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!

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)

'prelim' type work

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!

its hip to be square!!

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!!!!

Walk to Canter VIDEO!! YAY!

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:

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

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

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

WE HAVE VIDEO!!! hehehe!

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!!

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!!!