Ellie and Werther

New Year, New Goals!

2010-01-04T13:27:00.002-06:00

I'm back after a bit of a hiatus. I've been really busy studying for my GRE and riding a lot. I addition to regular lessons I have been doing monthly lessons with FEI judge, Janet Foy. She has been really great about encouraging me to take my riding to the next level and to try and get my qualifying scores for selection trials for World Equestrian Games. Also on the horizon, I am going to spend mid-February to mid-March training with Debbie McDonald in California and riding in my first Para-Equestrian CDI. Werther has been doing really well, Sarah is going to ride him one more day a week for a little bit, to help get him a little more supple, now that I am capable of establishing the forward on my own.

This is what I wrote to Debbie about my current training goals:

To improve my ability to ride effectively. I need to get my hands out of the way so they don't interfere with the forward but still have connection. I also need to sit further back, and rewire my way of thinking a little bit, when I get my self into trouble I get into to more of a hunter position, which is not effective when you are trying to do dressage!

To improve Werther's lateral suppleness. He is really good longitudinally and has really nice extensions but I have to work really hard to get him soft laterally. I am always looking for ways to improve his suppleness.

Increase Werther's responsiveness to the forward aids. Werther is by nature a quiet horse, which is good. I don't have the finesse to handle something really hot with my disability, but I would like to see more promptness in my requests for him to move forward. Some of this problem may be because my balance and aids aren't the same as a typical rider and he gets a little confused. For example, right now I am working on walk canter transitions and I have to use a little kiss voice aid, I would like to eventually get away from that.

Improve may ability to preform movements that challenge me. In the para-FEI tests, if I had to pick the three movements I am probably going to have the lowest scores on/and or most difficultly performing they would be the right lead counter canter, the turn on the haunches, and the walk canter transitions

My showing goals for the next year are:

To successfully ride a CDI (just halt to halt without any errors)

Get my 60% at a CDI to ride in selection trials

Ride my first freestyle (I have to have one ready for the CDI)

Move up to first level (i'd like to revisit training level test 4 and see how I score on that before I do)

Have fun!

Last Thursday's hack and Friday's mini lesson

2009-10-08T23:58:00.002-05:00

I just did a really quick hack with Werther on Thursday. The extra training rides seem to really be helping Werther. He was much more responsive and round. The only thing I struggled with was the canter, it seemed flat to me and I just could not get the uphill quality I wanted. Sarah just found out on Thursday that she had a spot in the clinic, so with only one week until the clinic she wanted to put in some extra rides on Werther to get him a little stronger in his collecting muscles and a little more sensitive to the aids to do the 4th/ prix saint george work. Sarah came out on Friday, I groomed Werther. She got on and put him though all the movements you would see in a 4-3 or the PSG tests. She said he was a little stiff in the canter half passes, and she was having some issues with her rhythm in the tempi changes but not too bad, for a horse who has basically had a eight year break from upper level dressage. I got on him for a few minutes after Sarah was done and she gave me a mini-lesson. He definitely had more self carriage after Sarah rode him, but Werther was still a long way away from being hot. We got to start to play with lengthening and collection at the trot, and Sarah let me try the flying changes again, which were still a little late, but better than last time. The really cool thing about Werther is that most horses would be really hot to the aids after that kind of work, he never overreacted to anything I did, he was still very calm. It was a short ride for me, but very fun.

Exciting events on the horizon!

2009-10-02T15:31:00.002-05:00

I had a mini vacation this weekend, I went to New York City to visit some friends. I saw Jude Law in Hamlet, a excellent production, I recommend it to any theatre junkies. Sarah worked with Werther while I was gone. She is going to be working with him a little bit more in the near future, Sarah's mare Sabrina is hurt, which really sucks. Since Sarah can't ride Sabrina in some clinic she was going to participate in, Sarah is going to take Werther, he is the only one of her regular rides that has the level of training to match Sabrina. The next one coming up is the Conrad Schumacher Symposium. She is definitely going to ride on Friday, and depending on if Conrad thinks he is a good demo horse, he will go back on Sunday. I'm really excited, it should be really cool to get feedback from such a well known trainer. I'm going to ride Werther in two three day Janet Foy clinics in October and November. I'm also going to attend (and hopefully riding a borrowed horse) a para-clinic in Maine at the end of October with Paulien Alberts. If Sabrina is still out of commission Sarah may also ride Werther in a Betsy Steiner clinic in November. I had a lesson on Tuesday, Sarah got on Werther again first. We were able to dive right in because I had the impulsion and roundness right off the bat. After a weekend off it took me a little bit to get into the rhythm of things but I felt like it was a pretty good lesson. We spent quite a bit of time practicing leg yields, it has been awhile since I have done those, I had a hard time finding a happy medium between being to restrictive with my hand, and still having enough contact to keep Werther round. I'll have to put these in regular rotation in my hacks, so I can get better.

