In Which Nicole Sees a Therapist: January 24, 2008

About 2 weeks ago, a fellow boarder pointed out that Nicole was having neck spasms in the left side of her neck, specifically in the muscle that runs from her poll and attaches to her chest. Yeah, it was pretty gross to watch.

This possibly accounts for some of her issues with stretching to the bit, so I had a masseuse/chiropractor work on her. He cracked, and he hacked, and he smacked, and he whacked, and the end result is that he determined that Nic wants to keep her left shoulder immobilized, rather than swing it forward and out, and she doesn't want to bend her left side properly to make contact with the bit.

I have no idea if this adjusting is going to do anything for the horse. I probably won't be able to determine anything for a few weeks because either:

1. The adjusting did nothing for her

2. The adjusting did something, and now that she is being asked to use the shoulder and her neck correctly, the lack of muscling there (because she wasn't using them before) makes bending correctly hard for her, and she is cranky and unwilling to bend without a fight.

Needless to say, she is resisting, with every trick she can conjure, bending properly to the left and accepting contact on the left side. This has made for some wonderful "Mare Moments" but also is a hemorrhoidal-quality pain in the ass, because we were making progress, and while we haven't completely backtracked, we aren't far from our starting point a month ago.

It just occured to me that the spasms possibly occurred in the first place because I'm asking her to seek the bit more effectively now (i.e., use her to use her topline muscles) than I have in the past. So, as she used her neck muscles more, she built more muscle over her topline and possibly strained or overworked the muscles...

The Intentional Affair: January 14, 2008

I first learned the concepts of non-violence in my marriage. - Mohandas K. Gandhi


I think a partnership with a dressage horse is the only partnership in the world where trust is almost guaranteed to improve by going outside the bounds of the existing relationship. In any other type of partnership, outside influence would likely change the dynamics, and trust would diminish for a certain period of time, if not forever. For example, when businesses include an additional partner, the outcome is speculative at best. Sooner or later, someone is probably going to get pissed off, take their ball, and go home. Similarly, how many wives have wearily admitted to their best friend concerns of husbandly infidelity?

In complete contrast, one of the best ways to help a horse in training is to have as many “extra-marital” affairs as possible, gaining more experience with other horses, which seasons and deepens the existing relationship and illuminates the broader spectrum of colors that layer a horse’s personality.

To this end, I’ve started taking lessons on a 4th level schoolmaster, with the hope that I can improve myself more, which will help me train Nicole more effectively. Of course, Le Grand Olde Schoolmaster showed me every flaw in my seat, and thanks to Special K’s videoing, I now have evidence that my legs at the canter are every which way except correct. I’ve tried to rectify this when working with Nicole, and although I’m not always successful, I’ve found that at times that I interfere with her less, and when she goes to invert and pull, I’m able to better maintain my position and correct her. This advantage, coupled with her burgeoning self-carriage, is slowly transforming my horse into something pleasant to ride.

The additional advantage to my new relationship with Le Grand Olde Schoolmaster is that I get to practice higher level moves that I currently can’t work on with Nicole.

January 9, 2008

I just want to quickly recap what's been going on with Nicole the past few weeks. For my part, I've had some issues at work, which is why I haven't been updating as much, and with the holidays, etc. Since the Walter Zettl clinic, I've focused on making Nic more connected over her topline, and connecting her hind quarters to the bridle with minimal fussing with her mouth. The basic requirement I've been asking of her is to reach to the bit, regardless of whether we're doing "long and low" or working in a higher frame.

I’ve started to apply the same theory to Nicole’s training as current parenting philosophy dictates: Give choices, but make those choices such that the child makes the right decision. As far as Nicole goes, my rule has been when she loses concentration, tries spooking, or becomes stiff (and it’s not from fatigue), her work gets harder and I either drive her forward or turn her onto a circle as the situation dictates. After about the first 20 minutes, she focuses fairly consistently and is looser.

Originally, and for the first 3-4 days after the clinic, I drove her forward until she started to seek the bit. This proved effective, and after the first 3-4 days (which were very long rides) she began to seek the bit on her own, and now understands what is required of her. I have to admit that not all of the idea to drive her forward came from the clinic; part of the idea was echoed by Alois Podhajsky in his book My Horses, My Teachers. Of course she isn't perfect all the time (especially when she’s on an Adequan low) but overall she is more willing and more supple than she was before the clinic.

The consequence of driving her forward until she sought the bit was that she, for a few days, was unbalanced and a rushing a bit. The circles, while suppling her, also helped rebalance her and slow her down. After a few days she found her own balance, and unless she is tense, rushing isn't much of an issue anymore. This has allowed her to develop more swung and to start swinging her back. The best part is that I don't feel like I have to hold her anymore, and I can just ask her to flex over her topline as needed. In other words, I don't have to micromanage, but instead can just make recommendations as needed.

These exercises have also started to translate into a consistently better canter, where she is giving over her topline and pushing into the bridle at the canter. I've started alternating between stretchy canter and cantering in a higher (i.e., Training/First level) frame. She's starting to understand stretchy canter, and can do it well at times. I'm finding that I have a harder time letting the reins go and not micromanaging the entire time we canter. She tends to be stiffer going to the right - she doesn't like to connect to her left rein right now. I'm trying to correct that now in the trot - her canter isn't stable enough to try to correct it too much in the canter (leads to too much rein activity on my part since she's more unbalanced than she is in trot).