I had a lot more questions for Beth today, and Charlie was not at his best. He was a little stiff and sore from yesterday, and because we rode with George, he was way more interested in where George was and what he was doing than what I was asking him to do. He got back in the trailer and proceeded to paw it for like 30 minutes - very annoying.
We started with how you halt by softening your legs. The trick is to soften your butt and legs. I've been driving forward with my butt while softening my legs, but the halt needs to come from the lower belly instead. This same place is the center of all activity - before every request (an up transition, a down transition), breathe into the belly and then think about it. So if I am asking him to pick it up a bit, I use my leg, but I keep the impulsion from just going out his nose by stopping it with my core - not my hands.
This, I think, is the piece I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around. It is something I rarely use, but once it's operating, it makes everything else so much easier.
So for a down transition from the canter, I use the core and the outside rein and then use the core again to keep the trot speed the same as the canter, just a different rhythm.
We worked on trot circles one direction, then changing through the center to the other direction. Each time we'd change direction, I'd throw everything away, so Charlie would rush off onto the forehand at the start of the next circle and it would take me a whole circle to get it back.
I'm not sure why I'm doing that, but it was good to know once I figured it out. It goes back to riding every step.
The other big issue was the same as what Major Beale has said - being an interactive rider instead of a reactive rider (with the following step being a proactive rider). I can control how big the trot is by how big my seat is - I don't have to let Charlie choose. Because Charlie was pissy today, this actually gave Beth an opportunity to have me redirect it instead of just going along for the ride. As annoyed as I was (and as useful as it was to know he's better alone), that was worth it.
All gaits down transition is through the core, which also controls tempo and rhythm. But an up transition needs leg first, but then you have to channel the energy.
This sounds so - hang on, let me go get my magic crystals - but it made sense while I was riding it. But it is a slippery one - not quite fully within my grasp yet.
I think I said this yesterday too, but the other important part is to do well what I can do, and once I've mastered that, ask for more - just like the stages of dressage tests go. Just because I want to be doing a stretchy trot circle doesn't mean that Charlie can zing along in a stretchy trot circle the first time I ask for one, especially after several years of not doing it.
It was another great lesson, and it was fun to go with Julie and have company on the drive.
I watched Julie's lesson (while Charlie was kicking the trailer) and it was really, really helpful. Julie was nagging George for more canter because he was being slow, and she is a much better rider than me, so it was really helpful to watch someone better than me have a problem I have too. There is something about not trying to ride at the same time, but being able to watch the cause and effect and the instructor's words that really helps me get some of the concepts. It also helped because Julie would ask clarifying questions, so I could see where she was struggling with how to implement the instructions. George responded a little differently than Charlie might, but it was still really interesting to watch.
Charlie with the long sought after cooler
Spring NWEC 2013 Novice
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Beth at Anne's - hula hips = improved down transitions
Today was my first of two days with Beth at Anne Appleby's. It was one of those lessons where it was "ah-ha" moment after "ah-ha" moment, making me nervous that I'll forget them all on my own. I wish I could ride with Beth every week, because I get it, but then I'm afraid I'm practicing it wrong and making it worse in between.
I had three issues for Beth, but got very good insight into right circle issues as well. My issues were Charlie wagging his head at the canter, down transitions from the canter to the trot, and stretchy trot circles.
We started with the walk, and getting a nice connected walk, but allowing the movement to come up through my hips instead of forward and back through my back. This was really hard for me to get. I put my left hand on my stomach, with my thumb on my ribs and my pinky on my hip, and the goal was that the distance would stay the same instead of scrunching closed, lengthening open. It is like a slinky going back and forward with your back (wrong way) vs. hula hooping with your hips (right way). When I hula hoop, Charlie can lift his back up into me, and I am more deeply seated, and also my legs can move with him. This isn't just in the walk, but also in the sitting trot.
Beth said she can see a big difference in my swishy seat, although it came back more strongly as the lesson went on.
So we started with the walk and trying to shift the movement from my belly forward and back to hips up and down. Then we went to a stretchy circle at the walk, and focused on feeling the "round" Charlie underneath me (the "poof" in his shoulders, which means he's stepping up underneath himself with his hind legs), which required slow, gradual letting the reins out, not flinging them away. I had to ask him to tuck in his nose a little bit, but if I didn't expect immediate results, I got a much better stretchy walk.
Then we did trot work, and it is easier for me to keep Charlie round and connected on a circle than on the long side. I had never noticed this, so it was really good to have Beth point it out. If I pay attention, I can feel him go a little flat, and then if I do another circle, we reengage.
