400 mpm & Charlie's take on jumping

With the first show of the season rapidly approaching, I've suddenly realized all of the things I didn't work on, that I am now basically out of time to work on.  Like my fitness, which was vividly illustrated today when I rode 400 meters (trying to time it for 1 minute, which, bizzarely, I accomplished) and by 1/4 of the way around, I thought "There's no way I can make this" followed by "But the show is at least 5x longer!".
Charlie definitely prefers to jump more challenging things - either bigger, more complex, or more intimidating.  His ears perk up, he gets engaged without a lot of effort from me, and he just floats over it when he puts his hind legs into it.
Some follow up from Major Beale:  legs push down from the hip, not heels jammed down.  This is, I think, almost the same as thinking "lift your toes".  But after I rode with him, my gimpy right hip was sore, and today George the rolfer suggested a stretch for each time after I ride to loosen it up.  Left knee is bent (knee over ankle), right leg is slightly behind you on your knee, then you move forward to lengthen the hip flexor.  It is crazy how tight it is on the right and how it's nothing to lean forward on my left. 
Shannon also pointed out that I need to start riding "like a trainer", which is like what John and Major Beale said - stop poking around and being sloppy and doing the same old pattern each time I ride, but RIDE him each time.  Don't plod along at the walk but make him do an energetic forward walk.  Don't accept a pokey, strung out trot - make him responsive to my aids.  And don't use the rail as my crutch for steering anymore.
I tried to do it yesterday on my own, but it wasn't nearly as successful as in the lesson with Major Beale.  Then I did a jump lesson today, and while Charlie started out sluggish, we did a three jump gymnastic and by the time Shannon made it big, Charlie was excited about it.  She says it's better to have the big canter, in front of the leg, than the dressage frame to the fence, and that I'm still using my legs way too much the last few strides - by then I should wait and let him do his job.
We did a couple little courses, and the good news was my steering was pretty good.  We also did a vertical and then an oxer at an angle (which is also about steering and staying on your line) but for some reason doing it at an angle totally throws me off.
And I think Major Beale was right about the vertigo not being to blame.  I think it was that I bought Charlie and Shannon is riding him less, so the timing just coincided with the vertigo.  Plus, I happened to read "The Simplicity of Dressage" by Johann Hinnemann and Coby van Baalen a few days after Major Beale, and it said, "[F]or amateurs like you who usually only ride one horse, acquiring good contact and a straight horse are the most difficult things to do.  This is because you become crooked with your horse and are so accustomed to it that it is very difficult to break the pattern.  I still have clear memories of times when I thought I couldn't get through a turn on a certain horse, that I'd run into the wall or some such thing. ... What can you do to break that pattern?  You can start by trading horses with another rider at your barn.  Get on another horse and feel if he's straight and on both reins.  Let your ... instructor ride your horse a few times.  The main thing is that you get a new feel."

Charlie can move!

Today's lesson with Major Beale was divine.  He didn't hold back, and Charlie (thanks to his wonderful training), totally rose to the challenge.
We started with yesterday's work - proper bend, using his shoulders to steer, and getting his transitions quick and responsive.
Then we jumped right into some leg yields along the wall, a half turn on the haunches, and immediately a leg yield the opposite direction.  While at first we kind of dragged along, by the end, Charlie was pretty much skipping down the side. 
Then he added a transition to canter or trot (depending on whether we were trotting or walking) and some lengthening and collecting on the canter circle.  Doing the leg yield first I think got Charlie's hind legs activated, so he could lift up into the next gait and push up into it.
We also did some counterbending, which helped make Charlie feel more "square" underneath me.
All the work getting him square and his engine going also had the side benefit of me not feeling like I needed to work on my heels.  While we were doing a lot so I couldn't concentrate on my lower leg (so I know I was doing some aids with my heel raised instead of squeezing), when we were riding in between a movement, I noticed my lower leg stayed solid without as much effort from me.
I don't bend him around my left leg enough - when I feel like he is overbent, he is barely even bent to the left, so I need to keep working on that and readjust my feel for what is right.  I have gotten so used to the feeling of wrong (like not sitting up in the saddle for dressage) that it is just going to take some time to readjust my sensors.
Major Beale said that I should ride him like this all the time - instead of plodding along at the walk, he should spring out the stall door ready for action.  It really was quite marvelous to feel and ride, and I was surprised that he could get it out of us with me on Charlie.  Charlie felt more like Shannon had just ridden him.
We also did walking around the corner, turning down the centerline, and then fast zig zag leg yields - left-right-left-right-left-right - and then a turn and transition into trot right away at the end.  I was very slow in my reaction time on these, but they really got Charlie listening.
We also did some lengthening and collecting up at the trot as well, but I am better at collecting the canter than I am the trot.
Charlie gave a few good grunts from the effort, which was pretty funny.
We also did some shoulder in and a little bit of shoulder out.
I tend to bend Charlie to the right when we're on the diagonal - he should be straight because we're going in a straight line.
This was an amazing ride - it has helped me feel that I can get there on my own and how good it feels to be there, so why it's worth the effort.  I am amazed that he got so much out of us today!  I wish I had it on video so I could watch it just before each show to try to get there again.

