Double whips and burr bit

Today was a fierce dressage lesson.  John said poor Charlie will probably be a bit sore tomorrow.
The lesson started with John bringing out a second whip, but then he quickly got annoyed with Charlie's utter disregard for anything I was doing with my left hand.  So he went inside (I was hoping to get his helmet, but no….) and got one of those "burrs" that sits in the bit with the pokey ends touching the muzzle, and put it on Charlie's right side.
Then he made me ride the snot out of poor Charlie.
It is not something I could repeat on my own.  We would bend him to the left (way left) so I could see his eye, and then I would use my outside (right) leg up next to the girth (eventually, just putting my leg up, then turning my heel so I could touch him with just my spur) to push him forward.  We would get a few marvelous steps where he was bent around my left leg and pushing from behind - I could feel his back lift up - and then he would invert, shake his head, and kick out behind.
Then we went to the right, but counter bent to the left.  He'd get a few steps bent right, then back to counter bend.  Same thing - he'd do a few steps, then invert, shake his head, and kick out.
Then John had me try to cross his front legs over to make a small circle, then leg yield out, without letting him bend to the outside, back to the regular circle.
Then we turned a 10 meter circle into a shoulder-in down the long side, which Charlie HATED.
Finally, we did some canter both ways, and he would canter a couple nice steps, then try to shake it off.  Canter was a little easier than trot in one sense, because John said to really use my seat to make his steps longer, and Charlie responded really well to that.
John said that Charlie should have learned this when he was 4, and he's never really had to bend around my left leg before.  He said I didn't have the skills to try to get it until this year, and that if we had a show next week, we wouldn't be doing it, but it's worth trying a few times over the next lessons.
At home, he said to just try not letting Charlie evade - if he tries to pop out through the right shoulder, correct it.  Then when he tries to pop out through the left shoulder, correct it.  He said Charlie will just keep moving around where he's trying to evade until he learns he has to submit.
Charlie was sweaty all over - even his butt, and my hair was soaking wet.
Oh, and at the beginning of the lesson, John had me ride a 10 meter circle to the left with my left hand behind my thigh so Charlie couldn't wear out my arm.  He was still refusing to bend, so that's when John decided he'd had enough.
It was a really interesting lesson.  Those few steps where Charlie was bent and using his hind end and lifting his back?  Divine.  I hope one day we can get that all the time.

Skinnies with Meg

Tonight I shared Meg's jump lesson, which was great because we did some crazy things.
First, John set up ground poles to make a chute, but on both sides of the fence, and in a "three stride" line.  So you turned right, went through the chute, over the fence, through the chute, rode three strides, through the chute, over the fence, through the chute.
Then we did it to the left.
At first I thought, "this is going to be a freaking disaster" but it actually went ok.  The hardest part was getting the three strides in between the two fences.  I had a much harder time getting the distance off the left lead, and John said I was staring down the second fence instead of looking up after I got over the first fence.
Then he went totally crazy and changed the second fence (still left lead) to a barrel standing upright.  Just a barrel.  You rode chute, vertical, chute, 3 strides, chute, barrel.
The first time, Charlie jumped it a bit to the left, but after that he pretty much figured out he was supposed to jump over the top of this barrel, and did it like a champ.
Then John added a skinny rail over the barrel and put the standards in, and then it was a cake walk to jump.
John said it was an exercise to show us how we tend to get sloppy and not ride very precisely.  The narrowest training level fence will still be another foot wider than the jump with the skinny rail, which was luxuriously huge compared to the barrel.  He said it is a good reminder to choose the spot and ride it precisely, and how important it is not to deviate in the chute.
Other than how hard it was for me to get three strides (something John said he wouldn't have even asked me to do last year), what was really illuminating was that Charlie landed on his left lead most of the time; at least the front.  So John said that was really good to know, and that he thinks that Charlie is probably drifting, I'm trying to correct it, and that's what's making him land on the right lead.  So he said we'll be working on these types of exercises more.
Great lesson.
Also, John said ok to use the ammonia about once a week, but that it really dries out the leather.
He also said he feeds timothy because it is more consistent than orchard; that thoroughbreds go off orchard a lot because it seems to vary considerably depending on the fertilizer - like some bales are good and some aren't.  He said if Charlie doesn't eat a flake in a day, take it out and replace it; don't leave it sitting in there all week.

