Lesson after three weeks off - 10/28/06

I ended up with three weeks off this month, and Mercury got a lot of time off. He also saw the chiropractor again last week, and he seems to be moving a lot better. The bumps in his back are also smaller.
So first Bob and I talked about some of the stuff I've read lately in horse books. He said the thing to keep in mind is that the horses in those books have been professionally trained, while Mercury has not. I asked him if Mercury needed training, and he said the problem would be that he could go into training for three months, and then I could ride him differently for a week and undo all that training. He says what needs to happen is that I ride with lessons only while Mercury is being trained, and that way I learn how to avoid "undoing" the training. But also that basically I'll always need a trainer.
The other thing he said to remember when I ride is that now I am not just exercising Mercury, but I am training him. So I need to be very consistent with him and not slack off and be lazy.
I asked a lot of questions (why is my knee so far forward in the saddle? - turns out the saddle is not cut as long and deep as I thought it was) and then we worked again on getting him on the bit. He was actually pretty good about this - for one thing he had some energy but not spiteful fighting energy, and riding in the martingale is soooo much easier than riding him in just the bridle. (Bob reprimanded me again for not putting the bit stoppers on my reins, and I tried to do it after the lesson but couldn't fit them on.)
Then the big thing we worked on was transitions. He needs to go right into a trot - not drag his feet around for a few steps. To do that involves legs, voice, and then a whip to back up the leg. Bob said always use voice for now to train him what I want. Then to go back into the walk is a few half halts, back straight, and a walk within two steps.
What I have a hard time with is equalizing the hands and legs for what I want, and not being too powerful with one. For example, too much hand and he stops instead of walks. Too much leg and he keeps trotting for a few steps.
And Bob said I need to quit obsessing about being on the right diagnol and just feel it.
We also worked for about two minutes on me trotting smaller - up and down instead of forward and back. Bob said I override, but I can't seem to get this under control. He said I need to just feel it instead of thinking it. That I always want to know why and analyze the steps instead of just feeling what is right.
What I'm working on the next two weeks (I miss another lesson next weekend, then start getting regular again) is transitions. He said I can do all three: walk, trot, canter. Work on being on the bit all the time when we're working. And work on feeling.
Bob said I'm hard to train because I take everything so seriously that if he says "your shoulder dropped to the inside" I'll start focusing on that shoulder and let everything else fall apart.
We also talked a bit about my legs. I tend to ride bow legged and point my toes out. That makes my knees open. Bob suggested riding in blocks of time, thinking "15 minuts of shoulders back" then "15 minutes of toes forward" then "15 minutes of hands still" and that eventually I'll be able to do "15 minutes of toes forward and shoulders back" and then he made some huge list of eventually something like "toes forward, knees closed, hips moving, hands still, upper body still, etc. etc." WAY too much for me right now.
I asked him if we could just start over and he could train me like he learned and he said no, it was too dangerous and second, my muscle memory would remember all my bad habits anyway.
It was an instructive lesson, but I feel like I am plateauting and am going to work on these things forever. If I can ever get past it, I'll really be a much better rider.
Bob also said how fast I improve will depend on how much quality riding I can get in. If I can only ride properly three days a week, it will take 2-3 times as long to improve compared to riding for 5 days a week.
And Mercury tends to be lazy and fall asleep and quit paying attention, which is why after we've done a loose rein walk, he either runs forward when I pick up the reins or goes really slow. Bob said running forward is when I surprise him - like if someone came up behind me and touched me when I was walking, and slowing down is too heavy hands with me anticipating him running forward. He said to talk to him, tell him, we're about to work again, I'm picking up the reins, and be soft about it.
Also he said to stretch in the doorway because the muscles in my chest are not long enough to let me put my shoulders all the way back (from years of bad posture) so that they could stretch out and I could get my shoulders farther and farther back. And to have good posture all the time, not just for an hour while I ride.

Good horse quote

"There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man."
-Winston Churchill

I haven't been riding this week and have missed at least two weeks of lessons. Now it is starting to rain, so poor Mercury will need the exercise.

