Dressage Junkie

P-A-R-T-Y!!!

2010-08-12T13:12:00.004+01:00

Well we are off to a clinic with Heather Moffett at the weekend (14th / 15th August) and am really looking forwards to it! Be prepared for a BIG update when I get back!
http://www.enlightenedequitation.com/ee/boards/index.php/topic,40767.0.html

Also there is a BIG Friesian event being ran alongside the Friesian gradings this year for FHAGBI’s 15th Anniversary – this is being held at Vale View in Leicestershire so not far from us so we have entered a couple of classes! WOOOOP! Im NOT gonna tell you what ive entered yet cos Ive been a bit crazy and now im crapping myself lol!! If anyone is going, be sure to come and say HI!!
http://www.fhagbi.co.uk/

Health Update!

2010-08-12T13:10:00.001+01:00

After Antsje’s teeth had been done we noticed she was chewing her hay funny. Kind of making little twists with it like you were going to make a straw dolly lol! I got back in touch with the dentist and he said he would come and recheck her but couldn’t make it for 2 weeks. In the meantime the problem seemed to resolve itself but he still came out to put my (obsessed!) mind at rest lol! Nothing seemed to be causing a problem so maybe she just didn’t like that bale of hay! Who knows!

After doing a bit of trimming of her legs the other day I found some flaky skin in her feathers and also a ‘spongy’ area in the back of her heel. So since then I have been scrubbing with hibiscrub, combing out the flakes, drying the area thoroughly and using tea tree ointment / purple spray and sudocrem on the spongy bit lol! She also has an area on the inside hind that never grows any hair and can get quite dry skin. Ive always thought it was a skin allergy of some type but now I think it might be a strike mark from her other inside hind! So I thought I might experiment with some over-reach boots on her hind feet. All seemed to be going well until last night I noticed these had rubbed her foot on the opposite side! ARRRGGGGHHH! So not sure WHAT to do now!

Training Update........

2010-08-12T13:06:00.001+01:00

Training Update!

God I MUST blog more regular lol! Where were we……..

Ok, so we have mostly been working on ‘forward into the contact’ and ‘power from behind’
We have definitely upped the anti this last couple of weeks and I think its been hard work for both of us…physically and mentally! For a start off, now we have a more powerful trot I am struggling to sit to it and can tell I am blocking Antsje and I rather suspect I have been for a while and this is why the trot has gone down to MY level and I suppose this has also suited Antsje lol! A bit humbling I can tell you when you realise its always the rider that’s stuffing up the horse lol! So I have been working more in rising trot to really free her up but she is grumbling about it a bit because now she has got to put a bit more effort in!
So I have been really concentrating on her reactions to my leg……….if she doesn’t react to it STRAIGHT AWAY and just lollops into trot, then she gets bought back to walk, ‘animated’ by use of my voice and a couple of taps with the schooling whip. We then do a succession of transitions until I can feel her really ‘waiting for it’ and once we are “there” a lot of things fall into place because she is ON THE AIDS! We had both got a bit DULL I think and Antsje was taking her own good time before she reacted to my requests and I was merrily accepting this!

We have had another lesson since the dressage tests too and the instructor had a little sit on Antsje too! It was good to watch her and I got good feedback on Antsje’s way of going. In the lesson it was just re-affirming Antsje being forwards into the contact, making sure she was reactive to the aids and we also played about with collecting and lengthening the stride in trot….done on a circle. We also did work on serpentines really asking Antsje for more suppleness through the changes of rein. I was very pleased at the end of the lesson ….. Antsje really does have a good attitude to her work which is more than half the battle (bad choice of word! But that’s the saying lol!)

We have also been working more on schooling the canter too and it is becoming just more ‘everyday’ rather than Ooooo shall we do ‘CANTER’!! lol!
The last couple of session’s I’ve noticed that although the contact is now very consistent and she still needs to be taking more weight behind and be getting that feeling of her rising up through the wither. We are getting moments of this and it feels bloody brilliant! But its time to move towards this being the normality rather than flashing glimpses.

So things I’ve been doing to help are:
Reinback to trot
Walk to canter
Shoulder in and Counter shoulder in
Leg yield to canter
Travers in walk and attempts (!!) in trot lol!
Half pass in walk and attempts (!!) in trot!

Although the travers / half pass in trot is pretty rubbish it is still having an effect of collecting her and bringing her together more, so I think its worth persevering with!
Fridays are her day off and she gets an all over massage with an electric massager which she LOVES. She worked hard last week so she had 2 days off with massages both days and felt loads ‘boingier’ on Saturday! And we also did a bit of jumping at the weekend for a change and some fun!

So its been all good! Oh, and for improving your seat, work without stirrups in SHORTS lol! Your skin sticks to the saddle and you gotta keep your butt in the saddle or it hurts lol!

Mmmmmmmm :o)

2010-07-21T16:48:00.001+01:00

Had a really EXCELLENT ride today :o)
First off, Antsje is working far more consistently at seeking the bit which is a really great improvement as she does tend to do this ‘holding’ thing and I can tend to be a bit ‘backward’ with the hand in response. Both very subtle faults, which can become a norty habit! But when she is really seeking the contact you can tell the difference with her way of going.

So now we have a nice stretch to the bit and also her still ‘seeking forwards’ when you bring her together more, we still need a little bit more OOOMPH from the back end ;o) We need forwards but not so much faster but more engagement so we start to get that lift through the shoulder. So Im having to get after her a bit at the beginning of the session as we get nice stretch but in her ‘comfort zone’ or we get a bit too rushy and tight neck! I suppose she does find it very hardwork to keep the tone through her body yet turn on the power!

I know when I do my running, at times I just feel so super strong and powerful with my body feeling ‘connected’ which comes from the abs / core I think……but although it does feel great, I do struggle to keep this ‘poise’ for extended periods of time. It comes and it goes. As I get fitter, It comes more often and it goes less – so I suppose this is a similar feeling that Antsje has………

Anyway, we got some fairly nice work today, esp on circles but we do tend to loose it on serpentines…. Or quick changes of rein. So I decided to really concentrate on ‘lateral flexion’ as I know when we get her round my inside leg properly her way of going moves to another level!
So I did 10 m circles and then as I came back to the track I changed direction but keeping the bend so we were in a counter shoulder in position which really helped me control the SI positioning and therefore increased engagement as sometimes in normal SI we end up drifting to the middle of the school lol! So say we did a 10m circle at E on the right rein, we would come round and as we come back towards the track I would track left towards A with the bend now to the outside.
She found this quite difficult at first and kept breaking out of the trot…..funnily enough she was better on the right rein! But she soon started to get the idea and by the end my god she was really flexed round my inside leg, really light in hand but IN hand, and her back felt great! I was riding practically off the seat and my hands were just forwards and recycling the energy as we did circles, serpentines and figures of eight! I let her do a nice stretchy trot to end on both reins and called it a day. So so so pleased with her :o)

So in conclusion, next session I am going to do stretchy walk / trot / canter quite quickly to get warmed up and then do this counter shoulder in work and see if it has the same effect of getting her round my inside leg. Sometimes I think I need more of a plan when I ride to make the most of our time!

BOING BOING BOING!!!! DRESSAGE!!

2010-07-19T16:51:00.002+01:00

Took Antsje out to Swallowfield equestrian on Saturday to do a couple of dressage tests (Unaff) and I was very brave cos not only did I do P18 but I also did N20..... our first attempt at Novice!!

Bearing in mind we haven’t done a test since Nov last year and that was at our livery yard, so I haven’t actually competed away from home for over a year......I wasn’t expecting miracles!! Since having a couple of lessons and being put back 'on track' the new work has also been a little inconsistent, so really, I had no idea how it would go lol! I hired a reader just to take that pressure off and went with a view of ME being calm and not getting in a flap

My sister, Amy and my niece all came along which was great because we all had a good laugh, which kept my nerves at bay!!

So, to cut a long story short........Anstje was a BL00DY STAR!!! When it comes down to it, she always knows when to 'switch it on' and she tried her little heart out and I couldnt have asked for anymore I made a couple of fluffs in the prelim by not preparing as well as I could, also she nearly broke in the canter so I sent her forwards a bit too much and then had a rubbish downwards trans lol!!
I went into the Novice not so under pressure as it was just a little play around at this level! So I seemed to get my head into gear a bit better and was a lot more helpful to her, I suppose because there is more to ‘do’ in a novice I really had to keep her together more whereas I think I needed to be a bit more ‘on the ball’ in the prelim lol!

They judged all prelim classes (3) and all Novice classes (3) together and in the Prelim I came 7th on 60% which I was really pleased about as there were 13 riders in all. Then in the novice I came 3rd!!! on 62% and we got a rosette!! I was just so chuffed as I think Antsje deserved something for her incredible attitude and generosity to her rider

Anyway……Vids!!!
PRELIM

NOVICE

Lots to work on I know, and I was happy with the judges comments :o) BUT…… a lot to like as well I think?? I mean…… I got 6 for canter!! HURRAH!! That’s a miracle in itself lol!

And my beautiful girl……..

Resistance is futile.............

2010-07-09T16:16:00.003+01:00

But she's gonna have a go anyway hahahaha!!!

I think Antsje is testing out my commitment to the 'power trot'........ Two stubborn mares together = KABOOOM!!

Well after a days rest we had an absolutely AMAZING session last night!! I did some poll flexions before I go ton last night and she was quite resistant to start but after a few she started to soften up and relax her jaw. I also did a little girivolta work in hand just a couple of circles either way, but with my hand on top of her poll to encourage relaxation and flexion.

So I got on and worked on the lengthening the neck / bringing together / lengthening idea on a circle to really try and get her thinking of working forwards into my hand. I think I really need to work more on this ‘connection’ as I think we have just got into a little comfort zone with both of us coasting a bit!
Well she seemed to get the hang of it better and we did some trot in the same manner, working FDO and then bringing up and then FDO – trying to get it really fluid and Antsje not backing off the contact or my leg!
I also rode without stirrups for a while so I could stretch my hips and deepen my seat too.

We did a few walk / trot transition from this deeper connection and although the swing was quite nice it was a very sedate lumber into trot! So next time I gave her a flick with the whip and made a bit of a noise at her and she LEAPT into trot lol! All or bloody nothing with this mare lol! BUT! I clicked and treated the effort because I did want an immediate response like that – perhaps not quite so leapy though lol! So Next trans we did was blimmin fantastic – surged up into trot and you could just feel the lift through her shoulders. And the trot, god it felt like we were flying, just so much power and lift in it, I was just grinning like a fool! And we had this for the rest of the evening – consistent contact and powering from behind, into my hand and a lift from the wither………very addictive ;o)

We went on to do a bit of canter, and she does have a tendancy to fall in on the circle. My sister was watching and she suggested I rode or rather ‘thought’ SQUARE rather than circle and I have to say it worked so much better to think of riding her straight.
The downside in canter is that I feel like a bag of shite! I tense up, draw my leg up, go stiff and tighten my arse and therefore cannot sit nice and deep in the saddle. Part of it is because im trying so hard to stop her falling in on her shoulder that I feel like my body is contorting in an attempt to keep her straight. I think I need to do some canter work without stirrups to try and get out the habit of drawing my leg up and loosing my seat.

Other than that though I was very very pleased with her efforts and I can definitely feel the difference in the quality of trot and what we need to be aiming for from now on.

This mornings session was another matter completely! She was back to being resistant again and wouldn’t come forwards off the leg and seek the contact down. Grrrrrrrrrr! She would either rush off all hollow, of stretch down in the lumbering granny trot we had got ourselves stuck into. So after asking nicely in as many ways as I could think of, I ended up loosing a bit of patience to be honest and was rather firm with her that she got off the leg, and that she gave to the contact. Probably not very classical and I really don’t like falling out with her, BUT, it worked and when she gave I softened immediately and from then on we had some nice work and a nice ‘connection’ Is five minutes of ‘bossy riding’ better than half an hour of half hearted nagging? My gut feeling is is that she is just finding this work harder (I know I am!!) and she is seeing how committed I am to it!! Because when we have ‘got it’ I am not having to hold her ‘in a frame’ she is just ‘there’. Thoughts???………….

Well anyhow, I got some nice trot work and transitions and I left it there and gave her plenty of praise for the GOOD stuff.

I will just go out on a nice relaxing hack tomorrow so she can have a stretch and rest before our lesson again on Sunday. I know My hips ache today and we are both putting in more effort this last few sessions so I am mindful that although I want to be firm that this is the way its gonna be – I also want to be fair and realise she will need some recovery after these harder sessions.

So………..another mixed bag! Lol!

A little bit hit and miss..........

2010-07-08T12:15:00.001+01:00

So I have been working on the ‘lengthening / bringing together / lengthening’ and the deeper position of the neck and it just seems to take forever to get some consistency in the contact. I can feel a bubble of frustration in me partly because Im sure she understands my requests and partly because Im not sure what im doing wrong! All I know is that it’s a weird feeling when she is not accepting the bridle, and I can give her the reins or take up the reins but she not really **there** and the half halts etc just do not work! Because Ive only got a limited amount of time in the morning the frustration is intensified and I KNOW I am getting a bit ‘handy’ by nagging with the rein and I KNOW that this does no good what so ever because even if I do get her to give this way as soon as I ask her to take the rein down she doesn’t follow, she just ‘holds’ at the wither. GAH!
BUT! When we DO get it, its bloody fantastic! Maybe I have just got to accept that it will take a period of adjustment for both of us to settle into being more focussed and obviously working a bit harder lol! The annoying thing is, is that I just don’t KNOW how I’m getting it when we DO get it!! But I can bet my bottom dollar its summat to do with me! And most likely my tension lol!

Just to be sure I am getting her teeth checked at the weekend just to rule out any discomfort in her mouth.

I gave her the day off yesterday so Ill be interested to see if a rest will help tonights session. And I have got to CALM DOWN mentally and keep a lid on the old ‘frustrated perfectionist’ that is ever lurking just under the surface Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

A bit of exciting news……….Ive entered two dressage tests!! My sister said she would take me as my Birthday pressie and I have finally got the courage up to do a Novice test as well as a Prelim! The trot is certainly good enough and well, you gotta start somewhere hey!! REALX and BREEEEATHE!!!! Lol!

A LESSON!!! WOOP!

2010-07-08T11:26:00.002+01:00

I had a lesson last Sunday – the first in a few months! The lady rides at Intermediere level and has trained her two TB’s herself. She enjoys working with non-typical dressage horses and has a good eye for horse and rider ;o)

She picked up very quickly on mine and Antsje’s strengths and weaknesses and this gave me a lot of confidence in her instruction.
She was very complimentary about the work I have done with Antsje so far, so that was a relief!! She said I have done well in getting her neck out as so many horses like these are ridden too short in the neck and she was also happy with my position in general, which again was a bit of a relief.
She also picked up on my tendency to ‘tip forwards’ and Antsje not quite being ‘through’.
So we worked a lot on getting a proper and honest connection from back to front with Antsje, which meant her putting a bit more effort in lol! And also me being really strong in the core and encouraging action from the HQ’s and holding it with my seat and “not touching the front end” so Antsje was encouraged to be confident in the contact.
She also recommended working Antsje a bit ‘deeper’ to really get that connection over the back and into the hand. Now before you all go ARGH!! This wasn’t with her head on her chest!! Just a slightly lower position with the neck to really tie in the back and the withers as the energy can get a bit unconnected at this point. Its always something Mike has got me to do too, so I was happy enough with the idea. She also said that with a horse built like Antsje you will never have a problem getting the neck ‘up’ because of the way she is built so we can afford to ask her to work a bit lower without any problem.
So we worked on getting her to take the rein down, then bringing her together a bit, then taking the rein down again so we were able to keep the neck coming forwards fluidly whether we were in a stretch or more ‘together’ Once we had this feeling she got me to think ‘leg yield’ but not actually let her step over but just hold her with the outside leg and rein so in effect it acted like a half halt and encouraged her to activate her inside hind more. From this position we asked for a transition into trot and I have to say it was SUPER! F noticed that although our upward trans were good, the downward ones were not quite there. Once she got me pressing Antsje ‘forwards’ into the walk and me really raising my rib cage lo and behold we got some excellent downward trans too! So, if we don’t the horse to collapse – the rider MUSTN’T collapse lol!! Obvious hey!

In the trot we concentrated on asking Antsje for more POWER but not to go any faster or come out of balance. To do this I had to be really strong in my core and control her with my rising and just try and keep a consistent steady contact with my hand. The trot felt REALLY good and REALLY connected and I could see that now both me and Antsje have improved in strength and balance we need to move up a gear as we are both capable of it!!

F had a look at the canter and again was pleased with what we had achieved. She thought improvements could be made by again keeping this nice connection that we had going in the trot and not let her back off as she went up into the canter trans. So she got us working on a really strong powerful trot on a 10m circle, getting Antsje to really release over the back and through the neck, once I felt that nice powerful SWING I asked her to leg yield out for 2-3 strides and then go up into canter. It really worked WELL!! On the left rein we got some excellent ‘direct’ transitions and because she kept the connection over the back and through to the hand the quality of the canter was much better and therefore we also got some nice downward trans into the trot again. On the right rein she seemed to need a few strides to organise her legs before we got the canter transition, but she didn’t rush and she didn’t loose the connection and both me and F were pleased with her efforts.

To finish, we did serpentines in trot with a 10m circle each time we came back to the track. Antsje struggled a bit with this exercise and didn’t want to keep the ‘power on’ and we lost the connection a bit – although maybe we were both getting a bit tired too! F asked me to let her take the reins down but to still keep the connection and not to just throw them away! And we finished by doing a few figure of eights in a stretched out swingy trot which F said would be good to start and finish our sessions on as it gets that ‘forward neck into the contact’ attitude and also will really help stretch and unlock the top line muscles before and after the main work.

I was really pleased with the lesson and it has given us lots to work on! Im having another next Sunday!! Hahaha!

A few adjustments.....

2010-07-08T11:13:00.001+01:00

Well after watching the videos a few times I have put some focus on my leg position and balance again! I put my stirrups up one hole and really concentrated in riding ‘off my knees’ and not off my feet ala JVT instruction! Lol!
It felt a bit awkward at first I have to say, and I could feel myself going back to the ‘tippy’ position with my upper body **sigh** It seems if the body is UP, then my legs goes forwards, if the legs come in alignment, the body tips forwards! ARGH!!!!! BUT!! If I really focus on riding from the knees AND lifting the rib cage it does come together – and im rewarded by Antsje going along beautifully! Practice makes perfect – but I am missing eyes on the ground :o( Cue a much needed lesson!

VIDEO!!! YAY!!!

2010-06-27T22:30:00.003+01:00

Got some poor sod to video me in return for a drink down the pub.....how awful hey!!! hahaha! The video-er needs training with the zoom lol! but heck, im very grateful for him doing it full stop!

I can see im still collapsing a bit esp in downward trans......
Also, when im trying too hard (lateral work / no stirrups) my arse gets tight and Im far too tense and it ruins my seat and therefore blocks Antsje. Things to think about....... ;o)

Walk to canter

Walk pirouette attmepts

Lateral Work (although not very clear angle)

Trot and right canter trans

Left Canter

NO STIRRUPS!!! lol!

As always - grateful for any comments / observations :o)

snakes and ladders..........

2010-06-22T16:20:00.003+01:00

Hmmmm, well what goes up...must come down lol!! And after a few really good sessions of climbing the ladder, ive come slithering down the snake! especially with the canter. Not sure if it was her, or me, or both of us! But I know I wasnt so effective in my seat - not sure if im stiff, or if she is stiff, or if we both are due to the last sessions - but I couldnt really get 'into her' like I have been. She was just a little too forward and on the forehand with everything today and in all honesty I should not have cantered - or at least persevered with it - but I did **sigh**

The left canter wasnt bad actually, and the departs are coming on lovely. But the right!! ACK! she wanted to 'run' into the trans, So I tried to stop that by only doing walk to canter and really concentrating on a quick snappy leap into canter and then only cantering for a few strides before trot. Anymore than that, esp if we kept straight, she would get flat and strong, and when I did get a slower speed she would just break. So a little despondant today after the highs of the last weeks work, but it wasnt all bad............and I think for some reason we were both feeling a bit jaded.

Tomorrow Im going to do something different! lol!

CANTER CANTER CANTER!!!

2010-06-18T13:11:00.004+01:00

WOOP WOOP!!! BOING BOING!!!

So THRILLED with the last couple of sessions with Antsje :o) Thurs I rode in the evening as due to time restraints in the morning I dont always get to work on a lot of canter by the time she is settled! As my friend Trudi said a while back, if you dont have her in walk, then dont go any further (or words to that effect!!) and it is sooo sooo true! Its more of a mental attitude thing with her I think, but if she is rushing through my seat in walk, no matter how subtle, then it is pointless moving up into trot. Otherwise the rushing is just magnified and it takes even longer to get any decent work! So we did nice SLOW funeral walk and lots of halt transitions and reinback to walk until I was satisfied she was 'on my seat' and engaging her HQ's. Once we have this the trot is just **there** in terms of quality and balance and therefore I can start using exercises to improve straightness / suppleness straight away rather than having to spend time balancing the trot!

I again worked a lot on reinback, halt then straight up into trot. And also the downward trans of trot straight into halt. A definate improvement on yesterday already! Having a clever willing horse and using clicker doesnt half get quick results - and YES, I do appreciate how LUCKY I am ;o) In the trot we did the halt-trot-halt trans, serpentines focussing on smooth changes of bend coming from the seat and 10m circles, again focussing on correct flexion and increased engagement.

I am reading Erik Herbermann right now and was well reminded of the importance of accuracy when riding. Choose your gait, choose your exercise and ride it!!

Then we moved onto some canter work. I am using walk to canter trans right now as 1) it improves engagement and 2) it helps balance.
In trot, she can still loose enagement / balance and therefore get on the forehand very quickly and rush. I dont think the walk - canter trans are a 100% direct yet (esp on right), but its enough to help the above issues :o) Im also aiming for a nice downwards trans into a balanced trot out of the canter which is coming on nicely. Canter to walk is too much as of yet.......
The canter today was a LOT better on a circle, so I did a bit of work up the long side. She is still struggling to keep the balance when straight and gets a bit flat and 'rushing' - esp on the right rein. BUT, its a work in progress so we have to keep trying. For the first time since i came back off hols, I asked her to pick up canter from the long side - not too bad on the left rein, but she warps quite a bit on the right, panics and rushes off!! But again, its worth persevering with for a few steps.
We had a few lovely balanced strides of canter on the straight on the right rein so I clicked and treated and got off and made much of her. PLEASED! :o)

This morning was the first morning since I have come back that Antsje was pretty much on my seat right from the word go!! YAY! So I didnt have to do so much work in walk this morning and got on with some trot-halt-trot trans. These were bloody EXCELLENT today!!! Particularly the downward trans. I have to add I am doing a lot more work around the arena now rather than just on a large circle as it highlights straightness issues better now as she is quite well balanced on a circle (or so it would appear lol!) We did lots of changes of rein, a little SI and upwards downwards trans with great results, so I tried a bit more canter!

This time straight off the corner and onto the long side rather than working on a circle and again walk to canter trans. And I have to say the quality of balance was hugely improved even from yesterday!!! I didnt let her canter on for long, we didnt loose the nice slower lifted canter but we did quite a few repitions on both reins. I was really impressed - as much with her attitude as with anything! she was really trying hard!! So I clicked, got off and HUGGED her loads lol!!!

She gets a rest tomorrow and hacking on Sunday.

I just LOVE LOVE LOVE my horse! She teaches me so much :o)

Oh, and before I forget, note to self - try not to ride like a spaz in canter lol!!!
When she goes well, I know I get really tight in an attempt to to bugger it all up hahahaha!!! FAIL!! Need to get back on that lunge again soon and focus on me RELAXING!

RIP NANNING 374 :0(

2010-06-16T16:44:00.000+01:00

Very sad news for Friesian lovers.
On June 15th the famous approved stallion Nanning 374 was humanely euthanized after suffering a ruptured stomach today, June 15th. Nanning was one of the most beautiful and well know Friesian stallions. He will be missed.

Nanning's web site. http://www.nanning374.com/

Video of Nanning 374
http://www.viddler.com/explore/CallyMatherly/videos/1/"

Im BACK!!!

2010-06-16T13:51:00.002+01:00

Well!! Im back to it! And thankfully dont seem to have lost much fitness! Just a bit of thigh ache last week!

Antjse on the other hand had turned into Miss Bolshy pants in my abscence And my sister said the last day she tried to barge out of her stable and then wouldnt stand still on the yard! I forget this is how she was when I first had her and its nice to know that I do at least have a positive influence over her ;o)

So, the first few days were all about re-establishing boundaries!! Oh yes my dear Antsje.....you DO have them! hahaha!

We did quite a bit of 'head down' work especially when I am letting her out into the field as she basically snatched her head out of the headcollar to rush off! So I recaught her and insisted she put her head down and let me take the headcollar off properly - it took several attempts (with clicking ) before she realised the good life was over, mummy was BACK and she had to toe the line :p

The first ride wasnt much better either lol! I got on, she promtly power walked towards the gate as SHE thought we were off hacking!! grrrrrrrr!!! Then it took me nearly the whole session to get her to SLOW DOWN! as she had reverted to the old power walk, not listening to my seat and ploughing through my hand! But at least my seat is much better now that she couldnt knock me out of position quite as well as she used to! So eventually we had some 'slow funeral walk' so I decided to do a bit of trot - and went back to square one lol! She felt very 'on the shoulders' on the right rein too, which is her natural crookedness coming through.
So for the last week all I have been doing is SLOW walk, SLOW trot, and suppling exercises.

**I** have also been riding one handed for parts of our session so I can ensure I have a genuine bend from the inside leg and NOT hanging on the inside rein which I am good at! Gradually we are regaining the suppleness and balance we had before I went away.

Another thing I have noticed is that when I ride one handed, primarily to help me on the right rein, I have noticed that although I am using outside rein to turn, I am actually bringing right over the crest of the neck! So although techinically I am not using the inside rein to turn, this isnt correct either - so yet again, I am tricking myself! Grrrrrr!!! So, in walk, I concentrated on keep my outside rein in a 'normal' position while still trying to maintain the inside bend. I figured out that she is falling out and I was using the outside rein to stop this without really being consciously aware of it! So, instead I used my outside LEG to stop the falling out and now im able to drop the inside rein, keep my outside rein 'normal' and keep the bend to the right! RESULT! :o)

Canter is a bit crap again but I suppose it will come back.....

We did some work on the lunge yesterdayover poles in trot and in canter. I was really pleased! plus I did lots of halt to trot trans and walk to canter trans - it was good to SEE how much this made her 'sit' so I am incorporating this into the ridden work

Oh yes - Reinback! we are doing a fair bit of this - while concentrating on the straightness. I use it particularly when she is 'tramming' to get her off her shoulders and sitting more.

So, onwards and upwards! For my birthday my sister said she would take me to a dressage test! But want to re-establish the canter a bit first....ever the perfectionist lol!!!

Oh! and Ive entered into a Marathon!! All in aid of Macmillan Cancer - so if you'd like to support this wonderful cause you could sponsor me......

