Charlie with the long sought after cooler
Spring NWEC 2013 Novice
Monday, December 26, 2011
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Frisky George Lesson
On Thursday (I'm four days late, so I've lost most of the details) I had a lesson on frisky George. (He was still frisky Friday and then super frisky Saturday, and even Prince was frisky on Saturday.) Because George shares a lot of personality characteristics with Willig, this was a great learning lesson. We did a lot of "attention" work on a 20 meter circle to help him focus on working and not looking for something to act up about for about 15 minutes or so while I rode the frisky out of him. (Saturday I couldn't do that, but it worked on Friday and is what I've been doing with Willig instead of lunging.)
The eureka moment in this lesson was trot to canter transitions that were perfectly "smooth". No speed up, no slow down. To obtain it, I lost the "jump" up into canter with the shoulders, but it was really, really cool to be trotting and then one step later just as smooth as silk be cantering.
I also got a better feel on what my body is doing when I "suck up" the trot and canter (slows down the cadence and adds the "jump" and moment of suspension in the gaits). It's lower back and inner thigh and a bit of abs and outer thigh. But this was the first time I could kind of identify what my body was doing when I asked him to "suck up".
We also worked on teaching him piaffe and passage, Mike running alongside.
We continued to work on "powering up" the trot by collecting him (my version of collection) for a few strides, then lengthening for a few strides, then collecting, etc.
Although it's in inches rather than feet, I feel like we're still making a lot of progress. The vet visit to check on Willig is Thursday, so I have my fingers crossed he'll get back to work. I actually miss riding him.
The eureka moment in this lesson was trot to canter transitions that were perfectly "smooth". No speed up, no slow down. To obtain it, I lost the "jump" up into canter with the shoulders, but it was really, really cool to be trotting and then one step later just as smooth as silk be cantering.
I also got a better feel on what my body is doing when I "suck up" the trot and canter (slows down the cadence and adds the "jump" and moment of suspension in the gaits). It's lower back and inner thigh and a bit of abs and outer thigh. But this was the first time I could kind of identify what my body was doing when I asked him to "suck up".
We also worked on teaching him piaffe and passage, Mike running alongside.
We continued to work on "powering up" the trot by collecting him (my version of collection) for a few strides, then lengthening for a few strides, then collecting, etc.
Although it's in inches rather than feet, I feel like we're still making a lot of progress. The vet visit to check on Willig is Thursday, so I have my fingers crossed he'll get back to work. I actually miss riding him.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Thursday, December 08, 2011
Baby Piaffe and Passage
I had a dressage lesson on George today (still trying to get Willig sound in the slowest, most noncommittal approach ever), and a mini lesson on Falada.
For my before shot, I'm a dried up husk of dessicated sponge. For my after shot, I'm so full of liquid (information) that I'm dripping. And that was like, maybe absorbing 20% (at best) of what Mike was telling me.
Let's start with the things I still need to fix:
- My gripping legs - they're like cling-ons that never let go. Like how horses can sleep standing up, I have to think "relax" to make my legs ungrip. Invariably, if I check in with them (regardless of what is going on) they're gripping.
- Tone my middle. I'm doing more and more with my seat and it's connected parts, and I can't be flopping around loosey goosey.
- Watch my right side. Something funky is going on again (or it's just that this stuff is new and it's dominant) but I had a hard time with it overworking everything today. I also had, perhaps related, a hard time getting all three horses to canter. I think my hips are tight and I can't swing my leg far enough back, but I'm not sure what to do to work at home on that "leg back from the hip joint" feel.
So to start out with a bang, here's baby piaffe and passage:
Piaffe is stepping up and down in place, passage is lifting up and down. Piaffe comes out of the back legs while passage is elevating the front legs. I always thought they were two sides of the coin (I guess they are) but I hadn't appreciated these distinctions.
To teach a horse piaffe, you lean forward ever so slightly, slightly lift your hands, and put both legs back and do a whispery-fluttery aid. The person on the ground uses the stick to tap their hind legs, and when the horse starts the movement, it feels like he's crouching down. You just do a few steps then stop and reward. You do it out of walk, not halt.
