Lessons from Peteton

Shannon came out and gave me and K some help before our first tests at Peteton.
This was super useful!
Just like in my lessons, I was pouring sweat instead of my usual blase riding, and instead of standing and watching the test before mine, Shannon had me ride a lot of "attention" work - transitions, spirals in and out to work on the side that wasn't bending well, and focused riding.
We trotted out of the warm up arena right into the test arena, and then walked past the judge's stand twice - after that, Shannon said it was enough and to RIDE him past it. This was harder for me than it seems like it should be (I'm kind of passive, and want to let him just keep looking at it).
So it was actually just a few take home lessons, but ones that I can remember and continue to try to incorporate and that made a huge difference: ride harder in my warm up, don't put up with so much goofiness, and focus just before the test by getting his attention.
I was quite pleased with how he did. Although he craned at the judge's stand, it wasn't anything unmanageable, and he improved.
He was excellent getting in and out of the trailer, and he actually did really well standing around in between the rides (the part that I had been the most worried about).
It also took down my stress at least two notches to know Shannon would be there telling me what I needed to do, which was huge and kind of a surprise to me how much of an impact it had.
And it was really fun to be there riding with a friend.

Peteton - Training 2 & 3 Comments

Training 2 - 61.071%
Slight wobble on centerline
Counterbent (he was spooking at judge's stand), but he got the same comment later when he wasn't
Needs bend
On forehand in one canter
Not straight on centerline
Work on keeping haunches straight in transitions (he has been wiggling like a motorcycle); canter can be on forehand at times
Under submission, she circled attention & confidence (ha! understatement!) and acceptance of the bridle

Training 3 - 61.6%
Haunches trailing on centerline
Counterbent
Inconsistent bend, disobedient (this was a bizarre leap out of nowhere and then right back to work)
Haunches in
Uphill transition
"uphill"
Hurried canter
Nose needs to be out in trot stretchy circle
Lovely horse with much potential; want to keep haunches straight

(Again, lots of good comments too. Next post will be about how this was much harder for him being in a new place.)

FPEC - Training Test 1 & 2 Comments

63.043% on Test 1
Willig was sticking his right hind out on the centerline
Needs to flex and bend to the inside, not tilt to outside
Stretch more into contact
Judge didn't like my salute
Willig needs to work through back and accept better contact

63.929% on Test 2
Still sticking his haunches to the right on centerline
On circle to right, was hanging on inside rein (need to soften my hand)
Tilting not flexing right
Poll neck and back stiff
Could be rounder
Needs to stretch down (underlined!)
Tilting outside
Very crooked
Needs to work more through back, accept steady contact, and bend on circles and turns

(He got lots of good comments too, but these are what we need to work on.)

Woo-hoo Willig!

Summary of Judge's comments coming soon.

Formal Willig at show

Casual Willig at show

Video of Training 2

http://vimeo.com/12902590

Willig did great at the show!

For Training-1, he got a 63.043%
For Training-2, he got a 63.929% - despite me blanking on the test, picking up a perfect canter, immediately realizing (by its perfection) that it was in the wrong place, and then going on with the test. But he got marked down 2 points for that.
He was spooky about the stuff I expected him to be, but because I expected it, I was able to take some affirmative action and minimize its negative affect.
I was really, really pleased with him.

As a P.S. from my last lesson:
I need to work on getting my leg back at the canter, not my default anaconda-SQUEEZE.
And even tests always turn right.
Odd tests always turn left.
Pretty cool tip.

I'm nervous about the show tomorrow!

I've always been excited about shows, but lately, with a lot of other things in my life too, I've started feeling more anxious than anticipation. I had trouble sleeping last night, so I just ran through the tests over and over again in my head - imagining every move and how perfectly I know Willig can do it. This is to counteract his being pretty much an exponentially increasing goober as the week went on. It will be interesting to see how he does tonight - where I am lucky to have one more ride after today's show ends but before tomorrow's begins.
I'm just imagining him on the bit, with his back lifted, and his ears flopping sideways, headed towards the judge, and I'm going to cling to that image, no matter what.
And - at the very least, my take away is how much better he responds when I get kind of mad at his hijinks and ride him really assertively. I think that's what Mike, Shannon, and way back when he went to John's - I think that's what they were all saying. A little light bulb went off on another totally obvious thing: Oh? You mean RIDE him?! Ok! (P.S. RIDING him vs. riding him, makes me breathe heavy.)

Weebles wobble but they don't fall down

That's my attitude for our first show this year. Due to a series of bad circumstances (work (of course) and then an odd, temporary lameness) Willig is really only getting ridden this week out of this month, in preparation for our show this weekend at our barn. A month ago, I felt like we were on top of the tests and just polishing the details. Now we feel like chaos in motion.
Regardless, the chaos meant that finally (I can't believe I'm excited about this), Mike got to observe Willig acting up a little bit during our lesson. He was just being a goober about the far end of the arena (I heard that at least four horses got scared of the hose being in a new place, so that makes me feel a little better), and so Mike gave me some tips on how to deal with it during a show:
First - make several little loops as soon as I come in the gate so he sees the scary end at least twice each direction - THEN, if there's time - ride down and past the Judge's stand.
Second - as we approach, watch his ears! (c'mon self, you should know this by now), and BEFORE he pops his head up and his shoulder out and jumps around, correct him. It's ok to use a very firm hand and say "No. You will bend to the inside." Of course, combined with some leg like a half pass.
Third - If I need to, cut the corner a little. It's better to cut the corner and maintain his frame than to force him into the corner, he freaks, everything falls apart, and we lose points on every movement down there.
Other than that, we continued to polish. What's fascinating to me is that he was as good as he was, after all that time off (Mike pointed out it's a big shift in MY attitude since he first met us), and that I can feel the "blips" in the movements - something I didn't used to even notice. We're improving!
What remains discouraging to me is that we're riding Training 1 and 2. Willig is 9 this year. I'm 34. Although I took most of my life off, I've been riding enough years that it makes me frustrated I never learned things properly enough so that I'm farther now. Better late than never I guess.
We did Training 3 at the very end of the lesson, just because Mike had mentioned last lesson it has some odd movements in it, and because I'm riding it the weekend after this at another show. Holy cow, it sure does. Weird 20 meter circles. A stretchy circle at the trot. It's like they jumped an entire level from T-2 to T-3. T-3 to T-4 seems manageable, but I'm not sure I even have the memory for T-3! Yowza!
I'm excited about the show. I wish I'd had more time to prepare, but work has been crazy. I'm just glad I'm getting to ride this week. Also, when I haven't been able to get out for a while, I'm just so grateful to be there and ride at all, that his little hijinks don't bother me as much.

Back-to-back awesome lessons

After our incredible jump lesson Sunday, I had to work (14 hours!) Monday and didn't get to try out Shannon's suggestions about steering from the outside rein, so my first order of business was telling Mike about how confusing it was to me.
Mike, like the wise Jedi he is, suggested all in good time, given the things I've thrown at him to work with so far. (Like the 3" of clearance that used to be between my butt and the saddle at both the canter and "sitting" trot. Har.)
Anyway, I was late getting to the barn, so I didn't have time to warm Willig up. It was actually interesting though, to have a "lesson warm up" to see how Mike would do it differently than I do. A lot like what I'm seeing with Shannon - when I'm left on my own I kind of putter around and make excuses - which is probably why when I have lessons, my glasses steam up, which never happens when I'm riding on my own.
Note to self: ride harder.
This was a lesson that was a great ride (although I almost started to cry at the end because my feeble leg muscles could hardly take it), but it was a whole bunch of new stuff and a whole lot of that was based on feeling, so I'm not sure how well I can capture it.
We started with circles and then the arena, keeping him bent to the inside, and noticing what my body is doing, which is, incredibly, my right hand is always almost back on my thigh while my left hand kind of flaps uselessly. Even when I put both hands on exactly the same spot on the reins, my right hand sneaks back.
Mike had two suggestions for this:
- Hold my right hand like I am holding a coffee cup - up a bit and in a slightly formal position. When I think about holding it like this, it gets out of my way, and I can then use my left hand to give inside bend aids.
- Touch my fingers together (or bridge the reins 5" wide) so that my right hand can't escape. This was the same as Shannon's suggestion - when I'm in my jump saddle I have the martingale on, and I can loop a finger on it so my hand can't go off in it's own direction.
I pointed out that Willig has been doing that motorcyle bend a bit at the canter. Mike suggested I look at myself, and sure enough, my body was doing the same thing, and Willig was just a reflection (albeit a big, easy to see one) of my weirdness. Always the human. Never the horse.
We worked on thinking "straight" and equal between my aids - a straight line on all the lines, evenly between me on the corners, and then Mike took it up a notch by suggesting I lift my butt on the left side - then lift it on the right side - and then feel the "even" place in the middle. This was pretty cool.
It was the same feeling as bending Willig inside, then bending Willig outside, and feeling the "even" in between the two.
Then he took away my stirrups and we worked on the sitting trot.
There is just the tiniest shift back - it is "plugging in" my seat bones, but also my torso just a bit further back (I almost always, left to my own devices, lean forward on my pubic bones and in the torso, like an equitation jumper), and then the heavens open up, angels sing, and I can COMFORTABLY sit the trot - even when we make it a bit bigger. Ok, this isn't flawless and it still needs a ton of work and the details are kind of crazy overwhelming, but THIS. IS. SO. COOL. Last year, sitting the trot was this teeth-jarring slam-slam-slam that left me wilted. This year, it's like "could you get some more elevation in his front please?" all fancy pants.
So that's what we did next - thinking "popping the wheelie" which is actually asking him to go forward but channeling it into the reins - something I've always read about but never been able to do. Mike describes it like squeezing the toothpaste from the end but you have control over the cap and can channel it up. And it just feels - amazing.
But it is all feeling. I barely grasp the sequence of steps, so Mike has said (for what must be the hundreth time) to work more without stirrups in between lessons.
Then we did stirrupless canter work. This one was the same popping the wheelie (although it is easier to do and feel at the canter) and then popping it, slowing the canter down with my seat, and then easing him into trot instead of him dive-bombing (on the forehand) into trot.
This was the point where I was about to cry from my leg muscles (and ok, my abs too).
Finally, Mike did a bit showing me steering from the outside rein. This actually isn't as hard as it first seemed in the lesson with Shannon. I think it helps I've had a few days to think about it, but I actually do it a little bit. My mistake was that I thought the rein should never touch the horse's neck (god knows why I thought that), and so I wouldn't leave it there. I do tend to overdo it (not a surprise to anyone who knows me or who has been reading this blog or who even sees the length of the postings), and so when I overdo it, it feels wrong (surprise) because he's bent to the outside around the corners. I just need to tone it down.
Anyway, even though Mr. Willig had yesterday off (I was a bit sore from the jump lesson, so maybe he was too - although probably not) and not much riding last week, he was just as willing and sweet as could be. I have been so happy with him the last month. And it is so satisfying to be doing so much new stuff. Really fun.
One more exercise is to sort of leg yield him halfway over down a long side, and then leg yield him back the other way on the second half. That will also help me find the "even" bend in between.
Also, after my lesson, two women who can ride Intermediare (sp?) did a Pas de deux (sp again?) to music. It was REALLY cool to watch.

