Contact, the nuchal ligament and other “a-has”

Last Thursday I managed to snag a lesson with Jana, and she re-established the idea of contact in my head. I had this down pat, I swear, but it went out the window during our bad December.

We kept the rhythm a little slow, kept me really tall with leg stretched waaaaay down, and kept the contact. Jana was on me CONSTANTLY about my contact. The result? Sid got really super connected and stayed that way. I mean REALLY. This was one of those lessons where we spent most of our time doing transitions on a 20m circle, but I didn’t mind. He gave me the best feeling ever.

I FINALLY, after a bad weekend as far as my schedule goes, got to ride again tonight. We picked up where we left off. I started with some free walk (after lunging first, it was cooold) and then picked Sid up. I did some halts, asked him to really stretch down, and flexed him side to side to flip his nuchal ligament like Jana showed me. This makes a HUGE difference in his lateral suppleness. We did all kinds of bending lines, flexing, counter flexing, stopping and flipping the ligament.

We picked up trot and the same thing, true flexion, counter flexion, back. SOLID contact. He was a bit spooky but I rode him into the contact and he forgot about it. We got back on the 20m circle and did lots of canter-trot-canter transitions. Then, the litmus test now that he really, really felt connected – sitting trot. I tried some shorter stretches and it. was. good. YEAH!

We stretched – still flexing both directions, and leg yielding away from my inside leg. I quit with that – only about a 30 minute ride, if that. I think we had a breakthrough…

goals.

Well, we all have ‘em right?

Short term? Improving my seat at the trot, improving the quality of Sid’s trot. It’s coming. Also keep Sid relaxed in sitting trot, he’s still unsure of himself and after a while, he’ll lose it and tense up. We’re interspersing lots of rising among the sitting while he’s getting stronger, and I’ll slowly reduce the amount of time spent rising as time passes.

I plan to start the show season at First level. I plan to do either the KCDS May show or the Cornhusker Classic in Lincoln, NE a couple weeks later. It depends on how things are coming. I also hope to go to the show in Columbia, MO in July. If we get some second level in later in the year, great. Whatever he is ready for.

I should have my amateur status back mid to late summer. My ultimate goal, this season completely aside, is to qualify and compete at USDF Regionals in 2010 at 3rd level, amateur. I’ve made my goals known and have been told they are achievable. We’ll see! Right now the plan is to start the changes toward the end of this show season. He has shown great aptitude for them, and we don’t want to make our showing this year too difficult. I think he will get them quickly, and we’ll have all autumn and winter to work at it.

clawing our way back up

My previous post detailed the abysmal 2-3 weeks Sid and I endured in December, apparently due to a wound on the side of his jowl that was bothering him.  He’s pretty much back to his normal self under saddle, and we’re moving forward.

I do want to mention something GOOD that happened before all went to hell – Sid was giving me good canter one night and on a whim, I asked for a change from his bad side to his good. He obliged. I praised him profusely and tried the other side. He obliged. It appears changes are going to be pretty easy for him – that being said, they’re back on the back burner until his counter canter and canter/walk, walk/canter transitions get stronger.

I hadn’t ridden with Jana since early December – she couldn’t make it midmonth due to bad roads, then left the following week for Germany for the holidays. When she was back a couple of weeks ago, I couldn’t ride with her due to my work schedule. I used to take a 5:15 slot with her; however, lately 4:30 has been the last open ride and I just can’t get away from work early enough most days.

Desperate for some guidance, I asked Mary Forck if she’d help me out. She has her training horses at the barn and I’d been impressed with her riding. I’ve had a couple of lessons with her and she has zeroed in on our weak areas, and much to my relief her suggestions and comments during our ride mirrored Jana’s almost to a “t”.

The past two weeks we have worked on “quickening” up his hind end, and making him a bit more reactionary to my leg and seat aids. When he was, he seemed to release and move into the contact in a very relaxed fashion. His transitions improved. The contact improved.

We worked on walk-canter-walk transitions. Spiraling in, collecting, collecting, then back out and forward on the 20m circle, then back in and half halt, half halt, walk. Though they aren’t there yet, by any means, he’s showing good improvement.

We’ve worked on leg yielding, even on circles and in corners, away from the inside leg to engage and activate that inside hind. Here I have to be careful to keep a steady contact on the outside, close to his neck, and not allow him to escape over his outside shoulder…ruining the exercise. Luckily I have a good grasp of how this should feel and how it should not.