For passage, you lean back, but then lift your hands and put both legs back with the fluttery aid, and also - I don't know how to describe this - suck up with your seat. The person on the ground uses the stick on the horse's front legs. This one feels like they're stepping over trot poles.
So this was really, really cool.
Then we took that feeling, and worked on the trot (slower) and when I thought piaffe, George would get light in my hands also. And if we did it really, really well and all the stars aligned, I could feel the moment of lift that we added.
Then later we took the feeling from passage, and used it with OPEN HIPS to extend the trot. This was the same thing I did with Falada after Mike rode her a few (?) rides ago, where she felt like she sat back, lifted her front end up in the air, and then shot forward like a rocket. We got a baby feeling of this with George.
We also worked on canter, taking the piaffe, and walking, doing a few half steps (thinking piaffe), walking, repeat a few times, and then cantering a few strides on a 10 meter circle, and then thinking 1-2-3 [trot/walk/halt]. I had been trying to ride Falada with halts from behind earlier, and this exercise also really helped with that.
Mike's goal is that the exercises we did today are how I will exercise George, Falada, and to a slightly lesser degree Prince, from now on. These exhausted my legs, made me pour sweat, and were exhilirating. The hard part is I don't even know how to describe what happened, and without being able to describe it, I feel like I can't repeat it. It's like it's squirming always just out of my grasp - every once in a while I get it with the tips of my fingers, and then it slithers away again. I definitely feel it when it's right, but I don't quite know what I'm doing with my body to make it right.
But I am definitely going to keep working on this, because I think the world is going to open up when I finally catch on. And my being nice to myself is that in the two years (ish) I've been riding with Mike and Shannon, I have made SO much progress as a rider. Yes, I regret I didn't have the opportunity to ride with this level of instruction from the very beginning (I might actually be good by now), but I'm grateful to at least have it now, and not go my whole life without learning this.
For my before shot, I'm a dried up husk of dessicated sponge. For my after shot, I'm so full of liquid (information) that I'm dripping. And that was like, maybe absorbing 20% (at best) of what Mike was telling me.
Let's start with the things I still need to fix:
- My gripping legs - they're like cling-ons that never let go. Like how horses can sleep standing up, I have to think "relax" to make my legs ungrip. Invariably, if I check in with them (regardless of what is going on) they're gripping.
- Tone my middle. I'm doing more and more with my seat and it's connected parts, and I can't be flopping around loosey goosey.
- Watch my right side. Something funky is going on again (or it's just that this stuff is new and it's dominant) but I had a hard time with it overworking everything today. I also had, perhaps related, a hard time getting all three horses to canter. I think my hips are tight and I can't swing my leg far enough back, but I'm not sure what to do to work at home on that "leg back from the hip joint" feel.
So to start out with a bang, here's baby piaffe and passage:
Piaffe is stepping up and down in place, passage is lifting up and down. Piaffe comes out of the back legs while passage is elevating the front legs. I always thought they were two sides of the coin (I guess they are) but I hadn't appreciated these distinctions.
To teach a horse piaffe, you lean forward ever so slightly, slightly lift your hands, and put both legs back and do a whispery-fluttery aid. The person on the ground uses the stick to tap their hind legs, and when the horse starts the movement, it feels like he's crouching down. You just do a few steps then stop and reward. You do it out of walk, not halt.
For passage, you lean back, but then lift your hands and put both legs back with the fluttery aid, and also - I don't know how to describe this - suck up with your seat. The person on the ground uses the stick on the horse's front legs. This one feels like they're stepping over trot poles.
So this was really, really cool.
Then we took that feeling, and worked on the trot (slower) and when I thought piaffe, George would get light in my hands also. And if we did it really, really well and all the stars aligned, I could feel the moment of lift that we added.
Then later we took the feeling from passage, and used it with OPEN HIPS to extend the trot. This was the same thing I did with Falada after Mike rode her a few (?) rides ago, where she felt like she sat back, lifted her front end up in the air, and then shot forward like a rocket. We got a baby feeling of this with George.