Then we did some trotting at the sitting trot, and I had to start slow, but then gradually work on building that trot up to "normal" speed. I can control the tempo with my hips, but I have to be careful not to get tense, and I need to try to sit back just a little more so that I can use the flat lower part of my belly more powerfully.
Then we did some stretchy trot work, and I am basically just rushing it. I fling everything away and expect him to do it perfectly, and what I need to do is 20%, then another 20%, then check in, then another 20%. Then, once he gets it, I can speed up. But for now, it is keeping the connection and making sure he goes down round and not out and flat and racing on his forehand.
Then we did canter work. A down transition is really the same speed between trot and canter, it is just using the outside rein to say "here is the new gait". This was really, really useful to hear. And - fascinatingly - the right stretchy circle at the trot and right canter are the same issue. It is still really different to go left and right, although on an entirely different level than last year. I kind of fall apart and get all twisted, crank Charlie's head to the right, and he is also kind of lazy about pushing off of his left hind leg, so it is really not as good or easy as going to the left. I have to remember to twist my spine a little left (my left shoulder gets further ahead than my right one), put weight on my right stirrup, and think about the rectangle and push my left side into the inside of the circle.
Charlie got pretty sweaty and was not forward enough in the canter, but it was hard because he would lift up into it but then kind of just stall in the air. So I need to work on the correct feeling there.
This written version doesn't do the lesson justice. I was like "OH! That's WHY that is happening!" over and over again. And - for the first time in a while, I started to see the next step up.
It is great! We are progressing. There is still a long way to go, but we are so much further than where we started. And Charlie is a real trooper. Some of this is hard work for him, and he is a little less honest about offering it when I do it right, but once I am firm and say "this is what I want", he changes and shows me whether it worked or not. He is such a good boy.
Next step is tempo. Beth said it is a real eventer issue - we want to tear around going too fast, and I need to distinguish speed from impulsion. I can feel it when it is up in his shoulders, but I can't always tell if things are too slow or too fast.
I had three issues for Beth, but got very good insight into right circle issues as well. My issues were Charlie wagging his head at the canter, down transitions from the canter to the trot, and stretchy trot circles.
We started with the walk, and getting a nice connected walk, but allowing the movement to come up through my hips instead of forward and back through my back. This was really hard for me to get. I put my left hand on my stomach, with my thumb on my ribs and my pinky on my hip, and the goal was that the distance would stay the same instead of scrunching closed, lengthening open. It is like a slinky going back and forward with your back (wrong way) vs. hula hooping with your hips (right way). When I hula hoop, Charlie can lift his back up into me, and I am more deeply seated, and also my legs can move with him. This isn't just in the walk, but also in the sitting trot.
Beth said she can see a big difference in my swishy seat, although it came back more strongly as the lesson went on.
So we started with the walk and trying to shift the movement from my belly forward and back to hips up and down. Then we went to a stretchy circle at the walk, and focused on feeling the "round" Charlie underneath me (the "poof" in his shoulders, which means he's stepping up underneath himself with his hind legs), which required slow, gradual letting the reins out, not flinging them away. I had to ask him to tuck in his nose a little bit, but if I didn't expect immediate results, I got a much better stretchy walk.
Then we did trot work, and it is easier for me to keep Charlie round and connected on a circle than on the long side. I had never noticed this, so it was really good to have Beth point it out. If I pay attention, I can feel him go a little flat, and then if I do another circle, we reengage.
Then we did some trotting at the sitting trot, and I had to start slow, but then gradually work on building that trot up to "normal" speed. I can control the tempo with my hips, but I have to be careful not to get tense, and I need to try to sit back just a little more so that I can use the flat lower part of my belly more powerfully.
Then we did some stretchy trot work, and I am basically just rushing it. I fling everything away and expect him to do it perfectly, and what I need to do is 20%, then another 20%, then check in, then another 20%. Then, once he gets it, I can speed up. But for now, it is keeping the connection and making sure he goes down round and not out and flat and racing on his forehand.
Then we did canter work. A down transition is really the same speed between trot and canter, it is just using the outside rein to say "here is the new gait". This was really, really useful to hear. And - fascinatingly - the right stretchy circle at the trot and right canter are the same issue. It is still really different to go left and right, although on an entirely different level than last year. I kind of fall apart and get all twisted, crank Charlie's head to the right, and he is also kind of lazy about pushing off of his left hind leg, so it is really not as good or easy as going to the left. I have to remember to twist my spine a little left (my left shoulder gets further ahead than my right one), put weight on my right stirrup, and think about the rectangle and push my left side into the inside of the circle.