We worked on transitions within the canter. Very forward with lots of jump, back as much as he comfortably can, forward again. Then if he started losing his carriage and leaning on me/collapsing, we’d go into trot, leg yield away on a circle/curve and back into canter. This was a GREAT exercise and when we picked up trot at the end and she sent us forward into a lengthening, he gave me the most awesome feeling ever. He REALLY lengthened!

We’ve also worked on counter canter, which is coming nicely.

Hopefully my days of working with Jana are not over – hopefully we can find some sort of connection SOMEWHERE on our schedules, but at least Mary is helping tons right now.

midwinter update

Well, I’ve not posted in two months but I can’t say anyone reading this has missed much. We had a HUGE setback in December for about 2-3 weeks. What I thought was him being cooped up due to bad weather, and getting stiff, has turned out to be something entirely different.

Sid got very stiff longitudinally. In fact, he would often start out *okay* (not great) but get worse as the ride went on. There were a couple of rides where he felt like riding a giraffe – a barely broke giraffe. I was super discouraged. My instructor was in Germany at the time but it was for the better – he was so bad, I don’t think a lesson would have caused much headway.

He started getting better, and we moved on. But then one day, I had a GREAT ride to start that again went downhill as we went on – and then he threw his head and started wringing his tail. Ok. I got off, figuring he hurt somewhere. After all, I was in the process of contacting a chiropractor to come out and give him a look-over. I assumed all that stall time got him out of whack.

I unbuckled his caveson. He had had a big scab on the lower part of his upper jowl. I had blown that off totally, dropping his caveson one hole lower to keep it from bothering him. But this scab had grown HUGE. It stuck way out and was half peeled off and oozing. My poor boy!

On a whim I removed the caveson and got on him with just a headstall, bit and reins. We picked up a forward trot around the arena and my boy got soft, round and flexible like he hadn’t been in weeks.

From then on it’s been a steady climb back. He’s again ‘filling the reins’ with a nice steady soft contact and although with the cold weather he’s still a spook-monkey, he is giving me some great work.

Following will be a couple of posts about our current training ‘projects’. All of which are occuring, as I type, without a caveson. Once his scab is gone, he’s got a nice, padded FRENCH caveson with a sheepskin channel on the underside – for now at least – waiting for him. I don’t know if the caveson caused the sore (pinching) or if he got it roughhousing with the boys outside, but I’m not taking any chances.

Straightness

I have crazy hands. I can will them to do something, but they do something else. I will them back, they stay in the appropriate place, but then they are back doing some weird gyration in a strange locale. Every instructor I’ve ever worked with has honed in on my crazy hands. They are partly due to my years of riding arabian show horses – bumpbumpbumpjigglejiggle pitch the reins – and they are partly due to the fact I am incredibly one-sided.

I’ve in recent lessons been working on keeping my hands where they belong especially when tracking left. I wonder why my contact is faltering but then I look at my hands. I wonder why Sid’s head is cocked with the inside ear pointing groundward and then I look at my hands. I try to cross my inside hand over his withers, my outside rein may be steady but it’s out away from his neck and allowing him to scoot that direction. Yeah, he’s bent, but it’s all neck bend with shoulders and whatnot escaping to the hinterlands.

So, lately I’ve been told to keep my outside rein steady and my hand near his neck, think of putting my pinky at the side of his mane/withers and that keeps the hand upright. Then ride him into that rein with inside leg and make sure when he is bending and moving laterally away from the inside, that the outside catches it and he isn’t running out to the outside.

When I get it right, I can go around the arena just like I do to the right. In self-carriage. I can give the inside, or even BOTH reins and he carries himself through until contact is re-established. He has power. He has carrying ability when moving laterally.

I’m watching an online video over lunch right now, of Laura Bechtolsheimer (Great Britain) giving a miniclinic on lateral work. Her horse is super straight. She is riding him super straight. I want to be that straight.

(if you want to see the video, visit: http://www.horsehero.com/5201/5214/6162)

The connection is elastic and she can change his flexion and bend with no drop in contact and no change in his carriage.

My winter goal is to control my crazy hands and ride Sid like that. Both directions. My left hand is decidedly more crazy. I have a hard time opening it up. I read some yesterday and had an a-ha. I have scoliosis. I have since I was a pre-teen. I was given, when I was diagnosed, a series of exercises to perform twice daily, which were one-sided exercises designed to develop my left side and strengthen it to match my right. It was to strengthen and raise my shoulder and hip. And develop those muscles enough to help pull my spine into alignment. I know that scoliosis very rarely completely goes away, and I’ve been told by two instructors this year that I’m collapsing my left hip. Well duh! I am going to locate that old exercise sheet – I think I know exactly where it is – and start them up again. And see where I end up with that left side, and that crazy left hand that I suspect is crazy because my body on the left doesn’t do what it should.