Superstar Jumping Willig!

We had the only jump lesson I could work with my schedule this month today, and of course, it had been raining all day, I was racing around like a madwoman (had to go to work, got to barn late, rush-rush-rush), and it was the tail end of Pony Club, which was inside because of the rain. Fortunately, Shannon's indoor arena is huge, and so even though the group lesson was at one end, and three other people were riding, we managed to squeeze in five minutes of lunging (Willig also got most of the week off - only ridden by J while I worked crazy hours) where he wanted to buck (he did his pre-buck-head-toss but couldn't get his bucks out because the circle was too small).
So all that being said, I thought, grimly, "Well, at least it will be a day where Shannon can teach me how to react when he acts up." Maybe because it was SO overwhelming, or maybe because Shannon immediately made us do 200 things at once, so neither of us had time to think about anything but following directions - he was just fine. In fact, he was better than fine.
He did one little kick when I smacked him with the whip inside (and we did some work on my hands being off - more to come on this towards the end), but he leapt forward, and so Shannon said to praise him anyway. Plus, I kind of deserved the attitude - I was frazzled with expectation about him being bad and so much going on that I wasn't doing a good job giving him clear aids.
The heavy drizzle turned into a light drizzle, so we went outside and jumped a little jump a few times, when, of course with the way the day was going, the Pony Club group lesson ended so people, horses, and trucks and trailers were going every which way, and it was me (ME!) who had trouble paying attention to the jumps and what Shannon wanted us to do - not Willig, who, while flicking his ear mildly in that direction, had (!!) kind of a "ho hum" attitude about it all.
Someone had set up a really cute jump course (earlier in the week I was looking at it enviously) with some ivy and flowers on and below most of the fences, so then Shannon took it up a notch and made us jump a course. At the canter. Over very tiny fences. And I had a big gulp and she told me (colorfully) to ride it aggressively. So with her yelling the necessary instructions (heels forward! sit back! breathe! kick him forward! stop pulling back on him!) we aced it.
She raised the fences, added a couple more, yelled pretty much exactly the same instructions, and we aced it again. He hesitated a bit at the blue barrels, and then he eyeballed her jacket hanging on the fence, but man oh man - J's riding him is REALLY showing.
So it was a huge confidence booster - I was just beaming and patting him and he continued with his "ho hum" attitude, but then I casually asked "What do you mean by steer him with the outside rein?"
Oh lord. Apparently this is one of those huge gaping holes that is so obvious that no one would think that I didn't know anything about it. But I don't. And I didn't understand the mechanics of it and so Shannon had to, very very slowly and patiently and repetitively, explain it. This is something huge that we are going to have to work on. I am still not totally getting it, but Shannon described it as being like a wheelbarrow - you don't turn just one of the handles. Or on your bike. Or, apparently for everyone else in the world, on your horse.
So all this time when she has been telling me and Mike has been telling me to give with my inside hand - they mean something entirely different than what I have been trying to do. And this plays into why my hands are so uneven (another thing I really need to start correcting).
So this is a huge lesson that I'll be working on.
But oh my goodness. What a great ride with Willig. And I've gained a tiny bit of confidence back, J riding him is a great thing for both of us, and I need to stop being such a chicken and just ride him. Today was just hugely full of great lessons, but T is waiting for me to watch a movie (my tiny bit of relaxation for this weekend - next week is another mad rush through the week with too much to do at work for the hours there are, let alone ride and run and clean the house and walk the dog), and then my mom, sister, and nephew are visiting. Then we start getting into lots of summer horsey weekends - yay!

Refining Training 1 & 2 and Starting 1st?

In today's lesson with Mike, he had me ride Training tests 1 and 2, which are our first tests of the season at the end of June.
Overall, they went pretty well. The corrections I need to work on are:
- Tipping forward (leaning) at the up transition from trot to canter. I need to think of the "popping a wheelie" up, which makes this nice, lifting transition; instead of a running-into-it transition.
- Working on the free walk across the diaganol. At 3rd level, you maintain the connection. At training, I can throw it away. Not that we want to, but I have been holding poor Willig so tight that he's like "give me more give me more" and I'm all "huh?" up on top, oblivious. This improved like 200%.
- Working on the down transition from trot to walk. I've been giving him the 1-2-3 notice, but then we plummet abruptly into walk. Another easy (yet I never figured it out on my own) fix. I sit, slow the trot down a few steps out, and then start thinking of the elephant's trunk swinging (legs loose and going right-left-right-left) and that makes my hips stay loose, and he just eases like a feather into walk. I had been clamping with my legs and hips as we did the transition. Sigh. Once again, all me.
- Willig was scooting just a bit right down the centerline. This is almost certainly my heavy right hand. Mike suggested riding with a small (5") bridge to become more aware of how often and heavy my right hand is.
- And my circle method worked. I look at the next letter over, and then do the bend to the inside and the inside leg pushing his inside hind leg over, and it comes pretty close each time.
- Avoid rushing the canter. It tends to get longer and stretched out the longer we go, so keep thinking of that wheelie.

After we rode both tests (and then worked on the fixes I described above), we crossed my stirrups and started working in the *new* territory for me. Mike says that at home I should be working 1st and 2nd level so I can ride Training confidently, even with all the show action going on. We did two new-ish things, which were really fun.
First, at the trot, I worked on that feeling of "lifting". I keep the rhythm with my hips, which is hard to explain but easy to feel when Mike says 1-2-1-2, which helps me kind of push into the saddle and have more control. Then I think about pulling my legs back, especially my thighs, applying just a bit with my calf, and at the same time, thinking "lift" with my hands. Every once in a while, nowhere close to 50%, we'll suddenly get it, and I feel Willig's back swell up into me and then it's like floating. It's pretty amazing, but needs lots of work and practice.
Second, at the canter, we worked on popping the wheelie, but also doing the lift, and this one was brand new, so I don't really have vocabulary for it yet. What happened was he did the same sort of floating up with his back, but it was hard to keep him lifted up and not break into trot. This one should be exciting to work on before my next lesson.

GREAT jump lesson with Shannon!

