Training Update........

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)

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!

VIDEO!!! YAY!!!

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)

Im BACK!! bout time hey!

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!!

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

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

CLEVER HORSE!!!!

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!

Sunday 13th December - Mike Lesson!!!

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!!!

Lesson 04.01.09

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!!!