2010-05-19T14:43:00.000+01:00

So to bring us up to date, before I jet off to Cuba for 2 weeks (typical hahaha) I am really pleased with how Antsje (and myself!) are progressing of late and Im riding most days although I don’t school everyday!!

I am continuing working on increasing engagement and self carriage as Antsje is very sneaky and you think she is going round really lovely but then you go to change rein / do a transition and it all comes undone because she is not actually carrying herself properly!! And in all honesty IM not either lol! One thing im learning is that if *I* am in self-carriage and riding with ‘tone’ and am completely THERE in the moment, so is Antsje is she goes like a dream! If im coasting either mentally or physically then you can bet your bottom dollar that Antsje is too! And why the hell not haha! Fair’s Fair!

So we are doing a lot of warming up with serpentines / figure of eights to really get her bending through the body on both reins – first in walk and then in trot. If I feel she is hanging (more often on the right rein) then I always go back to the one handed girivolta work until I have a nice inside flexion without the use of the inside rein! Lol! Its ALL about the HindQuarters working correctly and once I have THAT then the inside bend magically happens lol!

Then we are doing a lot of work on collecting the walk and trot, again by really activating the HQ’s but not allowing her to lean / tram through my hands and seat. She is getting the idea really well now, and I am also developing my feel so much more and can therefore make quicker adjustments to help keep Antsje balanced. We do exercises such a reinback, reinback to walk / trot transitions, transitions in general and lateral work especially paying attention to the rhythm of the steps so we get a nice ‘flow’ rather than sticky steps. I am also continuing to play with the half steps which really help to re-balance her and set up some lovely trot transitions.

And to help me, my friend has been lunging me without my stirrups and reins in walk, trot and canter to really improve my seat and balance – although I think he enjoys it way too much! Hahaha!

I really think she has improved since the clinic videos and if I have time at the weekend id like to get a bit more video of us as another benchmark in our journey!

Im BACK!! bout time hey!

2010-05-19T14:12:00.003+01:00

God Ive been bad with this blogging malarkey **hangs head in shame** lol! A quick update to get me back started again! Thanks Patti for a kick up the proverbial arse lol!!

Well we had an excellent lesson with Heather Moffett at my friends yard and its been great value as im still working on the same lines now hahaha!

I wanted Heather to help me work on greater engagement and self carriage with Antsje as although she has great paces, she still needs to take more weight behind to really start working properly – this becomes apparent when we do lateral work in trot as she tends to do her famous evasion of rushing / powering through my seat / hand to avoid the slower deeper steps ;)
So we did a lot of work on lateral work in trot, reinback to trot and even a little bit of work on ‘half steps’ at the end!

Ive put the video up but as its in the indoor school the lighting isn’t that good! But I think you can get the general idea!! At times Antsje gets against my hand as she tries to speed up in the lateral work, also as Im trying SOOOO hard I am a bit stiff and rigid at times which also doesn’t help lol! And although im a LOT fitter now, I STILL struggle to maintain my seat when Antsje tries to ‘set sail’ and therefore I use my hand more than id like…….

Things Heather got me to do that have helped LOADS are;

1.Shorten my reins and keep my elbows towards the front of my hip bones as Im having the tendency to end up with my elbows behind me and a feeling of a more backward hand!! This stems from trying so hard to keep a bend in my elbows in the past that ive completely overcorrected hahaha! Mike also reminded me of this naughty habit! This will give me a better ‘forward feeling’ contact

2.When doing lateral work, think about ‘stacked hands’ with the outside being lower than the inside hand to help with the inside flexion.

3.Try not to take my outside hand over the neck……

4.Try and maintain a rhythm in the lateral steps by counting out loud and using the leg in time with the swing of the belly, and also tapping the HQ’s with the schooling whip where necessary (partic in travers) Antsje tended to be a bit hesitant in her steps and not really stepping through properly – I could feel the difference when Heather was shouting NOW NOW NOW when I should be applying my leg! :)

Sorry about the links but Ill never get time to embed them all lol!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_NuYEbDSBo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75nQpcqOc5c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcp2g56fT6Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps29CoDiPXc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiLKDkpBeSI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3SkpFZ7R9U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHQOH3vvWeM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8fVBas2R1Y

Feel free to ask questions about the video, it might jog my memory a bit!!

Quick Update!

2010-02-23T12:56:00.001Z

Snow stopped play On Thursday and although I tried to get to the yard I nearly ditched my car doing so!! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeek! So I gave up and went home – a little shaken actually. Went for a lovely hack out with one of the girls on the yard on Saturday and it was nice to take the time to relax and have a chinwag, actually Id not realised how much I missed riding out with my daughter as nowadays I ride out on my own more often than not. Antsje enjoyed it too I think having some company :o)

On Sunday I did a bit of schooling in the arena and also yesterday morning too. The running theme was, well, exactly that…………….RUNNING! She is back to her trammy ways and I rather suspect its because we have been doing a few sessions of the more open work and then the hack she is avoiding stepping under and engaging in her typical way which is trying to speed up and run through my hands. I actually HATE when she gets like this because its very hard not to get into an argument with her because even trying to ride ‘tactfully’ for example putting her on smaller circles / serpentines to try and get her to slow down just doesn’t seem to work! She can do a 10m circle at warp speed – not correctly of course and its like the wall of death!! And its SOOOOO hard not to ‘hold’ which only infuriates the situation even more because that seems to make her even faster lol!
So towards the end, I just focussed on my position being strong, taking DEEP breaths and trying to set a nice slow rhythm. We did get some better work towards the end but each time I tried to ‘give’ the rein for her to stretch more into my hand, she took the liberty of speeding up! So I didn’t quite get the submission to my seat that I prefer and I came off feeling a bit disappointed :o(

This morning I worked on SUBMISSION!! Lol! I also put my stirrups back up a hole as I felt yesterday I was tending to get a bit ‘water-skier’ as she was doing her best to pull me out of position. I think this worked better today. Also I remembered to breath deeply right from the start, which helped ME, stay relaxed at any rate! So we did lots of walking / halting from the seat before we did ANY trotting at all! I also went back to more lateral work and did some girivolta / Shoulder In / Travers on the circle. As I felt her ‘come together’ more then I asked for trot and although she did try it on a little bit at the start, we actually got some nice SLOW trotting and some proper 10m circles :o) At the end I went large and practised walking STRAIGHT – not as easy as you may think! If you let her dolly on a long rein she is fine, but ask her to walk SLOW and in balance then she finds it hard. But we persevered until I felt she understood the exercise – which was basically engaging through her body evenly as she is good on circular work but looses it on the straight lines. So nothing really spectacular with regards to exercises or the quality of work – but I do think that I achieved my purpose, which was for her to STAY WITH ME!

I am attending a clinic on Sunday with Heather Moffett which I am really excited about!! BOING BOING!! I had a lesson about 3 yrs ago with her so I am hoping she will notice some improvements! And also move us forwards with her keen eye – particularly rider faults (Ooops!) Plus lots of my friends are going too, so it should be an excellent day for learning and fun! I am hoping Antsje will be less ‘steam train’ by Sunday!

Super Trot!! BOING!!

2010-02-17T15:44:00.002Z

I was right!! We had been lacking some lateral flexion especially on the right rein ;o) I really concentrated on flexing the poll while ridden today today and did some bending / counter-bending exercises on a circle, inside flexion of her head while keeping the shoulders straight on the long side and also the ‘deeper’ (eeeek that word!) stretched position in shoulder-in and travers that we did with Mike both down the long side and on the circle. All of this was to try and get her to really release the neck from the base but also keep the gait steady and not loosing balance and rushing and falling onto the forehand.
We didn’t really do any more than those exercises today as I think it was enough for her to think about and I do believe this is one of the things she does find difficult.

So after we had done a bit in walk I asked her to step up into trot trying to keep the same ‘connection’ of the base of the neck and slight inside flexion. She did try and rush at times (her evasion) but I kept asking her to slow down and once she did I used the inside rein in a slightly upwards / outwards manner while also pressing her with my inside leg to ask her to flex to the inside – and all of a sudden, she released her neck and we had ‘SUPER TROT’ which feels just bloody brilliant! Not any easier to ride I might add because the lift is amazing! :-0
The release down into the inside bend seems to also release the back and free the inside hind because the change in the quality of trot is unmistakeable and the words ‘elastic, supple, through, swinging’ all come to mind. The best way I can describe it is the hindlegs ‘sink down’ and then as they push off the energy comes through the whole of the body like a wave. Of course we have moments of unbalance (both of us) but I am finding techniques to successfully re-balance and re-gain the ‘super trot’ at least on a circle anyhow! To finish we used the whole arena and we both found it more difficult to maintain ‘on the straight’ particularly as she has more scope to ‘set sail’ down the long side! But I do think its important to venture off the ‘safe circles’ and try and test our balance on the ‘straight and narrow’ so’s to speak hahaha!

Oh yes, I am still incorporating the clicker work into the training – not prolifically but for when she does something really special……..like super trot!

The poll flexions were better today also.

GOOD day today! :-D

Mirror Mirror..........

2010-02-16T12:57:00.003Z

Well, what a difference a day makes! Yesterday morning I had the most AWFUL ride that I have had for quite some months! She was totally unfocussed and running through my hands – it felt vile :o( Maybe because of the hardwork she was a bit stiff – BUT – I had only intended on doing some long loose stuff after the last two days of engaged work. Also although I ‘thought’ I was looking forwards to working with her and had my head in the right place, because I was fretting a bit about my follow up smear after my op last year, in retrospect I think my energy must have been more jittery than normal. So this probably did have an effect although I didn’t think I was displaying any ‘bad vibes’ she obviously picked up on something – animals are such a good barometer for the ‘true’ emotions of people although we try and hide it well.

I cant remember what book it was in but this was termed as the ‘authentic self’ and how horses (and indeed animals in general) are so good at seeing straight through the bravado and acts of humans and respond directly to the ‘authentic self’ and that is why animals are great at sussing out people – even the real GOOD actors cant fool ‘em lol!!!

Anyway back to the session – although on reflection some of this behaviour was probably due to my ‘wired’ energy and some of it may be due to her being a bit stiff and finding it hard to engage as well therefore her evasion has always been to RUSH – I haven’t been happy about her poll area since the Chiro came :o(

As some of you are aware I have been practising ‘poll flexions’ for a while now to great effect (IMHO!) and although I know deep down that Antsje hasn’t released 100% to me, compared to when I first had her it’s a massive improvement. Im not sure WHY she is so protective over the poll area, but I know whenever she is stressed or on high alert immediately she adopts the high neck / fixed poll posture, regardless of being ridden or out in the field. It is a ‘friesian’ thing I think, well all horses raise the head I know but its very pronounced in this breed. So, as I was saying, since the Chiro treatment she has been very ‘fixed’ and ‘protective’ again over this area, noticeable when Im putting her headcollar on and off and also the bridle. When I have been trying to do the flexions she would flex to the left but I could barely get her to flex right – and when I did I then couldn’t get her to make the smooth move back to the left which makes the crest ‘flip’ over. Its as if she was stuck! I havent pushed the issue too much since the chiro as I haven’t wanted to interfere with anything and in honesty it doesn’t seem to have had a big effect on the riding after the initial few days where I got a bit panicky!!

So after I had ridden, I tried again with the flexions and I just could NOT get her to flex! In fact when I asked her to stretch her neck down just straight, it looked kinked **sigh** So I decided to do the thing that seemed to have unlocked the poll when I was experimenting which is to walk her round on a very small circle making sure her shoulders are moving AWAY from me and putting my hand on the top of her poll and just trying to flex the poll and release the neck down. She was really struggling to keep the ‘AWAY’ movement and kept walking into me, but I was quietly insistent and all of a sudden I felt something give and even heard a slight ‘crack’ and all of a sudden she started licking and chewing and released her neck down. I must admit I was little horrified in case Id done something AWFUL!! But I tried rocking her poll form side to side and although not smooth, she was able to flex each way so I left it at that.

Today I decided to do some work in hand just off the cavesson to incorporate some more of this flexing type of work and the ‘Lossyglossy’ (losgelassenheit) stuff on the lunge.
First off I just walked with her around the arena on a loose rein and each time she got all tense and high necked I encouraged her to relax her neck and clicked and treated when she did. She has a particular part of the arena where she can see the road and always likes a good GAWP but I worked on her keeping her attention on me with a relaxed low neck. Once she was consistent with this I stood in front of her and tried the poll flexions – and Lo and Behold, she was as soft as butter with her crest flipping from side to side! I clicked and treated so she understood this was the movement I wanted :o) Then I sent her on the lunge first in walk then in trot concentrating on a low relaxed neck and a swinging back – she was very good and on the whole kept nice and loose even as she passed the ‘gawpy’ spot ;o) I did have to whistle at her a few times to bring her focus back to me lol lol! Then I bought her in close and did the small circles with my hand on the top of her poll and there was very little resistance today and she was able to keep her shoulders mobile and moving away from me!
I sent her back out on the lunge and we did a little bit of canter trying to get the same kind of relaxation as we have in trot. She actually tried very hard! She knows she has to release her neck forwards, but balance I think is still an issue so she gets so far but cant quite release fully and is still a little tight through the back. I realise that some of the neck position is ‘posturing’ on her part for a click and treat hahaha! BUT it is serving a purpose because although not correct yet, this position WILL enable her to build the strength required to fully release the back and neck at some point.

So after a highly frustrating morning yesterday, today could not have been more different! I was so pleased with her efforts, and so relieved that her poll seems a lot looser and I haven’t broken her! In fact even when we had finished and she was standing tied up while I was putting her rug on she was doing lots of ‘yawning’ and chewing so I do think Ive managed to release some more tension again today :o)

I will be interested how this correlates into riding tomorrow as although not massively noticeable I do think she has been struggling with releasing fully into the right bend – made quite obvious by the reverse pirouette video where obviously she was leaning on the inside rein / shoulders and getting stuck. We’ll see!

'prelim' type work

2010-02-15T18:11:00.002Z

So to finish with I like to end the session with the more 'prelim' type frame concentrating on Antsje following the contact forwards a little more but NOT rushing! this is hard for her - and me! lol! I also like to do the canter work with this frame at the moment as I think its important she gets established with stretching over the back in canter even if it does mean she is a little on the forehand. Once she becomes more relaxed and confident then I will swing between the 'up' work and the longer frame as I do in the trot. At the minute I am confident that I can put her neck in a stretched position in trot and she will respond straight away - if I wasnt sure I could do this then I wouldnt do the work that does shorten her neck somwhat as she is naturally prone to that postion. So if at any point she wont follow the hand down, we leave the other work for a while until this is re-confirmed.

Im quite pleased with the video in general but can see ALL the points that Mike picked up in my position Gggggggrrrrrrrr!!! I AM rounding the shoulders and although not really tipped forward I have that 'feel' about me! esp in sitting trot where I really DO need to open my chest so my abs DONT collapse! I can also see what Mike means about the hands.............
Yes, they are too far 'back' now, so I MUST ocus on this and think of my elbows more towards the front of my hip bones and not the back! lol! My hands also look a bit 'dead' and as Mike says, if I shorten my reins up a bit, hold my arms a bit more forwards than it will bring some life back into my hands and our connection. Antsje is SOOOO sensitive about being jabbed or fiddled with in the mouth that as usual I have swung the pendulum too far the other bloody way! ***rolls eyes***

But lets hope now I can ***SEE*** it I will remember to do something about it!

New Moves!!

2010-02-15T17:34:00.003Z

A couple of 'work in progress' videos of new stuff we are working on. Both of us get a litle tense and tight.............and co-ordinated lol lol! so there is no suprise that things are not exactly perfect - as far away as it could be in fact lol!! But heck! we all gotta start somehwere right??

Half Pass

So, I have to control the quarters a bit more on the start of the exercise but we did straighten it up somewhat by the finish!

Reverse Pirouette:

Well the first exercise is the more 'correct' one which wil give you the idea of how the exercise works. Renvers down the 3/4 line, turn the haunches around the forehand in the direction of the bend and then return back up the 3/4 line in travers! simples! hahahaha!
but watching the second part - obviously NOT! Made a right hash of this one as its the side where Antsje finds it hardest to flex around - for a start I have WAY to much angle in renvers - she likes me to do this as its more a leg yield and she doesnt have to bend through her body ;o) Secondly, because I havent got a true bend and that inside to outside connection, I am having real problems in turning her from the outside rein and she is 'stuck' on her inside shoulder and therefore her we dont make the turn properly - when she finally moves the inside shoulders its too late and we loose the position and end up coming up the long side in some mangled SI / Legyield movment, which again suits madam cos she cant possibly bend through her body! And the rider just dont seem to know where she is in the movement to do anything to assist hahahaha!!! Oh dear!

Half Steps:

Our first attmept at slowing but energising the walk to really get some 'engaged' steps / baby half steps. Its something Im not planning on doing a whole lot of, but I do think it will be useful a sprinkle in now and again.

VIDEO!!! Warm up..........

2010-02-15T15:24:00.005Z

Amy did some video of me yesterday!! I did a bit of work in hand, a bit of girivolta work, some of the suppling exercises that Mike showed me on Saturday and then some of the ‘prelim’ riding which is in a more ‘open’ frame at the end.

Ill start by putting on the in hand work and the girivolta exercises as I think too many videos at once will just be a bit mind-blowing hahaha!!!

Im purposefully asking her to keep her neck released in the in hand work as her tendency is to get short in the neck. It flows better when her neck is ‘up’ but now im working on strengthening her back / neck connection so she gets a bit sticky at times. I always finish with the neck down position as again her base nature is head up and rushing through you – so I like her to keep her neck long and relaxed with her circling round me as it releases any tension of the exercise particularly after the trot as she finds it harder and gets more tense. I do this ridden too, but on writing this I realise not NEARLY as much – a bit silly really. Must keep it in mind for the future. ;o)

Giravolta ridden – again just an example of the work I do to warm up. Reins in the outside hand, whip in the inside to encourage the HQ’s to move over. It would be nice to see her relax her neck more – and she does at times, but at the minute id rather sacrifice the neck for the ‘engagement’ – the neck WILL come ;o) I don’t do this for too long at a time and walk on a long rein in-between changes of rein so we don’t build too much tension through the neck.

In hand Left

In hand Right

In hand Trot

Giravolta ridden

LESSON!!! WOOP WOOP!

2010-02-15T14:47:00.002Z

Saturday 14th Feb

Mikes Lesson:

A fab lesson! Learnt lots again and much to work on :0)

First I started off in a loose walk / trot to warm up then Mike asked me what I had been ‘mostly working on’ **snigger snigger** as each time he comes I have been mostly working on something hahahaha!! This time though I didn’t have a definitive answer! Which I actually think is quite a good thing as I do realise that I can get a bit ‘tunnel visioned’ sometimes lol lol! So I said, we have been working on a few things but I think ‘engagement’ seems to sum it up! So I showed Mike our more ‘together’ trot which she did nicely but I said we seem to collapse downwards!! So we worked on nicer downward trans.

First off Mike had a fiddle with my position. I am still having a tendancy to TIP FORWARDS!!! ARGH! Which is made worse by my lower leg now being a bit too far back so my position isn’t as strong or stable as it could be so although my position is definitely better than it was which helps with the ‘setting sail’ issues, it is letting me down in downward trans as Antsje tips me forwards and is able to collapse into walk rather than step down into walk. So Mike had me put my leg a bit more forward – which felt a bit odd and I said I was concerned about getting back into that ‘water skier’ position but Mike showed me the difference between the two and I could feel it was not the same! So we moved off again and mike told me to ‘open the chest’ and ‘open my shoulders’ and to also shorten my reins but to hold my arms slightly further forwards. Again I was slightly worried about the arm thing as I had a dreadful habit of straight arms and again it seems I have over corrected it! Now Amy did some video of me the following day and I can see EXACTLY what he was saying as I was still in the OLD mode for the majority of the time URGH! But hopefully me now SEEING it will help me to remember it and therefore SIT UP! For gods sake lol lol!

So, back to the lesson……

With my leg a bit more forwards, my chest / shoulder open and my arms a little more forward I DID feel the difference in our connection for the better – and this time when we did a downwards transition it was a lot better! Amazing huh! Also Mike said to think of ‘holding the reins with my back’ which was a really helpful comment for me as it made me focus on being more upright and strong through my back and not rounding the shoulders. I hope I can break this sodding habit!
After a few good trans on each rein we then moved onto working large round the school and doing some lateral work. We did some shoulder in and Mike got me to first SLOW THE WALK!! Half that speed!! And then to lessen the angle slightly and to really open the inside rein for Antsje to release the neck down but still maintain the SI position AND the slow walk. Very hard for Antsje as it took a lot of core strength to balance – very hard for me as it took a lot of core strength to keep the walk slow and the SI position and NOT to interfere with her neck! Mike says he has nightmares about the friesian neck hahaha! He said although in this position Antsje look to be going a little deep, its where she need to be for the base of her neck to be tied in to the rest of her body and as long as she maintains position and does not rush off then I shouldn’t worry about her head positioning as such right now. Mike also commented that with most other horses working this low would probably start to disconnect the neck but with Antsje it works. One thing we need to get her used to is adopting this ‘released neck’ when you ask her to start lateral work rather than to shorten and bring it back which really does disconnect the base of her neck and keeping the base of her neck tied into her back / HQ’s is so important. It obviously had some effect though as she was snorting and blowing throughout the exercises. We then did shoulder in for a few steps down the long side and then into sitting trot on a 20m circle keeping the connection and the energy created from the shoulder in. Antsje was starting to feel really good and ‘connected’ especially when I got my act into gear when Mike reminded me about ‘Open Shoulders’ Or ‘reins forwards’ or ‘weight the outside toe’ which I found really useful at stabilising me leg! But could I do them all together???? DOH!!

Finally we ran through a repertoire of suppling exercises I can use for helping Antsje step and ‘fold’ her hind legs more………….

Ones we can do!
Shoulder In: Less angle, deeper release of the neck
Travers: Less angle (again!!) and aim for that neck release again
Renvers: Quarters Out – same angle / neck release as for Travers
Walk Pirouette: Ask for a few steps of traver, then straighten then ask for the pirouette. If she gets sticky make it bigger – most important is that she keeps moving forwards.

New stuff!

Half Pass! Ooooo!!! We are getting posh lol!
We did this out of shoulder in and asked her to move over from the outside leg into the direction of the movement. A good little tip Mike gave me was in the movement open the OUTSIDE rein as this ‘anchors’ the shoulders. This worked really well! Difficult for me to explain but if you try it you will ‘feel’ what I mean ;o) The only thing is this can only be done ONCE the bend has been established so works well from Shoulder In.

Reverse Pirouette:
Now we are getting complicated and I need LEFT and RIGHT sewing into my gloves! As mike would say track left, and then say – NO, your other LEFT!! Pmsl!!! So we did renvers down the ¾ line, butt towards the long side – then after a few steps you ask the haunches to rotate around the forehand 180 degs until you are facing the other way and coming back up the ¾ line in travers! GET IT?? I hope so! It’s a very good exercise for mobilising the ¼’s but because its all new and both me and Antsje get all tight it didn’t look to pretty to start with hahaha! But Im sure once we both get a bit more confident then I can ask for a more released neck during the exercise. FROM US BOTH! Hehehe!
Again, Using the outside rein AWAY from the neck helps to anchor the shoulders and bring the ¼’s around the forehand.

I was really pleased with Antsje – we learned a lot of new stuff today and came off on a real HIGH

its hip to be square!!

2010-02-12T16:28:00.002Z

A fab ride this morning! Not so cold either today so we did a lot of work in walk to start off with which was just as well as she was feeling a bit ‘forwards’ today and I had to really get her listening to my seat as she was rushing a bit and coming against my hand. Did work on straight lines to start off with on both reins and automatically she felt a lot more even today through the reins and through my seat :o) I did a bit of the flexion work that Emma did with Quico on her videos http://www.enlightenedequitation.com/ee/boards/index.php/topic,38906.0.html
Which I thought worked very well for controlling her body and not letting it warp when I ask for a bit of flexion to the inside.
Then I did a few circles slowing the walk right down and then letting her increase the stride length which was helpful with her tendancy to rush this morning! Then going back to straight lines I resurrected an exercise I haven’t done for a while (too long) which is ‘squares’ with a turn on the forehand (TOTFH) at each corner. I found this exercise really useful for keeping a nice even feel throughout her body and the turn on the forehand (TOTFH) just activating the HQ’s a little through each turn. We then went up to trot in the same exercise and although I didn’t do a turn on the forehand I tried to keep the ‘feel’ of this exercise through the corners and found it really helped her step under under and balance for the next straight line.
We did a bit of trot on a straight line (long side) but not a lot because she was just a bit GUNG-Ho this morning and there is no point doing the wall of death! Little madam even popped herself into canter at one point! It did feel good though lol lol!

So all in all not a bad session and I would have seen the time she would have completely dominated me when she is in these moods – but we worked through it and I didn’t get tense and ‘HOLD’ which makes her run, and she did try and listen to my seat although we did have a few ‘moments’ **rolls eyes**!

I feel much better about how she felt though today and tomorrow we have a lesson with MIKE!! WOOHOO!!! BOING BOING!!!!

Forward and Straight!

2010-02-10T16:55:00.001Z

Or should it be straightforwards?? hahaha!

After realising I had probably overdone the riding after the chiro session I gave Antsje the day off completely yesterday, although I did notice she seemed quite ‘tight’ again through the poll when I was putting her headcollar on. I am beginning to worry I have overdone it to her detriment and also wonder why a bodywork session should put her so out of whack – almost to the point of feeling crooked again?

This morning I rode again but I focussed on forwards and straight work and it was actually quite nice to do some different type of work and also found it very interesting the information it gave me :o) First off when I got on she felt very like she was throwing me to the outside on the right rein and I was starting to panic my last session had put her pelvis out or something!! ARGH!! But I just though, forward and straight and tried to get an even contact into BOTH reins and to imagine my legs being ‘pillars’ which she had to remain straight inbetween. On the right rein I asked for a bit more activity from the outside hind and concentrated on her HQ’s not trailing to the inside – this automatically made her feel more ‘level’ through my seat. On the left rein I had to focus more on her neck being straight as she tends to naturally flex to the inside and trail her HQs to the outside. So I kept more of a feel through the outside rein until I could feel some contact into the inside rein and also using my outside leg to keep the 1/4s straight.

I also did a bit of slowing the walk right down using my seat but still asking for forward and straight – we did get a few wiggles from side to side but in the main she kept pretty straight and maintained it when I asked her to walk more forwards again. Then we went into trot and applied the same kind of aids. To start with she wanted to go a bit quicker than I wanted so I slowed her down a bit – but I did find it harder on straight lines to stop her getting a bit onward bound than when I ride circles. So from a very slow almost ‘counted walk’ which was STRAIGHT I asked her to step into trot and we then got a much slower and balanced trot. I was mindful of plenty of downward trans so she didn’t get tempted to ‘set sail’ but in the main I was very happy with the work and we were able to get some nice ‘straight and even’ strides down the long side.

I also kept away from the outside track and used the inside circuit as she does love to ‘lean’ against the fence lol!! I felt her keep trying to wander back to the track at the beginning but at the end she seemed much more balanced and was happy to stay between the ‘pillars’ of my legs.

