinly veiled chaos. I lunged him first, and he looks pretty good and loose. I got on him, and he was SOOO soft in the bridle. HUGE payoff from all of the ground work we have been doing! He was also nicely responsive to the leg and staying upright in the shoulder. Did nice long walk, getting the booty goin. Headed to the trot, and he was a bit short, and not all the way there yet. The footing where we were working was less than ideal, so I didn't feel it was fair to really push him for more than he was giving at the time. Went back to walk and worked on being soft to the leg and good halts.
All in all, I was very pleased. This is day #5 on joint supplements, and I see an improvement already. Hopefully we can get into the large outdoor this weekend for some really good leg stretching.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Light at the end of the tunnel?
Today, I feel almost normal. And my voice is almost back all the way, too! Yay! I did manage to get myself out to the barn before work today. I took TBM out for 30 minutes of romping in the outdoor. Gorgeous day, lovely temps in the 40's. I took his heavy blanket off, let him roll and roll in the snow. He did a bit of bouncing around, and I got to see some trot. He has been sitting in his stall/paddock for 4 days, so I expected him to be a bit stiff. BUT!! He was NOT. He looked very good and loose. I am very heartened by this.
Tomorrow, I hope we have good weather again. I am planning to head out and ride in the outdoor. The footing is pretty good out there right now. The snow is soft enough to have good traction. Hopefully we can get into some good forward canter/gallop, really stretch those legs and fill the lungs!
Tomorrow, I hope we have good weather again. I am planning to head out and ride in the outdoor. The footing is pretty good out there right now. The snow is soft enough to have good traction. Hopefully we can get into some good forward canter/gallop, really stretch those legs and fill the lungs!
Monday, March 23, 2009
I can't seem to catch a break here...
Man, with the temporary shift of schedule and the stress of learning the new job...and now, I am sick. *sighs* I can't seem to make any headway on things right now. TBM has been great, and I have continued to work on our suppling ground exercises. He started on his joint supps, and I am excited to see the difference. And even more excited to not be sick and be back into some semblance of normal work again. *sighs*
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Hittin the trails!
Yesterday was GORGEOUS. So we tacked up and hit the trail again. Had a nice relaxing time, explored the side roads a bit. Threw in a little bit of legyielding here and there to keep the idea that, Yes, we are STILL moving away from the leg. *grins*
Today is Thursday, our day of rest.
Today is Thursday, our day of rest.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Answers to Vic's questions
"What is the dressage go button? Is it repeatedly tapping the horse's ribs with your heal? I noticed this in a dressage video (the only one I've ever seen). It was done when riding a young Fjord for the very first time by a professional (German, I think) dressage trainer. Is that how the go button is developed? Or is the continual heal tapping a part of all dressage? ...as a way to move the horse forward into your hands? Or is it just done in the very beginning? I watched a whole group of imported Fjords being ridden in dressage for their first rides. Most accepted the heal tapping very well, but a few twisted their tail and were annoyed by it. Probably not understanding it. The video I saw had very little talking, so that's why I have the questions."
Ok, Vic. As promised, now that my brain is back and functioning, I'm gonna tackle some of your questions. Ideally, the 'go button' is the seat. The riders seat should be the ultimate communication tool between horse and rider. In the very best of circumstances, an onlooker really shouldn't see the rider doing very much. Here's a good video for training your eye:
This is Reiner Klimke and Ahlerich from the 1984 Olympics in LA. You'll notice that Dr. Klimke doesn't move all that much! He is a bit more 'active' in his riding before he enters the arena, but once he's in that arena, he is VERY quiet.
Here is another video, with great commentary. On a side note, I got to meet Catherine at this show, and watched this ride live. It was very dramatic and FUN!
That is Catherine Haddad performing her Grand Prix freestyle at the 2007 FEI World Cup Dressage Finals. You see she is a bit more active in her riding than Dr. Klimke, but still a VERY quiet rider.
Often, when you are dealing with horses that are new to dressage (or riding at all!), you have to be much more active in your riding and ride with bigger movements. You have to be very clear in what you are asking the horse to do, because they don't know yet! That may explain what you saw in that video of the Fjords.
Ok, Vic. As promised, now that my brain is back and functioning, I'm gonna tackle some of your questions. Ideally, the 'go button' is the seat. The riders seat should be the ultimate communication tool between horse and rider. In the very best of circumstances, an onlooker really shouldn't see the rider doing very much. Here's a good video for training your eye:
This is Reiner Klimke and Ahlerich from the 1984 Olympics in LA. You'll notice that Dr. Klimke doesn't move all that much! He is a bit more 'active' in his riding before he enters the arena, but once he's in that arena, he is VERY quiet.
Here is another video, with great commentary. On a side note, I got to meet Catherine at this show, and watched this ride live. It was very dramatic and FUN!
That is Catherine Haddad performing her Grand Prix freestyle at the 2007 FEI World Cup Dressage Finals. You see she is a bit more active in her riding than Dr. Klimke, but still a VERY quiet rider.
Often, when you are dealing with horses that are new to dressage (or riding at all!), you have to be much more active in your riding and ride with bigger movements. You have to be very clear in what you are asking the horse to do, because they don't know yet! That may explain what you saw in that video of the Fjords.
