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

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!!!

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(

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!!!

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......

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!

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!

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!!

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..........

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

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!