New Strategies

2009-10-02T14:05:00.003-05:00

I keep meaning to do a big post on my last show, but I have to get the photos from my Mom. I had a lesson on Tuesday after the show. Sarah and I are trying a new strategy, she got on Werther first, and work with him for about 15 minutes. The plan is that she gets him really jazzed up and listening, so I don't have to spend half the lesson establishing impulsion and I can have a better feel of where Werther needs to be all the time. It really helped, because Werther was going forward I was able to make smaller corrections. When Sarah rode Werther one of the last things she did was some two tempis. Sarah let me try some flying changes on Werther in the lesson which was just a blast. I've done flying changes on Werther before, but this was different because I had been doing changes the hunter/jumper way. using opposing leg and hand. With the dressage change you ask with your leg and your hand on the same side. It is going to take a lot to get my muscle memory switched over! Thursday's hack also had some change in strategy, but nothing that was planned. I decided to ride Werther outside, and as I was getting on I dropped my whip. Now if I were to get off and get back on again, it would probably take me awhile depending on how cooperative Werther would be about standing. So I decided to try riding without my whip and see how it would go. Werther was really lazy without it. I did coax him into a canter, and got up to two point and got into the worlds slowest hand gallop in an effort to get Werther jazzed up. I went back down to the trot, and it was much better. I took advantage of some ground poles someone had left out and trotted and cantered Werther over them in a little course. Werther hasn't been jumped in a long time but he had a lot of fun with the ground poles, especially when I took a longer line, he really got his eye on the poles and got excited. While it wasn't my planned ride, it was a good lesson in how to work with what you have.

Last Tuesday's Lesson and Last Thursday's Hack

2009-09-22T21:54:00.002-05:00

Last Tuesday was kind of odd, I was on too early for my lesson and Sarah was late because of a issue in the lesson prior to mine, so Werther and I walked for a long time before we got started. When Sarah got to the barn we rolled up our sleeves and got right to work. We started out with the trot, working on getting it really energetic. The main theme of the lesson was "quick feet". We don't necessarily need to be really fast, but the steps need to keep coming very quickly. We worked on this concept at the trot and canter, as well as using it for the free walk, really pushing to make him come through and over his back. After our break we ran through both Training Level Test 2 and Test 4. We talked about the four things I need to do in my tests: short reins, impulsion, connection, and quick feet. The tests went really well, the canter transitions have really come along nicely, I am still struggling with the serpentines though. On Thursday, I did a lot of transitions in my warm up to get Werther sensitive and then ran through my two tests again. I really liked the energy and impulsion of the tests, but I had trouble with the free walk and the stretchy circle. I just could not get him to come down to me. The stretch is always a challenge for Werther, but I have been making a lot progress on it lately, it is frustrating to have a set back.

One Year with Werther!

2009-09-22T15:53:00.003-05:00

Shows always get me a little behind on this blog and regular programing will resume soon but I just wanted to take some time out today for my one year anniversy with Werther. It has been a wild (metaphorically speaking) ride. In one year I got a new horse, changed disciplines, and changed trainers. This past weekend was the last show of my first dressage season, and while I wasn't high in the ribbons, we had a blast and it was a great way to end out the year. I'm excited for the off season of the fall and winter, getting to work hard and a chance to educate myself more on dressage theory. First Level and Para-FEI are still in my sights for next year, but now I have a better understanding of how hard I will have to work to get there. Werther is just great, he has been a excellent teacher for me. He is always demanding precision, but not getting mad when I get it wrong. They say it takes a year just to get used to a new horse, now that we have had a year together getting to know each other, I think things can only go up from here.