March 17
Yesterday we shared the arena with two horses, one was a mare who is coming into season and was tied in the arena. TBM did great. He was much more free in his movement and felt much more forward and relaxed. Although we had a hard time not falling in to the right. We spent a fair amount of time reinforcing the idea of moving AWAY from the right leg, instead of INTO it. This seemed very foreign to him! I had Tanya, the lady who was teaching lessons, check to make sure I wasn't completely crooked and hanging off to the left or something, because I was starting to doubt! *laughs*
Today we had the arena to ourselves again, and TBM had a lot of useful energy. We changed our warm up a bit, and I think it is a good change. I wanted to focus on this softness to the leg, and the idea of moving AWAY from pressure, instead of into it. So I started with work from the ground. A few years ago, I had the pleasure of auditing a Karl Mikolka clinic, and one of the exercises he used was full passing. In the western world, this is often called a side pass. The idea is like a full blown leg yield, and it tests the horse's understanding of moving away from the leg. I started this on the ground with TBM, just as we have started the turn on the forehand from the ground to introduce the concept of moving away from the leg. He was resistant to this idea at first, because he didn't quite understand what he was supposed to do. He caught on very quickly, though, and was very soon giving me wonderful full pass from the ground away from the left and the right. I also started to introduce the idea of engaging the hind leg in response to a tap from the whip. He also picked up on this really quickly. We spent probably 10 minutes on this before I mounted. Once I hopped on, we did some long rein walk, then I picked up the reins and did some full pass from the saddle. It took a bit for him to make the connection with what I was asking him undersaddle and what we had just done on the ground, but when the light bulb went off, he was golden. After we had gotten some very nice, soft, relaxed full pass away from the right leg, we went to the trot, and that was very nice. Threw in a bit of canter to freshen the forward, and back to walk and working on full pass from the left and right. Not a very long workout at all, but one I found to be productive. At the end, I also did some leg yielding in the walk, and he staying NICELY straight through the shoulders, not bulging or falling at all. I was VERY pleased with this. I also found myself sitting up more and more, which is only making his job easier.
Tomorrow would be a good day for a trail ride, we will see what is going on with the weather. Today was still kinda windy, but the roads weren't ice like they were the day before. So hopefully tomorrow will be good.
Today we had the arena to ourselves again, and TBM had a lot of useful energy. We changed our warm up a bit, and I think it is a good change. I wanted to focus on this softness to the leg, and the idea of moving AWAY from pressure, instead of into it. So I started with work from the ground. A few years ago, I had the pleasure of auditing a Karl Mikolka clinic, and one of the exercises he used was full passing. In the western world, this is often called a side pass. The idea is like a full blown leg yield, and it tests the horse's understanding of moving away from the leg. I started this on the ground with TBM, just as we have started the turn on the forehand from the ground to introduce the concept of moving away from the leg. He was resistant to this idea at first, because he didn't quite understand what he was supposed to do. He caught on very quickly, though, and was very soon giving me wonderful full pass from the ground away from the left and the right. I also started to introduce the idea of engaging the hind leg in response to a tap from the whip. He also picked up on this really quickly. We spent probably 10 minutes on this before I mounted. Once I hopped on, we did some long rein walk, then I picked up the reins and did some full pass from the saddle. It took a bit for him to make the connection with what I was asking him undersaddle and what we had just done on the ground, but when the light bulb went off, he was golden. After we had gotten some very nice, soft, relaxed full pass away from the right leg, we went to the trot, and that was very nice. Threw in a bit of canter to freshen the forward, and back to walk and working on full pass from the left and right. Not a very long workout at all, but one I found to be productive. At the end, I also did some leg yielding in the walk, and he staying NICELY straight through the shoulders, not bulging or falling at all. I was VERY pleased with this. I also found myself sitting up more and more, which is only making his job easier.
Tomorrow would be a good day for a trail ride, we will see what is going on with the weather. Today was still kinda windy, but the roads weren't ice like they were the day before. So hopefully tomorrow will be good.
March 16
So, yesterday TBM's mom came out to watch us ride. We had intended to get new video, but I was so late leaving home, I forgot the camera! So no new photos or video this week. Sorry!
As it turned out, there wasn't much to see anyway, as TBM was stiff and VERY lacking in energy. Probably the stiffest he's been since we started. never really got to the point where he loosened up all the way. We do have some joint supps on the way, I think that will make a HUGE difference for him. He spent years as a young horse on the lunge conditioning for halter work, and you can't tell me that doesn't put some torque on young, developing joints...
So, we did a very small bit of work in the indoor, and realized we weren't going to get much. So then we decided to take him for the long awaited trail ride. He was a little wide eyed as we first headed down the driveway, but he settled into things just fine. It was good for him to get out of the indoor and off of the circle. He perked up a bit, but not as much as I had expected. I need to really find a way to get him out on the trail at least once a week, to keep his mind fresh. Endless circles get kinda old....
As it turned out, there wasn't much to see anyway, as TBM was stiff and VERY lacking in energy. Probably the stiffest he's been since we started. never really got to the point where he loosened up all the way. We do have some joint supps on the way, I think that will make a HUGE difference for him. He spent years as a young horse on the lunge conditioning for halter work, and you can't tell me that doesn't put some torque on young, developing joints...
So, we did a very small bit of work in the indoor, and realized we weren't going to get much. So then we decided to take him for the long awaited trail ride. He was a little wide eyed as we first headed down the driveway, but he settled into things just fine. It was good for him to get out of the indoor and off of the circle. He perked up a bit, but not as much as I had expected. I need to really find a way to get him out on the trail at least once a week, to keep his mind fresh. Endless circles get kinda old....
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