So on the left rein the ¼’s swing to the outside and the neck naturally kinks to the inside with the weight on her outside shoulder. On the right rein her ¼’s tend to swing IN and her neck kinks to the outside with the weight more on her inside shoulder. So she is not quite a straight line but more an oblique line lol! Now although the work we have been doing on the circle has been good, it has been harder to identify the weakness on the left rein as she automatically flexes to the inside and therefore it **feels** like you have her in the outside rein and she is not hanging on the inside rein, but in reality she is not taking ENOUGH of the inside rein and she is LEANING on the outside rein and falling out of the circle. Its very subtle but far more apparent on the straight line than it is on the circle!
On the right rein it’s a different story! On the straight t line she feel much straighter on this rein because her neck doesn’t flex so well to this side and its not until you go on a circle that you realise that she falls IN through the shoulder and slightly flexes to the outside and therefore leans on the INSIDE rein.

So……………what does this tell me?? Well actually nothing new! I already had this figured – BUT – it DOES tell me that I need to ride as much straight lines as I do circle work and I DO need to focus on having an EQUAL contact in BOTH reins and an awareness that she is leaning on neither ;o) The best way to judge this at the moment is how she feels on a circle to the right and on a straight line to the left. So all in all a positive session where Ive learned a lot about the benefits of straightening work and why its important to work on both circles AND straight lines!

At the finish Antsje felt very even on both reins and I didn’t get the ‘pushing my seat to the outside’ at the end – so I calmed down a bit hahahah!!!

Oh! And she seemed a lot looser through the poll today too! :o)

MONDAY Morning Blues…….

2010-02-08T15:24:00.001Z

Early morning rides!! This morning we were having little flurries of snow!! IT WAS COLD! Brrrrrrr! So I made sure that we warmed up thoroughly and trotted fairly early on in a nice long frame concentrating on a nice big swingy stride – which she was happy to oblige!! ;o) We did this on both reins and also had a nice long and loose canter on both reins too which actually felt HUGELY better than on Saturday as did the trot :o) Once warmed up I started to ask for some transitions and again this felt very nice and smooth and she was really obedient to the leg which she can sometimes be a bit slow to react to! So I was feeling very pleased until I decided to put in a few smaller circles not quite 10m prob about 12m and instead of really slowing and stepping under as she was dong so nicely last week she was getting quite rushed and falling out of the circle to make it bigger and easier! Particularly on the right rein I just kept loosing her quarters and they were swinging out of the circle :o( I tried sitting the trot to influence the positioning more, but that didn’t work either and she was starting to stick her nose in the air and ‘scoot’ which is her evasion tactic but she hasn’t done that for a while so I was quite dissapointed in her reverting back to this stressy behaviour. I also noticed that I was ‘leaning in’ on the smaller circles too!! Ggggrrrrrrr!! I think I got a grip of it in the end but maybe im still doing it to a degree and putting her off??
I could tell she just didn’t want to activate her hind enough to be able to keep the trot slow and her body in correct alignment on the circle. So I thought Id do some walk pirouettes to really try and get her hind legs ‘marching’ a little more through the turn. She wasn’t very impressed with this to start off with but once she realised what I was asking her to do she performed a couple of nice 180 degree turns on each rein. Then I did a bit of haunches in on a circle on the right rein and then asked for trot, the trot definitely felt better and we did manage to perform one nice 10m circle without loosing the 1/4s too badly so I left it at that – as I had already run way over time lol!
Which got made worse as she was quite bargy through the gate this morning so I spent 5 mins correcting this behaviour making her halt EXACTLY when I gave the command and wasn’t just wandering off in lala land ***rolls eyes*** Cue frantic rushing around for the rest of the morning – Heaven knows how I made it to work on time! But I did just by the skin of my teeth!

So on reflection, here are my musings – please feel free to comment :0)
1.Has the Chiro work re-aligned her and she just has to re-adapt to this within the work again?
2.Am I making her crooked and she is now straight but it feels wrong to me because my ‘feel’ is outa whack?
3.Maybe the ‘flying friesian trot’ was to blame for her not wanting to flex her hocks as much as she was cos its far easier for her to push not spring?
4.Maybe she is a bit stiff after chiro and weekend work?
5.Im panicing the chiro has messed things up! ARRGGHH!!!

WHAT DO YOU THINK GUYS???

Musings from the weekend……

2010-02-08T15:20:00.001Z

On Saturday I thought Id try and be clever and set my camera up on the fence and try and get some video!! I thought Id do a bit of lunging / work in hand first and then a bit of ridden.
Well as she hadnt been ridden for a few days she was proper BOINGY and we didn’t really get much loose calm work on the lunge :o( In fact I think she spent more time airbourne than on the floor lol!! Perhaps best I didn’t get on straight the way!! One thing I did notice is she was quite ‘on the shoulders’ particularly on the right rein where she was looking to the outside on the circle and wieghting her inside shoulder. I brought her in and did some girivolta work with her concentrating on corssing the behinds and moving the shoulders to the outside. I put her back onto a circle again and we did finish with some ‘stretchy trot’ which I rewarded with click n treat :o)
I stopped the camera, and restarted it and got on to ride. She was VERY forward but at least she was also attentive to my seat so although she was boingy she didn’t try and tram off at a million miles an hour lol!
After a few circles etc I could feel that she was struggling with the flexion to the right again and I felt as if we had gone back several weeks in our progress. We also did a bit of canter and if felt absoloutely AWFUL on the right with her wanting to look to the outside and dump on the inside shoulder falling in terribly :o( She was very boingy though and chucked in a couple of bucks which ended up with me loosing a stirrup lol! Im not sure if the bcuks were down to a bit of WHOOPEE or if she couldn’t organise her legs / body?? I was worrying that the chiro work had caused a problem – or maybe im crooked and putting her ‘out’ and she hasn’t got a problem at all! Or maybe there is something kinked in her body ‘normally’ and it became more obvious again after being manipulated back into alignment? Im not sure really but its made me a bit concerned!
I did my normal ‘straightening’ exercises – riding with the reins in my outside hand and working the shoulders / hind legs by touching her with my schooling whip with the inside hand. Finally she ‘let go’ and came into the outside rein and therfore released the inside rein of her own accord :o) We went back up to trot and although it was better she was no where as consistent and kept loosing balance / inside flexion. I worked on both reins in a similar manner and by the end of the session she had definitely improved but I was left feeling a bit discouraged and a little confused by the sudden setback.
Oh! And about the video! I wasnt very clever and it seems my camera wont video without the button being held down. I got 30 secs of my arm in each clip and that was it!!! DOH!

SUNDAY
Today I went into the school for about 10 mins and worked on the girivolta circle with the one handed riding again :o) Today it was much better and I was pleased she seemed to remember the work we did yesterday. I had a brief trot on each rein and again she was more consistent so I left it at that and we went for a hack out :o)
Out on the hack I concentrated on her keeping a nice long frame with swinging strides and an even contact down BOTH reins. I was pleased that she seemed a lot straighter than the last time we hacked out so I definitely think she is improving and getting stronger.
On the way home we did a bit of trotting and in her eagerness on the homeward bound journey she went into ‘flying friesian trot’ I probably shouldn’t have let her get so onward bound and no doubt I will pay for it, but in all honesty she just seemed so thrilled to ‘trot out’ and I was so thrilled that she was thrilled that I let her lol! It truly is quite spectacular and its damn near the closest thing to flying on horseback other than being astride pegasus hahaha!!! The thing is as I looked down her neck, it was very reminscent of how it looks when you are sitting in a carriage and the horse is doing their spanking carriage trot! I really do think she would LOVE to be hitched up and be free to really trot out in true friesian style. Maybe one day…………………

The Chiro came.........

2010-02-08T15:16:00.001Z

The Chiro came…….
to do a routine check on Antsje as I havent had her checked out for over a year :o( Finances just havent allowed it although Im always very thorough in keeping a check on her myself and if I thought there was a real problem I would have had her checked out and not eaten that week lol!!
The lady said that antsje was in a very good state albeit very slightly weaker on the left and loved her to bits and wanted to take her home!!
1. her pelvis was a little bit out on the right
2. there was a couple of tweaks that were made just behind her withers
3. there was a deep adjustment made just above her left shoulder
4. A couple of minor adjustments to her neck on the right in the C1 area.
So im glad I had her checked over and the lady said for saying she hasn’t been checked for over a year she was very impressed with her condition. Oh she just LURVED her movement! Another friesian convert Mwhha haaa haaaa!!!
Recommended not to ride for a couple of days so Ill wait to see how she feels at the weekend!

Return of the Super Trot!

2010-02-03T15:56:00.001Z

Had a REALLY good session this morning! Antsje wasn’t quite so intent on rushing today and that ALWAYS makes a difference :o) PLUS I forsook 5mins of riding and did a little girivolta work in hand before I got on, I think this MUST make a difference as we always seem to have a much better session ridden afterwards.

So after the poll flexions, which incidentally were better today, and the in-hand stuff I finally got on lol! I kept to work on a circle and did a little leg yield then straightened and repeated again a few times. Then I concentrated on gathering her up a little by tap tapping her HQ’s but holding her with my seat, this was easier today as she wasn’t to rushy so she still kept relatively soft in hand. Then we went into trot, left rein first, and it was MUCH MUCH better! She learns so quickly it makes my life so much easier! Well when I get it right anyhow lol! On this rein she does tend to back off the contact a little so I made sure I sent her forward and concentrated on her neck being straighter. Also after yesterdays session I remembered to add transitions into the mix and they were actually quite good! A little progressive but id rather her go down into a soft trans by allowing her time to step under and balance than try and make it to quick and her trail her HQs and brace her neck / back.
We changed onto the right rein and repeated the same work and again I was really impressed with the trot – on this rein she is the opposite and tends to go a tad quicker and leans on the hands for support, so I really concentrated on lifting my hands slightly when I felt her leaning and using my position and a smaller circle to encourage her to slow down a bit! Again we did walk / trot trans and this was also very helpful in getting her off the forehand and stepping under more.

I was also far more mindful of MY position and focussed on a raised ribcage and trotting ‘on my knees’ and I do think that this helped today too.
And to finish we did the same work on the canter as we did yesterday morning – a nice relaxed stretchy canter which was in fact a lot better today because she was more contained so it had more ‘lift’ to it although I wasn’t necessarily asking for it ;o)

So again, after musing about the ride on the way to work, the next thing I need to work on is getting a more immediate reaction in the upward transitions but maintaining the softness and the engagement of the hind leg rather than her bombing off at a million miles an hour lol! Always something to work on!

Expectations = dissapointment!

2010-02-02T18:35:00.002Z

Another early morning ride this morning! But before I rode i decided to do the little poll flexions and again she wasnt quite as free as normal.....
I worked on her until I got a few definate flips of the crest then we went out to the school. No time for in-hand work this morning and whether it was that or the cold mornings or the floodlights we didnt get the same kind of work today.
It wasnt bad - not bad at all, but now Ive felt that 'super trot' its hard to not get greedy for it! which of course is counter-productive and its inevitable im not going to achieve that kind of excellence every ride, particularly in these very early stages. So I was quite proud of myself that I didnt get all angst and frustrated and tunnel visioned about it all as I once would have done. And as part of me STILL wanted too lol! But I was quite pragmatic about it and took a detached 'trainer' approach and thought how I could best work towards more engagement.
We did some travers / shoulder in on a circle and we did some rein back before trot transitions to try and encourage the flexing of the hind - and it did work to a certain extent as we had moments of some very nice trot work but it was just inconsistent today as she was rushing slightly. What was nice was although the right rein wasnt as spectacular as yesterday, it was still GOOD in relation to the last few weeks and the Left rein WAS better than yesterday! So all in all it was a positive session.

I did forget to say that at the weekend I put my stirrups down a hole as I feel I get a better response from a longer leg when I warm up without stirrups. I had them a bit shorter to help with MY balance but I think Ive improved enough to let them down a hole :-) Now Ive definately felt a stretch in my hops and thighs but didnt feel any less balanced over the weekend :-)

Today, towards the end I felt my back aching a bit nothing awful but enough to suddenly become aware of it. I checked out my position and I think because she was rushing a bit today I was starting to fall into the trap of tipping forwards and bracing my legs Ggggggggrrrrrrrr!!!! So immediately I thought about rising 'on my knees' and stretching my midsection 'up' and the trot improved instantly! DOH! I MUST be more mindful of my position! Also after mulling the ride over on the way to work I think instead of concentrating on re-creating that 'SUPER TROT' Iwould have been better served tohave concentrated on transitions, particularly the downward ones to get her back 'with me' rather than letting her get a bit onward bound from too longer bursts of trot. DAMN! I need to be a bit quicker on the uptake - it would make it a whole lot easier hahaha!!!

So at the finish I decided to let her have a bit of a canter - i didnt have time to 'school' the canter as such, but I just let her canter a 20m circle, concentrating on her establishing a consistent rhythm, a nice stretch over the back and as much as possible to have that stepping out on the circle feeling that I doin trot. Obviously this is harder as she isnt as balanced in canter - but I do think that if she can establish a nice relaxed canter that is supple through the back and reaching into the hand it will be the foundation for improving the canter in the future.
Thoughts???..................

Reinback Revelations

2010-02-01T16:46:00.002Z

SUNDAY

Didn’t have chance for a hack out today but did get time for a ride in the arena. I started again with the work in hand, then got on and did the concentrated work on the circles again. And AGAIN we got that beautiful right trot with a really nicely activated inside hind and her seeking the contact forward. We again had a lovely slow balanced trot with such BOINGY steps and a lifted back. IT FEELS ACE!
Tried the left rein again and it was better but still lacking that real elastic and ‘lifted’ feel of the right rein. I was again trying to think of ways to activate that left hind – so I tried some reinback! Well this was an eye opener as she was finding it very difficult to remain straight in reinback on this rein with her 1/4s keep drifting to the inside of the school. So does this mean her right leg is pushing more than her left and swinging the HQ’s in? I really had to keep the outside rein to keep her neck straighter and flick her inside hind with the schooling whip to bring her back straight. Very interesting……
But as I started to get the reinback straighter I could feel her become straighter in the walk forwards also. So then I asked for reinback to trot! To really try and get her pushing that inside hind – I let her go straight for a few steps then put her on a small circle making sure she had her neck straighter and was bent more through her body. We did get a few much better steps in the end and I praised her lots and left it at that.

Now after Ive finished riding I always do these little poll flexions as it does seem to prevent a build up of tension in this area and release anything that has built up during the session. Just lately she has been so soft doing this, always a little stickier on the right but barely anything recently. Now imagine my surprise after this session that she wasn’t very mobile at ALL!! Not on either rein! After a few minutes of rocking her head side to side we began to get that ‘flip’ on the left side but really struggled on the right. So in the end I did what I did originally to get this area mobile and that is to bend her to the right on a small circle, put my hand on her poll and make sure she flexed from this point and then ask her to move around me on a small circle while moving her shoulders AWAY from me. This she found hard for a few steps and either wanted to turn her head out to move her shoulders over or keep flexed but step INTO me! But suddenly she got it, and down she went into a relaxed bend nicely chewing on the bit YAY! So then I tried the little flexions again and hey presto a nice flip to each side. I wonder why it had locked her up though?? Maybe cos she is stiffer through this side of the body?
Anyhow, I shall be interested to see how she feels next ride to the right and to the left.

We have LIFT OFF!!!! :-D

2010-02-01T16:43:00.001Z

Had a FANTASTIC riding experience this week which has helped put some more pieces of the puzzle together.

As it was the weekend I had time to do some work in hand before I rode – I really do think it makes a difference :-D We did some girivolta work, some leg yield from the centre line to the long side and also a bit of reinback / walk / reinback transitions. For some reason she find it harder to keep straight on the left rein than the right.
The last few weeks I have pondering the left rein – I have figured out what was causing the issues on the right rein and have found solutions that work and I can definitely see the improvements. But on the left, where she flexes easier, in fact I have realised now overflexes to the inside I couldn’t really nail WHAT I need to improve on this rein as it does feel pretty good but not quite there……..

So on Saturday we did the inhand work and then I got on. Once in the saddle I kind of repeated the in hand work, doing girivolta and then bringing her straight onto a circle but still trying to maintain that leg yielding feeling of her pushing from the inside hind into my outside rein maintaining the inside bend from my leg. She was feeling pretty good actually so I picked my moment to ask her into trot and BAM out of nowhere I got this flipping FANTASTIC trot!! Never felt her use herself in that way before and MY GOD did it feel good! REALLY good – I cant begin to explain the feeling it gave me but boy is it addictive hahahah!

I really feel that by working on this genuine submission to the inside bend it has unlocked her inside hind leg somehow – but not only that because she is soft through the poll it has allowed the energy to go right THROUGH and the difference in her back was amazing! Now I would say she HAS been working through her back and even now I hold to that statement, but I don’t actually think she has been fully relaxed and there has been some kind of bracing / tension along the energy line of HQ’s to Hand until now.
Its difficult to know if it was the relaxed poll that allowed the hind leg / back or if it was the engagement of the hindleg that gave proper use of the back! In Antsje’s case I rather suspect it was the first ;-) Tension in the poll has always been an issue and I think finally we are starting to see it melt away.

So, back to the transition – as I asked her to go up into trot I could feel her take the weight from behind and step into trot but as she did so her back was just ‘so full’ and ‘bouyant’ it really lifted me up!! But not only that she also sought the contact with an open throatlash area and inside flexion. Now this is a BIG thing for her because she always struggles with that tiny bit of ‘nose out’ reach and can often curl back as a result. The trot was very slow but had far more OOOOOOOMPH than her usual trot and the suspension was unreal lol! So although in some way it was easier to ride because her back was so lifted and carrying, I really had to work hard to keep MY balance as I didn’t want to mess hers up lol!! It just felt DIVINE! I was so flippin pleased with her she got herself a whole heap of treats

So then we changed onto the left rein and I really struggled to get the same feeling out of the trot. So I finally figure out that on the left rein she is too flexed on the inside and is not engaging her HQ’s really at all! And when I do ask for a bit more engagement it becomes a bit like pogo stick steps and doesn’t really come forwards into the hand – not the deep activated steps that flowed through the whole of her body on the right rein!
So I really started to try and FEEL how her body wasn’t straight and what I needed to do to try and remedy this. First off, she has kind of tricked me with the inside flexion! Although she is a lot better at this ‘leg yield’ feeling as in stepping over and feeling her in the outside rein – I had kind of missed the point that she was barely IN the inside rein! Just like I struggle with the right rein in being barely in outside! I had got so fixated with the concept of the inside leg to outside rein that I it had just not dawned on me that although she shouldn’t be LEANING on the inside rein, she did actually have to take some weight into it in order for her body to be straight BIG DOH! So I spent some time asking for her neck to become straighter on this rein and she found it quite difficult. I could almost feel her HQs warping to the outside – in fact complete opposite to the issues on the right rein – which would make sense wouldn’t it? Good Lord I am slow on the uptake! So with a straighter neck but a little inside flexion I started to ask her to take more of a ‘travers’ position with her hind quarters to get some bend though the lumbar region which she had been resisting. I could tell she was finding this more difficult but once she got the idea I could feel her take a deeper step with the inside leg.
I also then had a play with walk pirouettes on this rein – at least I think I did!!! I need to get Mike to check if im doing this correct lol! But it felt like it was a good exercise in getting her to control her HQ’s and flex through the body to the inside.
I let her walk on a long rein and left at that for the day.

VROOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooom!!!!!

2010-01-28T14:09:00.002Z

Well this morning was fun!! As I hadn’t done any canter work for the last couple of days I thought we’d do some today! We started of walking circles making sure that she was stepping ‘out’ onto the circle at all times and was bending around the inside leg and not off the inside rein. I always start off in this way, on a circle, both reins in my outside hand and a long schooling whip in my inside hand to either tap her HQ’s or Shoulders over as necessary. We are correct from the start then and it seems to form the basis of GOOD work. In the right rein to start with every ¼ turn of the circle I can start to feel her come in on her shoulders and move her neck towards the outside, but if I tap tap tap her shoulders so I feel her pushing back out and filling the outside rein then activate her inside hind we get that ‘leg yieldy’ feeling again and also inside flexion WITHOUT having to use the inside rein!

We moved up into trot and today the right rein felt far more consistent and I really worked on achieving the same work as I did on the walking circles. Then I played a little bit with bringing the trot as slow as I could using my seat and putting her on a 10m circle without her falling back into walk and after half a circle of really slow trot send her forwards again on a bigger circle but trying to keep the activity of the HQ’s generated by the slower trot. She tried really hard with this and I was pleased with her as she was very submissive to my seat and I really only had to use the rein to re-balance her now and again but NOT to stop her tramming though my hands!

So finally we moved onto canter………………and………….she was very forward!! Lol! Although I did walk to canter we didn’t get the same kind of slow controlled canter that we had at the weekend………….BUT………she did not get any quicker and it actually felt quite balanced in the fact that she wasn’t motorbiking round the corners and weighting her inside shoulder. She was reaching for the contact at all times and was round and relaxed through her back, so it was actually quite comfortable to sit! :-D Nothing like when she is rushing and braced through the back and neck.

Onto me! For some reason I just didn’t seem to have much strength today so although I was effective in rising trot when I went sitting I could tell I wasn’t quite there because I was tipping forwards and drawing up my leg gggggrrrrrrr!! I think this may be why the canter was more forward too as I just couldn’t keep her on my seat! The odd moment I DID get my seat right she slowed down! So although she was perhaps a bit more forward than late I do think that I was part of the problem as I couldn’t dictate the tempo so she did instead hahaha!

So not a 'perfect' ride but not awful by any means – in fact I was quite impressed that Antsje was able to balance herself in canter so well in a longer frame than we have been working in. I have seen the time she would have fell on her nose – or at least had her ears up mine hehehehe!!!!

Ramblings and Musings......

2010-01-27T16:18:00.001Z

Another productive ride this morning :-D We did very similar work to yesterday morning to reinforce the flexing at the poll. One thing I did do different this morning was to do the little poll flexes in hand before I got on. This entails standing in front of her head, with my hands either side of her poll and just flex her poll either side so the the crest of her neck ‘flips over’ each side. I do this practically each time after I ride nowadays and I do believe it releases any tensions in the poll area which is an area where she holds significant tension if im not careful. I can tell it works because after a few ‘flips’ to each side she starts chewing and blowing through her nose ;-) It is also interesting because it is easy to flip the crest to the left but harder to the right, where she will try and bend more through her neck rather than make that little flexion right at the junction of the poll. Im not sure it is any great issue, other than just natural crookedness because after a few goes it becomes easier for her – she just seems to find it harder to isolate this spot on the right side for some reason.

Whether this had an impact on the ridden work its hard to say, but she definitely found it easier to flex on the right rein today – not perfect, but better and BOY can you feel the difference through her whole body when she has that ‘genuine’ bend rather than relying on the inside rein for support – FANTASTIC!! It somehow unlocks the inside hind and the back and she feels ‘buoyant’ to ride. Im experimenting how I can achieve this flexion under saddle as it really is just a tiny flexion right at the poll – I find it more difficult to isolate this area from the saddle as she does prefer to bend her neck!! But raising the inside rein up and out slightly seems to be having an effect – in no way does it work if I pull back!! She is teaching me well lol! I also find that she doesn’t ‘fill’ the outside rein on the right rein for, im guessing, much the same reason. Going back to the one handed girivolta work I always find it harder to get inside bend on this rein until I figured out that I need to move the shoulders over. I am almost trying to get that ;falling out of the shoulder’ feel on the circle on the right rein and then I seem to get that correct bend without the use of the inside rein.
Its all fascinating stuff and we are brave enough to leave the ‘head’ alone and let the horse make their mistakes it gives us valuable information on what and where we need to address to get the horse straight and balanced.

Back to morning rides! BOING!

2010-01-26T15:44:00.001Z

We had a nice session this morning although I have got to get back into the mindset of short productive early morning rides after such a lay off from them!! I didn’t want to get off this morning and subsequently spent the rest of the morning dashing around like a lunatic so I wouldn’t be late for work Eeeeeeek!!

We didn’t do any canter today but stuck to walk and trot, particularly at obtaining a nice flexion through the poll. Antsje find this hardest on the right rein and will get a bit onward bound in an attempt to resist this. I did a lot of warm up in walk on a circle both in Shoulder in and then travers (can you tell I’ve been watching PK again lol!) so I got her really supple through the body and in a correct flexion to the inside. We did the same exercises in trot and she even managed a few steps of baby travers on the circle which I was pleased about as she finds this difficult.
To finish I did what I call my ‘prelim riding’ which involves us riding the whole arena in test like figures, thinking about forward activity and a longer frame in her body concentrating on her reaching for the contact at all times but also STAYING WITH ME!! You can go round in a lovely trot only to realise that when you ask for a downward trans she is about 3 miles ahead of you hahaha!!! I always do this in rising tort as she is more relaxed and I never seem to get sitting in such a short space of time! So we go down the centre line, do 20m circles, frequent changes of rein, trot / walk / trot transitions, serpentines and really think about the accuracy which is always an eye opener to whether she is falling in / out or tramming! Its actually good practice to ride a test as part of your schooling because it does highlight any problems that you don’t realise you have when you are merrily tootling around the school!! At first she was a little too quick on the right rein, but soon got her rhythm and I soon had her bent nicely around my leg without having to overuse the inside rein (big fault of mine!). In fact it felt so lovely I overran my time limit by a good ten minutes! Oooooops!! She did look mildly amused at my frantic mucking out and running around the yard as she casually munched her brekkie though hahahaha!!!

Walk to Canter VIDEO!! YAY!

2010-01-24T17:58:00.003Z

today my daughter Amy rode her and did some jumping!! which she thoroughly enjoyed! They were getting a bit high for my nerves though and I could barely watch Eeeeek!
Afterwards Amy took a bit of video of me and Antsje as I have just started doing walk / canter transitions with her and I wanted to have a look and see what they LOOKED like as they FELT pretty good! :-D They are not quite direct yet, particularly on the right rein, but it IS helping the canter slow down a bit and therefore helping her balance
Amyway - see what you think! As always im very grateful for any input.........

Trot on both reins

Slowing and containing the trot:

Canter Left:

Canter Right:

WOOOWOOO All aboard........

2010-01-24T17:53:00.003Z

the steamtrain that is Antsje!! hahaha!

After the last couple of nice rides I got back to my first 'early morning ride' since Xmas on Thurs morning and we had a bit of a 'tramming' session - she was going nicely but it wasnt until I went to make a downward transition I realised she wasnt really 'with' me but about 3 miles ahead lol!! So I tried some up and downwards transitions and she started to get a bit strong and against the hand. Maybe she was feeling it a bit after a lay off and two good sessions or maybe she just needs a blast! In the end we did get some obedient work although it wasnt as contained as we have been working, I was just pleased that she walked when asked etc so I left it there - esp as I dont have time to mess around in the mornings and by now I was running LATE!! ARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!