We also worked on canter, taking the piaffe, and walking, doing a few half steps (thinking piaffe), walking, repeat a few times, and then cantering a few strides on a 10 meter circle, and then thinking 1-2-3 [trot/walk/halt]. I had been trying to ride Falada with halts from behind earlier, and this exercise also really helped with that.
Mike's goal is that the exercises we did today are how I will exercise George, Falada, and to a slightly lesser degree Prince, from now on. These exhausted my legs, made me pour sweat, and were exhilirating. The hard part is I don't even know how to describe what happened, and without being able to describe it, I feel like I can't repeat it. It's like it's squirming always just out of my grasp - every once in a while I get it with the tips of my fingers, and then it slithers away again. I definitely feel it when it's right, but I don't quite know what I'm doing with my body to make it right.
But I am definitely going to keep working on this, because I think the world is going to open up when I finally catch on. And my being nice to myself is that in the two years (ish) I've been riding with Mike and Shannon, I have made SO much progress as a rider. Yes, I regret I didn't have the opportunity to ride with this level of instruction from the very beginning (I might actually be good by now), but I'm grateful to at least have it now, and not go my whole life without learning this.
Monday, December 05, 2011
Jump lesson on George
I was out of town for a week, and when I came back, Willig was off. I putzed around with him for a week, hoping it was arthritis, and then gave him bute for a week, so I rode George for my jump lesson.
George is a pretty green jumper, at least compared to Willig (I never thought I'd say that). But he still had to be a trooper because I just wasn't on my A (or B, or C) game. We had a lucky break of nice weather - no rain and not too cold with decent footing outside (not too mushy and wet).
We worked on a circle at first, then a circle over some ground poles, then finally a low combination (three trot poles to a cross rail, then eventually a 1 stride to a vertical, and then ending with a third vertical 2 strides from the middle).
I couldn't get my hands to stop screwing around with a mind of their own. Even my left leg couldn't outcompete my left hand.
This was so depressing and frustrating that I really don't even have anything to say about it.
The lesson I had a month-ish ago with Shannon where I had a eureka moment and rode without hands? That's what I need to be doing all the time, practicing all the time, until doing everything off of my seat feels natural. I need to brake by leaning back and using my back, not my hands. I need to steer off of my legs and seat, not my hands. I can't get the connection and power because I wiggle my hands around and let it all "out". So we worked with bridged reins and even then, my hands flapped and struggled to get free, and even on nice Mr. George, who knows how to ride off of seat and legs, I felt wild and out of control without my spazzy hands.
Afterwards, Willig got a light workout, and then handsome, sweet little Prince did a little teeny six jump trot course.
George is a pretty green jumper, at least compared to Willig (I never thought I'd say that). But he still had to be a trooper because I just wasn't on my A (or B, or C) game. We had a lucky break of nice weather - no rain and not too cold with decent footing outside (not too mushy and wet).
We worked on a circle at first, then a circle over some ground poles, then finally a low combination (three trot poles to a cross rail, then eventually a 1 stride to a vertical, and then ending with a third vertical 2 strides from the middle).
I couldn't get my hands to stop screwing around with a mind of their own. Even my left leg couldn't outcompete my left hand.
This was so depressing and frustrating that I really don't even have anything to say about it.
The lesson I had a month-ish ago with Shannon where I had a eureka moment and rode without hands? That's what I need to be doing all the time, practicing all the time, until doing everything off of my seat feels natural. I need to brake by leaning back and using my back, not my hands. I need to steer off of my legs and seat, not my hands. I can't get the connection and power because I wiggle my hands around and let it all "out". So we worked with bridged reins and even then, my hands flapped and struggled to get free, and even on nice Mr. George, who knows how to ride off of seat and legs, I felt wild and out of control without my spazzy hands.
Afterwards, Willig got a light workout, and then handsome, sweet little Prince did a little teeny six jump trot course.
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