We had our first jump lesson in a while, and I started it with a great conversation with Shannon that was really, really useful for me putting things into perspective with Willig.
The take-away points were:
- I should go ahead and take him to some of the derbies and enter him in hopeful this year. If we have to be eliminated, scratch, or just look hideous - it doesn't matter, so long as we get around the course. She had to take her guy for three years in hopeful.
- When I ride him, it needs to be more assertively. He's always going to be a chicken, probably, so I have to make up for that and say "Rah! We're going over this jump here!" She doesn't think he doesn't like jumping; he's just easily scared of the other stuff going on. (Her guy was too, and he got over it!)
- What the hell is going on with my right hand? Over fences (not just in dressage) and especially when I get nervous, it is like pulling his head to my thigh. I don't even realize it's happening, so I have to think about "even hands".
- I also have to, on the way to the jump, not pull back. If I'm nervous, kick him forward, but don't pull back.
- And ride him in a defensive position. Think about having my legs in front of me on the way to the fence (and by thinking that, I focus on that and get out of his way for the rest of it), which also means I don't jump ahead, which means that I don't throw everything away, which means that I don't lose my balance, which means that I can react quicker on the other side, and it just keeps getting better. I also feel much more secure and safe.
- The nervousness I'm feeling is "normal" (in the relative scheme of normal, given that some eventers are lunatics). It's ok to not want to jump training level. But I can't start backing off or I'm going to back off of everything (this is me, not Shannon) until I sit in a corner in my house scared of the outside world.
- Most of the horses (quite likely all) have been "pack" horses who have just hauled me around the arena. Willig is the first time I'm really having to learn how to ride, and that's what makes you improve as a rider. Selling him and buying a pack horse would just postpone the lesson (and Shannon agrees he is a handsome guy with some nice qualities) or doom me to a fate of always having to buy packers.
When I put all these things together, Willig did GREAT! He jumped a little course and some things that have been scary for us, and although he didn't always hit his take off point correctly, he didn't have a single bad moment. It was a huge confidence builder. Shannon said that J should keep up with what she's doing, because it is really helping, and also offered for us to go school some at NWEC, which would be great!

Pema Chodron could be writing about riding

Pema is one of my favorite authors, and every time I re-read one of her books, I learn something new. In "The Places that Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times", the Prologue reads like it was written for a rider:
"As the Zen master Suzuki Roshi put it, 'In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few.'
... the three noble principles [are]: good in the beginning, good in the middle, good at the end. We can begin anything we do ... with the intention to be open, flexible, and kind. Then we can proceed with an inquisitive attitude. ... 'Live your life as an experiment.'
At the end of the activity, whether we feel we have succeeded or failed in our intention, we seal the act by thinking of others ... [and] [w]e wish that anything we learned in our experiment could also benefit them.
In this spirit, I offer this guide on the training of the compassionate warrior. May it be of benefit at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end. May it help move us toward the places that scare us. May it inform our lives and help us to die with no regrets."

Patience, young jedi, patience

I started out whining this lesson - not an enjoyable quality in anyone, but particularly a waste of my valuable time with Mike. Willig was a great horse yesterday, a good horse two days before that, but kind of an idiot the day before those days, when I ventured out on the trail for the first time this year. And by idiot, I mean about 200x better than when I got him, but still not what I want him to be. And I just felt worn down by how far he has come, and how far he still has to go.
So the take away messages were:
- Continue to be patient. Working him slowly, building his confidence, not pushing him too hard - working hard on myself - all of those things are making improvements in him by leaps and bounds, so being frustrated because he's still not a rock solid eventer (and never will be, although Mike things he will progress outside and with fences just as well as he has with dressage) isn't really fair to him.
- Continue to work without stirrups. (Does that even need to be said?)
- Continue to work on the hip-opening feeling. This is actually uncomfortably stretchy, and I have to think about lifting my leg off the saddle, pushing it back off the back of the flap, and then holding it there. Whenever my knee touches the knee roll, my leg has gone too far forward. This one is going to take some effort to make those muscles open up.
- My left shoulder likes to tilt forward. I have to think about pulling it back (which makes me feel, when I'm going right, like I'm looking behind me).
- I need to work on some details, but we have most of the movements for training level tests 1 and 2 down. And I am going to ride them at Mike's show at Forest Park coming up at the end of June:
http://www.mikeosinski.com/images/olympia2010prizelist.pdf
http://www.mikeosinski.com/images/2010DRESSAGEINTHEPARKENTRYFORM.pdf
http://www.mikeosinski.com/

The more detailed version.
After my whining, where Mike asked specifically how Willig was an idiot (and in having to explain, really, guess who the idiot most of the time is? I suspect I have improper expectations, but in reality, I've just lost my nerve, and it actually shakes me up more that I lost my nerve than the actual losing of my nerve), we did both tests.
Willig dropped the canter a couple times, and I have a terrible time seeing the 20 meter circle (I am going to start measuring it out and putting the cones out until I feel it properly), and
- I need to give him 3 strides ahead the heads up that something is about to change - NOT ONE! - When I tell him something is about to happen, we can hit the timing perfectly. When I don't give him enough notice, surprise!, he is a couple steps late.
- It is also ok to sit before the transitions. So just before the corner, start sitting for the transition that will be at A or C. (And start telling him just about then too.)
I have not been understanding what a free walk is. I throw the reins away and doodle along. It is a neck stretching down, like he's grazing, and I keep the contact to remind him "hey!" with my fingers if he pops his head or looks at something, all while encouraging him to move forward with the left-thump right-thump left-thump right-thump. It is not a wide hand pulling his head down to his knees, like I have been doing when I want his head down but "loose" reins. Once he knows what I'm asking, he's nice about it, so I think we can cure this - I've just been doing it wrong.
I need to get my heels OUT OF HIS SIDE and think about my thighs going back off the back of the saddle, but my toes lifting and heels being down. ARGH!
The leg yield out is improving nicely, now that I am feeling where his feet are (inside hip forward, like at the top of a nordic track, is outside hind leg lifting at the walk; at the trot, it is the thump of my butt into the saddle).
We also worked a bit on the proper feeling of the trot - not his dragging around lazy, but a thump thump go! feeling, and then the short side and then a thump thump go! feeling.
The salute is also a 5 step thing, that I never knew how to do (Mike taught me last time, but refreshed this time).
So after all that work, the two dressage tests, and a pep talk, then we went outside and I just rode a couple laps, just as nice as inside, in the outside arena.
Mike said to keep doing that. Next time go a couple feet further. Then a couple feet further. And then, before I know it, we'll be able to work the whole arena.
He said it's ok to keep taking him on trail rides - that any horse looks at the movement in the woods, and that Willig has been quite nice while Mike is watching. (Tom was there for part of the ride, and also observed when I got home that Willig seems to respect Mike and not act up while Mike is watching; I'm going to guess it's that I relax because Mike is watching and can focus on riding instead of worrying about what Willig is going to do).
All in all - another lesson chock full of things to work on, massive improvements, and more goals. And a VERY well behaved Willig, even though I got out there too early, made him wait for dinner until after the ride, and I was a bit scattered today.
I was looking at the dressage tests, since I've kind of given up on the idea of eventing this summer, and we have a lot to learn. Mike thought we could do up through Training Level 4, but I don't know what some of the movements are in First Level, so that is my new goal, is to get solid in Training Level this summer, and start working for First Level for next year. And continue to patiently expose Willig to new things so that maybe next year I can ride him BN.
Also - in filling out the entry form, I had to dig out his records. I forgot that I got him when he was 6. No wonder I scared him with the fences. I set us back probably way more by assuming he was ready and able to do things he wasn't. It helps me look at how far he's come and try to learn some good lessons from it. I hate the thought of having wasted three years of his life.

A lesson involving feeling

I started this lesson by telling Mike that despite last week's lesson being a bunch of new stuff, I felt like I "got it" - until my next ride, where it promptly all fell apart and I couldn't seem to do any of it right.
He almost immediately solved the problem - instead of a "thump" (percussion type aid), I continue to do a "squeeze" (anaconda type aid). So it's impossible to time my aid properly (a thump when his rear hind leg is lifting) when I start squeezing, build up the squeeze, and release - which basically takes three steps to do.
So - wham-o - explanation and now back to practice.
We worked a bit more on feeling the swinging of his belly and which hind leg is moving. This is TRICKY. I put my hand on his back hip and felt it coming up and down and up and down, but matching that feeling to my hips is really confusing. I'm going to have to really work on this one.
Mike also pointed out the very strong difference between my right and left (going right, poor Willig's head is cranked almost to his belly; going left, well, poor Willig's head is still cranked almost to his RIGHT belly). I have to be more aware of that and work really hard on the left.
Then we worked on a "thump" with a check-in with the reins, and then how many strides can Willig hold it - and as he starts to fade, a new "thump" and check-in.
Willig was a bit of a slug today (there was a flappy jacket at the end of the arena that his ears stayed pivoted on, but he couldn't muster up the effort for a spook), but he usually catches on right away and is all thankful "A crisp, clear aid! Thank you Mom!"
Then we took away the stirrups and worked for a while at sitting trot - mostly focusing on the bouncing ball and not leaning too far back, and then thinking about pushing my legs DOWN, instead of clamping with my thigh.
We worked on a super-duper feeling thing here - continuing to move into uncharted territory for me - where I imagined Willig the wheelbarrow leaning onto his front wheel with his butt up in the air, and then I would sit up tall and straight and firm and think about him lifting his shoulders up - and then by some miracle, most of the time, he would. Mike says he has quite a nice trot, and not every horse can lift his shoulders up like that. (At the end of the lesson, I was working again on pushing my leg farther back (thinking off the back of the saddle) and then I could really feel him just loosen up and go. Pretty cool.) But this bit was hard because I could tell that I was doing something that had an effect on him, but other than "sitting up" I can't begin to describe what I was doing (yet).
Then we worked on transition from the sitting trot to the canter - keeping the bouncing ball going all the way into the canter transition - what I do is completely stop moving my hips, and then he does this ugly up transition. If I focus completely on the 1-2-1-2 of my hips, the transition is much nicer.
Then we worked on the down transition (after some "swinging" my seat at the canter), and doing the same - thinking about it with my hips so we just drop into it soft like a feather instead of like a bowling ball - off the Eiffel tower - and lo and behold - I can continue to sit the trot when we do it with focus and concentration.
It was another great lesson, although I think my learning curve is about to flatten out quite a bit since all this is new to me (which is keeping it really interesting and fun and challenging between lessons too!).