Yesterday she worked much better in the respect of being with me and obedient to the aids but the times I asked her to stretch into a longer frame and lengthen and stretch I could still feel the pace quicken and her get a bit onward bound. So I decided to take her round the fields for a blow out! and OMG! did she blow out! I dont think ive ever felt her go so fast! But it seemed to do the trick and afterwards she was quite happy to walk round on a long rein - although the walk did have a certain strut to it as I think she was rather pleased with the galloping hahahah!!!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

2010-01-20T13:03:00.003Z

I rode!!! YAY!!!

I think the rest has done us both good as Antsje felt very relaxed and supple and I seemed to be able to absorb the trot better the an normal too :-)

During the break I have been watchin my Bettina Drummond 'work in hand' videos and feel re-inspired to do more of this work so before riding I did 10 minutes of basic giravolta type work in hand, really asking for a stretch down and her stepping away from me with her shoulders as well as her hindquarters. We then moved onto leg yielding from the centre line to the long side and then into shoulder in, finishing with her circling around me in a stretch position as a reward. We did this on both reins. Then I did a little backing up and moving forwards and backing up again - really concentrating on her stretching her neck forward and down (FDO) throughout the exercise.
When I got on she immediately felt nice and soft and light and we did some nice large circles in a forward rising trot in a forward out and down (FDO) position, changing reins frequently and working on keeping the same rhythm throughout.

We then did some backing up exercises while mounted and this always really helps to supple her back as when we went back into trot, her back felt much stronger and 'up'.
So using this, I began to collect the trot up slightly and took sitting trot and worked on 10m circle going into a few steps of shoulder in and then back onto the 10m circle down the long side - we did this on both reins. I also did a bit of leg yield work concentrating on her keeping her hindquarters in line more as she does trail them somewhat esp on the right rein. The quality of her self carriage is becoming quite lovely on the left rein, although I do have to be mindful that she is actually reaching for the contact as sometimes she can collect the trot up but just back off the contact slightly, so when she does this I like to go rising and send her a bit more forwards down and out (FDO), before slowing and containing the trot again.

Then I decided I would do some walk to canter transitions today as she was feeling so good! I was so pleased with her efforts - she is still fallin in a bit and balancing on her inside shoulder but with the walk to canter trans she was able to maintain a slower canter and I was able to ask her for a few leg yield type steps on the circle to try and encourage her to get off the inside shoulder a bit more. Today she really rounded up her back and felt distinctly different and more controlled than I have felt her before :-) We did the same on the right rein, doing a couple of walk to collected trot first to get her off the leg and more forward into the contact as when she anticipates canter she can get above the contact to make the transition but then her back is very braced. As she isnt as strong on the right I didnt expect such a clean transition and accepted 1-2 very cadenced trot strides but I was happy with that as she did stay round and took off on the correct leg. The effect was still the same though and she was able to keep the canter much slower and controlled and again I really felt her lift her back. I clicked and treated and got straight off and made a big fuss of her.

I hope to get some more video soon as she does feel improved again since the last lot :-D

grump grump grump................

2010-01-13T18:20:00.004Z

ARRRGGGHHHH!!!! Snow stops play!!! I havent ridden for over a week now, im dreading to think how crap ill be when I get back on, coupled with the fact that Antsje has been stabled during this weather and is like tigger on crack :-0 OMG!!!!

She has been getting increasingly 'hyper-sensitive' during her confinement and Interestingly today when I touched her poll she snapped her head up JUST like she used to when I first had her. In fact, the more and more I think about it, the more I believe this is where Antsje stores 'excess tension' from whatever may be troubling her. For me this has become a barometer on her 'well being' and although I thought it was due to tension build up from ridden work and also (shamefully) over use of the hand I can now see that its not JUST due to that. Being stabled for a week has obviously caused a build up of energy and this has most definately had an effect on the relaxtion of the poll. Not much I can do about the confinement until this weather clears up, but its been an interesting observation nevertheless ;-)

And just to stop me getting too fedup about the weather and not riding I thought Id share this clip. ONE DAY I'LL SIT LIKE THIS!!!!!!!

Uldrik 457 Crowned World Champion in Leeuwarden!

2010-01-11T16:02:00.003Z

Recently approved stallion Uldrik 457 was yesterday crowned 2010 KFPS Champion at the annual Stallion show held in Leeuwarden. The beautiful son of Dries 421 was approved late last year with record breaking performance scores. Runner up was another young stallion Norbert 444 whose first offspring performed consistently well at the foal inspections during 2009.

Uldrik 457 (Dries 421 x Tsjerk 328) is the first son of Jasper 366-son, Dries 421. Uldrik is a very correct built, developed stallion. His strengths are primarily in the excellent use of the hind leg. The driving and riding tests resulted in an unprecedented score of a 9.5 for the trot, and for the use of the hind leg he also gained a 9. Uldrik is a stallion that is very consistent.

Uldrick is from Stam line 12 but does share some family resemblance with Antsje as Olof 315 is his great grandad who is also Antsje's Damsire and his grandad is Jasper 366, Olofs son and from the same Stam line (27) as Antsje and also last years Champion Maurus 441!! We are in good company :-D

A little video of Uldrik 457............

A New Year........some NEW VIDEO!!! YAY!

2010-01-04T14:48:00.003Z

Got more video yesterday!!! She was a little bit “tramming” yesterday and running through my hand a tad – especially when I was rising the trot. You can see at the end of the first video what I mean **rolls eyes** Now I know my sitting isn’t perfect by any means, but I still seem to be able to ‘hold her’ with my seat better despite this! The absorption problem still affects my hands more than id realised although she doesn’t seem terribly put out about this?? Perhaps I am still holding with the reins in sitting trot and this is why she is more contained? Although it doesn’t **FEEL** that way – and Im sure my hands don’t look as backward as the last set of videos?? Her mouth doesn’t seem overly busy / gapey which is a sure sign when im HOLDING her with my hands? So guys……………..what do you think??
I do think there is improvement from the last set of vids. Antsje trot rhythm look less disturbed than before and I do think my position looks better? BUT!! I can see Antsje still looses balance at times and I can see that I still need MORE strength through my core plus I am not absorbing the movement quite right either in sitting. I am belly dancing and still tending to tip forwards slightly. Back to the drawing board!!!!

ps - canter is still a work in progress lol!!!

RISING TROT

LEFT REIN

RIGHT REIN

SERPENTINES

Antsje "The Guniea Pig"

2010-01-04T14:41:00.002Z

Emily came over today to have a play with Antsje to give her some tips when working with her own young mare. Antsje was a superb guinea pig and Emily practised some in-hand work / lunging, clicker work and the ‘one handed riding’ to really get the concept of moving away from pressure both on the ground and ridden and also to understand the importance of the inside leg to outside rein concept when ridden.

I was really pleased with Antsje as I haven’t lunged her for several weeks but she demonstrated her lunging skills very well albeit a tad enthusiastically at times hahaha!!! But at least Emily could see how well the clicker worked to motivate and also for instant feedback when she did something well **smile**
Then I got on and was pleased to see she had still remembered yesterdays suppling work and was very light on the inside rein. I demonstrated the one handed work and also the girivolta type steps and then Emily had a go too.
I was really impressed how good Antsje was at ‘teaching’ – lord knows why! She has been teaching ME for years HA!!!

more reflections of a Dressage Junkie!

2010-01-04T14:38:00.002Z

So after watching the video, I have been working hard on a genuine bend on the right rein. I can see that I am using the right rein for the bend and it is disrupting the quality of the trot. So I spent a few days really trying to get Antsje to bend from the inside leg – I went back to two exercises that always help ‘unlock’ her, and that I always seem to forget about lol!!!
One is reinback, for whatever reason this really seems to release her back. When she gets blocked somewhere and I rely on the reins and I do this exercise she seems very ‘stuck’ to start off with, but if I persevere and keep asking her to back up – even the length of the long side – all of a sudden instead of her neck raised she will round up and I can feel the difference in the quality of steps and also a different feel to her back. So I repeat this exercise several times on each rein until she is backing up softly without any resistance.
THEN the next thing I did was a “girivolta” step on a circle with the both reins in my outside hand. First on the left rein I asked her to do leg yield steps with her facing INTO the centre of the circle, then I asked her to change position and face out of the circle. At all times moving away but bent AROUND my inside leg. Then I rinse and repeat on the right rein. Now on the left rein, she is more bendy through the neck but lack engagement, so I keep the neck a little straighter and touch her HQ’s with the whip to ask her to step under more with the inside hind.
On the right rein she steps through better with inside hind but struggles to keep an inside bend through the neck. Now I had a eureka moment as I asked her to move the shoulders over and hey presto, bloody inside bend!!!!! WOOOHOOO!!!!

The when I returned to a normal circle and asked for trot it was so much lighter off the inside rein and when I felt her leaning I just tapped her inside shoulder with the whip! So I think I may have just figured out how to sort the problem! Well for now anyhow lol!

Musings.................

2009-12-27T20:29:00.002Z

Well I have been practising things since the video and feel I still collapse a bit in the midsection which is causing the tipping feeling. I do think the hip alignment is not bad - as Valerie pointed out I dont want to end up behind the movement - so I have concentrated on opening the chest, softening the elbow, and LOOKING UP!! It does **feel** better but I hope to get some more video to SEE what it looks like ;-)

I also got some nice results with the rising trot today by injecting more energy into it - I cant really explain what I did because I wasnt making the rising bigger or smaller but just had more 'positive tension' in my body tone somehow and Antsje respoded with some nice springy steps :-)

I also hope I have got the postioning correct with the travers now - but that i'll have to judge off the video ;-)

WE HAVE VIDEO!!! hehehe!

2009-12-22T18:38:00.004Z

So, finally got Amy to take some video of us both today - I think we have made improvements this year although I STILL need to SIT UP!!!! and also the angle in travers is way too steep but thats what video is for! My sitting trot is still woeful I rode my sisters horse tonight and was able to sit nice and tall and relaxed but I still cant get it on Antsje! Im afraid of it I reckon!!! I tense up and I BOING everywhere! plus...................I NEED TO SIT UP!!!!

First few vids are of trot and canter on both reins, then the last one is collecting and lengthening the trot with Antsje staying with me! you can see she'd rather canter! I can see on the serpentine video I am blocking her with the inside rein on the right - she still gets a bit jittery after canter work - but NO excuse for overiding the inside rein! NAUGHTY ME! But would be glad to hear what you all think............. ps - the abrubt halts after canter are a result of a 'click' and treat - not cos I yanked her head orf!!

CLEVER HORSE!!!!

2009-12-18T16:20:00.001Z

TUESDAY

Another morning ride! Because I don’t have as much time in the mornings it does have the benefit of focusing my mind and not getting greedy and overdoing things when they feel good!!
I didn’t do so much work laterally today other than setting the trot up with the travers steps which work very nicely. I did lots of changes of reins, transitions and serpentines and concentrated on keeping us both in a nice balance throughout all the exercises. I am thrilled with Antsjes attitude to work lately – she tries so hard!
The lateral work in trot will really help the canter work as she has to balance herself while stepping under more with her hindleg. So today I thought id do a bit of canter work for a change! After speaking to Mike about the canter he said think about making the circle smaller by turning her with the outside rein and pushing her back out with the inside leg so I really get that inside leg to outside hand connection. So today I tried a couple of more like 10-15m canter circles and tickled her with the schooling whip to encourage the hind leg activity and lo and behold we got some really lovely lift to the canter with her STILL reaching into the contact!! WOOOHOOOO!!! And this was on the RIGHT rein!!! I changed rein and asked for the same exercise and she did such a beautiful ‘step’ up into canter and some very nice slow yet lifted canter strides that I just clicked my tongue and jumped off and made such a big fuss of her and fed her her favourite extra strong mints hahahaha!!!!

Thursday

A similar combination of work to the last sessions
Travers steps to set up the trot. Counter canter down the long side, working up to maintaining position up the centre line. She was working so nicely that I got brave and asked for a few steps of travers in trot!!! And bless her she did try!! She moved her quarters out but struggled to maintain the inside bend for more than a few steps and it ended up more like a leg yield hahaha!! BUT! I was very pleased with the effort as I know she would find this hard.
We did a little bit of canter work but she was a little gung-ho and when coming back to down to trot we lost the nice stable connection in the contact with her being very busy in the mouth and not seeking the contact but bobbing her head in and out of my hands. I was just starting to feel that bubble of frustration on why she was being so unsettled that I just suddenly realised that she was ‘setting sail’ and out of balance completely!! So I put her on a smaller circle and just concentrated on working on the ‘neutral’ trot and hey presto!! Connection restored!! I clicked, treated and left it at that.
Hacking for the weekend – she has worked hard this last few weeks!

Monday 14th December

2009-12-18T16:18:00.001Z

Quick morning ride this morning – I think both of us were feeling it a bit from yesterday! I was struggling with the sitting trot as I felt stiff and Antsje was struggling with maintain the neutral trot as no doubt she was a little tired too!
So I just worked on a large circle getting Antsje to slow up the trot by listening to my seat and slowing the rising, then asking her to lengthen into a larger trot, then come back to me again from the seat. Once she had done this a couple of times on each rein I called it a day and made a big fuss of her.

Sunday 13th December - Mike Lesson!!!

2009-12-18T16:14:00.003Z

What a great day! I have so missed having a lesson but I was also relieved that Mike didn’t pick up on anything horrendously wrong while I have been left to my own devices lol!!

So after working in, Mike got me thinking about engaging the HQ’s more by doing some lateral work. First ShoulerIN in walk down the long side – I AM working at too steep an angle and once corrected the lateral work flowed much better **grins** We then did some shoulder In down the centre line which was a good test for both horse and rider to maintain position.
We then did a small circle and did a few steps of travers up the long side which really is the exercise to get Antsje in a more collected frame. After a few steps of travers Mike asked me to step up into a sitting trot and we worked on getting and maintaining what Mike called a ‘neutral’ trot. Which means neither ‘setting sail’ (antsje's speciality) or being too collected but concentrating on everything being in balance, the hindlegs really stepping through and for her to be soft in my hand and held with the seat. It was bloody hard work I tell you for my poor abs working in sitting trot for most of the lesson lol!!! At times it felt awful, but at times it felt just AMAZING!!!

We then started to do some lateral work in trot – I was struggling a bit with SI, so Mike got me to work in counter shoulder in, using the fence to give both me and antsje some guidance. This worked REALLY well, and once we both got the feel of it, we turned up the centre line in counter shoulder in and was able to keep position!! So naturally we then progressed to Shoulder in down the long side and it worked MUCH better!! We got some really excellent walk / trot / walk transitions too as Antsje was really off my leg and listening and trying so hard bless her **smile**

So what did I take away from this lesson?

*Travers is the best exercise for Antsje to get her to step under and shorten her frame
*Go into sitting trot and hold the neutral trot with the seat keeping the hands soft but supportive.
*Think of my lower leg being a little further forwards and sitting on my seatbones in sitting trot as I have a tendancy to collapse forwards with my lower leg sliding too far back. Grrrrrrr!!!! *NOT a chair seat though! It’s the thought more than anything to help me sit UP!
*Work in counter shoulder in first as the fence helps maintain the position until we both get the ‘feel’
*Keep the counter shoulder in position around the turn of the short side and up the centre line to really get Antsje to step under
*Rise down the long side in a slightly bigger trot, sit and collect the trot around the short side – rinse and repeat!!

Thoroughly thoroughly enjoyed the lesson although I was bloody knackered at the finish!! I need to do more work in the sitting trot and build up my ABS!!!

Animation V Relaxation......

2009-12-09T16:25:00.002Z

Another wonderful ride!!
I am hoping to get some video on Sunday – I am sooooo curious to see how it LOOKS. She feels wonderful, but without proper guidance for so long I am worried I have got into all sorts of problems and false feelings.

I am learning that Antsje has to be kept sensitised otherwise she can get a little ‘dull’ to the aids. By that I don’t mean she is lazy as such because she will always move off the leg – but it’s the reaction time that tends to get slower if you are not mindful of it. So rather than her take 3-4 steps before she trots after a leg aid, Iwant it to be NOW! Snappy! Immediate!
If she doesn’t go off the leg straight away, I bring her back to walk, get her listening and energised my whacking my boot with the whip and making SWISHY noises lol!! Then, when I feel she is stepping through better I then ask for the transition again. I also combine click & Treat with this and get some very good results – she is very enthusiastic hahahaha!!! Working on transitions really helps to get her listening and energetic. I also added in a few reinback to walk and reinback to trot transitions in too - this really helped with getting her to step under under more and increase the energy in the trot.

Once we have this ‘energy’ then I started to work on circles asking her to bend around the inside leg and not hanging on the inside rein (BOTH of us!!) I / We find this harder on the right rein, where I have to really be mindfull about that inside rein!! And also keeping the connection with the outside as I tend to let that go when I give the inside rein lol lol! So I think, elbow to hip – inside leg pressing her into the outside rein, outside rein to regulate and if necessary against the neck to turn. If all else fails, both reins into outside hand, ride a smaller circle and activate the inside hind with the whip held in the inside hand.

When we get it, it feels Gooooooood! And we are getting it quicker and more consistently lately. To really help this inside to outside connection I start to add in some leg yielding. First spiralling down to a small circle, then spiralling back out again. Then coming down the ¾ line and leg yielding back to the track. I always do a few strides straight first though as Antsje is the Queen of anticipation and we end up snaking back to the track before we have even finished the turn properly!!

We really do seem to have got the ‘relaxation’ needed for Antsje to seek the contact but now we have that, I am aware we need to add some ‘energy’ back into it as it is a little lapsidaisical at times – it looks great, but I know she isn’t using herself as much as she could. It is a fine line between animating her to get the energy and loosing the relaxation all together and we get the sucking back with the neck and tight back. So a good way I found last night of achieving this was getting a nice swinging trot and then by using my seat and clucking my tongue really collect the trot up as much as I could before breaking into walk, then by relaxing my position and giving the reins slightly get her to lengthen the trot back out again. The first few goes we collapsed into walk a couple of times but once she had got the idea we got some NICE trot, one improving the other as we kept a 20m circle.

I was pleased that after 2 sticky sessions with the leg yielding something has clicked in her head and she is getting the idea much better now. This is something Ive noticed with Antsje, you can have a really ‘UGLY’ session learning something new, but give her time to think she comes back the next time understanding it! What she lack in talent, she makes up for in attitude. She is SUCH a trier – and this is something that has helped my training with her this year. I came to the conclusion that Antsje ISNT awkward or lazy or dull – if she isn’t getting something then I am not explaining it correctly or in a way she can understand!! Clicker has helped immensely for conveying my ideas to her in a positive way. It has been a major breakthrough in ME containing my frustrations when something isnt going to plan. Now I try and look at it unemotionally and detached and ask as Erik Herbermann would say – How can I help my horse???I don’t ALWAYS succeed but by god im getting so much better and so is my training skills and I hope so is my riding and my horse!

ps - We have also been doing a lot of poll release work off the horse. Massage, flexions, giravolta work - all have helped to free up this area which Antsje has always been naturally protective of. I have also put the noseband OVER the headstall in the fashion of a 'comfort bridle' as she kept seeming to be sore in this area when I have been doing the massage. Since one particularly effective massage session and the bridle change she seems even better through the poll. Not sure which one or if both has helped but the change ridden has been notable :-)

pps - I wrote this up in Word to spell check and the suggested spelling for 'Herbermann' was HORSEMAN!! Isnt that delightful!!! lol!

All Change....................

2009-12-07T14:15:00.004Z

Here we go again!!! lol!
Yesterday Antsje was on the move again…………….back to my sisters yard! It will be good for several reasons, Antsje gets to be turned out in company again, I get to spend time with my sister (YAY!) Its more of a community as it’s a smaller yard therefore help is on hand for all manner of things and finally there is a pony ‘spare’ that Amy will be able to ride when she wants a horse fix and hopefully we can do the odd hack out now and again which I miss terribly and of course it is more economical financially with being cheaper livery and closer to home. So although I have had to give up the indoor school and onsite competitions I think I gain a great deal too.

I tried out the new ménage yesterday and it is FAB!! Considering how much rain we have had it was a little ‘squelchy’ but no water laying anywhere and not at all heavy going so really impressed!!! Antsje thought it was fab too and she felt extra ‘boingy’ underfoot – GREAT!!! ***rolls eyes*** lol!
Also rode this morning producing more nice work. The last few sessions I am really working on her being OFF my inside leg and neither of us hanging onto the inside rein. One handed riding is just so useful for this and we can do this well in trot now with Antsje moving off my inside leg, softening to the inside and reaching for the contact.

I am also playing with lateral work in trot too. She is finding this more hard work as she has to really activate her hind leg more to move herself over in alignment. She tends to run through the shoulders and trail the HQ’s – particularly on the right rein.
She finds it easier to spiral down on a circle and then leg yield back out onto a 20m circle keeping correct alignment through her body. I tried the ¾ line leg yield to outside track but she (I??) find this harder and we either get no movement or she tends to trail the HQ’s. Although I did find it easier when I actually looked in the direction I wanted us to go DOH!! I am wondering if Im asking for too steep an angle though? Its hard to tell :-S Although after doing this work, even though it wasnt perfect, the trot was hugely improved afterwards. She was really powering along, swinging her back, soft in the hand, and I was swinging WITH HER in my rise and it all felt so effortless :-)
The most exciting news is that I am having a lesson with Mike on Sunday!! YEEEEEHAAAAAAA!!!! So I am sure he can put me right on the whole lateral work / my position in canter worries I have at the moment. Of course, a lesson report will be forthcoming YAY! :-D

Prelim12!!

2009-11-30T10:30:00.004Z

Well as it was the final show of the season at our yard I decided to throw caution to the wind and do Prelim 12!! Amy said she would come and video us so I was really excited! But when I got my time, the class was so huge that we were not riding until 2.24pm which meant Amy couldnt make it :-( But luckily one of the girls at the yard videod my test for me which was so nice of her :-)

Well Antsje warmed up so beautifully and felt so relaxed but responsive I was really excited about doing the test lol!! As soon as we got in the arena though we lost that relaxation as Antsje was a bit 'gawky' especially at the camera man, and I got a bit of the nerves kicking in too!!
But despite this Antsje did listen to me and I tried hard not to fiddle and nag and trust her to relax into my hand - which she did at times :-) Canter was still a bit gung ho!! In these situations we are BOTH still a bit anxious of it and preparation and relaxation goes out of the window lol! In fact I think I suprised her with the right canter transition and she took off disunited! I suppose I should have stopped and restarted but I wasnt sure if this would upset her even more!
I was a bit dissapointed that we didnt go as well as in the warm up and felt the test was a bit lumpy in places - but I was mindful we hadnt done a test since June so in retrospect it wasnt awful as she had done everything I had asked :-)

When I went to find my test sheet I couldnt see my name anywhere! I looked through the pile twice, and then just happened to glance at the sheets with the rossettes attached and lo and behold they we were!!! in 5th place!! I couldnt bloody believe it hahahaha!!! we got 66% and some very nice comments. So although when looking at the video I can see lots of things to work on, I am absoloutely thrilled to have eneded the year on such a good note :-)

She has gone a bit fussy in the mouth again this last week or so, so she is having a visit by the dentist today. Im hoping all will go well and there wont be too much of an issue other than routine stuff ;-)

BOING BOING BOING!!!

2009-11-26T11:53:00.003Z

My horse takes after me lol lol!

Amy wanted a horse fix last weekend so I took the opportunity of taking some video!! Amy hasnt rode for several months so I think she did well considering Antsje is bouncy and bionic lol!

Ever decreasing circles.........

2009-11-26T11:49:00.002Z

Wait for it! You all think im going to moan and complain don’t you??? Hahahahah!
But nope! I am having a wonderful time at the moment – this year has focused my mind for the better so that’s something to be glad about J

I have been hopeless at blogging of late – the uncertainty makes it hard for me to get ‘lost’ in my riding as I was – it’s a protection thing I think. Just in case she has to go…………….

Anyway – getting back to the title! Its funny isn’t it (or not!) how we forget how far we have come and all the achievements we have made! Do you realize it is my 4th anniversary with Antsje!! And the other morning while schooling we were doing 10m trot circles a bit of shoulder in and back to 10m circles. She is working lovely at the moment and the inside rein was giving and she was off my inside leg J And it suddenly dawned on me! It wasn’t so very long ago that we couldn’t TROT a 10m circle! Not without it being really horrid and her hanging on the inside rein and rushing and bouncing me all over the place!!! Now I can SIT the trot! With giving hands! And influence her with my seat! MOST of the time lol!!

And I suddenly realized just how far BOTH of us had come and that we have improved. It might not have been the quickest transformation in the world hahaha! But! We are moving in the right direction and for once I am just loving the journey, even the bad days, funny what beautiful things can grow out of the shit of life!

Right Canter! AT LAST!

2009-09-21T15:14:00.006+01:00

Finally we 'have' right canter under saddle, dare I say 100% consistently! Up till now it certainley has been! Anyway some evidence among other stuff:

Hope there is some improvement since the last video :-)

PING

2009-08-24T10:33:00.009+01:00

A couple of lightbulb moments!!

On thursday I did some schooling in the outdoor school and in general had a good session. Antsje was good today, I was slightly off form :-( Just one of those things, i was on an 'off' day and just couldnt get the strength of connection needed in my core to be as effective as I wanted. But that was me just being picky lol! Despite this, Antsje did her best to listen to me and work off my seat although it wasnt as consistent as Id have liked. But I was pleased that Antsje seemes to have settled to this new way of going as she could have easily have 'taken over' this session if she's have wanted to. So for that Im pleased and just a little bit grateful hahahah!!

So the lesson learned from today is that to be effective I really have to get this 'core connection' established because as soon as I start relying on the reins for speed control it just make her faster and tenser and therefore makes my position even weaker. I f I loose it, I am best to come to a walk and start again rather than over use the reins and get the 'tramming' that I know and HATE! I also have to accept that **I** will have off days and so will Antsje - and I have to work with this positively rather than get in a funk about it!

Yesterday I did a 5K Fun Run in the morning and felt a little bit tired by the time I had poo picked the paddock! So we went for a short hack - which we both enjoyed :-D It gave me plenty of time for me to think about my position and I have realised that although I have been keeping my lower leg in a much better position from Janes lesson, my thighs were not quite right. I didnt realise it until I had a little wriggle around and felt much better when my thigh rolled 'in' a little more than it was, I definately 'felt' the difference and as we did a nice steady trot home, I could actually feel my thigh deepen a little more each time with the rise! The position felt much more secure and because we were just going in a straight line and up a slight incline in kept Antsje's rhythm steady which made it easier for me to really concentrate on the 'feel' so I can try and re-create it again next ride!

I also took a few piccies of her this afternoon just because she is looking so gorgeous! I was bringing her dinner down to the field so Imnot quite sure she appreciated the impromptu camera shoot lol!!!

Hmmmmm!!! DINNER!

MUUUM!!! Hurry UP!!!

I'm WAITING!!!!

YUM!

Another GOOD ride!!!

2009-08-19T11:19:00.003+01:00

I can hardly believe it! ANOTHER good ride! and in the outdoor arena too!!