Two rollbacks in our jump lesson with John

On this beautiful sunny February day, we had a great jump lesson with John.  Kevin came with me and so I was ready a bit faster than normal.  John was going to jump one of the horses there really quick but I got to watch him ride while warming up.
We did the same "figure 8" as last weekend, which was a vertical, right turn around an oxer, vertical, left turn, back to the same first vertical.  Charlie didn't spend nearly as much time hopping around flinging his front legs every which way as last week, although he only landed on the left lead maybe twice.
Then we added in the oxer, which made Charlie jump nice and round.
Then John had us do a line, which was an angle over a vertical with a lattice, 4 strides to the "original" vertical, then a right turn around back to the oxer.
Following that, he took it up a huge notch, and had us do the line, then a very hard right rollback turn to a gate, with a very hard left rollback turn to the vertical with the lattice.  When he showed me that one, and told me where I needed to change by, I was like "sure, John, we'll ride that" totally sarcastic.  And then we rode it - amazingly, including the change.  It was AWESOME.
And it cemented for me what John was saying last week, that I've gotten so much faster on the trot changes that if I see that we're landing left, I can do a change through the trot a stride or so after the fence, and not really lose any of the rhythm or the line to the next fence.
He said the biggest problem I had in show jumping last year was the inconsistent speed - I'd go fast but then slow way down and then speed up again then slow way down.  He said the reason why the jumps felt good today was because it was a nice even speed and rhythm; which incidentally, let me have more time to look for the next fence, check the lead, and feel generally like it was a nice ride.
He also said that it's just about time to think about changing the bit; he said my hands have gotten quiet enough that it would be nice to have a bit that let me get a bit more "lift" out of Charlie.
It was a great lesson, and John chatted a bit afterwards, but none of the pictures Kevin took came out.  We are just a fuzzy blur going over a fence.

Second lesson with Beth

We had our second clinic lesson with Beth this morning, a good Valentine's gift to myself.
Beth had me twist to the left, which made my body "square".  I could feel that I was landing center in the saddle, and Charlie helped by not needing to be nagged and not bulging out through the corner.  My left upper thigh felt like it was landing more on the center of the saddle.

The other big thing we worked on was visualizing a bowl of water in my lower belly that I don't want to slosh around, at the walk in particular, where I push my stomach forward and back.  Beth had several ways to address this:  first, using my whip instead of my legs to get Charlie to walk on; second, by putting my hand on my belly and making sure it didn't move forward; and third, for the trot, by putting my fingers on my ribs and hip bone and making sure that at the posting trot it stayed the same distance and didn't close.

By stopping the sloshing, I stopped nagging Charlie and stopped tensing my butt and my legs.  For both the walk and the trot, this made me "plug in" and I could rest into the saddle, which actually made Charlie move a lot better.  Not tightening my butt to drive him forward, and not clenching with my leg, made me feel the connection in a really good way that I rarely achieve on my own.

For the canter, it was thinking under/up, under/up, under/up, and that was his hind legs coming underneath him and then up in the front legs.

Beth is also of the opinion that some horses can walk around on a loose rein when they first warm up; that it isn't wasted steps doing something you wouldn't ask them to do under saddle.  She says she has one horse in particular she spends 10 minutes on.  The horse doesn't get to be lazy, but she gets a long neck to stretch down until Beth puts her to work.  She also recommended a chiropractor (Kelli Taylor) and Anne also said that Dr. Salewski is hardly coming to Washington anymore.  She and Anne both said that Charlie's hind end looks a little like it is doing string halt, and Beth thought she wouldn't jump until I get it checked out.

Overall, it was a great lesson.  I think the challenge is going to be keeping the "wrong" feeling until it feels right when I am alone at home.  It is slippery to grasp and as soon as we do something different (a three loop serpentine) I very quickly revert to my habitual riding, even with Beth watching.

First lesson with Beth in 8 months; Jump lesson with John

Yesterday was our first lesson with Beth since the end of June last year.  Today, we took Calo back home and then had a jump lesson with John.