First lesson in the new saddle (and in a couple months)

The cat just stepped on the mouse in some magical way and deleted 20 minutes of typing.
The lesson today was great - one of the best.
We worked the first 1/3 on, at each quarter of the circle, a leg yield out which made Willig tall and balanced. This involved a lot of thinking (but more, feeling) on my part. Once I put all the steps together, I could instantly feel the transformation, but as soon as I lost a step, I'd have to start over (1, then 2, then 3, then 4, then magic, then I'd lose my hand, so 1, then 2, then 3, then 4, then ooops, then 1, then 2 ... you get it).
The second 2/3 of the lesson we worked on canter transitions (he did quite nice) and this is probably where we're getting the most solid.
The last 1/3 of the lesson we did a dressage test (and I learned how to salute properly!), but Willig got a bit worked up about having to go past the scary short side, so we need to work on that some more. It was a good lesson for when a tired Willig is hungry but he needs to keep working, but wasn't quite as satisfactory as the first 2/3 of the lesson, which were just more magic.
The 20 minute version said that I am excited, and even though he fell down out of fear of the poodle earlier this week, I love the saddle, and today's ride was the reason I spend all my spare time and money riding.

Out with the old! In with the new(er)!

Willig's new Regal and his old Circuit.

Vacation

I was gone for almost all of March, and spent almost all of February working to make up for being gone almost all of March. I was gone for a good reason (http://wademcdade.com/), but poor Willig ...
Now I'm back, enthusiastic and refreshed, and so keep watching for some good posts coming soon.

Willig may be making his Pinnochio move

Today he got 1 1/2 hours of turn-out in the grass because I had to read something for work (it was sunny and warm - yay!). He never once checked in, but contentedly munched grass, and although some dogs barked, someone was riding a 4-wheeler off in the distance, Pony Clubbers were jumping, and eventually, almost all of the horses went in, he made nary a peep. (There was one jump, but followed quickly by eating.)
So tomorrow he is going to try the grass rotation again. Fingers crossed! I wish *I* lived in one of the grass pastures, they are so nice.

Hive free!

Last week I cut out Willig's hive-reducing/eliminating supplements, and with a few, infrequent days, he has stayed hive free for the week. Yay. That leaves me free to go on vacation without preparing 70 baggies, and 70 baggies to start out next fall the first second a hive shows up.
He has been swishing his tail quite a bit lately, but he has also been severely neglected - a long weekend away, a doozy of a cold, and massive hours for me at work - means he is lucky to get lunged every other day.
The two rides I have managed to squeeze in over the past two-three weeks, however, were quite enjoyable. I don't think that was because he was particularly good (he had what I would consider "typical" unridden consistently quirks), but because I was just so glad to be riding instead of working that my expectations were different.
Huh. How about that.
I am now thinking maybe it will be worth it to shift my show budget to a training budget for the spring/summer/fall, and have the (now two!) people who can ride him over fences work him a bit outside and see if that, with my work too, helps him progress like he did with dressage.

A full hour in the Regal - oh my

I had my first of two dressage lessons this month with Mike today. I have been focused on trying the various saddles to see what I like and if another saddle came close to the Regal experience (one, and oh my goodness saddle shopping is hard), and at one of the boarder's sage suggestions, I wanted to ride in his saddle again to see if it was just the novelty of riding in one that fit well, or if there really was a magical combination of features that makes it just exactly right.
It seems to be closer to Goldilocks and the porridge than novelty.
So I got to warm up in it, then have my entire lesson in it, and I must say, although my legs got a bit tired towards the end after the work without stirrups, it was really quite, quite nice to ride in and not fight with my own seat and legs.
I started with the dilemma with Willig outside. Mike's thoughts were that Willig has improved tremendously in the time he's been working with us, and he doesn't think he's a nasty mean horse, so he thinks I just need to tackle the outside issue as patiently and calmly and slowly as we did the inside issue, and that future lessons we could do the first half inside and the second half outside.
I agree with this approach, I'm just not sure it will work, but there's nothing to do but try. Mike is more confident that Willig will come along than I am. Mike's also a professional and Willig hasn't tried to buck him off yet, and his points are well taken that a high-spirited horse, once channelled, is more fun to ride than a plodding school horse.
So what we worked on:
This lesson felt like refining to me - thanks to the Regal.
We worked on his bend to the left. My right hand keeps him in a headlock, whether we are going right or left, so he is overbent to the right, and not bent at all to the left. Poor guy. That's why he's started picking up the left lead on a right circle - I'm cranking his head so far I'm sending his back end out. This just takes me paying attention.
We worked on his trot to canter transitions, with no running/falling into them. I have to think about collecting him up (and not letting my reins get long!), and then wheelie into it, instead of blah into it.
He has been breaking after a few canter strides (combined with a tail swish) and Mike thinks he is confused and a bit frustrated because I am clamping my thighs instead of loose legs. Loose legs = nicer moving Willig. Again, something I need to pay attention to.
We worked on the speed and "pulled together" trot, with a three step: 1- ask a bit bigger, 2- ask again, a bit bigger, and 3- ask again, this is just below a lenghtening trot, and oh man it is nice. Willig responds quite nicely. Once Willig starts paying attention, he gets very responsive.
We took away the stirrups and worked on sitting trot and canter, with the down transition being a smooth transition into the speed of trot I want (one that I can actually sit in the Regal), and this was really cool too. We did half circles so that I had to keep him together (and not spend half a circle getting him the way I want, then riding the other half of the circle).
The leg work and position for this was a bit more - thinking of my leg really pushing down and back into him, while the sit part is a belly-to-back but on a bouncing ball, and my upper body is a bit back. This is still not quite together, but I still get a few flashes of it being just right and it feels really good. And, for the first time in my life, I could feel his back leg moving. So it really is possible to time when you ask for a canter or whatever. It was pretty amazing, and Mike says it's also partly about riding with a tighter rein and him pulled together that lets me feel it.
Then we ended with an example of how to introduce something scary - working inside closer and closer to the scary side, we just move that way in stages - towards it, make a circle, a little further, make another circle, a little further, make a circle.
Then, walk towards it, stop, let him look, walk, stop, look, walk, stop, look, all with praise and patting. This was another consistent message - I don't reward him often enough when he does the right thing.
So big messages:
Bent to inside and let go with that cranky right hand
Keep working on sitting trot and the feel
Tighten up my transitions - no throwing him away up or down (for trot/canter and trot/walk)
Be patient with him and help him build confidence
And yes, I really want the Regal.

Saddle features

For my lesson today, Mike let me ride in his Regal again. I wanted to compare it now that I have ridden in a handful of other saddles.
Although this time there were no angels singing (the last lesson in it does appear to have been a perfect confluence of timing), it was still far superior to the other saddles I tried.
As best I can tell, here is what I like:
Narrow twist (although I'm not sure I can feel the difference)
A high, steep pommel
A small knee roll (triangle shaped, with the small pointy end at the bottom) that is set kind of high
Deep seat
Slightly forward panels
And the straight down leg position for the stirrup bar

So I'm going to try a few more, but if I can't find anything close, I am thinking it may be worth it to try to find a way to get a Regal.