*****SMILES******

So what did we do? TO start off with I concentrated on the inside leg / outside hand connection while in walk by doing lots of circles and leg yielding steps. Then we moved up into trot, and right from the word go Im finding it much easier to keep the connection in rising trot. One throwaway comment Jane made was to be brave with your rise and 'go to the top of the rise' which must have lodged itself in my brain somehow and it has proved to be really useful.

Trouble is, I have been so focussed on not getting flung about, I havent really been following through to the top of the rise as Im so paranoid about getting my arse back into that saddle! Trouble is, ive been coming back into the saddle at the WRONG TIME! Something ive really noticed about getting the rise 'right' is that when I sit, her back comes up to recieve my seat, rather than her back being hollow when I come down too early. Its very subtle, and its by no means standing upright in my stirrups! its just more a matter of letting my hips follow the movement to its full extent which I wasnt allowing to happen before.

I have also taken up running again - something I havent done since a child! and I do feel that this is also really helping my fitness, particularly my aerobic fitness and being able to keep strong in my abs rather than feeling puffed out and going floppy! I will take this opportunity for a shameless plug as Im running to raise money for Macmillan Cancer support - so if anyone fancies donating a pound or two you can find out more about it in my new blog Reason2Run ;-)

So after some nice circles in trot being VERY concious of what my inside hand is doing, we did some work along the long side and changes of rein - as this normally highlights our inconsistencies in balance! And actually we did pretty well! When we got down to the far end of the school, Antsje became a little distracted by new 'surroundings' but I was pleased how quickly I managed to regulate the trot again without 'fiddling' by really concentrating on my rising and 'refocussing' her attention back to the matter in hand lol!

So feeling quite brave, I asked for canter on the left rein and got quite a nice transition, we did a complete circle and then came back into trot again and actually the trot was NICE as sometimes it can be a bit gung ho after a canter! So then I asked for right canter but out of walk - we got CORRECT LEAD!!! Again we did a complete circle and although it was a bit motorbikey I was just pleased with the correct strike off. Again we came back to a sensible trot.
To finish I asked for a serpentine down the school as sometimes after canter she can get over excited and 'anticipating' and i just want to really get her tuned into my seat even in exctitable situations ;-) And yes! we finished with some nice relaxed trot so I jumped off and just led her round to cool off.

What I did notice was straight away she was better into the outside rein on the left - she is SUCH a quick learner as this is what we finished on, on monday Morning. Its just ME that has to be more observant of my naughty habits lol!

We ended with some poll release work in the stable which i think she is now finding quite relaxing :-)

Quick Update!

2009-08-17T13:22:00.003+01:00

Went for a hack on Saturday and BOOHOO!! the fields are now ploughed! So not quite as much galloping as we had been doing! But we found a new track to go down and canter back YAY! And because she is SOOOO eager homeward bound we had a really lovely walk to canter transition :-)

This morning we rode in the indoor school. First circling in walk and asking for a bigger circle by leg yielding out to try and get that inside leg / outside rein connection. Then we did some trot work and on the right it was quite nice! But on the left it felt really rubbish - I had nothing in the outside rein at all and was falling into the trap of fussing with the inside rein. So I quit the trot work, got a long whip, put both reins inthe outside hand so I couldnt faff with the inside rein and worked on activating the inside hind with the whip until I felt her come into the outside rein give me an inside flexion without using the inside rein ;-) Once I had this, I did a little work in trot to get the same feeling - inside bend without the inside rein!
What a difference it makes - much better feel to it. So ended on a good note :-)

Must practice the one handed riding more often, the difference it makes is really obvious.

Stop the Rollercoaster! I wanna get off!!!

2009-08-11T09:51:00.003+01:00

Up - down - up - down!!!

So this morning was better! much better! We rode in the indoor school so not sure if that made any difference or not - I just dont know what the ingredients are to a good ride or a bad one!
But it went much better this morning and I held the core connection more often than not throughout the ride :-) I dont have as long to ride in the morning so maybe this is better as both of us dont get the chance to get tired - maybe I just keep going to long when Im not running to a timescale? I still came off very pink so its still obviously a good workout even though im not riding for so long :-)

I just need to be able to apply this connection consciously, rather than just 'getting it' by some miracle lol!

I lost it, I lost it! :-(

2009-08-10T22:40:00.003+01:00

Not a good session tonight! Started of well, should have ended it there! but oh no, I had to keep going and then just kept drifiting in and out of the connection :-( Antsje went back to her rushing and I just got pinged everywhere! Seriously disheartened :-(

I just dont think I can do this.................

EUREKA!!!

2009-08-10T11:23:00.003+01:00

I got it! I got it! I got it!!!

Can you tell I got IT! Hahahahaha!

Had a great ride on Saturday – Antsje is definitely getting the hang of this now and we are getting much less rushing and far more relaxed swinging!

But the best thing is I really got the core connection thing going on and was able to really sit and rise under control and by doing that was able to keep antsje in balance and bring her back to me just by my rising! It felt great :-D

I am hoping I can re-create it again tonight when I ride – fingers crossed. It helped me to think of a connection between my hips and elbows – I have no idea why this worked, but it just seemed to get me in the ‘strong’ position somehow!

When I get it right instead of me feeling like I am sitting down into Antsje, it feels more like she is coming up to meet my seat! Does that make sense?
Looking forwards to tonights ride! Lets hope this mornings rain stops a bit as she is out unrugged Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

We are still continuing with the poll release work and flexions - id like to think this is helping. She is certainley becoming more relaxed about it. One nice thing I noticed is that she is softer and more flexible AFTER the ride than before - obviously the muscles are warmed up after exercise but I am hopeful that this indicates the schooling work is beneficial rather than causing more tension?

Relinquish - How much can we really ask for?

2009-08-07T10:43:00.004+01:00

WARNING!!!! Some musings of my mind hahahah!!!!!

I have noticed that Antsje never really seems to have a wet mouth after riding. She has always been very tense / resistant in her poll – even on the ground! She is quite reluctant to give me her head willingly. Even though we have worked with clicker, she will put her head down on cue for a click and treat but it’s a learned behaviour not really a willing ‘I will give you my head’ action – does that make sense?
So I have been trying to work on some ‘poll release’ to try and see if I can remove some of the tension there and get her to trust me with her head! I have always known this is her ‘holding point’ both mentally and physically but I still haven’t found a way in yet. I can get it by ‘tricks’ like clicker, and also if I stick my finger in her mouth and make her ‘chew’ it automatically releases the poll area and I can bring her head down – but none of this is a mentally giving thing from her!
So Wednesday I spent a long time ‘playing’ with relaxing her poll, head and neck and we did start to get some softness and release. And she did start chewing of her own accord and sighing. She wasn’t 100% there – she wasn’t even 80% there, but I think it’s the best genuine, non contrived response Ive had from her. The best exercise I found was standing in front of her head, with each hand placed on each side of her poll and just moving her head from side to side in a way that it made her crest ‘flip over’ each time she flexed to each side. Normally when I moved her head from side to side, she is still very fixed in this area and although the neck moves that little flexion in the poll doesn’t happen.

So this morning, before I bridled up, I did this same exercise and she was definitely softer and more willing to let me move her head gently from side to side, flexing the poll. There is still resistance there, but it was less – I have to wonder if this had a bearing on her being altogether softer when I rode today? We will see!!! Iwill continue with this work – my gut feeling is this is an important key to unlock.

I have to have a rueful smile to myself – me and Antsje are so alike! And Im asking her to do something that I struggle and resist to do myself – and that is give herself over to me completely. She does trust me, that I know for sure, but there is still that bit of self preservation there, that little bit that she just cannot let go of! Maybe I have no right to ask that of her! Maybe ‘IM’ just not ready to receive it yet, maybe she feels I still am not worthy of it – and she perhaps has a point! I still get far too frustrated at times! I don’t think personally I have ever given that last 10 % either, to anyone! – I don’t know if I can either! I understand how she feels ;-)
Maybe I should be content with what we have lol! After all its not a bad place to be :-D

THANK GOD!!!!!

2009-08-07T10:41:00.002+01:00

For a GOOD RIDE! Well, the lord has thrown me a lifeline hahahahaha!!! This morning we have had a really good session with Antsje listening and being soft At all times. Yes there were moments of unbalance where she came against the hand – BUT – she listened and allowed me to rebalance her through the seat rather than do her panic and rushing off routine YAY! We have had so many rides where I have had to get quite tough with her and it has been very argumentative and I HATE it – and even though we end with some nice work, I really do not like having to fall out with her to get her there.

This morning she tried really hard and when we went into trot she stayed soft and relaxed which allowed me to get into the zone and therefore KEEP the nice trot! On the right rein she is still balancing on her inside shoulder a bit and tending to flex to the outside, so I worked on exercises in walk to help engage the inside hind. We did some Shoulder in on a circle and then we worked down the long side doing a little shoulder in, then half pass to the ¾ line and then keeping the bend leg yield back to the track and then continuing in shoulder in. Then I asked for trot again and it was much improved. I was then able to get some leg yield steps to the outside of the circle and ask for inside flexion by turning my thumb over and knuckles down and when she flexed I returned my hand to the normal position and tried to keep the bend from the inside leg. When she is working in the correct flexion the trot feel really nice! We did the same exercises on the Left rein, but this time instead of focusing on the inside flexion, I concentrated on her staying on the circle by controlling her outside shoulder with the rein and my outside leg as she tend to naturally fall out on this rein – which is good for the engagement of inside hind and inside bend, but she is not really working properly.

The main thing that is frustrating is ME!!!! Even with her being submissive today, I am still struggling to keep my arse in the saddle! And if she wasn’t so co-operative today, she could have easily just threw me about and we would be back to the whole argument again of her rushing, me having to overuse the reins, her rushing even more because she HATES feeling hemmed in, and so on and so on! Wednesday night I got it! I could really sit into her, but this morning I wasn’t quite there – it wasn’t terrible, but I wasn’t effective with my seat. I know I tend to collapse my tummy, round my back and stick my bum out when I try and SIT DOWN and it is just such a crap and useless position to take! But its now become a habit, and I feel really horrible when I try and change it. I find it difficult to engage the core without getting stiff and tense everywhere else which then makes me ‘ping’ I know I have to have a certain amount of relaxation in my body as does Antsje, but I haven’t got that strength yet to turn it on in certain parts of my body and keep the rest relaxed. Its so FREAKIN frustrating, I cant tell you!!! And even when Antsje is working nicely like today, it is one hell of a movement to absorb! I suppose its just practice, practice, practice – but with other life commitments like work and kids, I just cant fit any more riding time in! I can realistically ride 4-5 times a week, which isn’t bad I suppose, but I wonder if its enough with a horse like Antsje?

So things to work on:
Engaging the right inside hind
Keeping the inside flexion to the right with the inside leg
Varying the tempo in trot so Antsje learns to ‘come back’ to me from my rising
Getting into the zone with my rising and SITTING!!!!!
Being aware of my hands!! They are tending to be a little ‘backwards’ for my liking!! But since we have this ‘lighter contact’ I can at least recognise it and this will help me STOP IT!
POSITION POSITION POSTION!!!!

Things that were GOOD!
Antsje listened to my seat today!!!
Antsje stayed soft in my hand which made it easier for me to ‘feel’ any blockages and therefore help to correct them
Antsje was using herself much better in trot today and it was nice and swinging
The lateral work was much better, less resistant and more fluid :-)

HAPPY BUNNY!!!!!

Mown Fields =

2009-08-06T16:12:00.004+01:00

YEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

We have some great off road hacking here and to make it even better they have mown the fields so it is a pretty seamless YEEEHAAAAAA from start to finish lol! It is a great way of clearing out the cobwebs, feeling exhilarated, getting fit and most of all having FUN! For both of us :-)
I have also used the opportunity to concentrate on my position whilst out hacking :-)
The last time we went for a blast, I made sure Antsje was on the right canter lead before letting her 'go' as I really want to try and strengthen the right side and thought this might be a good way to do it. Not much to add other than I forgot just how necessary a good blast is for the soul!

Schooling:
Has been a bit of a mixed bag :-S It starts off not so good and eventually ends up with some nice work. Im still struggling with how we get there though! I still feel like im fumbling around in the dark - at least I can feel WHEN its good now, and when its good and I can normally keep it :-) But I cant seem to get past that period of frustration where it feels crap / resistant / lumpy / out of balance :-( And I STILL dont know what im doing to get it to the good stuff! HO-HUM another lesson is required I think!

I still have to wonder if im fighting as loosing battle sometimes though - perhaps with the rescources available to me namely time and money and the fact that physically me and Antsje are not an ideal match - I am just NEVER gonna get there and I could well do without the frustration of an unobtainable dream!

Maybe I should just write this year off and stick to more hacking. But I seem to be writing more years off than on! BLEUGH! this is why Im not writing much at the minute, cant seem to think of anything positive to say and I HATE moany old whingers lol!!!

One step forwards...............

2009-07-12T08:37:00.001+01:00

TWO STEPS BACK!!!! Grrrrrrrr!!!

Rode yesterday and it was a tad frustrating to say the least!! She was in bionic mode and I could barely let get her to focus in walk :-< In the end I just let her canter round and round to blow off a bit of steam! Afterwards we DID get some nice work - very nice in fact, but I had to work a lot harder to get it than in my lesson :sad: Once I get back off my holiday im gonna treat myself to a little block of lessons until I feel my position is a bit more confirmed - im worried to death that im still not **right** :-\

On one hand, im relcutant to let Antsje just 'run' as im not sure this is helping with the 'stay with me' issues I have - on the other hand, maybe im better off getting into trot and canter early on and THEN getting her to focus on me?

Any thoughts??

With a little help from my friends :-)

2009-07-10T18:46:00.003+01:00

Well after so much constructive critique from my last video I made a real effort to get Antsje to relax and work forwards into the bridle and although I thought we had made improvements, nothing prepared me for being BLOWN AWAY by ny lesson with Jane last night :-D GOD I have missed some instruction! And by getting ME back into balance, Antsje miraculously worked in a nice relaxed rhythm with no excessive mouthiness - funny that aint it!!! hahaha!!

******RIDER ERROR***** Duuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrr!!!!!

So what did we do??? Well first off, I have gradually adopted a 'waterski-ing' position with my arse stuck out and my legs shoved forwards :-0 Plus I seem to have a lot of weight in my stirrups with jammed down heels Grrrrrrrr!!!!

So we started by actually putting my stirrups up a couple of holes, realigning my leg by deepening and rotating the thigh and bringing my lower leg back. Now this isnt something new to me, in fact the things we worked on are old problems, things I thought I had sorted, but obviously over time I have crept back into my old 'default' habits :'-(
So with my new secure position we went round in walk to start with and really worked on keeping my legs in position - one thing that helped was to think of keeping my heels turned out, which also helped keep my knees turned in! Then we began to work on using my core to slow the walk right down, and then releasing in my seat to allow the walk to go on, rather than the use of the reins. Of course, I didnt just throw the contact away, and she had a framework to work into, but it made me aware of trying to keep the same contact rather than getting into this shortening the reins as she shortens the neck.
This started working quite well and I was being able to slow her right down without her tensing and sucking her neck back to me, so we decided to move onto trot!!

OH DEAR!!!! hahahahahaha

I reverted!! So we stopped and discussed how I was going to manage the trot while at a standstill. I have to try and stop putting the weight in my heels and think of rising from my knee. Also I have to think about placing my butt in the same place in the front part of the saddle at each 'sit' rather than sticking it out and tipping forwards. One thing I am doing is collapsing in the middle, and once I made the connection of rising **straight** I started to get it. By this I dont mean rising straight 'up' but more that my body was aligned straight throughout the arc of the rise and not crumpling up in the middle ;-)

So off we went again - my mantras are 'I am KNEELING' 'I am SITTING' 'My feet are flat!' 'BREATHE'
If I prepared really well for the tranistion and I made my first rise count and Antsje didnt pull the rug out from underneath me, then I seemed to be able to get with her. If I was out of sync from the start I just couldnt get it back!
There were times that it felt really awful! My body was defying me at every moment, and because I wasnt with Antsje and she certainely wasnt with me, she would do her scoot and run thing, and we lost it :-(
Then, there were times of absoloute BLISS!!! Where I just GOT IT! And we were together and Antsje would WAIT for me, and her back was just up, and she was reaching for the bridle - not dumping into my hands, but genuinley telescoping the neck and filling out the bridle!! It was BLOODY BRILLIANT!!! The feeling was just blissful, and I know I had the stupidest grin on my face as we went round as light a s a feather!!

I had to work very hard at keeping my core firm and not collapsing, cos as soon as I did, we lost the connection. My abs were killing by the end lol!!! BUT I finally discovered the way to engage my core and SIT into her and for ME to dictate the rhythm for a change - and now im dead nervous in case Ive forgot when I ride tommorrow!!!

So im just thrilled as I sit here typing this out as I feel that I have been put back on track and now I have re-established that 'feel' I can work on it until Jane comes out again :-)

I WILL try and get some more video - it does make such a diference for people to see what im talking about and give me some pointers, so thankyou all :-D

Prelim 18.................

2009-06-28T16:39:00.004+01:00

First the video!!! Watch and it see what you think! and then answer my countless questions at the end! hahahaha!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5jioJC4PYg

Well not quite sure how I feel about today!!

we were weak in all the areas I already knew, but I feel I achieved my goal, which was to get out there again, get our confidence back and to get a 'benchmark' of where we are.

Antsje was fairly attentive today, and although I could tell at times she was desparate to go into full friesian alert ie, head up, ear up my nose and pogo stick trot, she did really try hard to listen but the upshot was she wasnt quite relaxed enough, and I felt she could have been a little more forwards into the bridle than she was. Canter was interesting!! Not too bad onthe left! but picked up incorrect lead on the right :-( But on the whole I didnt think it was awful.

I was dissapointed with our score though - 56.67% We had a lot of 6's and 7's and one 8! but 3's for right canter which took the score down. I was also a bit dissapointed by the free walk mark but id like people to have a look at the video and out of interest see what your score would have been? Maybe Im not seeing things correctly??

The main comment was Antsje acceptance of the bit - we had not happy in the mouth and fussy in the mouth a few times :-(

So Questions..........................

1. Antsje has ALWAYS been very mouthy! doesnt matter what bit, or what kind of contact, she will fuss even on a loose rein. She was like this when I bought her and Ive never really been able to solve it fully. Some of it is how she shows anxiety, some of it is because she runs into my hands, some of it is because my hands / seat connection is not yet fully independant particularly when antsje is being resistant. So! what do I do? Put her back in the flash? Live with it? I dont know how I feel - obviously the flash has done no long term improvement as she is just as bad now as she was before.

2. The canter - I am loosing faith of my ability to crack the canter esp the right lead. Im never quite sure if she is coming up correctly and cant seem to influence this at all! Should I just give in and send her away for training? though god knows how I can afford this! but I do worry about who to send her too!! Is there ANY improvement there? PLEASE be honest ;-)

3. Another contact question, but more the working forwards into the hand - im sure the issues of Q no 1 has a bearing on this problem, but Im worried im loosing my way!! I have a seesaw problem - Antsje WILL stretch into a longer frame and work more forward into the bridle but in my opinion she easily becomes on the forehand and looses the engagement of the HQ's and it shows in downwards trans as she collapses into them as she is not properly engaged behind. When I collect her up a little, then we have beeter engagement, better upward and esp downward trans, but she is always prob about an inch shorter through the neck than I would like.

So, should I continue to work on the engagement and hope the forward into the bridle will come, or should I let her lengthen her frame and loose the HQ's? This is primarily test riding im talking about as I do work both ways when schooling - contained to start, and stretching to finish. I realise it might have helped her stretch forwards if I rose all the time - BUT - I do find it easier to contain her by using my seat in sitting trot - she may not look it, but she is very onward bound, and once she gets 'tramming' then you are DOOMED to forward and straight and handbrake turns lol!!

4. Free walk - what was so wrong about it? yes, I do realise she could be a bit more consistant, but was it sooo bad??

So - am I loosing my way? I am missing some instruction and I havent had a lesson now for 6 months!! Plus we have only been back to it in earnest for the last few weeks as we only moved to this yard mid May. We really wernt as ready as we could have been, but its easy to get stuck in 'never readiness' or at least it is for me!! Fraught perfectionist and all that hahahaha!!!

I do often wonder if ive bitten off more than I can chew with Antsje - or at least with the available recources I have to spare namely time and money. I KNOW part of my personality keeps battling with things long after I should have let it go - more then a couple of times to my detriment!! So I do worry that this is a similar situation. I know I shouldnt compare, but I look at people and see them improve and progress and I am genuinely thrilled for them - but I also feel frustrated that my own progress seems so goddam slow!! Patience is not a strongpoint of mine lol!! So, bearing in mind my limited rescources - am I fighting a loosing battle here? Am I improving at all????? Is Antsje Improving???? Or am I just fumbling about in the dark going round in ever decreasing circles? ****sigh****

Dont panic people - Im not in a real 'down;' about it! A little dissapointed yes! but Im more philosophical than fed up, just musings of my mind!! Lucky for me, I am blessed with the personality of a weeble!! I might have a wobble, but never fall down completely lol!!! So please - honest opinions would be very much appreciated ;-)

I look forwards to your comments :-)

Catching up!!

2009-06-27T10:27:00.002+01:00

Phew!! Time flies when your having fun!!

We have had some really nice moments this last week or so and Antsje is becoming far more attentive to me and my seat is definately getting better ;-) No where near perfect mind!!! BUT at times, when we are together, I am most definately being able to influence her with my seat which has got to be good!!!

So, we have been pretty much been working on the same issues as before, both in hand and ridden - and that is Antsje 'being with me'. I am testing this by the use of continual transitions, changes within the gait and school figures. It is very interesting that when you have to perform movements at required times such as in a dressage test, just how much you realise whether you are together or not ;-) And it is hard work physically and mentally for both horse and rider to remain in balance with each other for continued periods of time!!

I am concentrating very much on the quality of downward transitions, and it seems that if I am constantly mindful of if I could perform a crisp balanced downward transition at any point in time, THIS is what being in balance is all about!! Im lucky in that I dont have a problem with forwards per se, other than Antsje using it as an evasion!! *****rolls eyes**** So I can focus on Antsje 'waiting' for me and using reinback and downward transitions to prevent her from 'tramming' without having to worry about loosing impulsion ;-)

I have also been working on the canter!! When I am compeltely and utterly focussed I can get the most beautiful upward transition on the left rein, and not too bad a downward one although I have to be very strong in my core to do this.
I have made a mini breakthrough on the right rein canter inthat I can tell now if we have come up on the wrong lead, and I am getting better at getting her to strike off on the correct lead if not first time, on the second attempt. The right canter is still quite unbalanced, but it is coming, slowly but surely :-)

At the end of the sessions I have been asking her to stretch down into the rein in trot to really get her back swinging and loose after working in a more contained manner. Iam pleased with this as she is begining to be able to do this without loosing her balance and getting faster and plunging onto her forehand. I am also becoming stronger with my position and can influence the trot with my rising better so it means I rely less on the rein which keeps her stretching forwards :-)

I have no idea how things will go tommorrow in our dressage test! we are doing Prelim 18 and if we both can get into the zone and dont become distracted by the whole show atmosphere then I think we have the potential of producing a nice test! Of course, if we both get into 'rabbit in the headlights' mode, then we are doomed hahahaha!!!!

Half of me is crapping myself as I know we are far from perfect!! The other half is relishing the challenge of 'test riding' as it is a whole discapline in itself! Being able to get into that mental state where everything else becomes purely background noise and you are completely in the moment with each and every stride is the most FANTASTIC feeling EVER!!!

So wish us luck!! And as a bonus, Amy is coming to video me!! YAY!

Its all in the mind....................

2009-06-16T10:51:00.002+01:00

Hers and mine!! Focus and calm.............Focus and calm.............

Another couple of good sessions!

Saturday we rode in the outside school as there was lessons in the indoor – there was also a lesson in the outdoor!! But it was a good opportunity to work on Antsje’s focus as we had a double whammy of outdoor school and lots of horses!!!

In fairness, on the whole she worked well. We did similar exercises as I have been working on in hand to get her attention on me and my seat aids. This consisted of balanced and submissive walk / halt transitions then moving onto walk / reinback / walk / halt transitions. She was very ‘sticky’ in reinback on the right rein to start with, but one great thing about reinback I have found is that it really does seem to unblock her and release her back and neck after a few goes. We then moved onto Shoulder-in in walk and really focussed on getting the postioning from my seat. If she started rushing, we were back to the walk / halt / reinback transitions which now we have been using for a few weeks seem to serve as a good cue for her re-focussing on me.
By the time we had done all this, she felt really nice and loose and supple and we moved up to trot. I am still concentrating on walk / trot / walk and then halt / trot / halt transitions. She has NEVER had any problems trotting round and round so I don’t think this work is going to cause any problems with her forward thinking lol!! But what I hope it will achieve is better balance and better focus on my seat aids, which has always been a bugbear of mine. I really do think that downward transitions are a real indication of engagement and balance, moreso than upward transitions! Antsje is actually quite good at soft balanced upward transitions now, but it is interesting for me to realise that she looses this balance quite quickly once in trot, and when I ask her to come back down to walk, she is not sufficiently balanced / engaged / on my aids to make a nice soft transition and often collapses into walk – as do I!! **blush** so I must also be sufficiently balanced / engaged / and ‘with her’ when making a downward transition.
This was very apparent in the work as when we were on a circle and doing lots of quick transitions, my seat was better, and Antsjes balance and engagaemnt was better – but as soon as we came off the circle and rode the long side, I could feel her start to ‘tram’ again and I lost that lovely feeling of ‘togetherness’ as we became out of sync with our tempo. I am almost positive it is mainly a strength issue and that she is just not ‘there’ yet on straight lines and she misses the support of the circle. I do also think she looses ‘focus’ mentally on a straight line too and becomes more ‘gawpy’ and we get moment of the Friesian Full Alert high neck / tense back / pogo steps lol!! Still I do think it is crucial to keep mixing the two together and keep extending the length of ‘straight’ line she can do without loosing the balance / focus.

This morning we did in-hand work in the indoor school and she is really ‘getting’ the focus work now. We only had one ‘walk through me halt’ and it was the first one we did. After a quick reprimand and backing up, she was perfect for the rest of the session. Her reinbacks were also a lot less resistant right from the start although they can still be a bit faltering and not diagonal at times. Im wondering how do I encourage diagonal movement in reinback or will it just improve the stronger and more confident she gets? I will have to do a bit of reading and see what I come up with! So after the same walk /halt / reinback transitions we did some girivolta work and the leg yielding to the long side and then shoulder-in up the long side, into a circle and giravolta again on both reins. She is getting much better at staying with me through all of this now, and I with her. I can now feel the beginnings of the ‘rushing’ before we actually get it and can therefore rebalance before she gets to the point of ‘lala land’ hahahaha!

We then finished with a little bit of lunging work with very short transitions between walk / trot / canter. I was very pleased with this as her reactions on the downward transitions were very good, particularly the trot to walk. After she had cantered a few times I had to get her to re-focus again on trot to walk but it only took a couple of attempts for her to become calm again which was very good considering how exciting she finds canter!!