Charlie got pretty sweaty and was not forward enough in the canter, but it was hard because he would lift up into it but then kind of just stall in the air. So I need to work on the correct feeling there.
This written version doesn't do the lesson justice. I was like "OH! That's WHY that is happening!" over and over again. And - for the first time in a while, I started to see the next step up.
It is great! We are progressing. There is still a long way to go, but we are so much further than where we started. And Charlie is a real trooper. Some of this is hard work for him, and he is a little less honest about offering it when I do it right, but once I am firm and say "this is what I want", he changes and shows me whether it worked or not. He is such a good boy.
Next step is tempo. Beth said it is a real eventer issue - we want to tear around going too fast, and I need to distinguish speed from impulsion. I can feel it when it is up in his shoulders, but I can't always tell if things are too slow or too fast.
Sunday, January 04, 2015
Group lesson with two of John's other students
Today I got to ride with two of John's students in a group lesson. It was really helpful, because I could watch them out of the corner of my eye and try to make Charlie look like their horses did. I could also watch what their horses did, then listen to what John told them to change. We started working on a 20 meter circle, and my main instructions were to get my heels down, to bend Charlie to the inside, and then to use outside rein to connect him.
Then we added in a tiny vertical, but you had to make a hard left to get to it - it didn't feel like a 20 meter circle turn. To get over it smoothly (after a couple awkward leaps where I got left behind), I figured out the trick was to make Charlie really suck up, so he could rock back onto his hind legs and kind of lift over it. Then, John made it higher, but the same method worked. When I tried to increase Charlie's speed around the last quarter of the circle, I couldn't suck him up enough and we'd sprawl over it again.
We did it first to the left, and then to the right. From the right, it was much harder to get the bend right to the fence. We'd either kind of angle it or overshoot to one side of it, so that was interesting. But Charlie was pretty good once he figured out what was going on.
John took his grid and rebuilt it to be a vertical at about M, with six strides to another vertical at F, then a bending right turn to a vertical angled just shy of X, with a slight left bending turn back over the first vertical at M. You started on the right lead and ended on the left lead, so that last line was hard to get the line right and to end on the left lead. Our final round, John had me do a flying change, and after a lot of hopping around, Charlie got it.
Then we finished and John put the fences up for them, and they did the same thing, but ending with another vertical (mid-line north of X) back to the second vertical (at F).
We also looked at the 2015 rules, and John said that because they conflict (Appx 8 (?) says that you have to get your last qualifying score by the closing date of the 3 day, but Appx 3 (?) says you have to get your xc score 10 days before the xc for the event), the people putting on the show will probably use the 10 day rule (he said they used to be guidelines) because they want more people to enter the 3 day.
I really liked riding in the group.
Then we added in a tiny vertical, but you had to make a hard left to get to it - it didn't feel like a 20 meter circle turn. To get over it smoothly (after a couple awkward leaps where I got left behind), I figured out the trick was to make Charlie really suck up, so he could rock back onto his hind legs and kind of lift over it. Then, John made it higher, but the same method worked. When I tried to increase Charlie's speed around the last quarter of the circle, I couldn't suck him up enough and we'd sprawl over it again.
We did it first to the left, and then to the right. From the right, it was much harder to get the bend right to the fence. We'd either kind of angle it or overshoot to one side of it, so that was interesting. But Charlie was pretty good once he figured out what was going on.
John took his grid and rebuilt it to be a vertical at about M, with six strides to another vertical at F, then a bending right turn to a vertical angled just shy of X, with a slight left bending turn back over the first vertical at M. You started on the right lead and ended on the left lead, so that last line was hard to get the line right and to end on the left lead. Our final round, John had me do a flying change, and after a lot of hopping around, Charlie got it.
Then we finished and John put the fences up for them, and they did the same thing, but ending with another vertical (mid-line north of X) back to the second vertical (at F).
We also looked at the 2015 rules, and John said that because they conflict (Appx 8 (?) says that you have to get your last qualifying score by the closing date of the 3 day, but Appx 3 (?) says you have to get your xc score 10 days before the xc for the event), the people putting on the show will probably use the 10 day rule (he said they used to be guidelines) because they want more people to enter the 3 day.
I really liked riding in the group.
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