First jump lesson of the year

During the dark, dreary days of winter, Willig was mostly jump-free. I can only think of two times I jumped him (though there could have been a couple other efforts that I forgot) - once inside over a simple vertical (2'), which he did consistently with no hitches, which led me to take him outside last weekend, where he was a total jerk-face and tried to buck me off several times. I already had a lesson for January and a lesson for February with Shannon scheduled - as much as I can squeeze in because of a big vacation in March and a little too much going on, so his misbehavior and my massive, massive disappointment and frustration, was well timed to talk with Shannon at the first lesson.
We chatted a bit, then she set up two jumps (two of the plastic blocks that become 2' when vertical) with ground lines on either side, the "usual" distance apart (which I need to look up from a prior lesson). So I rode him in a circle, first over just one, then over both, then she converted one from a cross rail to a vertical, then the other, then one turned into an oxer; and of course, both directions.
While it wasn't perfection, it was pretty smooth, and kind of the "same old same old" instructions - stop jumping ahead & just wait for him; keep my reins shorter and my hands farther up his neck; sit deep and up when approaching the fence; and if he's on the wrong lead, that's his own problem - it's a circle and I'm looking, so he needs to figure out how to land.
Then, against my desire, we went outside, where Shannon set up exactly the same exercise, and we did it outside. Again, without a hitch. Towards the end I got a bit tired, and it was a bit uglier than inside, but it wasn't a big deal.
So the take-aways:
- Don't push him where I want him to be instead of where he is. Ride him inside - if he's good - end with a few minutes outside of the same thing, after he's tired. Build his confidence by successfully doing little challenges instead of making him stressed.
- Shannon pointed out that we're better to the left, because my outside hand is my right hand (the dominant one). Interestingly, that's started to show up cantering also, so I must be doing something with my right hand going to the right (or my body) but I have no idea what.
- Do NOT let him get away with his ping-pong head. He doesn't get to decide where to look, and even when we're just standing there or I'm leading him, I need to be consistent with "pay attention to me and watch scary things out of the corner of your eye".
Overall, it was a nice lesson, a good confidence builder for both of us, and gave me the structure that I need to start working him over fences again.
Another post (I'm so tired, all the time), I'll talk about my "plan", which is to put him up for sale while concurrently working him much harder and more consistently over fences, to see if he can make the same kind of progress there that he did with the dressage. (We don't think it's the fences or the jumping, just the stimuli outside.) Also, Shannon said I can ride her horse to be reminded what it's like to jump where it isn't a terrifying sweat-fest.

Blanket Temperatures

In October, Practical Horseman had an incredibly useful (and missed by me until January) blanket guide.
For a horse like Willig who is in the barn at night, turned out during the day, and has a partial clip:
60 F - Turnout sheet if rainy or windy
50 F - Turnout sheet
40 F - Lightweight turnout
30 F - Midweight turnout
20 F - Midweight turnout
10 F and below - Heavyweight turnout & hood

And here's the blanket insulation and how it translates:
0 grams - Sheet
100 grams - Lightweight
200 grams - Midweight
300 grams - Heavyweight

I suspect I have been WAY overblanketing him.
Due to his sensitive skin, I also try to use high neck or hood as much as I can for rain.

Saddle ranking upset

Yesterday I rode in an Albion SLK Ultima, MW 17 1/2". It was divine. It was almost as great as Mike's Regal. I didn't have quite the soft, cemented seat that I did in the Regal, but it was pretty close.
So the ranking is now, well, it doesn't matter - Albion and Regal are basically neck and neck.
The downside I'm seeing with the Regal is that the used ones are almost impossible to find, and since they are all custom, would need to be adjusted and might not feel like Mike's, depending on the specifications of the person who first bought it. And the Albion is cheaper new than a custom-made Regal, but about the same price and almost as hard to find used.
There are some lower Albions - the Ultima I think is the grippy leather, and the SLK is another feature, so it might be interesting to try to find some of the other Albions and see how they compare.
Of the three Washington tack stores, there are only a handful of 17.5, MW, and none in the Albion and no Regals at all.
This could be a long, long process.

First three saddle test ride results

Holding steady in first place, not surprisingly, is the Regal saddle of my trainer's:
http://www.regalsaddles.ca/saddles.htm
http://www.horsetackreview.com/review-display/11243.html
I have found one for sale used.
As I described in the post below, the heavens opened up and angels sang when I rode in this one. Everything about it was perfection. That may have been because Mike broke it in? I found a bad review online and heard about a similar experience for the customer service.

Second place, the Anky Euro XCH saddle:
http://www.doversaddlery.com/anky-euro-xch-dressage-saddle/p/X1-15645/cn/1707/
http://www.horsetackreview.com/review-display/9422.html
This one was a much closer second than I expected. I could not sit quite as well and the saddle didn't hold me effortlessly in exactly the right position so that I could use all my aids by just breathing what I wanted. It was a 17.5" MW, and my knee didn't quite make it to the front roll, so maybe I need a 17"?
A very close second though. I really want to try it in 17".

Third place, the Niedersuss Symphony:
http://dressagestars.com/symphony__6.html
http://www.horsetackreview.com/review-display/4222.html
I loved what this one did with my seat - especially in the walk, I could really feel him respond to my hip bones and forward motion. But I had to keep pushing my knee back really hard to keep it from riding up on the knee roll. It also kept my lower leg really stable and still.

Fourth place, my existing saddle, the Dover's Circuit:
http://www.doversaddlery.com/circuit-dressage-saddle/p/X1-15012/cn/91/
When I got this two years ago, I had to buy two new saddles because neither of my existing saddles fit Willig (but fit the thoroughbred), and sadly, it appears that I ignorantly bought the wrong size. It was a screaming deal (I did some math today and it has been about $1.67/ride!), but now that I have tried the other saddles, it is like riding around on a greased bouncy ball. While it has probably taught me some extra super duper awareness of my legs, it has also made my life that much harder. This may be because it is a wide, and the other saddles have all been regular or medium or medium-wide (whatever the makers call "regular"), and so this saddle has never fit Willig properly.

Fortunately, two more of the delightful wonderful fellow boarders have offered to let me try their dressage saddles, and I am going to go by the tack store and sit in a bunch this weekend to see if any others leap out at me like Mike's did.

Ba-da-bing!! Your saddle fit really does make a difference (duh).

On the 19th I had one of my (best efforts) twice-a-month lessons with Mike. I wanted to cancel, because from the last lesson to this one, I only got to ride about 5 times (about half what I wanted). All I can say is thank goodness I didn't.
It was the best lesson and quite likely, the best ride of my life.
Five key points:
1. Straighten my leg now, not push my lower leg back. I have to think about making my knee and thigh straight, but it is pretty amazing how straight and how far back they go. It is still taking some getting used to with my seat though, when they hang directly under me. But from the beginning (knee bent up in front of the saddle flap) to now - wow.
2. Rein pressure is "cradling a baby". It is both heavier than I am capable of remembering in between lessons, but if this makes any sense at all, with a soft hand. I pull back (thinking the classic elbows to hips) and when he gives with his head (which I can feel! yay!) I praise him.
3. Keep improving my position from my last lesson: butt wipes the saddle in the canter, and the slightly different but similar for the sitting trot. I also need to lean back a little more. Work on sitting the trot with 1/2 the finger strength (which is, entirely, Dumbo's feather).
4. Ride a stretchy circle - play with my reins as I let them out so the contact stays there.
**5.** (What made this the best ride of my life.) Mike had his saddle out (a custom-made Ryder (?) for his super nice horse, Pablo) for the lesson before mine, and we had been doing quite well and I had finally proven that I am capable of actually practicing what he is telling me in between lessons (like keeping my &*#&* heel down), and so he said that I was doing well, let's see if the saddle was holding Willig back any (he said, in the very first lesson, that it didn't fit him properly). I'm not sure it was holding Willig back, but let's just say it was - fireworks - stars in my eyes - a 100x improvement - and oh, uh, yeah - the best ride of my life. I just SAT in Mike's saddle and was like "oh". I have never - in my entire life - sat in a saddle that fit properly before. The light bulb went off. The saddle was comfortable. It helped me. I didn't have to fight it to ride.
As a result, we could do anything. I could sit the trot. I could lengthen and shorten his stride with just my seat. I could bend him. I could get him up on the bit. I didn't have to fight my legs or my heels or my hips. It was completely eye-opening.
And of course, now I have to come up with the money (we are definitely going to have to do used) and find the right saddle for Willig, because I don't even want to ride again in my sucky non-fitting saddle and lose the feeling of riding in Mike's. I could have ridden in it all day. I don't even know why I'd jump - it was so amazing to just ride in it. I wish I had one for work, to sit at my desk.
Oh yeah, and Willig? Once I quit flapping around up there, he just responded beautifully. Like a Ferrari.
Why in the world would I have been making something I'm not particularly gifted at, on a horse who is relatively sensitive, doing things slightly above my level, mostly by myself, 500 times harder by poorly fitting tack?
So Step 1 - new dressage saddle.
Step 2 is tied between the new (light weight) trailer or a new jump saddle - because if it even makes 1/2 the difference, it will be totally worth it to feel solid over the fences.
Mike has my undying devotion now. He has been right on about everything (like to just wait to jump until we reached a certain point in dressage, and lo and behold, that worked too once I quit jumping for a couple months and focused like he suggested), and has, in 6 months, made me a better rider than all my experience in my life so far.

Misc

From my last lesson - more transitions = more listening to my aids. Willig responds really well to this.
And Mike has an article about judging dressage in the January Flying Changes:
http://www.flyingchanges.com/

Sheath cleaning

For my records - Willig's sheath, tail, and lower legs got cleaned during the surprise nice weather we had yesterday. His tail was pretty dandruffy and his sheath had a surprising amount of gunk - no big beans, but still, a fair amount.
I jumped him today over a little 2' vertical, and he was just as great as could be. I woke up in the middle of the night last night - out of nowhere afraid to jump him - and one of the other evening riders was there with me tonight so I just set up the one pole and jumped it both ways from the trot, canter (2x each, each direction) and then a trot, canter, trot. Not a blip.
Also, we have a "new" boarder at the barn, and she was the prior boarder I heard about who had a horse with hives too. Not good news - she tried pretty much every single thing imaginable and nothing worked.