So I am feeling quite positive about the progress at the moment. Yes, we have a LOT to do, and we are still doing such very basic stuff – but until this is completely confirmed, I know from experience there is little point of doing anything else ;-)

I am now thinking it might be a good idea to do this ‘in – hand’ focussing work in the outdoor school. I wonder how much of it is the indoor school ‘confinement’ and how much of it is her now being mentally in the zone when she works in here. It will be interesting to find out.

When she is good.................

2009-06-12T10:21:00.003+01:00

She is VERY VERY good!!!

Had a couple of really good sessions with Antsje this week after completely loosing my patience with her at the begining of the week!

I always feel really horrible when we fall out, but it seems to have done the trick as she has come back from LALA land and is far more attentive to me both on the ground and ridden.

She has this habit of just rushing straight through you, whether it be on the ground or through your aids when ridden. Some of it is due to her being anxious and some of it is an evasion from working properly. The trouble is she is such a powerful horse it is hard not to get taken over by her! So after her keep rushing ahead in hand on Tuesday, I really got quite insistent with her that she listen and do as she was told and quit ignoring me!!
We did lots of backing up, walking, halting , and if she didn’t halt as soon as she was asked, we backed up and repeated the process again…………….and again……………and again!!!
We also worked very hard on stepping over with the HQ’s in Giravolta and Shoulder-in in walk so when I asked her to move over I got an INSTANT reaction.
Sometimes she can seem so DULL to the aids, which is a bit of a contradiction in terms to her ‘rushy’ behaviour, but even the rushing is dull to the aids as she just isn’t listening!

At the end, I could walk round the school and when I stopped, she stopped IMMEDIATELY and not because she had come to the end of the leadrope lol! So after a frustrating session we ended on a good note.

Last night I rode in the indoor school. Whether it’s the apparent confinement of the indoor or not, but she does seem to focus much better in here than the larger outdoor school where she seems to get very onward bound!!
We carried on the groundwork techniques to the ridden work and did lots of walk / halt / reinback work to get her listening to me. We then progressed onto lateral work in the walk to get her really listening to the aids and bent around my inside leg.

Then we did some trot work concentrating on transitions. She can fool you with the trot and you can think she is working well, but try and make a downward transition and you can see she is not really ‘on the aids’ but doing a controlled ‘tramming’ along! Working on just a few strides of trot and then making a transition to walk and then moving on to trot halt trot trans really worked wonders! I was really pleased with the work and she felt VERY good and very strong and balanced.

Then this morning we did in hand work again, confirming what we did the last two sessions and she was FAB!! Really tuned in and halting when I did, and moving away laterally from just my body positioning. Was a nice short and sweet session as she worked hard last night.
Got to keep up with this work now until it becomes second nature – we both need to sharpen up a little and become more reactive to each other. I have a BIG smile on my face today – she feels AWESOME when she is working nicely :-)

Feeling Brave................

2009-06-11T09:34:00.002+01:00

28th June 2009!!!

I have decided.....................I am going to do Prelim 18 ***gasp*** A nice way of getting me a benchmark and some feedback! and im telling you lot so I dont wimp out lol!! I havent done a comp now for nearly a year and Im finding it too easy to make excuses not to do one - so that means its time for me to get out of my comfort zone ARRRGGHHHH!!!!

So I better get practising lol!!!

Annnnnd we're OFF!! Again!!

2009-06-10T14:00:00.002+01:00

So off we go again, on my journey to be a better rider and trainer to my long suffering horse!!

We have done so very little since we left our Full Livery yard down to Antsje's Operation, then a combination of the winter / no facilities / personal crap! all getting in the way. So really, I am just starting again ****GROAN**** to re-establish all we learnt last year and to get us both back to riding fitness.

Despite this major setback, Antsje feels **very** well indeed - to bloody well sometimes lol! And we are back to her 'focussing' on me in the moment rather than her mind and her body being a million miles in front of what Im asking her to do! She finds this hard - I find it frustrating, we are both going to have to find a balance between this chasm that lays before us and I MUST HAVE PATIENCE!!! ARGH!!!!
So we are doing very basic stuff, lateral work to start to get her submissive to the inside bend and to become more 'in hand'. Then moving up into trot and doing lots of transitions and changes of rein whislt remaining IN BALANCE and also plenty of stretching work over the back and through the neck while remaining in the SAME Rhythm! Hmmmmmmm - that is more difficult - how she LOVES to T-R-O-T! And how hard I have to work at my OWN balance to help her keep hers! I ought to have a 66 pack by now lol!

I MISS my lessons! I really could do with some eyes on the ground, but for now I'll have to content myself to bumbling along on my own! I hope to persuade someone to do some video for me so I can try and have a look whats going on and work on things that way until I can afford some lessons again. Of course, I will be relying on critique from my trusted followers to keep me on the straight (Sheeesh!) and narrow lol!

Now I have a school again I hope to make much more regular deposits onto my blog!! Hope you all havent nodded off!! - *****pokes you all with a big stick*****

Theres no place like (a new) home......

2009-06-10T13:52:00.003+01:00

So a couple of weeks ago we moved to HIGHCROSS EQUESTRIAN CENTRE which is a livery yard / riding school / unaffilliated competition centre. We have settled in really well and I cant tell you how much I am enjoying having facilities again!! YAY!!!!!

The horses on their first time 'out'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNUbycY9bTo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VA15g8P0Ww

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVlWC8BiHjM

Ch Ch Ch Changes.....................

2009-06-10T13:31:00.004+01:00

Kinda sums up this year so far!!

Havent really had the energy or inclination to blog recently, but things are starting to settle and I am getting the 'urge' again to get back on track...............or 20m circle lol!

So after a painful 2008 and having to make some very hard decisions, I am now back in control of my destiny Mwwwaaaaaaaa Haaaaaa haaaaaaaaaaa!!!!

So what have I been up to you ask? Well now Im a single gal, I've had to make some drastic changes in the name of survival. The last and hardest one was letting Barney go :-( Waaaaaaaaa!!! BUT! He has gone to such a fantastic home to be a Happy Hacker to the end of his days, I cannot help but feel happy for him and his situation - which makes my pain bearable ;-)

I have also decided to move Antsje to a 'competition' yard allowing me to sell my 4x4 and trailer and therefore reducing my overheads significantly and still being able to do the odd dressage competition :-) Plus the facilities are to DIE for! Indoor and outdoor school, XC course, on-site comps for jumping / dressage and eventing (YeeeeeHaaaaaaaa!)

Of course, Antsje has a new Fan Club - how can resist her 'regal' looks as she prances around her field making sure everyone notices hahahaha!! She likes to help me make friends easily and she is a very good talking point **rolls eyes** although most think 'she' is a 'he' lol!

I am still DIY but the yard offers Livery as and when you need it, just great for when you go on holiday...................

And going on holiday we SHALL!!! As I have just booked a week away in Menorca for me and the kids. I think we all deserve a break and a big treat for getting through this last 12-18 months. I have to admit, I am SO looking forward to a rest - I have been running on pure adrenelin now for too long and im feeling a bit frazzled now most of my 'To Do's' are done!

All I can say is thank god for family and friends who have been a source of constant support :-)xxxxxxx

Dr Gerd Heuschmann Clinic - Day 2 - Ridden

2009-04-18T11:40:00.001+01:00

DAY TWO – RIDDEN DEMO

First of all Id like to say, these are MY notes, MY observations made form MY experience. By virtue of being there, the demo riders obviously want to learn and improve and help their horses and I was very grateful for these people to allow themselves to be scrutinised. I am not perfect, I don’t pretend to be – a lot of the faults I noted are faults of MY OWN! I hope my observations do not come over as criticism as it is not intended or inferred .

Each rider told us a bit about their horses, warmed up, showed 3 basic gaits whilst Gerd observed. Gerd then rode each horse to assess how he could help and then put the rider back on with some instruction.

1. Henry – 7yr old event horse, competes at pre-novice level. Problems with inconsistent contact, snatching at bit, keeping head and neck still.
Rider was very nervous!! As would I be!! Horse was quite green and to start was quite inattentive to the rider. The rider obviously felt under pressure and looked quite tense and was doing a bit of ‘nagging’ with the hands to try and encourage an outline.

GERD:
He started with asking for a regular rhythm in walk, then he asked the horse to step over laterally with the hind leg, very giravolta style, as he activated the hind leg he then raised his inside hand to create some lateral flexion of the poll to the inside. As soon as the horse relaxed its jaw and began to chew the bit, he gave the rein for the horse to stretch into and walked forwards into the stretch. He kept repeating this pattern on each rein until the horse was using its hind leg properly, was relaxed in through the back and soft in the poll and mouth. He then did the same process in trot.
The horse’s contact improved dramatically and it was a very nice soft picture. Gerd takes a ‘half seat’ in the trot to try and free up the back – he says he realises it looks ‘gay’ but it works lol!!!

RIDER:
Gerd asks the rider to relax the seat and inside thighs as the ‘gripping’ is making the horse rush out of his natural rhythm. He then asks the rider to raise her hands only – NEVER PULL BACK! He gets her doing similar exercises as he did – Shoulder in on a circle to activate the hind legs, raise inside rein for lateral flexion, as soon as the jaw relaxes allow the horse to move straight and stretch into the rein. THINK ABOUT HIND LEGS! Don’t worry where the head is, Turn the rear wheel and it work the front wheel.

My observations – Rider needed to keep a better bend in the elbows as she kept straightening her arms, which then didn’t help the softness of the contact. Kept giving away the outside rein and had real problems in not using a backward rein esp. inside rein! I know she was finding it very frustrating – I felt her pain! I think she would have benefited from putting her stirrups up a hole as I think she was loosing her balance slightly in trot, particularly when asked to give the rein forwards………

There were definite improvements by the end of the lesson. Gerd was very insistent on NO BACKWARDS ACTION ON THE REIN – which was good. While it is hard to change ingrained habits, I was pleased that the rider could feel a difference (for the better) by the end and that Gerd took her right back to basics rather than papering cracks.

2. Puzzle – A 16.2 IDXWarmblood Gelding at elementary level. Problems with curling back to the hand and wants to improve self carriage / engagement.

A very harmonious pair who work nicely together. She clearly adored her horse and they just seemed to have a really nice genuine connection.

GERD:
He did the same exercises – Lateral steps for 5-6 steps, inside flexion until the jaw relaxed and walked straight into a stretched rein. Gerd stressed, RHYTHM first, always, before you do anything else. The horse found it difficult to make the last bit of stretch from poll to nose – this was interesting as Antsje also finds this hard. Gerd encouraged his by raising his hands up and forwards each time the horse curled back BTV.

RIDER:
Shoulder in FROM THE SEAT! Activate the hind leg, turn the rear wheel. Mobilise the jaw, a relaxed jaw is another key that unlocks the back. A lathering mouth is a sign of a relaxed back. At least every 5 minutes let the horse stretch on a long rein. The muscles shouldn’t be allowed to get tense. Work the horse like a concertina – bring together and allow to stretch.
Gerd got the rider to slow the trot – calm the trot down, slow the rhythm, bring the horse into balance, activate the hind leg. Now allow the horse to stretch forwards into the bridle keeping the SAME SLOW RHYTHM. RHYTHM IS FIRST.
NEVER sit to a stiff back, the back must be free before you can take it. Overbending – correct by raising hands up and forwards. Work on a circle is important to activate the inside hind.

My Observations – The rider had a nice upper body position and was well balanced. The contact could have been more sustaining at times, and the straightening of the outside arm allowed the outside contact to be given away. My favourite pair!!

3. Cadbury – 10 yr old mare competing at Inter 1 level. Would like to improve engagement and self carriage.

Beautiful little mare! Very stiff on right rein. Quite a tense horse and everything is very rushed – rider hanging on for grim death lol! Trot is quite choppy and rhythm is irregular. Horse is very crooked esp for such a high level! Genuinely surprised! (Im naïve!)

GERD:
Noseband and flash loosened. Same exercises – lateral steps / flexion / stretch. Mare picks it up VERY quickly and paces transform. Gerd works on slowing the Rhythm with the seat and at times using both hands raised if the horse is not ‘on the seat’ Trot work really improves as the rushing stops and the back starts to work and swing. Same is done in the canter and the mare is allowed to stretch down in the canter to help supple and release the back muscles. He also lets the mare have a little Pipe Opener down the long side to free her up some more. She struggles to maintain the canter on the right rein due to her crookedness.

RIDER:
Shoulder in from the seat – more value in lateral movements when carried out with a long neck. Give the contact with a friendly hand. ‘MIND TO THE GROUND’ Rider to relax, stay calm. Rider has a VERY defensive position – everything about her is backwards – rider needs to be FORWARDS, needs to be forwards with the horse, but the horse is to wait ‘on the seat’
NEVER BACKWARDS WITH THE HANDS!!!!
You can see the tension in the riders forearms! It is a MOUTH not a piece of WOOD!
Relax your seat, sit like you are the most beautiful lady in the world! I take your swing, You take my swing – Find the Balance. WE HAVE TIME!!! Take your time, slow the movements, BREATHE!!!!
The SEAT is the KEY to EVERYTHING!
Sit as close to the withers as possible – rider is too close to back of saddle.

My Observations – this was interesting! Rider was very tense and stiff – the Mare responded by RUSHING! Rider got tenser and stiffer – Mare responded by RUSHING!!! Was very enlightening. You need to take that leap of faith and GIVE the reins. Holding a horse winds them up and destroys the paces. There WAS improvement in the end. Rider found it VERY hard not to hang on the reins. Independent rein use also seems alien – give inside, and the outside rein goes too! Reminder of the importance of a poised but relaxed posture – from a taught fraught perfectionist, how I sympathised with this lady!

4. PONY – didn’t catch name! A last minute squeeze in by Sven Kold who is treating the horse. Been investigated for possible kissing spines – unsoundness issues. Ridden by a very sensitive young teenage girl.

The warm up was done in a coffee break. Pony was ridden round the perimeter of school on a short contact with head ‘set’ for a good 10 mints no stretching.
Pony was took through its paces for Gerd – pony unlevel and rhythm was inconsistent esp at trot and canter.
Gerd said he would ride in walk – he gave the pony a pat and the poor thing just flinched! Wouldn’t let his ears be touched and was obviously so sore all over – in fact, he seemd to take advantage that someone was listening to him and looked proper pissed off.

GERD:
Noseband loosened and flash removed. Rode the same exercises. On the right rein the pony could barely move when asked to step laterally, he nearly toppled over he was pivoting so heavily on his shoulder. Gerd, took him on the other rein, worked him a bit on this, then changed back onto right rein – there was a definite loosening up and the pony started to step over and stretch into the rein. After about 10 minutes the walk just transformed and became long and swinging, with a lengthened neck. Gerd then touched his ears and pony didn’t bother at all!! Obviously he had managed to release some of the tension in the poll area from the stretching.

RIDER:
Gerd was obviously quite bothered about the condition of the little pony and started off quite tough on the rider I thought. Not nasty or intimidating, but I think he really wanted to make a point about the contact. He was quite sharp whenever the rider used a backwards hand. But the rider was actually a nice light little rider, and soon she and the pony were going around looking a completely different picture.

My Observations – This lesson had me feeling quite emotional. The difference in the pony from start to finish was incredible. He came in looking sour, tight and sore and left looking softer mentally and physically. I feel SO ANGRY about the state of general instruction that such a young child can be riding in such a damaging way! She LOVED her pony and said she didn’t want to give up on him, and I bet she would be mortified if she thought she had contributed to his problems. I really really hope that both pony and rider get the right help.

5. Solo – Anglo Arab gelding – allrounder doing endurance, le trec, RC activites and working at elementary level.

Ridden in a Dr Cooks bitless bridle. Horse was very nice and sensitive and had a lovely natural suspension in trot. He is conformationaly challenged being long backed and a straight hind leg. In canter the leg stayed almost straight, the croup raised and almost bunnyhopped along!

GERD:
First time riding in a bitless bridle!! Again – same exercises as before to activate hind leg and release the back. There was improvement made, esp in the canter – but still seemed not quite right on the left. The leg didn’t seem to come through quite right somehow and the croup was definitely higher to this side in canter than to the right.

RIDER:
Ran through the same exercises with the rider as before. Gerd was not sure about the canter to the left and Sven to take a look at the differences on both reins. In the end, the rider was advised to get a cautionary examination of the horse.

RE: Bitless – Gerd said that he found the horse very sensitive and responsive to the bitless bridle but one thing he DID miss was the ability to mobilise the horse’s jaw by using a bit. The bit mobilises the horses jaw and makes the horse chew and relaxes its poll. The first entrance into a relaxed poll is chewing.

6. Don Proviano – 6 yr old gelding competed at Nationals in 2008 and now working at elementary.

Lovely horse with very nice natural rhythm. The paces were not quite correct though as he had a short hindleg action which didn’t step through completely but hovered and snapped back to the ground with quite a thump.

GERD:
Noseband and flash loosened. Same exercises. Find the rhythm / lateral steps / inside flexion / straight into stretch. Horse found it a bit alien to stretch at first!! He was also wanting to plough forwards rather than take a slower rhythm. Once he started to understand the concept, the stride became looser and longer – and what do you know! The hind leg action stopped the hovering and he began to step through properly resulting in a much quieter footfall.

RIDER:
Become more lazy in your seat, make your seat more relaxed, slow the rhythm by your lazy seat. Take the inside hind out of your seat, SI in position on a circle.
Aim for self carriage – the horse can carry his own head!! Give him a friendly contact – don’t HOLD with the reins. RAISE hands – NEVER a backward hand. Taking the hands backwards stiffens the back, a stiff back looses the hind legs. Turn the rear wheel, activate the hind leg and BRING the HORSE to the BIT! To round the horse, raise the inside hand. Form your horse out of a lazy seat – inside flexion for a chewing mouth for a relaxed poll.

My observations – A strong ‘proffesional’ rider who made a real improvement by the end. The difference in the hind leg stepping under once the contact had softened was wonderful! No more hovering, and the footfall was much lighter.

7. Welfonprinz – 17.2hh Gelding working at elementary level.

GERD:
For saying such a big horse, the horse reacts the most to Gerd’s weight lol!! Same exercises!!

RIDER:
Canter is good for the trot in this horse – keep the energy from the canter into the trot. Carry your hands softly in front. Always organise your horse from behind to front. Downward stretch in canter is great for strengthening the back – 2 wheels turn to the maximum so back is stretched to the maximum.

8. Freddie Fox – 12yr old gelding eventing to intermediate level. Find it difficult to step through with his hinds.

Quite a long backed horse with a gangly conformation! Horse put through hi paces and handed over to Gerd!

GERD:
Horse taken through the same exercises as before. As the horse began to stretch forwards and release the back, he suddenly didn’t look that gangly anymore! His neck took on a much nicer shape – possibly because he was using the muscles correctly? Gerd was having fun with this horse I think!!

RIDER:
Again, same kind of rider issues with overuse of inside hand. RAISE the hands – NEVER BACKWARDS with the hands. Once the horse has found its rhythm THEN you can start to influence the hind legs and ask for flexion – RHYTHM FIRST!
Rider seems more balanced in canter than trot – they get some very nice work in canter. Transitions between trot and canter in a stretch position is wonderful for strengthening the back.

9. Caribbean – or ‘bean’ cos she’s full of beans lol!!! Working towards PSG – wants to work on soft through the neck and more engagement. Same rider as Cadbury. Horse is half sister.

Horse is stiff on right rein – same as other horse! Rider is again very defensive in position, very strong contact and the mares response is to RUSH! Mare was also very spooky and ‘wound up tight’

GERD:
Gerd tried to mount from the ground, but Mare was NOT happy about this and chucked in a few bucks knocking Gerd over and managing to escape!! After catching her up, Gerd mounted from a step and began to work her just the same as the rest. He let her stand and look at any ‘monsters’ she believed she could see, and within 10 minutes she had calmed right down and began to listen and respond to Gerd. Again, he kept slowing the rhythm THEN activating the hind leg, asking for flexion and then a stretch. Clever mare picked it up very quickly and her paces just came alive. She is a very nice horse when moving correctly.
Gerd was aksed – how would you hack this horse out? He replied – Id open the door!!! Hahahahaha!
RIDER:
Gerd said to the lady – This is NOT your horse! This is a completely new horse – it is a shire horse!!! Ride your horse like it is a calm horse and she will be calm. The rider tried very hard to relax, but it must be hard under these conditions! At times the mare was getting wound up bit Gerd managed to dissolve it before it became a problem. Take the Horse to the Bit – not the Bit to the Horse! The horse wants to GO! Give the feeling YOU want to go but the horse stays with your seat! DON’T react to what the horse reacts to – CALM DOWN – MIND TO THE GROUND. Your body gives the rhythm NOT the reins!!

Conclusions:

Well, it seems the two most important concepts for me are missing in everyday training! One, teach the horse to move away from pressure! Two. Inside leg to Outside hand!!! Every rider overused the inside rein and gave away the outside rein – and most riders couldn’t use both reins independently. If they gave one, they had to give both! It’s a bugbear of mine as it took me a LONG time to understand this properly and yet its SO important! I also was amazed that horses at higher levels of training did not possess the building blocks of the training scale such as relaxation and rhythm!

The conference was a brilliant experience and I have learned a lot! And although Im sure the ‘stiff lady’ came under a bit of criticism, I have to say I learned the most from her! I am always just a step away from falling down this trap myself, trying too hard, being too stiff, having a horse that ‘runs’ from this feeling and instead of relaxing you get more stiff and start hanging! It isn’t pretty! So it was just fascinating to watch just how horses react with Gerd and with their rider.

It really all is about the seat and rider balance – we cannot HOPE to influence our horse, until we can influence ourself! To improve your horse, you MUST improve yourself!

It was a fascinating weekend, to be able to understand how correct riding positively influences a horse yet bad riding ends up breaking a horse down is very enlightening! At times I felt sad and angry how we damage our horses by our ignorance and how people pay good money for trainers to teach them all the wrong stuff! Yet, I came away inspired and with renewed enthusiasm and could not wait to get back to ride my horse!!

If you haven’t already, buy his book or DVD – he really is worth listening too.

Heuschmann Clinic - Day One - Dr. Sven Kold

2009-04-18T11:37:00.003+01:00

Dr. KOLD – How to Approach the minimally lame / multi-limb lame horse

Dr Kolds lectures were designed or vets / therapists dealing with lameness issues on a regular and diagnosing level. Some of it was a little technical for me (DOH!) but it was still very interesting to listen to and he was obviously a very knowledgeable person within his field.

Questions to ask yourself:
Is he lame or cant he do it? OR Is he NOT lame and WONT do it?
Is he lame in so many limbs that lameness becomes invisible (bilateral symmetry)
Is he lame or just not living up to expectations
Is there a real problem – needs a diagnoses

Reasons horses do not perform:
Breathing difficulties
Sore feet
Core Lesions

When carrying out a diagnoses BE COMMITTED! Continue until completed. Investigations take time / money. Good facilities are need to investiage – a variety of different surfaces and different riders. Good professional riders acan mask / correct early symptoms by their riding.

Vets / Therapisits must possess knowledge of different equine sports – this is aquired by observing a large number of ‘normal’ horses and getting a base line or getting ‘your eye in’

Ability to recognise lack of athletiscm / suitable temperament / co-ordination / balance under a rider. Pick the best horse for the job. You will have more problems trying to make a dressage star from an unsuitable mount due to its body not being designed for the job. Be honest about YOUR capabilities as a rider and about whether you horse can physically DO what you are asking it too long term. Give your horse the best chance right from the start by being honest about the partnership.

Balance and power are AQUIRED and NOT available in a young horse.

Flexion tests should NOT be read as a stand alone test – only as part of the whole investigation. Often time, more information is gained by DOING the flexion than from the trot up. Flex lower joints FIRST then move higher. Also watch the horse inwalk – Stringhalt / shivering are easier tosee at the walk.

SYMPTOMS often reflect the OCCUPATION!

Racehorse ‘hanging’ Jumpers ‘hurdling’ Dressage ‘evasions’ etc

Look for changes in lathering / bit acceptance / audible changes in rhythm stride / teeth grinding / grunting / change in outline / rider inability to sit

Lack of lathering indicates a LOCKED BACK

The coffin joint is the most common reason of lameness in performance horses.

XRAYS are only static pictures of dynamic processes in the past. In otherwords, do not relyheavily on x-rays alone. They are only a small piece of information to solve the puzzle.

Can operate by removing fragments / Joint Lavage (washing / flossing joint) / Joint support (farriery) / Joint Rehab (correct training)

Data must be documented for reference points and measuring success and negative reponses.

NO BACK NO MOVEMENT (2nd Lecture)

Restricting effect of back pain.

I principle (!!!) dressage horses ‘shouldn’t’ have back pain as they SHOULD be working over the back in optimum balance!

In reality dressage esp at higher levels often fatigues the back and leads to injury through incorrect OR / AND overtraining.

Many horses believed to have a sore back have primary problems with Multi Limb Lameness. Lunge assessment first and look at the back from overhead and behind to check for asymmetries in muscle development.

T15 – T16 is a high statistical area of impinging spines
T12 – T16 is a high statistical area of Supraspinus Ligament tears

Kissing spines MAY be as a result of soft tissue damage in the spine area. In acute cases there is enlargement of the Supraspinus ligament – in chronic cases the ligament is atrophied.

We were shown some very interesting (and horrific) slides of back wear and tear including kissing spines, which is Dr. Kolds field of work. He also showed us some post op pictures of vertebrae that has been operated on to remove the ‘cap’ of vertebrae and hence release the pressure in the impinging spinal processes.

He also talked us through his rehab routine which he said was very traditional!! And made no apologies for it! He explained that it was a wasted of time operating on a horse if the owners then put it in the field and it either did nothing and got fat and stiff or honed about and did even more damage! So he advocated box rest and regular hand walking to start. He then advocated the use of the pessoa for the next satge of rehab which was for exercising and strengthening the back. He showed some video clips which caused a bit of discussion!! The clips did show a horse in a slightly overbent position – certainly more than what is optimum in MY opinion but I also didn’t think it was ROLKUR as some slightly hysterical comments were made lol!

I think Dr Kold felt a little uncomfortable showing the clips after Gerds lecture – but I am glad he did – and I was also glad that he might review the positioning in future and was also glad he was big enough to say that he is continually learning.
Dr Kold explained that not a lot of people knew how to lunge correctly and he is correct! I do have to say, my opinion that day was the pessoa at that setting, whilst not IDEAL, was better than a horse running around hollow backed on the end of a lunge line after a kissing spines op! But – like I say, just my own opinion.

I very much enjoyed both lectures although I feel Dr Heuschmann’s lecture was probably more suited to the audience in terms of content! I went away feeling stimulated but also a little sad that we seem to cause such a LOT of damage to our horses through ignorance and even worse through our desire to win at all costs.
I think its inevitable that SOME damage will be caused by riding our horses regardless of how conscientious we are, but I do think with good HORSEMANSHIP it is not detrimental to our horses longterm and they are able to function with a high level of life worth

Gerd Heushmann Clinic - Day one

2009-04-18T11:32:00.001+01:00

Well, what can I say!! I had a BRILLIANT weekend – so very glad I went and I have come away inspired and with new enthusiasm which has been very much needed of late!

The first day was a lecture day with Dr. Gerd Heuschmann and Dr Sven Kold an equine orthopaedic specialist.