centerlines

2009-09-17T16:07:00.003-05:00

It is really nice when you finally get something in a lesson. The big thing for me in my lesson on Saturday was the 10m turn onto the center line. Werther was good all through the lesson, we did our transition work and did our trot and canter work before finishing with our centerline turns. It was hot and humid on saturday so Werther lacked some of the impulsion that he had on Thursday and Friday, but he was nicely round. Sarah had me do a exercise to practice the turn on the centerline which was to pick up the trot, and as you are approaching the long side of the area, make a 10m circle at every letter. Doing those little circles, so quickly back to back, you realize right away that you cannot make those turns with just reins alone. The posting, steering, and using your leg at the same time was hard in that tight situation, so I eliminated the posting. That helped the situation immediately. Then I was able to shift my weight onto my inside seat bone and Werther turned very easily underneath me, in fact at times I got circle too small. after practicing those 10m circles down the long side we went back to the centerlines which were significantly improved. The last thing we worked on was making sure to give a little half halt while turning onto the centerline so the horse can finished the turn in smooth and balanced manner instead of fish tailing with his hind end. I was really happy with how things finished out, I've gotten 8s on my centerlines before, I hope to see some more of those this weekend!

Osteopath, Thursday and Friday's Hacks

2009-09-14T16:16:00.003-05:00

Dr. Audrey came out and adjusted Werther on Wednesday. She was really pleased with his progress from a month ago, and thinks he can be adjusted on a as needed basis now. Audrey's a beliver in getting them moving pretty quickly after a adjustment, so Werther had Wednesday off and I rode him on Thursday. Werther felt awesome, his impulsion was a lot better, however now that I have my impulsion I need to work on my connection, it was not as consistent as I would like it to be. I started out the ride doing walk/halt, walk/trot, and trot/halt transition. Werther is getting better about moving forward right away, but still wants to come above the bit as he moves off. I practiced a couple of serpintines and those were great, I could really feel Werther wrapping his rib cage around my leg. I picked up the canter, we didn't do anything fancy, just went around the ring with a few circles thrown in, practicing our jump, connection, and my geometry. I took a break went out of the ring, and warmed up like I would for a test, getting a good walk, a forward trot really asking Werther to lengthen, and then picked up a canter, and really asked him to climb up and extend (not a real extension, I'm not that good yet) went back to the trot half way down the long side, and entered the ring. I rode Test-4, which went really well, especially with the upward transitions. I finished by practicing a few turns from the left and on to the centerline which I am still struggling with. Friday, I didn't have as much time but I did a condensed version of what I worked on Thursday. He was better connected Friday, but I lost a little bit of the impulsion and flexibility that I had on Thursday. I did test 2 instead of test 4, I was happy with it, I felt it had good accuracy. I finished by doing some 10m circles and then turning on to the centerline. The turns still are not were I want them to be, but they did seem a little bit improved.

Lesson

2009-09-08T22:33:00.002-05:00

Today I sent in my check to audit a Betsy Stiner Clinic. I hope I get a spot, they are only allowing 25 auditors a day. I had a lesson tonight, Werther had a big hive on the side of his hip he did not have yesterday, it is almost as big as my hand. It didn't have any heat though, and wasn't in a place were the tack would bug him which is good. The barn was toasty tonight even with the fans on, it was warm out and the farrier was there shoeing horses. We started out the ride with me encouraging Werther to have a vigorous walk. Sarah and I have talked a lot lately about how I can't let my focus go at all with this horse, and I have to demand quality work from him the whole ride, because once I loose some ground with Werther especially with impulsion, I have to spend a long time gaining it back. After we got the walk established we did some walk trot transitions and did some trot work. We focused on getting that initial impulsion in the upward transition to the trot and insisting that Werther stay round at the same time. In the trot we also spent time on impulsion and roundness. Getting that initial impulsion is getting better, but he is still getting too strung out on me, I need to figure out how to make him do both at once, a little walking and chewing bubble gum. We did a little bit of canter work to warm up, working on improving the jump and connection. I had some really good moments but nothing consistent. We finished with a stretching circle at the trot, which are getting so much better now that Werther has had his hocks done. We took a long walk break, and we went in a rode test 4. Sarah had me go outside the ring, and develop a really foreword trot and she had me do some canter with some lengthenings down the long side to get him ready to go into ring. We had to practice the turn on to center line a few times before Sarah deemed us fit to continue. She also had us repeat the serpentine, I'm still working on perfecting that movement, I tend to get too much neck bend or Werther leg yields over, but it is getting much better, especially over the last week. The canter on the long sides and in the circles was pretty good, as was the trot diagonal. Free walk and medium walk is a challenge, but my tactics we good. We had a very nice stretching circle, but my turn on to center line was utter fail. I just could not get my brain to make the connection to get my body to do what Sarah was telling me I needed to do. You can bet I will be working on that this week, no riding on Thursday though, Werther is seeing the osteopath tomorrow to get adjusted.