Out of order - my December lesson with Mike

December was not my greatest month for riding. At the beginning we were still working on the hives, and then work and the holidays actually resulted in less riding, rather than more, like I hoped for.
So I am about to do something novel, and compare a lesson with Mike to the Biggest Loser. But trust me, it makes sense.
So this lesson, what I heard Mike say during the lesson was: "Do not make me tell you one more time to put your heels down. I know you can do it." This is in a very mild, slightly reproachful tone of voice. One that I know *I* wouldn't be able to keep if I was telling someone something obvious for the oh, 200th time in 5 months.
So the way I remembered it was like this:
http://vodpod.com/watch/1302442-trainer-bob-harpers-meltdown-biggest-loser-joelle
Now, I apologize, the link is very long, but two minutes in you have the full impact of every single time I got on Willig and I thought "put those f**&*ing heels down" (to myself).
What else was this lesson about? Well, that was all I really walked away with. But it turns out, I'm capable of working on one thing at a time.
Mike agreed that the alfalfa diet may be helping Willig, although most of the stuff I read said "no alfalfa-only diets".
He also said to think of Willig as an introvert, who needs me to be assertive about what we're doing. This was hugely helpful for me, instead of thinking of him like an asshole who is willfully disobedient.
I spent the two really cold weeks and another hivey week teaching Willig on the lunge line not to sproing his head up like a giraffe every time we went past the door to the outside. While it was interesting how quickly Willig learned (and applied his new knowledge), especially with the simple addition of treats, my error in this was that I ... taught Willig to run around on his forehand. So thankfully, Mike saw me lunging and corrected that too.
We also "graduated" from draw reins all the time to draw reins when he's having a bobbly head-idiot day. Mike pointed out when it's cold and rainy, sometimes they need that 20 minutes to be an idiot and get it out, then get down to work. (This was also a huge success for the rest of the month before my next lesson.)
We continued to work on a "20 meter" size arena - off the rail instead of going right along the wall.
Mike also suggested that we continue to work our way down to the scary zone, not just shoot right down there, but wait until I've got Willig controlled and bending and working properly, then get a little closer and a little closer. Again, who knows what it is, but most horses develop a fear of it, and Mike said he's been here 10 years and sees them scared of it all the time. It's actually, I can't believe my negative personality is saying this, kind of a good thing, because it is helping me know what to do and how to react, how big to react, how to feel a reaction coming, etc., which will apply really well in a scary show situation. Willig is learning to trust me too. Amazingly, every time I have asked him to go past it, nothing has killed him. It may yet, but he's getting a tiny, tiny bit more comfortable.
Did I mention lots of this lesson was about my heels? Go back to the basics and focus on this because it's very important.
We worked a bit on his eye to the inside and momentum, and me asking for it, not just waiting for him to offer it, and bending and looking ahead and me just ignoring the scary side. (Me looking ahead was also a huge success. Another one from my more recent lesson that I forgot to write about in that post was punish (smack with whip) but REWARD (!!!) when he responds. I am a terrible rewarder.
Finally, at the canter, keep thinking about that bike wheelie. I throw the contact away, which was true. I feel the slight lean forward, and I need to think lean back.
My take away message was more consistency, assertiveness, and back to focusing on some basics. I was happy though that I got permission to graduate from the draw reins.

Lacey rider looking for horse

If you go back a few posts in the comments, a local Lacey-dweller introduced herself to me, and is interested in looking for a fun, challenging horse for a partial lease. While I think this will be a great idea for Willig maybe next year, when I am working harder and riding better myself, for this year I decided for now we'd stick with our system.
However, we exchanged several emails and she sounds very experienced, knowledgeable, and looking forward to something a little more challenging than a regular school-horse type.
If you live in the greater Olympia area and read this blog, feel free to read her comment. She's got references, and sounds like she'd be a great addition if you know of a quality horse who could use some extra hours in the saddle.

Willig's hives - what worked

Unfortunately, I can't say exactly what worked, but we are hive free and haven't seen one for at least two, and maybe three, weeks.
Willig is eating 1 flake of alfalfa for breakfast, 1 flake of local for lunch, and 2 flakes of alfalfa and 1 flake of local for dinner.
He's also gaining weight - he weighs the most in the whole time I've owned him, and he actually looks quite good with the weight on.
Then, for supplements, he is getting: Platinum Performance, Platinum Skin & Allergy, Riva's Remedies Equi-Derm (an herbal blend), Probiotics, and Strongid 2X daily wormer, only I stupidly was giving him a double dose for most of the last month.
He gets those am & pm, with a small amount of cob and oats.
I don't know if one of those things is working, or if it's the combination of all of them, but I don't care. He looks good, his skin is shiny, his tail is still dandruffy but not as bad, and he has less smegma on his sheath.
My plan is to keep him on it through early spring, and then let them all run out and see what happens. Next November, when the new hay comes in, I'll probably go ahead and try all of them, but at half-dose, to see if we start early if it keeps them from getting bad.
Also, he's been a much happier horse lately, and I think this spring he'll be ready to try turn-out in the grass!

Another baby step forward!

I'm a bit behind in the blogging. Yesterday was another really amazing lesson with Mike. After the unblogged December lesson (next post up!) I spent my rides working really hard on the basics: heels down.
And it paid off! Mike commented on the difference between 6 months ago when I took my first lesson with him and this ride.
The only downside is now that I have mastered (ok, kinda sorta tamed) Monster #1, it opened the doors to lots and lots of stuff that I have not done before, so while the ride was completely amazing and felt great - it was so new that even if I'd been able to record it all while it was happening, I still probably couldn't get it all down.
First, I have been riding about every other day. Because of Willig's alfalfa-intensive diet (another post to come), he's been a wee bit on the hot side. Not hot like a TB, but hot for him. So I've been doing some lunging and less riding, but trying to get back to riding every day so I can quit the lunging. For the lesson, I got ready a bit early, so I tried riding the hotness out instead of lunging it out. It worked. Yay us.
Second, so we started with looking at the heels - I was worried I was bracing too far forward, so we did some position in the halt.
- Lesson #1: I have been standing up over the pommel. This is balanced, but now I need to start working on moving my leg farther back (towards his butt), which is a very different feel. When my leg is farther back and I stand up (sinking my heel), it is still balanced, but I am over the deep part of the saddle instead of the pommel.
- Lesson #2: To drop my heel, I know it is "lift the toe" but that doesn't really work. What I think about is straightening my leg in the back of the knee. I still have to keep reminding myself.
- Lesson #3: One reason why my heel is always up is because I am always asking Willig to move forward. He is kind of lazy. So we worked next on giving the command - briskly - and then backing it up with the whip. Willig gets very responsive very quickly if I am consistent. If I am confusing with my aids, he stops being responsive. Sounds simple, hard to do when I'm also trying to keep him working in a circle instead of looking at the new horse who walked in the end of the barn.
- Lesson #4: This one is for the future, but I'm doing something funky with my right side (and yes, it is me), that makes him bend right, even when going to the left, and move left if I don't actively stop it. I have no idea what this is yet.
So I demonstrated the heel a bit, we improved balance, and:
- Lesson #5: The proper standing trot position for practice purposes is also, by the way, jump position. It isn't riding around standing over the pommel, but putting your butt back like in a 2 point. This helped quite a bit as well.
- Lesson #6: I am getting better at pushing down, but I still need to work on my toes. They rotate out (especially the right one), and so when I think "down down down" they are rotating around like chicken wings. They need to push forward-down not around-down. This is hard to describe, but it helps me to think to point my toes in. This is one I'll need later when one day I am ready to use spurs.
Which brings me to the next part of the lesson.
Ok, so we monitored my lower leg. It's improved but needs continuous thought and some "clean-up" details still. But it was good enough to move on.
To moving off my aids. Again, not new, but being more consistent, more assertive, and understanding it is ok to ask every 5-10 strides, "no, keep going". As the lesson went on, instead of getting tired, Willig got better and better at this.
Even at walk, we used the thumping side to side legs to get a nice forward walk. I need to stop letting him drag around so his regular walk moves toward the forward walk.
After moving off my aids, we worked a little bit on bending to the inside. Again, this has something to do with my right side and moving off the aids.
Then we worked on canter, where I had made some good progress on my own. So Mike found ways to improve it more.
Canter Lesson #1: Wipe the saddle. Think of sitting on a swing and pumping it up. It's leaning back a bit farther than I do, and really thinking about pushing the swing forward. Willig did really great on this.
And lesson #2: Heels pushing down and forward, not around like chicken wings.
Canter was so improved we went on to sitting trot:
For this, it is a similar movement to canter, where it is sitting on your jean pockets. Mike gave me a good visual with his fingers making four points - your two seat bones, the pubic bone and the tail bone. You sit more on the pubic and tail, but for sitting trot, a bit further back on the tail bone.
It was helpful because another rider was working on the sitting trot when we started to work, so I got to watch her do it well.
I am catching a few steps, and then I lose it again.
Sitting trot lesson #1: This is counter-intuitive for me, but I do "triangle legs" where I lift my legs off and away from the saddle. This makes my legs softer and helps me get deeper in the saddle. (Otherwise, I clench up and perch up on top of the saddle.) Even though I'm lifting my legs off and away, it makes my seat more solid.
lesson #2: We went back to working with a couple fingers on the pommel, working in a small circle, and just thinking of the wiping/bounce but on my jean pockets. Mike says just to practice every day until I feel it.
Actually, that's a good point with the odd right-hand side too. Just like he didn't know I was clamping with my upper thighs until a few lessons ago (when he was talking about a cougar clamped on Willig's back and I thought "Huh" and then relaxed), whatever I'm doing, he can't see, so I need to learn (terrible drum roll) to feel it. Ugh.
So my take-aways:
Keep being conscious of those heels because they're not ready yet to behave without some thought.
Improve them a bit more - thinking toes in and legs farther back. I need to think of some new things for this one and also fix the standing/sitting exercise to be farther back and in posting position.
Work on canter with the heels and legs pushing down and forward. Also work on my up and down transitions. This was a 1-2-3-go, both up and down transitions are a controlling the "wiping" with my seat and then pushing him into it. (We actually slow down to go up and slow down to go down.)
Work on the sitting trot - continue to try to get the feel and use fewer fingers.
It was a great lesson. A bit too much to take away, but really a delightful ride and a really positive experience to look forward to working on.