They did two lectures each but I think it will read better if I write up each persons lecture as a whole!

Gerd Heuschmann – Functional Anatomy.

During his time carrying out veterinary examinations of lame horses he came across horses that he just couldn’t find any real satisfactory reasons for its lameness. He began to ask to see the horses ridden and also RIDE them himself! What he began to find out in almost all cases is that the horses backs were blocked causing disruptions in the flow of normal muscles functions and this lead to the abnormality in gaits. He found that often, if he could get the horses to release the back, then the lameness would disappear!
Conclusion – faulty riding / faulty saddles / poor farriery were ultimately leading to lameness issues in horses.

Functional Anatmony – The horses anatomy determines its way of training. Or in otherwords you CANNOT work against the horses bio-mechanical way of working WITHOUT destroying it.
25-30% of training is physical – the rest is mental. Mental tension in a horse causes all kinds of tensions in the body.
Horsemanship is “FEELING” the horse. If the rider is relaxed, the HORSE is relaxed.

All of this only works if your SEAT is NEAR PERFECT!!!!! A lifetimes work is your SEAT!!!!

A horse is born to run and not carry. That is why a horse requires systematic training to be able to carry weight (a human) in a way that its body can cope with.
We must remember that training should always be progressive and RELATIVE to each particular horse that you are working with. There ARE rules of thumb, but a good HORSEPERSON is able to assess each horse individually and understand what that horse requires to help it carry a person.
Rules of thumb for early training:
3 year old = 3 sessions per week
4 year old = 4 sessions per week
5 year old = 5 sessions per week

2 days recovery in young horses to allow muscles to recuperate and not become sore. Sore muscles = tense muscles. Working tense muscles = damage!

How can a horse carry weight?? We must encourage the horse to develop a ‘BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION’ with its back so it will be strong enough to take the weight of a rider without damaging its own body.

ACTIVE SYSTEM:

1 Long Back Muscle – Longissimus Dorsi
The most misunderstood muscle!!! This muscle is unilateral in walk/trot and nearly bilateral in canter.
You cannot SIT to a tense back, if you struggle with sitting trot, then it is most likely that the back is tense. Normally contact issues are a result of a stiff back – so if your horse does not take a steady soft contact, then it is likely that the back is tense. With a relaxed back muscle, the whole body works freely and the neck can stretch and the hind legs can step under. With a relaxed back, the gaits will be pure and free. With tense muscles the system becomes disrupted and the gaits are affected. We can then see such faults as lateral walk, loss of rhythm and bridle lameness.

IF THE GAITS ARE NOT PURE THE WHOLE THING IS WORTHLESS!!!!

The walk is the weakest gait when it comes to the muscles system and therefore breaks first. A fault in the walk gait is a good indicator of a tense back.
Saddles that do not fit properly press on the spine and therefore block the back.

2. Topline System

The topline system is linked to haunches by the back muscle. The topline is connected from poll to tail. The raising of the forehand is RELATIVE to the strength of the BACK. The horse has to ‘grow up’ gradually – the raising of the forehand CANNOT be forced. It is a natural progression as the horse becomes stronger and advanced in its training. If you force it, you break it! Signs of a forced outline are a broken neckline at the horses weakest point between 2nd and 3rd vertebrae.
In the military, young horses / horses in training were known as ‘remounts’ and spent 2yrs in basic training which involved – XC, Jumping, Hacking – ALL to encourage the horse to think FORWARDS with a long neck. WHY? Because after 2 yrs of this kind of exercise they KNEW they would have the back!!! The best kind of exercise for the topline is stretching from poll to tail, so forward work in a nice stretched or novice outline is imperative for building the required strength in the back.

The neck position is RELATIVE to the SUPPLENESS of the BACK and the ability to FLEX the HAUNCHES

3. Back Fascia

The fascial system generally supports, stabilizes, and cushions. It also is responsible for movement. Muscle tissue is actually connective tissue strands with attached biochemicals that produce fiber shortening (muscle contraction). The back fascia is like a connective web over the horses back.
There are two wheels in a horse. The front wheel is the front legs / neck and rotates anticlockwise. The rear wheel is the haunches and rotates clockwise. The back fascia is able to stretch and contract like elastic as the body moves which helps supports the horses system. When the horses back is blocked this fascia becomes tense and looses the elastic nature. In a stiff back, you very often have stiff hamstrings and the hind legs can no longer step under properly.

The more TENSION in the BACK, the more you LOOSE the HIND LEG.

A word on HyperFlexion:

The ‘theory’ for hyperflexion is bio mechanically it works by STRETCHING the topline from poll to tail and raises the back. And in all fairness – this is EXACTLY what it does!! BUT!............................
What it also does is OVERSTRETCH the system. The neck is put in an extreme stretch and although this does raise the back, the fascia and muscles are then unable to work in their elastic motion of stretch / contract as the limbs move.
So if we imagine we place our hands together and put an elastic band over the two, if we clap our hands, the elastic band stretches and contracts as our hands move in and out. This is like the normal action of the topline muscle chains. If we then tighten the elastic band so it is at full stretch and THEN try and clap our hands – what happens? Well, for one we cant move our hands so easily or as far apart. And secondly, the elastic will start to split under the pressure.
So same for the horse! One, you will loose the free natural paces of the horse as the limb action is inhibited and you will also start to overstretch and damage the muscles and fascia.
The hyperflexion people say that it works by the use of a triangle system involving the shoulders / back / abdominals and the neck is purely for gymnastics!! But this only works when the horse is standing still. When the horse moves, the dynamic system can only work by the abdominals pulling the hind legs under, then in the moment of suspension there is no weight on the back. When the hind leg lands, the abs must relax, the rider sits on the back and the neck comes FORWARDS. So the neck is needed in the process of the horse moving!!

Finally hyperflexion is not only physically harmful for horses but mentally too. Physical and mental tension causes muscles tension, so we increase the problem tenfold!

GAITS INDICATE TENSION

We were shown a selection of photos showing the following examples of BACK and LEG movers to understand abnormalities in gaits.

In trot, the hind canon and front fore arm should be parallel. The energy created by the hindleg moves through a relaxed and supple back and comes THROUGH the body in EQUAL PROPORTIONS. This way of going = a BACK MOVER

Absoloute Elevation – too high a neck postion for the back to handle will result in a stiff back and a broken diagonal trot.

EXTREME examples = compressed neck / high quarters / hind legs trailing and unable to move!! = LEG MOVERS

A LEG MOVER should NEVER win a prize even if the test was technically perfect!!! PURITY OF THE PACES MUST TAKE PRECEDENCE!

QUOTE:
Dear Rider, Only ride competition trot if you have stupid judges or stupid buyers! And even then, not too often or you will RUIN your horse!!

A word on passage:
Connection between pushing and forward power. The down and up is from sinking haunches and this gives the cadence and slow swinging movement.
In a leg mover, the cadence is coming from the moving leg HALTING / HOVERING in the air!! NO LOWERING of haunches and stiff back – no parallel diagonal.

In trot, some competition horses are MADE to use their hind legs even though their backs are too stiff, to give the impression of the horse stepping through correctly. How can we tell it is a LEG MOVER? The DIAGONALISATION is LOST!! Photo’s showed one foot on the ground in TROT!

Signs from gaits of inadequate suppleness of back:
Lateral Walk
Broken Diagonal
One foot on ground in trot
4 Beat canter
Tail showing negative tension

2nd part of Lecture:

Talked about the two moving circles again. The importance of the relaxed back connecting the front circle and rear circle.

There is a CONNECTION between a lathering mouth and a SOFT POLL.

If the neck is down and the hind leg is STEPPING UNDER, tehn the horse is NOT on the forehand.

IT IS A QUESTION OF HONOUR NOT TO PERFORM ROLKUR!!!

The stifle is lost in absolute elevation and in hyperflexion. We were shown a computer generated animation of a horse going from normal position to absolute elevation back to normal and then to hyperflexion. It was left on a loop as Gerd talked and it was fascinating to watch how it altered the stifle in the two extremes of positioning. Now, I could see the trailing of hind legs in videos of rolkur etc, but though it was due to the horse not being able to go forwards, but biomechanicaly, it locks OUT the stifle in this position!! Fascinating!

WITHOUT the DEVELOPMENT of IMPULSION, NO COLLECTION is POSSIBLE!

3 major joints of the haunches – Hip joint / Stifle joint / Hock.

It is hard work for the extensor muscles to weight carry i.e flex haunches. A very good way to strengthen these muscles is to……………………….RIDE FORWARDS!!!! In other words, same as the ‘campaign school’ or ‘Remount phase’ get your horses out hacking, cross country up and down hills etc.

Another ‘key’ discovered was the watching the French / Portuguese method of ‘correction work’ which was carried by using lateral work in walk. Gerd went and experimented with this, and has had great success!! Something about turning the hind wheel, i.e activating the hind leg, starts something in the front wheel – the stretch into the bridle!!

The topline muscles are used to resist the hand – THE MORE YOU PULL – THE MORE YOU LOOSE THE HIND LEGS AND STIFFEN THE BACK!

There are two ways of flexing the poll – vertically and laterally. Lateral flexion (to the side) is VERY important to relax the muscle system. If you overbend and narrow the neck you are loading the poll and therefore you stiffen the back.
On the occipital bone which very basically speaking connects the poll to the vertebrae, there are two long processes called the ‘paracondylar processes of occipital bone’ which when the horse is overbent can lock against the Hyoid bone! Which in laymans terms mean – THE HORSE CANNOT FLEX LATERALLY WHEN OVERBENT!!!

The nose HAS to be just in front of the vertical!

BRIDLE LAMENESS:

When Gerd found there were no conclusive tests for lameness on a particular horse he asked the rider to present the horse under saddle. THE LAMENESS INCREASED!! So Gerd rode the horse, and it felt like riding a PLANK OF WOOD! The mouth was like metal and he couldn’t bend the horse and EVERY joint was stiff!

BRIDLE LAMENESS EXISTS!! Horses can be sound but UNSOUND with a rider. Some horses stay unsound WITHOUT a rider when enough damage is done.

Lunge in halter:
Lameness will change with change of rein – indicating stiffness / tension of back hindering use of hind leg

Counter flexion on a circle – again misuse of hind leg

Long duration of disunited canter

Under Rider:
Lameness increases!!!!
Extremer expression of natural crookedness
Lazy or ‘running’ horses
Loss of impulsion compared to lunge
Difficulties with contact
General stiffness
Resistance right up to rearing

Easy to confuse with classic lameness – systematic lameness exam should still be carried out to exclude other causes of lameness.

Barney The Brave!

2009-01-22T20:34:00.004Z

What a difference a year makes!!! When we stabled at my sisters last time, We had only had Barney a year and being the sensitive flower he is, he still got very anxious over things!

He was not very confident in traffic - which is a bummer when whatever hack you go on you have to negotiate a busy main road! He took a dislike to a row of houses and wouldn't walk past them in a straight line, but would try and sneak past like a crab regardless of what traffic was coming :-0 And WATER!! Just typical of a boy, he HATED water with a passion!

Since we have been back however, we have realised just how his confidence has grown, his and Amy's relationship has blossomed, and just how Amy's riding skills have devloped! He now couldnt give a hoot about traffic! And after I showed Amy how to ride past the scary cottages using a combination of shoulder-fore position, and a positive attitude - they now ride past without a care in the world! And last weekend, we did a new hack - one that involved going through a ford!! As it had been very wet, the water was quite deep too :-0 But all horses wnet through without a worry - EVEN BARNEY!! He walked through calmly and didnt try and rush through it or climb the sides of the bank lol!!

Just goes to shoe that you can teach an old-er horse new tricks!!! YAY for Barney!!!

Thinking Laterally!!

2009-01-16T18:01:00.003Z

While searching on the net for lateral exercises I can be doing while restricted to walk in the yard I came across this:

Lateral Exercises

Although the little horse figures with the bulging shoulder isnt ideal!! I thought the exercises were interesting and will give them a try! Anything to widen our repetoire :-)

Would love to hear of anybodys favourites schooling exercises for inspiration!

And how it SHOULD be done!!!

2009-01-16T15:24:00.003Z

I found these video clips of Bent Branderup riding some lateral movements. They have really clarified in my mind the movements that I was trying to achieve in my last lesson. I also admire the lack of tension in the horse. Although Bent does have a slightly braced lower leg!! Well thats how it looks to me anyhow! Please correct me if Im way off the mark lol!! The picture as a whole is very beautiful though ;-)

Shoulder in to Renvers

Travers

Shoulder In:

BOING......BOING........BOING

2009-01-16T11:43:00.004Z

This morning, I got to the yard as normal...........Did the rugs, fed the horses as normal.................went to lead them out, as normal............AND THEN!!!

Out of the dark loomed the shape of a mini digger - and a stock pile of earth!! OMG!! THEY ARE DIGGING OUT THE MENAGE!!!!!

BOING!!! BOING!!!!! BOING!!!!!!!!!

And to top it off, I have seen the LIGHT!! Literally!!! Last night as I came out from work, it was still light - only just - but enough to give me a real boost YAY!!!!

SPRING is on its way WOOOOHOOOO!!!!

AND its FRIDAY!!! Tommorrow....................I RIDE!!!!!!!

ps - WAVES to Chrissie :-) HELLO!!!!

The Thinking Rider........................

2009-01-14T22:49:00.004Z

'The thinking rider should understand the influence of each exercise on the entire training and eradicate any fault the moment it appears as the training progresses. Profound knowledge and experience together with understanding and sympathy towards his four legged partner will make the rider mature into a proffesor, and he will blossom out from an ordinary workman into an artist. As an artist, he will be awed by the creations of nature, will honour the beauty of his horse in all his movements as a gift from heaven, and despise any form of artifice. He will realise that nature can exist without art, but that art cannot exist without nature.'

From: The complete training of horse and rider - Alois Podhajsky

This gave me goosebumps!! Alois is my HERO!! Oh Alois, how I love thee - let me count the ways :swoon:

I have been re-reading this book again - so MANY quotable pages, such a true horseman ;-)

Maurus 441 - New world Champion 2009!!

2009-01-14T21:29:00.005Z

The young stallion Maurus 441 became this year's WORLD CHAMPION this week at the KFPS Hengsten Keuring! He comes from Stam Line 27 - the same as Antsje's!! So we are in good company along with Rypke 321 and Jasper 366 (one of my favourite stallions!)

Here is a bit of video of the 2009 Keuring featuring Maurus among others :-)

Kampioens Keuring op de Friese HK 2009 from Coby Prooy on Vimeo.

And I cant resist adding a bit of video of Jasper either lol!!! He is HOT!!!!

Fanatical about Friesians???

2009-01-13T16:31:00.003Z

WARNING!! WARNING!! Its just a little bit addictive!! I have hankered after a Friesian for years and have to say that now I own one, it has exceeded my WILDEST dreams!! They really are beautiful creatures – inside and out!
But like any breed of beauty it is so easy to get dazzled and not be objective in your task!!
I would always recommend that you consider buying a registered FPS studbook Friesian – purely because a horse entered into the studbook HAS to pass certain criteria set out by the FPS studbook, which will always be in line with their breeding programme. You can therefore be confident of a good quality horse as the FPS grading process is very strict and a surprising amount of horses don’t even get allowed into the Studbook!! After that you can ‘premie’ grades – 1, 2 & 3. A 3rd premie is a good above average Friesian and a 1st premie is a very high quality example of the breed. When a horse is graded at STER or STAR then this is an extremely good example of the breed.

It is quite a challenge to ride a Friesian horse correctly –particularly if you buy a younger horse that hasn’t had so much schooling – as I found out!! The bigger the horses movement, the more balanced you are going to have to be as a rider! The Friesian as a breed can typically be weaker in the stifle and also through the back, this makes them less predisposed to ‘stepping under’ with their hind quarters. If you can re-educate their posture and use exercises that strengthen this area, they soon get the idea as Friesians are VERY intelligent and have a great attitude to work (in the main!)

If you are interested in Friesians or indeed already have a Friesian then I think you will find these articles VERY interesting!

Guide to buying a Friesian Horse from FHAGBI (the UK breed Association)
GUIDE TO BUYING A FRIESIAN

Friesian Care guide with some great info on training at the end from Elevation Friesians.
FRIESIAN CARE GUIDE

A great training article by Sabine Schut-Kerry - sadly it seems a page is missing! But its definitely worth a read!! Legacy Friesians have some great information on there site full stop!
A FANCY FOR THE FRIESIAN

Hope you enjoy the articles and find them as useful as I do!! The training articles are applicable to any horse I feel ;-)

BEGONE!! You Fraught Perfectionist you!!!!

2009-01-12T15:19:00.002Z

PERSPECTIVE!!! I * NEED * to find some perspective before I drive myself crazy!!!
I have to admit of being utterly despondent about my circumstances and the backwards step in my riding ARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!! I CAN see what I need to do to improve, and I feel a month of consistent riding would knock a big hole in my list of faults. BUT! I cannot do this ****WAILS****

Currently I am back at my sisters yard where we have no facilities and I am grieving for my arena with floodlights and TIME to ride! Even though we can use the field to ride, schooling is impossible as the footing is not good enough the school figures out of walk. And Antsje cannot ‘relax’ properly even to lunge – it is too slippy. The main road to get to any of our hacks has been tar and chipped and these little stones are really making Antsje stumble – as soon as she is off this road she is fine on all other surface – I am really conscious of making her foot sore by hacking out too far. URGH!

So I can see all these faults and feel powerless to do anything to improve them – how FRUSTRATING!!!!! BUT!! I AM learning! I do realise how self destructive this is and do not want to go there this year – into that pit of despair…………….

So, I am writing all I have to be grateful for and what I CAN do!

First off – an important statement.

The more you resist your circumstances, the harder you make your life – All the yearning in the world will not change a single thing – SO - work with what you have got!!!

So with this in mind here is my list of REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL!!

· I have my dream horse – many people would be thankful * just * for that ;-)
· I have a yard area that is lit where I can do Work in Hand or ridden work in walk
· The ménage has been marked out!!!
· The field is on a good slope – perfect for building up Hindquarters!!
· The hacks are very hilly – perfect for building up hindquarters lol!!
· I have to think out of the box! Success will be sweeter for the challenge ;-)
· The light nights will be here soon!
· By putting the horses out at night and in in the day will release even more time come the spring!!
· I can use this time to really confirm my goals and my theory ready for the riding
· I have the Dr. Gerd Heuschmann clinic to look forwards to!

I have January syndrome I think! Its always the hardest month! Roll on February, a nice short month and then its………………………..MARCH!! WOOOOHOOOO!! Then time can slow down a bit then …………………..please!!!! I really don’t ask for much do I LOL!!!

THANK GOD! For the .................

2009-01-12T13:26:00.003Z

WEEKEND!!!!!
WOOHOO!!! I rode! Only hacking mind as the field was unsuitable for schooling, saturday to frozen and sunday too wet! Sounds like a line out of Goldilocks and the three bears! Im waiting for 'JUST RIGHT'
Went hacking with Amy and Barney on Saturday and had a play with dong a bit of lateral work along the lanes hehehehe!!! Trouble is I forgot exactly the combination of what we did in the lesson (hence the late post) so I ended up doing SI to travers and Counter shoulder in to Renvers lol!! Still, although not quite what we did, I actually had a lightbulb moment with Renvers out off Counter Shoulder In :-) I did actually find the positioning for renvers easier out of counter SI as I already had the bend and just had to change the angle. I did this by re-positioning my hips to face the 'inside', held the 1/4's in position with the inside leg behind the girth and then asked the forehand to come off the track. Does this sound OK? Im finding it hard to explain?!?!? Well, at least I have got it in my head the positioning of renver which I was having a bit of a mental block with! I actually tried some passade to Renvers succesfully! I tried doing this a while back but realised I was taking the passade round to far and doing counter SI instead!! Ive not tried since as my mind couldnt seeem to grasp renvers at all!

Antsje is in season :rolls eyes: and on Saturday she had her real obstinate head on, and was very resistant to putting her ‘HEAD DOWN’ This is always a BIG sign of her being ‘not with me’ both on the ground and ridden. I swear to god you could hang off her head and she still wouldn’t put it down if you tried!! What a madam! So I did some ‘Head Down’ Exercises which helped but she wasn’t really ‘with me’ 100% - as soon as I released the pressure within seconds up she popped again Grrrrrr!!

Anyhow, time being of the essence, I got on and off we went. One thing I noticed that without very much arguing or effort at all, the lateral suppling exercises softened her whole body and mind :-) In fact in the end, we were able to trot with left bend – then straight – then right bend with NO resistance and just from the seat. Was lovely :-) And when I got back, the head down was breeze – no resistance whatso-ever, I could just move her head wherever and she complied willingly. Isnt suppling work a wonderful thing?!?! Im hoping it will be just as effective when schooling proper!

On Sunday morning my friend Helen came to visit - was GREAT to see her (((HUGS)) In the afternoon I hacked out Antsje on my own – which I LOVED!! I haven’t done this now for months and it was just a lovely hour spent with my horse. Again we practised some of the lateral movements and used the stretching into the contact to make a nice transition into trot! We don’t seem to get quite so sticky out on hacks – whether this is because Antsje is naturally more forward on a hack or whether its because I’m more relaxed and care free about it (guess which one lol!) Im not sure, but we seem to flow better.

Again, the work had really relaxed her up mentally and she was nice and ‘soft’ when we got back home :-D

We have a new horse at the yard – a 16.2 TB, which I had a little, ride on Saturday. Does make me realise how BIG Antsje moves – although this horse is bigger than Antsje she was FAR easier to ride and to keep in balance with! Antsje will train me to ride ANY horse I think!

With a little help from.................

2009-01-12T13:22:00.002Z

MY FRIENDS!!!! More followers and comments! So grateful of the moral support folks 9(((hugs)))
So a BIG hello to JVT, Helen, Danni, Lin and Cabruze :waves:

Lesson 04.01.09

2009-01-12T11:23:00.009Z

Well, its took me a while to write up!! We did quite a bit of new stuff and not being able to ride since the lesson until this weekend has made it difficult to crystallise my thoughts!! I ended up asking my long-suffering instructor Mike for clarification lol!! (poor Mike!!) And as his descriptions are so more lucid than my own I have stolen them Mwaaaa haaa haaaaa!!!!

Quoted from Mike Aylmore:

We worked initially on shoulder in, 10m circle, then continue in travers. This works well as the shoulder in gives a natural position to move onto the circle and you are also in a perfect position for travers as you return to the track. The shoulder in and travers have the same bend but you are right, they engage different hind legs. I always find this makes it harder to move from one to the other without a circle in between, it just doesn't seem to flow. When we were changing between exercises on the long side we would have gone from shoulder in to renvers and counter shoulder in to travers. In lateral work, the general rule is that the hind leg that steps in front of the other is the one that is being engaged. So, on the right rein for example, shoulder in is engaging the right hind. If you change the bend, then you are in renvers position, still engaging the right hind. Likewise, counter shoulder in on the right rein (essentialy shoulder in left!) engages the left hind. Change the bend to travers position on this rein and you are still engaging the left hind. This is why I like to combine the exercises in this way. As you move from one to the other you aren't changing the hind leg that is engaging, just changing the bend. The exercises just seem to flow better. It is particularly useful for Antsje as you are stretching one side, then changing the bend and stretching the other while engaging the same hind leg. For a horse that finds it hard to reach for the contact, being able to encourage the stretch down one side, then the other, will be very useful. The other reason I want you to become familiar with the exercises is so that you find it easier to correct her when she twists in the trot work. As she finds the work harder to the right, she will probably carry her quarters to the left i.e. a natural renvers position on the right rein and travers position on the left rein. To help correct this you need to ride her in an "opposing" position. i.e. "think" travers on the right rein, and renvers on the left rein. Obviously you can only do this if you are familiar with the full range of straightening exercises. In this way, every time you feel her twist and warp and lose the connection to the contact, you can quickly apply a combination of corrections to counter-act the warp!

My thoughts!!!

Well, this was a hard lesson for me and Antsje – neither of us having done Travers or Renvers before!! It was like the blind leading the blind lol!! In actual fact I had been playing a little with travers coming out of the circle, but not having ridden the exercise before I haven’t done too much for fear I was doing it all wrong!! At times I knew I was doing more a leg yield t the wall, rather than travers DOH!!! But it seemed I was not too far away in what I was doing which helped my confidence J Antsje is familiar with moving laterally in the opposite direction to the bend as in leg yield and SI but is not quite ssure WHAT to do with her feet when asked to move laterally into the same direction of the bend as with travers and renvers!! Looking at the video it was quite amusing to see her hovering with her feet really * thinking * where to put them. She does try hard though, and like me, once she UNDERSTANDS the concept she will try her best to do what is asked J She wass getting a little ‘sticky’ at times with the movements but Im sure this will improve with her understanding and physical strength. As for me! Well, I can see I need to be far more helpful to Antsje – but again, difficult when Im learning too L Things I SHOULD be doing is keeping a better position with my seat for one. I am trying TOO HARD and it is affecting my position to the detriment GRRRRRR!!! I have to think more about a relaxed longer leg, as I am gripping up with the effort lol!! I also have to stop holding my leg away from her body for example in the travers, I am pushing with the outside leg and holding my inside leg away from her body instead of wrapping it around. I also have to learn that the energy is produced by the inside leg and the outside leg just ‘holds’ the ¼’s in position, as at the moment Im trying to push her over with the outside leg and I feel this is one of the reasons we are getting ‘sticky’ and loosing forwards.
Mike stressed to me that the exercise doesn’t HAVE to be perfect for it to have the required effect! Do you think he could tell I was trying too hard hehehe!! It was interesting watching the video how after straightening back up after the exercise how Antsje stretched into the outside rein. It is here where I need to be quicker with my reactions and allow her to come through and use the energy created by the lateral movement. I could see I was blocking this at times. *sigh * It was also encouraging to see how the trot improved when asked for directly after straightening after travers! Although my trot was horrendous as by that time my legs had gone numb lol!! I thought the activity in the hocks was much better.

So things for me to bear in mind:

· Horse and rider have to be relaxed for their bodies to function efficiently! STOP trying and let it happen! :rolls eys:
· Think stretched relaxed calf to deepen the leg & seat rather than heel down – this seems to help me stretch rather than force! STOP Trying and let it happen!!
· Keep hands, elbows and shoulder soft – STOP trying blah blah blah!!! :rolls eyes:
· Be quicker with my reactions to be able to help Antsje and get more benefit from the exercise ie, don’t BLOCK by being rigid…STOP trying blah blah blah…………
· Hips to the inside (of the school) for shoulder in and renver – hips to the outside for travers and counter shoulder in.
· Inside leg (of the bend) for bend and impulsion – outside leg for positioning.

Is there a running theme here lol!!!

So for the video:
Please note that this is just the BEGINNING – it is NOT the finished product in any shape or form * blush * I realise my riding needs improvement, particularly with relaxing my seat (but HECK it was COLD!!) but sadly I am out of practice L Also my hands are to rigid, for same reasons! So please keep your comments constructive and help retain the fragile bit of positivity I am desperately holding on to!!

SI – Circle - Travers

Travers on the right rein!