Today's jump lesson John put a flash on Charlie and tightened his nose band (from 2 holes to 5 holes, and he said it could even go one hole tighter).  Charlie DID. NOT. LIKE. THIS.  He decided that if he couldn't open his jaw, he couldn't go forward.  It took a LOT of leg and a LOT of arm to wrastle him into place so he could feel that he could still move.  Then he stubbornly refused to land (or stay) on the left lead after the fence to the left, so for about 100 times, we circled and did these huge leaping ridiculous overblown lead changes.  John said that Charlie just doesn't understand how to push up from underneath, and is trying to figure out what to do with his legs to allow them to do the change.  He gave me a couple pretty good bucks when he was frustrated.  John said it's ok if he's done a circle a few times leaping and hopping around and is starting to get frustrated to just trot, but then to work him really hard on the trot circle - not let him have a break.  Then go back to work.  He also said that it's ok to trot at the show.  He said that so long as I trot within a couple strides after the fence, go back to canter, so I still have like 7 strides of canter before the next fence, it will be ok.  He also said to start working Charlie in the flash, and that before my hands were a little too rough for the flash, but they're better (not great) so it's ok to do.
We spent a lot of time on the flat, trying to get Charlie round and forward, and then we did a vertical, right turn, vertical, left turn, back to the original vertical.  It was sort of a figure 8.  Then John added in a lattice wall, and then the lattice wall at a slight angle to make a straight line to the vertical.
Charlie spent a lot of time in the trailer today, so I wondered if that made him tired and harder to do the changes.  John said it doesn't matter - that Charlie is good, but on his terms - and that he needs to start trying to figure out what we're asking him to do and do it.
I also asked him about my inability to get a two stride line correct at home, and he said that his steps can get off from the beginning to the end of a day, as his hamstrings tighten up, so when I can't get the line right, just measure it with the tape.
He said not to work on the changes at home, just to work in Charlie coming underneath himself with lots of transitions and stuff.
I was pouring sweat.  My hair was wetter than at Inavale last summer, when it was 104 and I rode my dressage test in my jacket anyway.

Yesterday with Beth was a good lesson too, but in a very different way.  Beth gave me three exercises to work on.
First was slowing down the trot so Charlie is basically taking half steps, then going forward again.  She said they have to balance themselves and it builds strength.
Next was walking on a circle, leg yield out to the wall, and trot when we get to the wall.
Third was to work on a 20 meter circle, make a 10 meter trot circle, and then start cantering when touching the wall, canter a quarter or so of the circle, then do another 10 meter trot circle.
She noticed that I twist because I am trying to get Charlie to go forward, and I am using more of my left leg.  She suggested using the whip more than my leg, especially in the corners.
She also noticed the difference between his right lead and left lead canter.  She said his leg is kind of jerky - she described it as "stabbing down", and she suspects he is tight over his back.
My position improvements were:
- At the sitting trot, allow my legs to be softer and my core to be tighter.  I have found a way to sit the trot, but I am gripping way more than necessary with my lower leg.  I can bounce even more softly if I breathe into my leg and relax.
- At the posting trot, think about my left butt coming more toward the center of the saddle, and pushing my right hip forward.  This works better for me if I think about pushing my weight into my right leg when I am posting up.  When I have this correct, it feels like I am corkscrewed around to the left, and my right hip starts to ache.  This one was kind of amazing, as soon as I got "uncrooked", he quit bulging out in his shoulder and just made nice round circles, and I didn't need to nag with my leg nearly as much.
- Finally, she said I need to do more ground work because I am rounding much worse with my shoulders (slumping forward).  John pointed this out today too, so I can't deny it.

Jump lesson with Meg; Dressage lesson

On Thursday evening, Meg and I shared a jump lesson.  It was a great lesson but very frustrating.  I could see the distances, but I couldn't always get the right take off spot, and I reverted back to launching him if I thought it was going to be close.  John had us do a vertical, then a two stride oxer-oxer line, then we started doing figure 8s at an angle over the oxers.  It was challenging to keep the outside shoulder from bulging out, so that the angled line would be consistent.  But worse was I would be so busy focused on the lead change that I would miss the turn, and then launch, which then messed up the next turn.  Meg and I seemed pretty evenly matched, even though Matty is only 8 (!) and he prefers the opposite lead of Charlie - he likes to be on his left, so she has the flip of me over every fence for trying to change leads.

Then today I had a dressage lesson.  When I warmed him up, Charlie had a nice soft trot but a herky jerky canter.  Somehow. what John had him do made him get soft and fluid and forward, but I don't know quite why.  We did some circles, then some small circles counter bent, then back to regular bend, then leg yield out to the big circle.  Then we lengthened and Charlie felt great.  It really wasn't that simple, but I don't know what happened that made him go from slugging around to being really forward.  John says he needs to be about this much [       ] more round, and then he'll be happy.  He also said not to worry about the season, that he'll tell me when to worry.  He thinks Charlie needs to gain some weight to help with his top line, so we'll see how the grain works.  (He increased from 1/4 scoop oats to 1 full scoop.)

We also talked about the conditioning schedule and he said that it is aerobic conditioning that really matters, and I can do that with long trot sets (20 minutes), especially with draw reins on.  He said I could also jump 3 fences, then trot 5 minutes, then jump 3 fences, etc. to meet the 20 minutes.  He said the gallop work isn't as essential and I can do that every other week starting in April when the footing gets better.