The latest hive theory didn't work

From the last post, instead of 1 orchard grass, we did dinner as 2 alfalfa and 1 local.
Didn't work.
The hives are an unusual pattern (mostly hive-free on his side (ribs) and only small ones on his butt and belly, but his neck is pretty hivey), but I was hoping for the miracle from a week ago where they were almost completely gone for two days.
If they're still bad Saturday, I'm going to switch him to:
am: 1 alfalfa
lunch: 1 orchard
pm: 2 alfalfa, 1 orchard

And see if it is the local (doubt it).

I also ordered Equi-Derm from Riva's Remedies, which I had forgotten we tried last time; I gave him an extra wormer tonight (Ivermectin; he got Anthelicide EQ last week when the farrier was out); and I ordered him some Strongid feed through wormer in case somehow this is coming from worms.

I also emailed Dr. Mansmann at NCSU, who got his PhD in horse allergies, and he asked some questions and I passed along Dr. Mike's contact information.
Beyond that? I have nothing.

Also, tonight I couldn't ride because of the wither hives, so Willig got lunged and it was either the cold or the alfalfa or the combination, but he got the crazies a couple of times. He's in his space suit blanket for this week, with nights below 30 and the days barely above 40.

More about the hives

Willig's hay until Friday the 26th:
am: 1 alfalfa
lunch: 1 local
pm: 3 orchard grass
This variation, we know, causes hives with the "winter" purchase (maybe the 1st cutting from the year??).

Willig's hay on Friday and Saturday:
am: same
lunch: same
pm: 1 alfalfa and 2 orchard grass
This variation made the hives noticeably decrease by Saturday afternoon. (So Friday night's meal alone made a huge difference.)

Willig's hay on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday:
am: same
lunch: same
pm: 1 alfalfa and 2 timothy
This variation made him break out in fresh hives. Yesterday (Monday) there were some huge ones, and a lot of new ones. Today there were a lot more, but not as many huge ones.

So I am going to try for the rest of the week (Wed, Thurs, Fri):
am: same
lunch: same
pm: 2 alfalfa and 1 orchard grass
And cross my fingers that this combination, combined with the Platinum, can keep him hive free until the barn works through the big load.

What I don't get is that the timothy works for the other horse with exactly the same problem (she clears up within 2 days), and the feed store thought that horses with allergies were more allergic to alfalfa and less allergic to timothy because it has fewer minerals in it.
Willig seems to be more allergic to timothy, then orchard, then alfalfa.

The poor guy seemed a little depressed today, and itchy too. He kept his tail in the air a lot, which isn't like him either. I also suspect it's making him "itchy" on the inside, because he seems to get smegma faster, like maybe it's like the people who are allergic to wheat and their intestines act up? (His poop looks fine.)
Have I mentioned I'm frustrated? Why isn't there anything about this on the internet?

My mom's photography

She took 24 pictures and a few videos. There was one decent picture and a whole lot of hilarious ones.

Hives!

Argh! Two years ago, when Willig moved up here from California, he got hives that we couldn't get rid of. If you look back at the blog, I spent all kinds of $$ on the vet and drugs and trying various things, none of which worked.
I moved him and put him on Platinum Skin & Allergy at the same time, and they instantly went away and didn't come back until about a month ago.
My vet had heard of one other horse that had something similar, and that's why he recommended the Skin & Allergy. Willig's blood work for allergies showed almost nothing.
So I was delighted to hear that another horse at the barn had hives, that she got them last year, and that they instantly went away when she switched from the barn hay (a great orchard grass) to timothy from one certain place.
In anticipation of the big switch, on Friday Willig's dinner went from 3 flakes of orchard grass to 2 flakes of orchard and 1 alfalfa.
Saturday, the hives were noticeably reduced.
Sunday, he got his new hay, so he is getting 1 alfalfa and 2 timothy.
Today, Monday, full hives again - new big ones. Not ridiculous, but nothing like Saturday's big difference.
Argh. Argh. Argh.
If ANYONE has heard anything about this, please let me know. I am going crazy. I am going to give him two more days on this timothy, and then try a different timothy. Then we will switch back to the orchard grass and alfalfa. Then I will tear my hair out.
The photos are of Thursday hives (bottom picture) and Saturday hives (top picture).

Jim Wofford's Recommended Reading List

From the 09/09 Practical Horseman:
Francois Robichon de la Gueriniere
Gustav Steinbrecht
Federico Caprilli
Wilhelm Museler
Brig. Gen. Harry D. Chamberlin
Bertalan de Nemethy
Jack LeGoff
George Morris

Another wowza lesson with Mike

Despite my growing anxiety about a big deal thing for work tomorrow, it turns out lessons with Mike have been one of the best ways to calm down. I completely focus on what he is saying, and the 45 minutes just flies by without me thinking about work once. I usually go back and tackle it with more gusto after the lesson is over - AND I don't spend that day feeling guilty for not riding. My office should pay me to ride - I bet I'd be more productive (and I know I'd be happier!).
Anyway, today we worked:
- Scary end of the arena (one head bob, then not a big deal at all)
- HEELS DOWN (Mike called my heels lazy. I agree with him. I am amazed at how much concerted effort it takes for me to "relax" my heels. The second, literally, I stop thinking about them, they spring back up.)
- A big trot, with a bounce in it. I have already forgotten the word for this. It is the moment he lifts up (like skipping, instead of shuffling) and I feel the float. It turns out he is quite capable of moving quite nicely - I just haven't been making him do it.
- And then some work at the sitting trot and canter without stirrups. We did me looking up, me adjusting my seat (on the pubic bone, on the tail bone, and then balancing in between), and holding on. We also worked on the transitions - turns out that when he does something that surprises me (this is wildly obvious in sitting trot with no stirrups) I clamp my thigh, he thinks "Cougar on my back!" and then his head sproings up and he tries to bolt. If I hang on and feel it coming and force my body to relax, he is able to use his hind legs for the down transition and come underneath himself.
- We also worked on how to change the whip from one hand to the other (kind of like the canoe paddle), which I had no idea how to do, and I'm going to venture, this is going to be one of the embarrassingly hard things for me to do.
Willig was great - yet again.
Still got hives though.

Jumping photos

T came out and took some pics of us jumping little stuff today.
My heels aren't down enough, I still jump ahead, and Willig hangs his left knee a little. But it felt pretty good compared to the past, and Willig was sweet and calm about it, even though he had half an eye on the poodle's house (it was foggy, and he seemed to expect the poodle to come out of the mist).