Sarah's Ride Yesterday

2009-09-08T16:45:00.001-05:00

I got to go out to the barn and watch Sarah ride my Werther yesterday. It was fascinating. She was able to talk me through a lot of what she was doing and why. This isn't a exact blow by blow of the session, but these are the exercises that really stood out to me.
1. Early in the ride, after warming up she did a lot of shoulder in at the trot down the long side of the ring, stopping at the short side to do some turn on the forehand, the going back down the long side and doing renvers. She did this exercise several times to loosen him up and get him jazzed up about the ride.
2. The second highlight of the ride for me was something new she just started doing with Werther today. She had him to eight meter leg yield circles at the trot, kind of coiling him up like spring, and then made him give a really good quality trot across the diagonal, so he has more air time at the trot and gets stronger and already improves upon a already very good gait.
3. Sarah's rides are a little like circuit training for people, after doing that bit of strength training, she made sure to do more stretching exercises at the trot and gave him a walk break. After this she did some schooling canter pirouettes intermixed with some extended canter. I haven't seen Werther do pirouettes before, so even though they were not show ring pirouettes, they were still fun to watch.
4. Lastly she rode Werther through training level test 4 for me. It was really good opportunity for me to see how she would ride the test. It helped me to understand the serpentines a lot better, the bend is actually a lot more understated that I thought it was when I have been riding them.

Quick August Post

2009-09-07T23:37:00.002-05:00

A very quick recap of August so I can move on to current events.

At home I've been working on impulsion, a more consistent connection, and suppleness, I fell of once at home doing no stirrups work and scrapped up my nose, but was no worse for ware. I've also been able to sneak in a few trail rides which have been really nice.
I've been to two horse shows, the first show I got some pretty good scores in the low 60s on T-3 and T-4 from Betsey Berrey and Kristi Wysocki. I really liked Betsey Berrey, every time I halted at "G" she had something nice to say about Werther. The second show was tough, 3 out 4 of my classes Ulf Wadeborn who seemed like a nice guy but was very tough, I got my lowest scores yet from him, but I did get some helpful comments. My one T-4 that was with Sue Madden Madras. I got a 60.8, straight 6s through the whole test, except for a 7 on Werther's gaits.
We have been doing some matinence work with Werther, we had a really good osteopath Dr. Audrey come out and work on him, and Dr. Sarah did hock injections.
I recently read "Principals of Riding" by The German National Equestrian Federation, excellent read for newbies as well as experienced horseman, I would recommend it.

I'm back!

2009-09-05T19:08:00.002-05:00

Sorry I have been away for so long. I got very busy finishing up an internship and studying for the GRE so I can hopefully get into grad school, as well as horse showing and summer activities with the family. I'm planning on doing a recap of August, and I want to add a new feature of horse related book and DVD reviews. Thanks for being so patient with me!

Last Friday's Hack

2009-07-30T00:37:00.002-05:00

I'm trying to get everything up to speed before I head out to Mason City on Friday. I rode in the indoor on Friday so I could practice in the dressage arena again. I made him march right away from the mounting block and he actually had really nice impulsion for me the whole ride. Probably still not as much as I need, but a much better start. When I went to canter he swapped going to the right and had an epiphany, or more accurately, a "duh moment". I thought to myself, why is it I don't have as much trouble with this when I go to the horses shows either in the warm up ring or riding the test. I figured out that when I am riding alone, I am focusing on making sure his neck is straight, and looking down, instead of looking at where I am going, like I am supposed to. We did Werther's neck stretches and turn on the forehand steps, then finished up by riding Training Level Test 3. The circles in the figure 8 and the half circles were a little wonky, but I was happy with the rest of it. The stretching circle we finished on was particularly nice.