Day 1 with Major Beale

Today's lesson was, somewhat sadly, very similar to my clinic lesson in October with Major Beale - sad because we worked on mostly the same issues.
It was wonderful because, truly like peeling an onion, we worked on them in a far more refined and nuanced way than before.
We started with making Charlie responsive to the aids, by trotting, then walking one step (at E or B) and then trotting again.  This helped Charlie to "poof" up and feel like he was ready to trot when we were at the walk.
Then we worked on leg yield to the right (off my left leg) to work on getting his left hind leg activated.  Major Beale's opinion was that Charlie has always been a little lazy with the left hind, but that I fall into his trap, making us kind of a snowball rolling down a hill (that is not at all how he described it, by the way - purely my translation).
In doing that, Major Beale noticed that I don't turn Charlie from the shoulders - I almost always bend his neck, and then turn him from the haunches.  Which is how he got the light bulb to go off for me about riding from the outside hand.
Like a lot of other things, I had read about riding from your outside hand (especially inside leg to outside hand) in books, and thought I was doing it, but I wasn't remotely doing it at all.  And suddenly, all the times Shannon or John has told me to ride from my outside hand make sense.  They want me to do it because it turns the horse over his forehand - not because I am "blocking" the flow of water out that shoulder (which it also does).
So number one is working on transitions to make Charlie sharp and responsive to the aids - making him feel ready to spring up into the next gait.
Second is not "wasting" that energy by letting it spill out (mostly) through his left shoulder.  That hand doesn't just act like a block, but also steers.  We made circles, then rectangles, where instead of a bend in the circle, I did a mini turn on the forehand type thing.
Major Beale approached this from several angles - he had me work on the circle, stretch my body, stretch my heel, look over my left shoulder, adjust my shoulders while I rode, leg yields, change of direction, and probably other exercises I'm already forgetting because my brain got completely full and excited with the "ah-ha!" moment where outside hand became clear.
So now it is on to practicing that, and next up - impulsion - (well, at some point in the future, maybe not next) - and hopefully by his next clinic, I'll have made it slightly further along in my stuttering baby steps.
It was AMAZING.  I wish I'd been riding with him my whole life.

Lacking Impulsion lesson, Aspen derby

This Thursday we rode with John, and while I felt a lot of improvement, I am still totally flummoxed by how to generate impulsion. I now know that it is NOT by half halting around the corners on the way to the fence - unless you have a big canter. A half halt without enough canter just tips Charlie down onto his forehand, making him strung out, and resulting in pukey fences. I also know that it not just by riding faster (same thing happens as above). It matches the feeling of a canter piroutte, or a 10 meter canter circle, but how you generate it, I don't know. I know you have to use your hands as the "stop" but your seat and legs as the engine, and rely more on your back, but I'm missing what the "go" is. Charlie saved me, however, at Aspen, by being in a mood, which meant I didn't have to worry about the go at all. While our Novice show jumping and derby courses were not perfect - it was my first time ever going novice and it felt pretty smooth and like I knew what to fix and when (for the most part). Charlie loves his job and I love Charlie for loving his job. He is a total delight to ride.
Charlie's show jumping round 