Theme of last lessons: Lower leg

I am woefully behind in my Willig news and my lesson reports, which as it turns out, makes it very difficult for me to remember my take away messages from the lessons.
First, the barn news. Willig has had a few spotted hives on two or three occassions now. Oddly, they seem to go away when I ride, and they don't seem to bother him, but they're bothering me as an ominous sign they might be coming back. He also seems to have, if he has a couple of days off from riding, puffy lower legs. Odd.
He has continued to rub his tail, and I've just about exhausted the things to try (MTG, that sweet itch spray stuff, betadine soaking, iodine shampoo, regular shampoo, lotion, panacur powerpac, and now baby shampoo followed by aloe). Today, however, I cleaned his sheath - something I was trying to wait on until I was going to bathe him to clip him (next weekend, probably, and in phases - just not enough hours in the week), but he was actually quite dirty for him. Three beans and a lot of smegma. So if that doesn't clear up the tail itching, then I'm going to have to call the vet.
Second, my last two lessons. Last week I had a great jump lesson with Shannon and a great time watching Mike ride Willig again, and then a half a lesson. Although I remember the Mike lesson as magical, by the next day I had completely forgotten how to do everything he told me (which was getting Willig to lift up into the canter instead of stumble and run into it). This was an unusual amount of forgetting, but I'm trying to take a lot more lessons for the next six months, so we "fixed" it this week. My jump lesson with Shannon was outside, and we continued to work on my lower leg (that dirty stinking moving lower leg), and we took my stirrups up another hole (we actually had to twist them and then I punched a hole after). They are SHORT. And therefore, I feel solid. Willig did great.
Finally, this week's lesson with Mike. Mike helped by giving me the take aways at the end:
1. Work on my lower leg. I hate my lower leg.
2. Work on my following hip. I also hate my stiff, rigid hip. (This is work without stirrups, holding on to the pommel with one hand, and thinking about relaxing my legs and pushing them down and back, while thinking about a headlight on my belt and the bouncing, moving ball.)
3. Work on my half halts (first, though, a forward aid, which I'm also working on - a flutter for an aid instead of the long, steady squeeze where I raise my heel), so I think of Willig rearing, or popping a wheelie on a bike. This is especially easy to work on in canter.
4. Work on Willig's bend/counterbend. In circles, on the straight line, the backward bend, serpentines, and doing a little bit of a side pass (?) coming down the long side. Turns out I'm heavy on my right hand and leg. Coincidence with how Willig "leans" to the left?
Mike also pointed out that Willig has a really good walk (when he is, ahem, moving forward) and that he has been quite sweet about all this "new" stuff.
Until today, when he tried to spook at something (I have no idea what), but thanks to my rotten lower leg (that is a better lower leg than it was a few months ago), which meant I didn't tilt, which meant I kept my rein aids, which meant I was yanking his head to the left as he was trying to buck, which meant the whole thing was over with almost immediately after it started. Nice.
Mike also said it usually takes about a year of work to move up one level, depending on the horse's and the rider's "disabilities". My lower leg is perhaps what he had in mind.
Seriously though, there are two lower leg positions - my jumping position and my dressage position. Dressage is this standing position, where I think from my hip to push my leg back and back and back. What I haven't been doing, it turns out, is straightening my knee (that's how I think of it), so my lower leg comes forward while my thigh is going back. Thinking to straighten my knee makes the whole leg in the right place. My heel always wants to be up and my toe always wants to point out, AND I grip like I'll fly into space if I don't grip with my upper thigh. So one of the many, many checklists in my head is from my hip all the way down to my heel now.
Jumping, on the other hand, is a feeling of pushing my leg out in front of me (and my butt back over the saddle for the "hinge" to close and the position to be solid). Oddly, though, the pushing in front is the same feeling from the knee down - a flattening/straightening of the knee, and that relaxed but pushing down to get the solid heel down feeling. I can only get it if I think "relax."
Willig has been doing great. Today I noticed some floppy ears for me while we were working. I think he actually prefers to work most days of the week (like 6) although he has been working so hard that I've had a couple days when he's so tired I end up giving him the next day off.

NY Times on Horse Prices

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/business/businessspecial3/29HORSE.html?_r=2&em

Mike riding Willig is an amazing sight

For my lesson this week, I wanted Mike's input on Willig, now that I've had Shannon and John ride him. This ride went a bit differently.
I had Willig warmed up in the indoor arena, Mike watched us do a few laps, and then he got on.
Willig had the prettiest round neck and the floppiest ears. The only times his ears went "radar" was when he looked back to see what Mike wanted. Mike's take away (or my take away, at least) was that Willig is uneducated, but trying.
What I describe as being stiff on the left is actually falling into his left shoulder - so much that when his head is crooked, that's what it is.
The rest of it was so far above my level, that it was inspiring to see Willig move like that, but also kind of depressing to realize that I will never, ever ride that well and I will never be able to make Willig look like that. It's like a waste of Willig's time to have me crashing around up there, legs flopping, hands zigging and zagging, seat pounding around.
Even if I took lessons every day for the rest of my life, I don't think I could look that good.
That being said, I got on, and Mike showed me (he is just so good at describing things!) what's been wrong with my jump seat since oh, I started riding. It's the same as the lower leg.
My lower leg has actually gotten good at the walk (and the canter, I felt it the next time I rode) but it still needs a lot of work at trot.
And I need to keep working on everything else.
I asked Mike what he thought about my approach, and he was realistic - the more time I can spend in lessons and on training, the faster Willig will progress, but there's a time and budget limit. Once a week just means we'll progress slower than twice a week. But he thought Willig was a nice horse.
Shannon ended up riding him the next day and said he was really good for her - a bit spooky towards the end, after he saw something through the door - but nothing unmanageable. Plus, they BOTH got sweaty that ride.
I took him on a trail ride today, a mental workout but not a physical one, and although he was a looky loo, I thought he did really great for him.
So - there is still plenty of road ahead. I'm trying to feel inspired by how much Mike can teach me, instead of daunted by how much I don't know - semantics, but the positive spin makes all the difference in the world.

Snorting = good; chewing? not necessarily

One other really important nugget from this week's lesson was that the snorting sound is a good, relaxed sound, and I should reward him. I always thought he was just blowing his nose.
The chewing may not be relaxed - it might be evasive, so I shouldn't reward it.
Who knew? (Please don't post a comment saying everyone on the planet knew but me.)

The importance of the outside hand

Today we had a lesson with Shannon. Willig's time back from John's has been spent ... not working the snot out of him, but basically he's been on vacation. Out of desperation last week, I asked Shannon if she could start riding him once a week for me. I am slammed at work, and I just don't see how I can make more time in the week to ride him.
We worked on three things during the lesson: moving forward (but not strung out), bending to the left, and walk/canter transitions.
Thanks to the cool weather (in the 30's this morning, already!), some sunshine, and the pony club kids, Willig started out thinking he was going to find something to spook at.
Overall, the lesson was a roaring success because he didn't! He worked! But it also gave me an opportunity to work with Shannon on him paying attention to me, which sometimes involves a big crank on his head.
So first, moving forward. I give an aid. He ignores it. I give the aid and he gets smacked with the whip. He leaps forward. I reward. It's that simple. Yet I have been screwing it up by: a) giving the aid, he ignores, I give the aid, he ignores, I give the aid, give the aid, give the aid, he ignores. I give up. or b) I give the aid. He ignores. I smack with the whip. He leaps forward. I give the aid. (No reward!)
Honestly.
Second, staying together. This one is a bit more complicated. I give the aid, but I give sort of a half halt at the same time. I do this one better by feeling - he moves up and forward into my seat and my hand, and I kind of restrain him. When he rounds up, it feels divine.
Third, bending to the left. Well, this one was also my fault. I don't hold constant, steady contact with the outside rein (and I'm worse with my left hand, and so, coincidence? he is worse to the left). We worked on the spiral circles, and by worked, I tried to keep that hand steady and not give away the contact. Everything else is the same - using my legs, keeping impulsion - but when I think of planting my elbow on my hip (another good visual is thinkig of my arm as the side rein), I feel the connection and I feel him move into it.
Fourth, canter/walk transitions. To help him not be so strung out, Shannon started this last week when she rode him. Since we're just starting, they're ugly, but they're also a good example of how Willig actually does try to learn and do it properly. What's nice about these is it pulls a lot of things together for me. I have to keep that outside rein connected, then I push him into the outside rein with my inside leg, then I ask for the canter. He is trotting a couple steps (up and down), but he actually trots a couple steps when he's being naughty in the trot/canter transition, so I think it's progress. And after a couple times each direction, I can feel how much more collected he is.
Finally, with the things to look at, we did some big corrections, which really tamed the behavior. He was actually working with relaxed ears (as relaxed as his ears ever get) even with all the stuff going on out the scary door. It was me being prompt, sincere (a BIG yank), and then rewarding. I'll ride him in circles (or leg yield) past something scary, but I don't ever give the big correction and then the reward, and he really responded well to that.
This was a great lesson. At the end I was really happy, and again, I feel like this sort of progress suggests he can one day become an ok horse.
Along those lines, Shannon echoed John. He's not that much fun to ride and it's a total workout. For Willig's pride, I won't belabor the point, but it is reaffirming for me to hear that I'm not crazy because I find riding him to be a total chore instead of fun. We have maybe a few good minutes, if I'm really lucky, each day and that's it. Although he has been sweeter on the ground. Shannon also pointed out, something I was really glad to hear, that he's a pretty safe jumper. He isn't doing anything dangerous with his legs, he's just kind of lazy and distracted, and lazy isn't the worst thing in a guy as big as him. The distracted we really need to master before he goes to another event.