PIC-SPAM: Photos from Alpine

2009-07-28T00:29:00.005-05:00

EDIT: Blogger cropped images, click on picture to see the full thing. Second time training level over fourth of July weekend. My position is cringe worthy, Werther looks great as per usual.

Videos

2009-07-28T00:19:00.003-05:00

Here are the videos from the Stillwater show in June. I should be getting the training level dvds and will put those up when I get a chance.

Hack

2009-07-23T23:47:00.005-05:00

I started out today in Werther's stall doing carrot stretches. He is getting much better at the side to stretches, but he still has a hard time holding the low stretch. It was really nice tonight so I rode Werther in the outdoor. I got on and thought about making Werther march off right away, like he did after Sarah got on him in my lesson on Tuesday. Werther didn't respond to my calf, so I tapped him with my whip and he broke into the trot, I brought him back down to the walk and he lost about half of the energy we had gained. I spent some time trying to get a really forward walk and maintain the longer frame we worked on in my lesson. Again I struggled with the either or, I kept getting my frame or the impulsion. Rather than have both be poor quality the whole ride, I decided to focus on the impulsion. If I can just establish the impulsion I need and have Werther keep it, then I won't have to work as hard. Once I got a decent walk, I moved on the the trot work. He was especially resistant to maintaining impulsion in my circles, he really wanted to use them as an excuse to die out on me. By the end of my trot work I was getting some quality impulsion with a nice frame, but it took way to long to get there. In the canter transition I really focused on keeping my outside hand down and I had some nice transitions. I started out the right and I had a swap while I was playing with my rein contact, figuring out what I need. Werther's canter to the right felt very put together and his neck felt pretty straight, but I struggled to get the amount jump I needed. When I switched to the left lead I had the opposite problem. Werther had awesome impulsion but I was really struggling to package him. I felt like I could get each rein to work independently, but I was struggling to get them to work in sync. I feel that I was relying too much on my inside rein to steer, which should not be happening. Then when I softened that rein, I wasn't sitting deep enough to back up my outside rein with my inside leg, so I struggled with my steering. I finished up by letting Werther walk and catch his breath, then I did his neck stretches, and some steps of turn on the forehand to stretch out his hips. His turn on the forehand was really good today, even with my left leg. Werther is such a smart horse, I think he is really starting to understand what I want, even with my weaker leg. It gives me hope for the impulsion issue, if he can understand my left leg when I want a turn on the forehand, he can certainly understand when I want him to go forward. I have to be more vigilant about not letting him get away with being lazy, ever. He is to learn that it is not on option in his playbook.