Two great rides - a jump lesson with John and schooling at NWEC

On Tuesday, Shannon and I had a jump lesson with John. He had a little course built - a somewhat serpentine (left bend, right bend) line of three fences, with a right hand turn to a panel with an easy left bend to an oxer. The eerie thing about the lesson was that John pretty much told me exactly what Shannon told me on Sunday - to ride in a bigger canter, but in a dressage frame, because the slow, strung-out canter leads to pukey fences! Charlie gets used to the fences after about twice through, and he wants to take over and just do the job, so I have to be faster and more clear in sitting up between the fences to half halt and rebalance him - without so much hand that I slow him down. On the bending three fence line, the next fence came up so fast it was hard to do. The other big tip that really sunk in during the lesson was to look up and at the next fence, and get out of Charlie's way and let him do his job. I had an opportunity to put that one into practice at NWEC. It was nice because while they didn't have all the fences out, there was a small assortment, and it had been mowed (and we lucked out on the weather!) so we walked the whole thing to check it out, did a warm up, and then rode the little circle of fences near the parking. I was having trouble figuring out how to ride Charlie in a big canter forward when he was excited about being there, but not strung out - I tend to overdo it, and make him too slow. Shannon reminded me of what John was saying (two days ago!) that Charlie is experienced enough to know what he's doing, so while I want to keep the rhythm even (1-2-3-4) I also want to stay out of his way if I don't see the spot and trust that he's going to launch or put one in, but just to keep my eyes up and ride it. Charlie was great over the warm up fences, so then we went and did the water, with my first ramp in, then a ramp one stride to a log, and then a ramp in with a bank out. Charlie was ho-hum it was so simple for him. Then we went over and rode the little ditch and big ditch and again, Charlie was Mr. Ho-Hum; No Big Deal. It was really fun and I'm really glad we went ahead of time, just so those first jittery butterflies in my stomach and Charlie's excitement about being there were things I could feel and address without the extra stress of the competition. I am really looking forward to this season. Oh! And we jumped one training level fence. Just an inviting log, but woo-hoo!

New job for me!

On May 15, I will be joining Phillips Wesch Burgess, a boutique firm that specializes in business, real estate, land use, environmental, construction, and related insurance coverage law. I'm excited about the opportunity, and the firm, which is relatively new and provides a much-needed niche area for the Tacoma to Portland corridor.

Jump lesson

Yesterday I had a jump lesson with Shannon. It was a good mix of work on the flat and some small fences, but working on those very important details. The take-aways: First, use my leg FIRST then my back for the down transitions. I have been doing better about remembering to use my back, but they still kind of tip forward onto the forehand and it's because I'm not using my leg also. Second, work on using inside leg to outside hand, plus outside leg, for the turns. I am still having trouble pulling my right hand and I need to pay a lot more attention to get this right because now I can feel what a difference it makes in how Charlie is going. Third, in my efforts to get a big canter out of Charlie, don't let him get all strung out. We had a few really good obvious examples where I'd let him get a bit flat instead of in his dressage canter (the hard part is balancing the big canter without the strung out), and we'd launch at the fences every time we were flat and strung out. But if I rode him in frame and balanced, we didn't have those launchers and had much better fences. Fourth, when and if Charlie spooks, I have to break the habit of turning him in a circle and instead make him keep doing his job. Then, miracle of miracles, today I finally felt draped going to the right in the canter, for the first time since I had vertigo at Christmas. The right side is still messed up, but I could feel the progress. This was a great lesson - I felt like some of the things Shannon has patiently repeated for the last two-three years are finally sinking in so I'm able to do them - and I can feel them (sometimes) before she says anything!

Current top 5 areas of focus

1. Heels down and forward - For this, I think lifting my toes and at each step, pushing my heels down and forward 2. Hands even and steady - For this, I am using rubberbands 3. Work on 2-point at trot and canter - Just trying to practice each time I'm in the jump saddle to build up these muscles so I don't pant my way around the course. Also, working on feeling the difference between 350 mpm and 400 mpm. 4. Feeling the hind legs at walk and trot. For trot, I think it is when you sit if you're posting, but I need to check that. 5. Independent leg aids, especially felt at the leg yield.