Nicole, Nikita, and the 5 Stages of Grief (err...Throughness): January 23, 2010

Finally, it's starting to feel like I'm getting consistent throughness in the lead changes with Nikita. I've been after this feeling for months, and it's been elusive since the mare ain't givin' it up until I ask the right way. Oh sure, they've looked fine from the ground in the past, but the feeling hasn't been right to me. Maybe other people don't care about this stuff, but the feeling is what's most important to me. I've spent the past month or so just working on throughness and collection at the canter, imprinting the correct feeling into my muscle memory, first on the circle, then down the longside, then in movements.

It seems this effort is paying off, as evidenced in Nikita's pinned ears. Someone's not happy I'm gaining the upperhand. I still laugh at the memory of Nicole pinning her ears the first time I started to keep her through at the canter, and the marrish quality of the moment. There's a sort of Kübler-Ross model involved, I've found, when a rider starts to find the way to get more submission out of their mount (which is what dressage is about in the first place, right?)

First comes bargaining (Oh, ok, I'll give you some but that's all you're getting), then the pinned ears expressing the anger at actually having to work (WHAT?! You're asking for MORE?!), then comes that confused, depressed look (How the hell did she sort this one out?), then comes denial (This has to be an accident, let's spook to test it out) then finally, acceptance (Crap, spooking didn't work. Oh, all right, fine, sigh.) and the forward ears which show she's happy to be working.

Horses don't like control (who does?), and a big question in my mind lately has been, "how do you know what each horse needs to improve?" Nikita has different needs than Nicole, and it's not just because of the disparity in their training - each is a different animal, with different personalities. They play different under saddle, have different evasions, so clearly all horses aren't alike, and you can't ride or train each one the same way. So how do you know what to do to bring out the best in each horse and make them the best they can be?

On another note, Nicole can now start in hand work for piaffe & passage. I think that's pretty cool.

Nicole, Dirt, and the Lack of Dignity: January 15, 2010

Omg. Nicole fell during turnout today. You'd think my mare, with her education, would have a modicum of dignity, but no. She reared, while still attached to her leadline, scrambled away when released, and promptly slid in the mud, landing on her fat mare belly. See, Nicole doesn't just get turned out. She makes it an event, and makes sure EVERYONE notices her in all her nutbar glory.

To make matters worse, she got a hoof stuck in the fence momentarily, but Nic doesn't panic at stuff like that, and managed to dislodge herself with enough agility to go galloping across the 1/4 acre she had to run around in, snorting away. Apparently, this was my invitation to indulge in games of the equine kind. We spent the next 1/2 hr playing tag and finding treats to eat.

January 8, 2010

I've been working on getting Nikita more connected in the canter. She had always felt like I wasn't getting her through enough at the canter, and that my hands weren't connected to my legs. I figured it out at trot a while ago, but getting that same sort of connectivity at the canter has always eluded me. I think I'm finally starting to get it together.

My trot is also solid enough, meaning I'm consistently keeping her pushing enough into the bridle to keep her hind end working, to start shoulder-in and half passes at the trot. For me this is exciting because it means I'm finally starting to become more consistent.

December 31, 2009/January 1, 2010

Happy New Year!

I got a New Year's kiss from Sophie, the little orange cat. I would try to get one from Nic, but it's below 32* and raining (i.e., too icy for me!!) Tonite is also a blue moon as well as a lunar eclipse. Too bad it's raining!!

Nicole, Nikita, and Compacted Energy: December 26, 2009

Now that I have the trot better, I've been working on trying to get Nikita more through at the canter and to push into the bridle. Nikita has so much power (at least 3x that of Nic) that actually getting her to push correctly into the bridle is a difficult task. When she leans on the bit, the necessary reaction on the part of the rider is to push her more forward, but the resulting increase in energy has to be directed up, and not forward. It's in the act of causing the energy to produce more loft in the gait that causes the mare to push into the bridle, thereby causing her to become more light in the bridle.

Although this concept is easy to understand, actually doing it is another matter which requires herculean effort. It honestly takes a lot of good timing and quick reflexes to accomplish this, at least for me. It's not a result of using muscle per sey; I suppose the easiest way to explain it is that the rider has to use muscle not on the horse to produce a result, but instead muscle is required for the rider to maintain balance and to quickly give aids to the horse. I get closer every day to being more effective, but it takes a lot of energy to get there.

I've noticed an interesting difference between Nic and Nikita. When Nic is "given the rein", meaning that momentary release of the fingers to encourage softness, Nicole actually becomes more soft and relaxes into the contact, becoming more of a ball, which is the ultimate aim of dressage training - compacted energy. Nikita, on the other hand, uses that release as a way to avoid working - she flattens out and comes against the bridle. I find I have to hold her energy in my seat more and encourage her to go forward to ensure she doesn't flatten.

Until I realized this difference (which was only very recently), it caused a lot of issues with me and Nikita, namely, I'd release the reins similar as I do with Nic, thinking I was performing the correct action, and Nikita would flatten and use the opportunity to play. I'd lose the work I'd already done and have to start over again, only to have the cycle repeat itself.

December 11, 2009

I know I'm going to shoot myself for saying this, as committing opinions to paper means they will be instantly rendered obsolete, but I think I've resolved a lot of the problems I'd been having trying to ride Nikita in the trot I need to make her through and to make the gait correct. It had been hit or miss, sometimes with a struggle at the beginning of the ride, but I dare say it's pretty solid now. Of course, now that I've committed this opinion to paper, I'm sure I'm going to have a terrible ride tomorrow. I'm told that we can try shoulder-ins and half-passes soon. I've done both on her, but wanted to wait until I could really make her through at the trot. Anyone can ride a half-pass, but it's doing it in the correct kind of trot and through that really matters.

The tempis are getting there. It's not that I can't do them, obviously I can, it's that I'm trying to do them through and with power so that the front end is freer and they're not flat.

One thing that's come to light is that I ride with my right elbow too far forward; this causes me to constantly lose my right rein, which causes the horse to lose her throughness. Correcting it feels weird though; it feels like my right rein and hand is way too tight, but I can tell by the horse's reaction that what I'm doing is correct. Oddly enough, I realized this issue when riding Nic.

December 7, 2009

I can't believe how dry my hands are. And how many people are in the indoor arena now. I hate winter. I hate winter. I hate winter. Except having 2 FEI horses means people automatically get out of my way. Not that you would know they're FEI level because all they want to do is spook...errr...play. So really, I guess people get out of our way because we look like a freak show that could get the innocent bystander killed.

Ok, we all know that's hyperbole.

Nikita got a weeks vacation to rest mentally, and is back full force and VERY forward. She's great to ride when she's feeling very forward, and also great to ride when she needs more leg, but as we all know I'm a sucker for a very forward horse.

And I do believe my leg position issue has been resolved once and for all. Thanks to 2 weeks without stirrups. I think I grew another 2 inches and now have thighs of steel.

Nicole's still puttering around working on the lead changes. She's up to her old tricks of being stiff on the left at the trot, but that's mostly because I keep dropping my right rein and not making sure she fills the outside rein.

One change about myself that I've noticed is that I'm taking charge more often in our rides and thinking "how can I fix this issue" instead of just getting frustrated. For example, Nicole is harder on the left rein. Now I think, ok, what am I missing, what are the basics that are missing that's preventing her from being through and chewing the bit. Most of the time I can solve the problem. She was horrible in left-lead canter yesterday until I made her do exercises to be more through on that rein; today she did it perfectly the first time.