Lesson

2009-07-21T23:36:00.003-05:00

It was so nice to see Sarah after our missed lesson on Saturday, we both felt like we had not seen each other in an age. We rode inside today because the weather was being a touch unpredictable, and I need to use the dressage ring to get back into test riding mode. Sarah came out on Monday and rode Werther. She said Werther felt more supple, and she spent some time in a slightly longer and lower frame to stretch his top line muscles. We started by developing energy at the walk, a little squeeze with the calf and then loose legs. When we had a good level of impulsion, Sarah had me take a feel of the bit and frame Werther up but encourage him to keep the length in his neck and not curl up. Once we had the impulsion and the contact at the walk established, we moved on to the trot work. This is where I started to struggle, Werther was really testing me, trying to be either round or forward and not both. I was getting moments of correctness, but nothing consistent, and Werther kept ending up behind my leg. Sarah had me jump off and she hopped on Werther. One look at Werther and you could tell what he was thinking, "Just joking guys, give me back the other lady, she doesn't make me work as hard". Sarah started with Werther like I had, making him give her a really good walk before moving into the trot. She made Werther give a nice trot, and did a few trot canter transitions before handing the reins back to me. she couldn't have ridden him for more than five minutes but the difference was marked. Right away moving off of the mounting block I gave a little squeeze with my calves and he marched off for me. We repeated our initial exercise of establishing the walk and the trot. Once we had a good trot going we moved up to the canter. Here I struggled a little. I wasn't clear enough in my transition aids, and Werther kept offering extended trot rather than canter. Sarah said part of that was Werther, he was feeling really good today, very loose and swinging in his back, so he offered the extended trot instead because he is really good at it, and it was less of an effort for him to give a really good extended trot than a quality canter. Sarah said something really interesting that people often had the impression that horses should be working their back muscles all the time, but the back should never be tense. Instead the back should be loose and swinging and the strength should come from the horse engaging his core abdominal muscles. I kept trying to sit back and keep a good contact with my outside rein but when Werther wouldn't pick up the canter right away I would get out of balance and lean forward and throw my reins away, which unbalanced Werther, so it was all very cyclical. I got a little bit of really good canter, but in a effort to keep up my connection I would balance too much with my hand and not back it up enough with my leg and Werther would break. By the time we finished I felt I was getting comfortable using more leg, and really dressage subtle leg, not cowboy leg. We finished on a stretching trot circle, I had a totally had a brain lapse when we first started, but our second attempt was better. I getting the hang of keeping contact on the outside rein even when it is super long.

New Blog Award!

2009-07-21T11:15:00.003-05:00

Thanks to Overanxious Horse Owner and few others who gave me this award:

I think this award is very appropriate for me. My main reason for blogging is that it keeps me honest. Outside of shows, I never get to watch any other dressage riders so it can be a challenge to keep my progress or set backs in perspective. By blogging, I force myself to reflect on every single ride. What was my plan? Did I achieve my goals? What is my strategy for the next ride? I'm really happy to have such a nice group of readers who give me encouragement and support.

5 things about me

1. I'm interning at a research library for a multi-national corporation and I'm studying for the GRE so I can get my masters in library sciences.

2. In addition to riding four days a week, I go to the gym three days a week. Yesterday, I did 100 pounds on the squat machine.

3. Next three movies in my Netflix queue: Reprise, The Year My Parents Went on Vacation and The Order of Myths

4. I was in a very old riding secret society in college.

5. My family travels a lot, the most interesting place I have been is Antarctica.

Passing it on to five blogs:

1. http://iamsrg.blogspot.com/ SRG is a new blogger, and also a para dressage rider.

2. http://www.rebeccalosesit.blogspot.com/ New weight loss blog of long time reader Rebecca.

3. http://sabumi.blogspot.com/ Heather is currently going through some challenges with her horse, but is handling it really well.

4. http://gallifreynewsbase.blogspot.com/ Because I am a big Dr. Who geek.

5. http://morewaystowastetime.blogspot.com/ Design blog, sometimes a little too modern for me, but has some really neat ideas.

Milestone

2009-07-19T13:56:00.002-05:00

A small brag, I'm really happy. I found out the other day that I have all of the scores I need for the USDF Training Level Rider Performance Award. I have only showed training level over 3 shows, two one day shows over one weekend and one weekend long show. The scores scores I used:
65.375% Training 2 Judge: Fatima Kranz
63.929% Training 2 Judge: Marlene Schneider
62.609% Training 1 Judge: Janet Hannon
60.000% Training 1 Judge: Dinah Babcock

Friday and Saturday's rides

2009-07-19T11:06:00.002-05:00

Woot! Finally catching up. I couldn't get out the barn on Thursday so Werther had a extra day off. I started out by grabbing some horse treats and we did Werther's carrot stretches in his stall. He was very excited about the treats, so it was hard to get him to wait and hold the stretch. I did some warming up, and then did the stretching exercises from my lesson on Tuesday. The neck ones were fine, but the turn on the forehand steps are a challenge. I spent the rest of the ride working on our frame and connection, finding that sweet spot where the head falls from the shoulder, and I have Werther forward enough that I can allow the trot to come through and just enjoy the ride. At the canter I'm just working on keeping the neck straight and suppling, so the connection isn't stiff. I ended on doing stretching trot circles, which were OK. I'm better when I have someone watching me and telling me when I need more bend, energy or stretch. Saturday, Sarah was away so I just hacked. I did all of Werther's stretches then I rode though Training Level Test 3 and Test 4, which we are showing next weekend. I still had them memorized fairly well, but made one wrong turn in T-3. Werther's impulsion was much better in the trot and canter, but I need to work on his walk and I need to work on my figure 8 and the half circles in T-3.