It’s as easy as this – keep the horse straight between your legs and hands. I tend to keep my thoughts too complex – but that is as about as simple as it gets – and causes me to produce a correct result every time I remember it while riding!

More photos from the schooling show

Here are a few more photos from the schooling show in October.

Canter work

What a good boy!

Schooling show!

Here’s some catch up. I want to maintain this blog more as a training journal for personal reference, so you’ll see fairly frequent updates from now on. For those sorry folks who actually FOLLOW this blog here’s a show update.

Sid and I went to the KDCS fall championship schooling show at Longview Horse Park in early October. I mostly was aiming to see  how he behaved away from home, in a show situation, with my nerves on his back. (I don’t get nervous at shows, at least perceptively, but I do find myself sometimes getting tense in muscles that aren’t usually and shouldn’t be tense…which of course translates to him..)

We had decent rides. Both tests were in the mid 60s. Not great scores but respectable scores. I actually was a bit dissapointed! The first ride he tensed/raised the first couple of times passing by the photographer as the shutter was going rapid-fire, otherwise it was good. The second ride was much better. We still had issues with him tilting his head especially in canter when tracking left. This is going to be my demon to slay, so to speak, as it’s totally related to my position/collapsed hip, etc.

He handled the show scene just fine, though, so I am excited to go back for the “real” (USDF/USEF) show at Longview next May!

My favorite shot!

My husband caught us mid half-halt prior to a canter depart. Pretty cool!

Ouch.

My ride last night was mostly really good, but the bad was kinda scary. I had just gotten on Sid and was walking on a loose rein when we passed a large bush that sits alone along the arena fenceline. Right as we got next to it this cicada made a VERY loud sound and Sid spooked at the bush, did a cutting horse stance, wheeled around and started to put a moment of stupidity on the end of it. I whomped him with my leg and yelled “NO!” when he did that, but unfortunately for me I was still half pitched forward from the spook and spin when I did so. He flung his head in the air and whacked me right in the mouth, then to add insult to injury launched himself into a couple of halfhearted bucks.

I instantly tasted blood and felt very extreme pain that I could not pinpoint quite yet. I just KNEW I had jacked up a tooth. It was a well aimed hit. If it had been more frontal, the brim of my helmet might have kept him out of my face a bit more, but it was at the very side of my mouth. I had to keep him moving as he was super sucked back and felt on the verge of exploding, but as feeling returned I realized my lip had sustained most of the damage.

It took a good 5 minutes to fully get him back, and I made him WORK. I realized punishing him through a good boot with my leg or a whip smack is probably not a good idea. Working hard and intensely probably works better for this horse. He gave me some REALLY good work – trot and canter – though we’ve been doing so much lateral work lately he’s gotten a bit wiggly on me. We stayed straight and instead went forward, came back, transitions up, then down. Circles of all sizes and really feeling the half halt come through. He was a good boy.

I let him stretch after about 25-30min of work and we had a BIG stumble – almost to his knees – and then he thought about acting up again. Luckily it was more “thought” than “action” on that one. We left a huge cloud of dust in our wake.

Hairy start and end (the end through no fault of his own), VERY good middle. I think we’re ready for Maryal’s clinic Friday and Saturday – or I HOPE so, as he’s off today. I got my tack cleaned, packed in the trailer, and we’ll be headed over there after work Friday. Clinic report forthcoming.

As for my mouth? It’s quite sore today. I went to Jim’s softball games last night after riding and my upper lip was very swollen. I got some comments, to be sure. Great. It’s better today, but I’ve discovered a bunch of cuts on my lower lip too. I have one tooth that seems to be sore if I push on it. So, guess I shouldn’t do that, huh? I think it’ll be okay. My coworker said my lower cheek looks a bit puffier but it sure doesn’t hurt at all – just my lips.

Oh well, I just can’t talk as much. Everyone, enjoy the vacation.

Peter Rabbit

Most of you horse folk have heard about Peter Rabbit by now. If you haven’t, here’s his story. Ok, ye smart city leaders of Hickman, Nebraska, tell me WHAT HARM a 32 year old horse is doing on the land he is on? It’s all in the name of progress, huh? Well, I understand that, and I understand your annexation and the zoning and laws surrounding it. But, grandfather the damn horse in, will you? He is 32 years old for CRYING out loud. Let Peter Rabbit live out his life in peace, in the VERY pasture he was born in way back in 1976. Moving him at his age can’t be the best thing for his health.