Other tips from Alice about fall/winter

Alice said that generally speaking when the weather drops below 50 it is time to get out the blanket and cooler. You want him to grow a little bit of hair but not get totally hairy and disgusting. This year Mercury has a summer fly sheet, a spring/summer light weight sheet (not waterproof), a cooler for the winter when he sweats, a fall/spring waterproof turn-out blanket, and a winter high neck blanket. Wow.
Also, today when I rode him - I only rode for about half an hour because he totally got it from the lesson yesterday and remembered. We worked on the walk then on the trot with the proper head position, and while he wasn't perfect, he didn't hang on my hands, and he really tried. It was really cool.

Lesson on 10/1 - working on the bit

This lesson started with a discussion of my goals (posted a few posts ago), and Bob had a few comments. He said that some of the dressage goals, like the transitions, bend, and impulsion, are more Mercury than me; that he needs to improve his balance before he can do those. He said that Mercury probably physically can't score in the 7's & 8's all the way through a test. In the video of the test (aside from me being on the wrong diagnol which is humiliating), he says while he started looking great, Bob could even see some of the gimp by the time he was near the end.
He also added that I need to have as goals "Be happy." and "Have fun." that it is supposed to be fun for me and relaxing, not work.
I'm making a new goal for October:
Work on maintaining three things: 1) head position (feel the bubble); 2) impulsion; and 3) bend - in two laps around the arena and in circles, and hopefully in serpentines. (I have a much harder time with serpentines because too much happens too fast.)
So then I started the lesson, and Bob first said that I post too forward and back, like I'm launching out of the saddle, and I should post small up and down. So as soon as I tried to do that, my legs started swinging and he said to keep them still.
Then we started working on Mercury's head position, but we weren't sure how much we could do because he appears to have broken his nose in the one day I didn't go check on him. There's a big hard lump on one side, with a smaller lump down where the caveson goes. So he was working in a loose caveson and flash during the lesson which makes him fight more (he opens his mouth, so instead of 1", I have to move 3").
Anyway, Bob had to ride him. He rode for about 10 minutes and made Mercury look fabulous, even though he fought Bob a lot. Then when it was my turn again, I couldn't get him to do it. It is a steady inside hand with some bend, and then half halts on the outside hand. And I wasn't making them strong enough or frequent enough.
As the lesson went on, I got it, and every once in a while we'd have one step where he lifted his back and pushed from behind, and it was really easy to feel the difference. It felt like we were floating and going slower. It was soft. That's the "bubble" I said above.
So we worked on going around for two laps, making circles, and serpentines and that was about it. Bob said not to canter this week because it'll mess up the head set, and that from now on, unless he is being relaxed on a loose rein, he always has the head-set - for walk or trot.
It's hard because it is constant work from me. If my fingers slip or I don't pay attention, his head shoots right back up and it takes several steps to get it back down. He just tests and tests and tests. And I'm not very fast at taking up the reins, so I have to pull my hand back to make the bend, and then adjust my fingers after the bend is finished.
Mercury also hangs on my hands really bad, and Bob said to get him off my hands by strong half halts. The test is (aside from feeling the weight), if I let the inside rein go loose, does his head shoot up or go down? If it goes up, that means he was hanging it on me. If it goes down, it means he is carrying himself.
Also Bob said to yell at him if he ignores me, but I'm not good at that. He also says to talk to him, to keep him calm and relaxed because he feels like he's going to fall when he's got his head down (I think the prior owners rode him heavily in draw reins), and to tell him to put his head down. Mercury is pretty smart about words, and so when I said "down" he figured out to drop his head.
Also, he wasn't doing this in the lesson, but if he goes behind the bit to escape, just push him forward.
Bob said to do one ride a week where we do nothing but walk on the head set for an hour. Do 15 minutes, take a break, 15 minutes, take a break ...
At the very end of the lesson, Bob gave me three goods. A "good job today, kiddo" and a couple other goods. He and Alice must have talked about praising me. It worked.
What's amazing is how much there is going on. Not only controlling my own body, but the constant corrections and then we have to go around a corner.
Oh right, and extra half halts coming into the corners WITH leg to keep him moving forward.
Another side effect of this was that his back legs didn't do the wobbly thing the entire lesson! Bob says not only was he using them more, but he had to focus instead of being lazy.
Bob is a GREAT trainer.