Travers showing the stretch into the rein when straightening

Trot after travers

EDIT - added links as I failed to embed the video Grrrrrr!!!

Summary of 2008!

2009-01-03T12:36:00.007Z

Well, 2008 was an eventful year for me! We made a lot of progress this year and I have personally learnt a lot! The begining of the year I was terribly frustrated with my riding and my seeming inability to influence Antsje with my position. Then I made two fundamental breakthroughs with my riding this year. One was the concept of riding from inside leg to outside hand - Although I thought I was doing this correctly I really wasnt! And although many different people have tried to get me to understand this, it really didnt click until I went for a lesson with Peter Maddison Greenwell. He got me to ride one handed on a circle keeping the inside bend - I was hopeless at first but suddenly we got it!! And all of a sudden I FELT what it was like to have the horse 'in' the outside rein and turn with the inside leg and outside rein! It was AMAZING! And has made a massive difference to my riding :-)

Secondly was a comment from one of my friends who gives great critique! She noticed how I relied on my reins for balance and asked how would I ride without reins?! So I tried the 'without reins' riding and was shamed and horrified how much I relied on them :-( So the end of 2008 has been about me practising an 'independent seat'

Then in October Antsje has had a long layoff due to an operation on her face and inside her front leg to remove some suspicious skin cells. It was done by laser treatment and it left an horrendous wound :-(

But it was lucky I had it done as after the biopsy they had detected 'carcinoma' cells in the leg area so I am glad they have been removed sooner rather than later! Antsje was not the best patient in the world and I was glad when she could finally be released again and I could start riding!

So I am finally back in the saddle - We have been doing a fair bit of hacking and some schooling in the field over the xmas holiday. I even got chance to hire out an arena for a proper schooling session but have to admit that both of us have lost some of the finnesse we had built up towards the end of last year **sigh** Still, I have learnt that frustration gets you nowhere other than a hiding to nothing, so I am POSITIVE that we will regain the lost time quickly as long as I remember all the things I learnt last year :-)

Here is a bit of video as a starting point for this year - I was a bit despondant when I watched it, but hey! Things can only get better right!!!

I am starting off the year in a positive way and tommorrow I have a lesson with Mike Aylmore who I have been training with for nearly 2 years now!! I get such a lot out of his lessons so be prepared for a mamoth post tommorrow lol!!!

Oh! And a BIG HELLO to my two followers Trudi and Claire :-) I can be rest assured that I will get some good feedback on my ramblings :-) Thanks guys!

Dr. Gerd Heuschmann

2009-01-03T12:27:00.003Z

WOOHOOOO!!! I am so excited as I this year I am going to attend a conference with Dr. Gerd Heuschmann and Dr. Svend Kold all about training the horse in relation to its biomechanics!! I have Dr Heuschmanns book 'Tug of War - Classical versus "Modern Dressage' and can highly recommend it! For anyone interested please follow the link for the CONFERENCE

Horses Inside Out

2009-01-03T12:04:00.003Z

Another fantastic Demo from 2008!
Date: 31.03.08
Venue: Witham Villa, Broughton Astley
Arranged by: Hinckley Dressage Group

Ran by Gillian Higgins it was a talk about the arrangement of bones and attachment of muscles in horses and how exercise affect them - it was FASCINATING! They paint the bones onto a REAL horse on one side and then paint the muscles on the other. The first part of the demo is a lecture using a slide show presentation and was just so interesting Particularly about the effects of exercise on the muscles.There are two ways a muscle can work, Dynamic and Static. Dynamic is like rising trot where you are using 'pairs' of muscles for movement. The second type 'static' is more a 'holding' of position like the 2 point seat or jumping position. Gillian got some volunteers to simulate rising trot and the 2 point seat - the rising trot was far easier to maintain over a long period - the static muscles had to work far harder!Within a muscle there are groups of muscle fibres and they all take turns to work - like on a shift system - so the muscles can work over long periods of time without getting tired. When a muscle works there is 'micro-trauma / damage caused to some of the fibres - fibres around the damage will contract around the damage to support it- this is quite normal in hard work, but in prolonged hard work without time to relax and stretch, this can cause a build up and then you get problems like tight contracted muscles and muscle spasms.Static muscular contraction is harder work and therefore creates more damage inthe muscle fibres.Muscular chains:Muscles work together in 'chains' The Dorsal Chain are the muscles above the spine and these extend the muscles.The Ventral Chain or the muscles under the spine and these create flexion of the spine and hip.Without the Abdominal muscles there is no back!!! as muscles work in pairs, the abdominals MUST contract (or shorten) for the back muscles to relax (or lengthen) and therefore allow the spine to flex and arch upwards like a bridge.The thoracis muscles (serrated ventralis) are like a sling and when they contract they 'lift' the thorax UP between the scapula (or shoulders) and lift the withers. This helps the horse 'grow' The more work that muscles get, they will start to become shorter and firmer and therefore begin to hold themselves together - for example if you did your sit ups everyday, the tummy muscles would start to contract and shorten and hold everything 'in' even when resting.LONG AND LOW. The reson this is a good exercie for young horses and as a warm up / warm down for more established horses is it is a good way of stretching the muscles. The swinging hips in trot generates energy in th egluteal muscle which in turn moves the energy through the longissimus dorsi (the back muscle) and helps lengthen and stretch the back muscle, the lowered neck 'out and down' will stretch the nuchal ligament which will help to bring the back 'up' This will recruit the abdominal muscles and will support and encourage best posture of the back The under neck muscles work to lengthen adn extend the neck, the 'topline' muscles work statically to hold the neck vertebrae up. We know this is hard work, so frequent breaks and stretching is good practice.Gillian was asked about her thoughts on Rolkur - she explained the theory behind it - it stretches and brings the back UP. But she did observe that when in the exagerated position of hyperflexion the muscles were in 'overstretch' which wasnt best practise. She thought that bringing the back up could be done in other ways with better results.The horse was then lunged in various gaits on both reins so we could watch the effect of the muscles in motion. The horse at first was encouraged to work in a free long and low stretch, then after he was warmed up, side reins were used to encourage the horse to work in more of an outline. It finished with the horse popping over some jumps!It was a BRILLIANT demonstration and one I found fascinating from start to finish. One thing stuck in my mind - the muscles that were in constant use began to shorten - GREAT if you are working correctly, not so good if the horse is working hollow and developing all the wrong muscles! It has certainly made me think carefully what I am doing, and also made me very aware of rest periods with plenty of stretching between work in an outline.

Erik Herbermann Clinic August 2008

2009-01-03T11:55:00.004Z

One of my most inspirational clinics of 2008 and one that I hope to repeat this year was auditing Erik Herbermann :-) The man is just amazing!! I thought Id copy and paste my notes from the clinic on here for reference. I cant seem to find anyway of uploading a word document to my blog?

Date: Sunday 31.08.08

Venue: Arrow Equestrian

1st lesson

Lady on fairly new warmblood horse. EH talked to her about her position and her general demeanour. He stresses the importance of the ‘Elegance within you’ at first this is something that you ‘put on’ but after time it BECOMES YOU! Ride with elegance and poise.
To improve the lateral work the horse has to be content before it can be truly supple.
To improve the canter – think about how you can ‘HELP YOUR HORSE’ in otherwords preparation, preparation, preparation. Don’t aid for canter out of an unbalanced walk or trot. Set the horse up to succeed. Apply INTELLIGENCE and HEART to your riding. It is not what you do it is HOW you do it – what HEART? What SENSITIVITY? What FEELING?
Remember in lateral work the aids – Halt – Move Over – Light
In otherwords, balance the horse before the movement with a half halt, ask the horse to move over, then lighten your hands to ALLOW the horse to move.

Halting Aid – When using a ‘halting aid’ the horse understands that you the leg means ‘move over’ and not rush forwards. HALT –separate- MOVE OVER –separate- FLOW…….. Don’t give contradictory aids – don’t halt and use the leg at the same time, it makes no sense to the horse.

To rebalance the horse, say from trot:
THINK – “WALK HERE” – THEN – “IVE CHANGED MY MIND”!
This was a running theme throughout the day. It elicits a genuine response from the horse and rider when you think ‘walk here’ rather than ‘halt halt’ which can encourage JUST a rein aid. It should be a whole BODY aid from the rider.

You MUST expect an immediate response to your aids. Your aids have to be ‘HOT POTATO AIDS’ or for more sensitive horses ‘WARM POTATO AIDS’ LOL!!! You have to teach your horse to respond enthusiastically to your forward aids. If the horse doesn’t listen to your leg ‘TAP TAP TAP’ with the stick. Do as little as possible but as much as necessary to get an IMMEDIATE response. Classical riding is NOT ‘ootsey cutsie’ but it DOES respect the horse in EVERY SENSE.

If the horse is against the hand, it could be that the rider is to mechanical or the forward and balance of the horse is not in rhythm.

Legs should be of EQUAL VALUE for straight forwards. After a Halt on a rein, BOTH reins soften.

2nd Lesson

Lady with OTTB mare. Horse is very sensitive and I gather they had been working on de-sensitising her to rider movement during the clinic. The mare tensed and held her back whenever the rider moved – the rider ended up barely moving or breathing to keep her calm. EH said while he LIKED the fact that the rider was so quiet, for this horse she had to move around more in order for her to relax. He got the rider swinging her legs from side to side – reaching and patting her neck, twisting and patting her croup. I could tell from the groups reaction at the end of the lesson that the horse was very different to the one at the start of the week.
Think about what you can do to ‘help her’ today NOT what she has done in the past.
Stay away from strain and tension.
Always choose the GAIT, the SCHOOL FIGURE and the EXERCISE – we must ride with a purpose. The horse doesn’t have a purpose – WE must have the purpose!

The seat is the anchor for the reins – when EH rides everything he does is to do with the SEAT!! Halt halt – we need the reins, but they are INCIDENTAL! Halt from the SEAT!!
Show the horse what you want then LEAVE THEM ALONE! If its not right CHANGE IT! Do not suffer, the horse doesn’t know what is right or wrong – The rider should show them honestly and straight forwards.

3rd Lesson

Double lesson – chap on large Grey horse and Lady on PRE horse (I think!)
A lot of this lesson was concerned with creating energy and keeping the balance.

Balance and flow – let the horse find the rhythm. ANIMATE the horse and MONITOR the rhythm. If you control the rhythm you will KILL IT!
Say ‘Balance’ and ‘YOU do it’ to the horse.
Always both reins, BALANCE – FORWARDS – LIGHT – in other words, rebalance your horse using the ‘walk now, Ive changed my mind’, ALLOW forwards and lighten the hand.
Warm Ups – these are IMPORTANT! Don’t just dawdle around. The horse may be on a long rein but it HAS to be walking purposefully and feel fluid.
Energy Scale – the horse should be ‘animated’ to a level 8, regenerate the energy at 7 – don’t let it get to 3 or 4 before you do anything about it!! As you pick up the reins the horse should stay REACHING FORWARDS – only shorten up reins if the horse is reaching. The RIDER intensity must be ‘UP’ and energetic and expect the same from the horse.

Balance is a tiny spot!! Animating and rebalancing should be like Building a mountain under the saddle. Sit on your SEAT not your laurels!!
The rider must trust the horse to keep soft – DON’T keep holding!!
‘HELP HIM!’ don’t ‘ACCUSE HIM’

Give him [horse] a place to come to – DON’T hold the rhythm – rebalance and LEAVE HIM ALONE!! Bend / Rhythm – Cause it to BE, then SIT on him [horse] don’t HOLD him.

There was a big change in the Grey in particular at the end of the lesson – I had to smile at Erik as his parting advice was:
‘Often time the difference between success and failure is a tiny veil’

Lesson 4

Lady and PRE Gelding

I gather from the group that the lady has been having problems with ‘attentiveness’ of her horse. He is quite highly strung and lacks concentration on the rider, constantly worrying about what is going on ‘around him’
EH recommended riding on a LONG rein – ‘holding’ these types of horses is unproductive – it creates a higher cycle of anxiety in the horse. They had been working on a small circle on a long rein, making corrections when the horse became distracted and praising and ‘leaving alone’ when he was concentrating. The work with the rider was about not getting emotionally involved and joining in the ‘panic attacks’

When in trot, ride like you are on the buckle (As in using your seat) Make aids LOUD not sharp.
Ignoring is a powerful instrument – Show them [horse] what you want and ignore a great deal LOL!!

Inattentive - Don’t look at what they look at!! Don’t get involved!! Aid, Aid, Aid – change rein often. Don’t get emotional, what is he looking at? ‘I don’t care!’ What is he doing? ‘ I don’t care!! Why is he so silly? Answer: I Don’t CARE!!!! Let the horse have NO purchase on your person – its impersonal.

Nature CANNOT resist our quiet, patient, consistent discipline.

This was EH’s mantra all lesson – quiet – patient – consistent discipline WILL win the day, it CANNOT be resisted, EVENTUALLY the horse will settle (quiet) EVENTUALLY the horse will GET IT (Consistent) EVENTUALLY!! (Patience)

DO NOT HOLD!!! Aid and release – PREVENT NOTHING!! Correct and release.
NO does not exist in horsemanship – show him [horse] what you DO want and not what you don’t.

RIDER – don’t get ‘tight’ when riding. When it starts to get easier – DON’T get sloppy in the mind. Rider should be fully focussed ALWAYS. Give the horse the purpose [exercise] in a way he can accept.

I enjoyed this lesson – was lovely to see how calm and attentive the horse became towards the end. EH was hilarious too! To gain the horses concentration he kept saying, make it interesting for him, LOOK! LOOK! Look at the pretty flowers in the middle of the circle, look at the kittens playing in the circle LOL!! And at the end he got up and danced around the school waving a scarf! And to the riders and horses credit – NEITHER of them looked – they didn’t CARE LOL!!

Lesson 5

This was the same lady from lesson 2 and her other horse a dark bay warmblood.

Again, the importance of a forward flowing warm up, particularly with a stuffier horse. This horse was in stark contrast to her other horse – the rider had to find ways to SENSITISE him to her aids rather than de-sensitise. Back to the HOT POTATOE aids again!

Eric singing ‘I keep on knocking’ LOL!!

Keep nagging is like working like a common labourer and not a CEO – WHY? A CEO knows how to delegate! The responsibility for the horse moving forwards is THE HORSES! Riding in this way, we ride in a WORTHY way – the horse is NOT stupid, and ridden consistently will learn quickly. Rider should be relaxed, any ‘holding’ of any part of us stresses the sensitive horse.

Don’t HOLD / Don’t PREVENT / LET the error happen and ADJUST IT – DO NOT PUNISH – Adjust, show the horse and PRAISE!

Value of changing diagonal without changing rein prevents horse and rider getting SET – it helps promote a LOVE of balance…………….providing you do it by choice!!

An Inattentive rider can ‘dull’ a horse – rider must be MINDFUL and consistent. We must be clear and consistent about our goals and purpose.

If we wish the horse to CONTRIBUTE we MUST have Enthusiasm!! Rider has to be on the ‘ball’ – if anything is OK, we will get any old results

Enthusiastic riding mad a BIG difference! EH was ‘enthusing’ about animating your horse and just his voice and his energy made an impact on the horse! When the rider joined it was AMAZING!! The horse came to life! EH’s comments were – DELEGATE ‘ YOU do it boy! Im just coming along with you!!
“Double ups” are good for creating energy – halt to trot – walk to canter
“Single Ups” better for an unbalanced horse
“Triple Ups” – Excellent for animating established horses – Halt to canter

Really think ELEGANCE – Good Posture is paramount.

AID & LIGHT, AID & LIGHT – Holding builds unnecessary tension. [both horse & rider]
The horse HAS to contribute for beautiful work – ‘squeezing’ work out is ugly!!

Another brilliant lesson to watch – the horse came in as a rather ‘ordinary’ horse. You could see he had nice gaits but he was just ‘going through the motions’ and kind of looked a bit big and heavy and lumbering. Once we had the enthusiasm, well!! He just came alive!! Heightened still by a spectator dropping something and making a BANG LOL!! MY GOD this horse could move! He finished looking like a TOP dressage horse, and because EH insisted on the NO HOLDING, and Aid and Light, the work really was free of tension and was really beautiful – I mean REALLY beautiful! We were all smiles!

Lesson 6
A lady with a very nice PRE Stallion ;)

The combination wanted to work on ‘impulsion’ as the horse can be a little too laid back at times! They did some work on ‘flowing’ particularly in walk as that is the hardest pace to create impulsion naturally.
Again EH stressed the importance of ‘Delegating the task of going forwards to the horse’
Keep an energy level of 8, never let it drop less than 7 – its too late when it gets to 3!!
The ‘Enthusiastic riding’ was touched on again.
Every cell in your body should say ‘Ahhhhhh LETS GO!!!
Don’t let your hands get stagnant – keep your hands ALIVE
Your horse reads your attitude – the rider must be POSITIVE and praise the horse when he gives the correct answer.
The horse says ‘ I LOVE your [the riders] appreciation of my contribution’
Riders seat needs to be LONG then the walk will be LONG. The seat directs and forms the energy that the legs generate.
Inside leg AND outside rein and leg. Both outside aids to receive the energy that the inside leg creates. The outside rein should bend gently around the neck. Don’t take the outside rein AWAY from the neck.

Its amazing how much one knows without knowing – trust your FEEL!
If we want ‘fine’ then we have to approach riding wirh finesses by REFINING our aids.
Don’t bend your horse WITH your leg but AROUND it! It should be a passive post for bending.

You need ‘FORWARDNESS’ for the outside rein to have its ‘framing’ effect. Without forward the outside aids are meaningless.
Bending and Guiding are tweo separate subjects – they may be combined but they are Separate!

***KEEP YOUR SCHOOL FIGURES**

Forward – gather – forward builds energy.

Use your aids honestly – and trust the horse to respond correctly.

Again, another very interesting lesson to observe. The faults were minimal, but what an improvement when corrected! Particularly the issues with the outside rein. Great to watch.

Lesson 7

Chap from lesson 3 on a nice chestnut ‘hunter type’

I missed a lot of the lesson (gabbing!) which was a shame as I gather there were a few issues at the start, but they finished in a real good place. EH’s comments were you went from Hell to Heaven in one lesson LOL!!

Again, the work was very much in the balance of the horse and building the energy. With lots of ‘Walk here’ and ‘Oh, Ive changed my mind’

You need Energy in the Piggy Bank before you can Spend!!

Lesson 8
Lady on an Arrow school horse on her first lesson with EH.

Lady was a little crooked so EH worked on this issue and the problems this caused for the horse.

Square in seat and position

Bend versus Guidance – KEEP SEPARATE!!
Don’t get so ‘tight’ relax – Nothing to it – JUST DO IT!!
Forwardness is the key – without it the horse cannot know what the outside rein and leg is for.

Both sides of the horse should have equal value – if the horse is cutting in or out then the horse is not straight between the aids, most probably caused by the rider.
Keep the neck STRAIGHT!! Bend is Bend, Direction is Direction. Keep the horses neck straight on a circle.
Outside leg should always be ‘on’ passively when the inside leg is being used as a support for the horse.

OFF HORSE DEMO

EH showed us the importance of the outside leg. He stood behind you and put his hands either side of our waist. He then aided with the ‘inside’ leg with the ‘outside’ leg as support. Then he aided with BOTH legs, very irritating actually but I could be ‘ignored’ if you switched off! Then came the inside leg aid with the outside leg away from the body – UGH! What a weird feeling! It felt like you were going to fall over! For saying how lightly the supportive ‘outside leg’ was held, I couldn’t believe it made SUCH a difference. Was a good lesson as I have a bad habit of not keeping my outside leg on particularly in lateral work when obviously it is VERY necessary!

Erik also did a ‘contact’ demo with a lunge line for reins. You basically followed Erics ‘contact’ as he moved the line about and then all of a sudden he ‘dropped’ you! People were most surprised how disconcerting this was! Especially as EH said that people do this as a reward for the horse!! Both ‘feels’ were very light and subtle and were very ‘comforting’ but when taken away abruptly it was immediately noticeable! It has made me think more carefully about just how ‘light’ a feel can be and remain effective and how important it is to be consistent.

Lesson 9

Arrow owner & employee double lesson with two nice warmblood types.

In lateral work – Leg Yield and Shoulder in, AID – Light – Aid – Light, releases energy in your horses shoulders. If you hang onto the rein its like shoving the horse through wet cement! Horse must be flowing forwards – PARAMOUNT!

Leg on side of the evading croup – rein on side of evading shoulder for correction.
Reins EQUAL – one active rein, yet other rein needs to be present (passive) to keep the neck straight.

ELEGANCE!!! POSTURE!!! Heavy shoulders, droppable elbows.

Halting – confirm inside rein / Half halt outside rein / soften BOTH reins.
The horse has to be made Active so it is right up to the hand – that way the hand need barely move at all, the contact is truly forward and elastic.
ANIMATE / Halt / Netral (with hand) / FORWARDS!
TRUST the horse in the softening of the contact – address the hindquarters at ALL times! Its never about the front, its about the REAR!
Play it between GO and WOAH without doing either completely – this way the horse will be in balance and ‘on’ th eaids.
Use the corber as a receiver as well as the aids to ‘re-collect’ the horse.
ENERGY and LIGHT is the key – balance your horse on the aids.

Some lovely work again. I have to say Susie (arrow Instructor) is a beautiful rider, she has LOVELY hands.

Lesson 10

Susie and Grey Spanish horse
Just a short lesson as horse is being brought back into work.

Warm up – can be more definite from the start. Always start 5 mins on the buckle, then START WORK!! On the aids from the start – Balance the horse and GO!!

Flying changes ‘just tricks’ it’s the Quality of the Canter that is the KEY!

RIDER – Correctness is NOT stiffness, it is restful – relaxed hips, knees and ankles. Rib Cage elevated, nape of neck into collar. Think “ELEGANCE”
‘REST’ in the deepest part of the saddle – When we tense it causes ‘pinching up’ and we loose the connection with the horse. Riding is 50% legs and seat and 50% legs and seat LOL!!

Use animating aids ‘honestly’ – ie use leg first before stick.

Rushing is easily remedied – you can just rebalance as the horse is ‘calm’
Rattled or worried, is harder as the horse is not open to the rider’s aids. Therefore keep tension out of riding.

For a soft halt – don’t DRIVE into the halt continually – Halt / drive / halt / drive / HALT!! No contradictions, you cant push and stop at the same time!

Feel the rein in your lower back for an effective halt, then NEUTRALISE, not release! Don’t just throw it away!

The halt work was really interesting, something Im going to try myself!

I cannot tell you how FANTASTIC the clinic was – I only wished I could have observed for more days! I really ‘clicked’ with Erik, and although eccentric at times, I didn’t find him eccentric for eccentric’s sake, meaning he was genuine. His passion and enthusiasm is extraordinary! He really does want to see people ‘get it’. He is very observant and he can ‘see’ so much! He doesn’t ‘sugar coat’ his observations! If you did well he says it – without reservation! If you need to make a correction – he tells you – without reservation!! Some of his comments I feel are to genuinely ‘lighten up the atmosphere’ some are said to JOLT you into reality. For example ‘you have to think ‘ELEGANT’ you are many things right now but that aint one of them!!!’ But I have to say that phrases such as ‘ Good Job’ ‘Good for you’ ‘I agree with that decision’ are far more common place.
There was no evidence of BTV yesterday – we may have had a fraction of a second of a ‘curl’ with an immediate ‘FORWARD AND LIGHT’ instruction form EH!
EH encouraged ‘honest’ riding – don’t cover anything up, prevent nothing, allow the mistake to happen and then correct it. Very liberating but quite challenging I should think! He encouraged the rider to ‘Trust the horse’ at every opportunity. Don’t HOLD was the order of the day – that and the rebalancing.

Thoroughly enjoyed the day – worth every penny!!!

What I also like is that Erik records the lessons for everyone – how good is that!!! What an invaluable resource as literally every word out of his mouth is solid gold! Honestly, I was just :-0 as I listened to him spouting out one brilliant adage after another!

Antsje the Cabbage Slayer!!!

2009-01-03T11:25:00.005Z

One of my most memorable events in 2008 was attending a 'Skill at Arms' day!! We learned to use swords on horse back and deystroyed a couple of cabbages lol! We also had a go with the lance trying to spear a few hoops - an interesting slant on hook a duck lol! and finally we had a go at jousting the 'Quintane'

It was just such a fantastic day and Antsje was AMAZING! It was just as if she had been doing this all her life! Richard Maxwell who is an ex cavalry man also took her through her paces and I was just speechless at how professional they both looked for saying Richard had never ridden her before and Antsje had never done anything like this before in her life!!

What a clever girl!

And for some video!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=D-Z9px5oy2k

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ws49O2FHA9Y

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7prVUCTl_Uw

Dressage Junkie

P-A-R-T-Y!!!

Health Update!

Training Update........

Mmmmmmmm :o)

BOING BOING BOING!!!! DRESSAGE!!

Resistance is futile.............

A little bit hit and miss..........

A LESSON!!! WOOP!

A few adjustments.....

VIDEO!!! YAY!!!

snakes and ladders..........

CANTER CANTER CANTER!!!

RIP NANNING 374 :0(

Im BACK!!!

Im BACK!! bout time hey!

Quick Update!

Super Trot!! BOING!!

Mirror Mirror..........

'prelim' type work

New Moves!!

VIDEO!!! Warm up..........

LESSON!!! WOOP WOOP!

its hip to be square!!

Forward and Straight!

MONDAY Morning Blues…….

Musings from the weekend……

The Chiro came.........

Return of the Super Trot!

Expectations = dissapointment!

Reinback Revelations

We have LIFT OFF!!!! :-D

VROOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooom!!!!!

Ramblings and Musings......

Back to morning rides! BOING!

Walk to Canter VIDEO!! YAY!

WOOOWOOO All aboard........

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

grump grump grump................

Uldrik 457 Crowned World Champion in Leeuwarden!

A New Year........some NEW VIDEO!!! YAY!

Antsje "The Guniea Pig"

more reflections of a Dressage Junkie!

Musings.................

WE HAVE VIDEO!!! hehehe!

CLEVER HORSE!!!!

Monday 14th December

Sunday 13th December - Mike Lesson!!!

Animation V Relaxation......

All Change....................

Prelim12!!

BOING BOING BOING!!!

Ever decreasing circles.........

Right Canter! AT LAST!

***PING***

Another GOOD ride!!!

Quick Update!

Stop the Rollercoaster! I wanna get off!!!

I lost it, I lost it! :-(

EUREKA!!!

Relinquish - How much can we really ask for?

THANK GOD!!!!!

Mown Fields =

One step forwards...............

With a little help from my friends :-)

Prelim 18.................

Catching up!!

Its all in the mind....................

When she is good.................

Feeling Brave................

Annnnnd we're OFF!! Again!!

Theres no place like (a new) home......

Ch Ch Ch Changes.....................

Dr Gerd Heuschmann Clinic - Day 2 - Ridden

Heuschmann Clinic - Day One - Dr. Sven Kold

Gerd Heushmann Clinic - Day one

Barney The Brave!

Thinking Laterally!!

And how it SHOULD be done!!!

BOING......BOING........BOING

PING