When Peter Rabbit passes on, THEN you can be horse-free. It’s not like he’s a 3 year old. He’s already well past the average lifespan of a horse. Poor guy. I’d call or email you IDIOTS but you have turned everything off because a) you can’t handle the outcry over your actions and b) you don’t want to listen. If there is this much of an uproar, do you think you just might be making a bad decision?

Anyone up for picketing in front of Peter Rabbit’s pasture? I’m game for a road trip, it’s only a 3 hour drive!

I finally did it.

I’ve been contemplating a dressage blog for a while now. Why haven’t I done it yet? Well, because let’s just say I am burning the candle at both ends. I have a full-time job. Outside of that, I have a small photography business and I teach people how to fly. I have a website for my photography business, a photography blog, and a website for my flight instruction activity. Oh, did I mention I have a horse?

Oh yeah. The reason I’m starting this blog. Meet Sid.

May 2008

Sid is a 12 year old thoroughbred gelding. I’ll tell you a bit more about Sid in some upcoming posts as I get the blog going. Sid came to me from a “friend of a friend” situation and let’s just say I love the guy. He is so WILLING and has a great work ethic. We’re a bit behind on things due to his age – Sid is solid at first level and knows a lot of second and third stuff as well. I’d like to get back to FEI – time will tell if we can do it or not but in the few months I’ve been riding him, I can tell whatever we do will be fun!

 Most of my blogging will be centered around my journey with Sid, wherever we may go. I do ride some other horses, however, so you may occasionally hear about them. Right now they’re on a hiatus but you can probably look to see them creeping into my updates when winter hits. That’s fine, as you can probably imagine my hands are full right now.

Well, as I said I’ll tell you more about Sid in some upcoming posts instead of making my first entry a novel, so I’ll also tell you a bit about me. I grew up with horses, for the most part. I got my first pony in 1984, my parents paid $150 for him and $5 for his bridle. I rode with my mom’s old bareback pad. I shared him with my sister and we named him Freckles. After Freckles came Pepper, a smallish appy gelding, and after Pepper came Dan aka High Hands Dude, a largish appy gelding. I was determined at that point to jump but Dan did not want to jump so he let me do it by myself. Sometime this winter I’ll dig up some old photos and post them as a kind of a look back from whence I came.

Dan moved on as my family got into arabians and then came Rex, aka Shar Mar Rex+/. The “+/” for those of you not initiated into the arabian world means he won a shit ton of stuff over his career. I again could write a novel about Rex. Rex was my heart horse. I owned him from 1988 to his death in 2006 at 26 years old. I miss him TERRIBLY. In fact for some reason today I have been thinking about him a lot.

Here is Rex. I’ll devote a post or two to him when I have some down time. He deserves it. I started showing

Regionals in Denver at age 20

Rex on the arab circuit in 1989, and we won a lot in western and hunter pleasure before changing to dressage completely. I thought it was boring – what preteen wouldn’t – but then I decided it might be worth a try, after all, my horse had done well in dressage before my parents bought him. So, thus began my edumacation in dressage. Forwards, backwards, sideways we moved along. It wasn’t always pretty but we went from humble beginnings to Prix St Georges and USDF Bronze and Silver medals in 8 years. Rex was the “ordinary horse with the extraordinary heart”, you know the stereotype but I am dead serious. He was once in a lifetime and I am lucky to have had him when I did. He tolerated so much, for this first-time-up-the-levels rider to actually TRAIN him to that level, never having done it before, not ever having sat on a schoolmaster…and I’d like to think we did it somewhat decently.

Rex has given me the foundation to move along with Sid and have a greater awareness of what I am doing when I am riding. I notice a big difference. 

As I said, I’ll devote a long blog entry this winter to the equines who got me to where I am today. There are a lot more than those I have listed so far – you can add Val-Dron, Dan #2, Rod, Bobby, Coco, Foxfire, Pepper, Allie, Sosie….and there are more beyond that. They all contributed something to my riding and each deserves a mention!

Well, it is getting foggy out as my grandpa used to always say so I should probably sign out. I’ll devote the next couple of blog posts to catching you up to where Sid and I are now and where we came from when I acquired him in March – it’s really not a dramatic story but it will help you better understand when I start adding some training posts in! And, we have a clinic with Maryal Barnett coming up this weekend, so we definitely have photos and a post or two coming from that.

Until then, don’t overshoot your turn to centerline!

Sarah