Tuesday's Lesson

2009-07-18T20:11:00.003-05:00

Sarah rode Werther on Monday and she said he was particularly tight in his back. The main goal of the lesson on Tuesday was to get me used to doing some exercises that will help Werther with his suppleness. We did a little walk trot canter to get Werther warmed up first, the Sarah had me come into the middle of the ring to do some suppling exercises. We started by doing a series of small circles with almost no outside rein contact, asking him with a soft inside to bring his neck over by my knee, but not for too long, think about as long as you would hold a stretch doing yoga. Then we did some steps of turn on the forehand each direction to help stretch his hip muscles. Going to the left was very hard for me in the turn on the forehand, Werther is not particularly sensitive to leg to begin with and the turn on the forehand has to basically come entirely from the leg, and that is my weaker side. We went back to trot and canter work, which was much better after doing those stretches and then ended by doing quite a few stretching circles. It was really hard work, you can't let up at all in that movement yet for him, you have to keep on asking, but it kept getting better and better.

Saturday's Lesson

2009-07-15T15:49:00.002-05:00

Saturday we started out by working on stretching Werther's back. It was a nice day so we were in the outdoor ring. Sarah set up a grid of poles to walk though. My job was to make sure Werther kept his energy though the poles and stayed in a frame. It is really weird maintaining contact through poles like that, even over ground poles my first instinct is to release. The rest of the lesson we spent working on impulsion. We started out by getting Werther to the correct level of impulsion then I have to go into "neutral" with my body, soft following hand and no leg whatsoever. As soon as Werther starts to loose energy I squeeze once with my calves and if he does not respond come with the whip, but as soon as he starts to carry himself again I go immediately into neutral position. Werther's reward for doing his share of the work is that I will leave him alone. We did that exercise at the walk, trot, and canter. I think I am starting to get it, it really helps my position to be able to have effective smaller corrections at my disposal and Werther feels more balanced, especially at the right lead canter.

Thursday's Trail Ride and Friday's Hack

2009-07-14T22:06:00.004-05:00

Thursday we went on hack with my Mom on Stoli, and my Aunt Karen who was in town visiting on Tryst. It was really fun to have Karen meet Werther in person, she follows my blog, and was nice enough to give me her dressage tack for Werther. We took the boys out for a nice leasurely walk around the property, the gnats were bad in some places but other than that the boys gorged themselves on the pretty purple alfalfa blooms. I cut the ride a little short and went in the outdoor ring and practiced some transitions. Mom bought Werther a grazing muzzle, to help combat him wrecking the fence with his cribbing, Werther was pretty displeased. Friday I hacked outside and spent some more time on transitions from sitting to two point and loose legs. I definitely need to shorten my stirrups until I get the hang of this new balance.

Lesson last tuesday

2009-07-13T22:11:00.002-05:00

We rode outside on Tuesday. The main goal of the lesson was to work on getting me to use my calf more and Werther to respond to my calf pressure. Once I got a a foreword moving reaction from him, I have immediately go to "loose legs", Werther's reward for going foreword is that I leave him alone. With my disability I tend to find my thigh a more stable point of balance, but that isn't going to work if I want to move up the levels. We spent a lot of time transitioning between two point and sitting or posting. I could get plenty of weight in my heels when I was in two point, but I found myself loosing my balance in the posting trot. This is definitely a long term project, it will be a lot of work but worth it in the long run.

Alpine Recap

2009-07-13T20:21:00.002-05:00

I thought I rode well, but this was a really tough show and the judges were scoring everyone very conservatively. Particularly the judge I had for 3 out of 4 of my tests. Sarah also told me she is partial to very hot horses, which is definitely not Werther's wheelhouse. On the bright side, Werther had his own fan club by the end of the show, the ladies working the rings loved him, and a couple trainers even came up to Sarah to tell her what a nice horse her client has. (:

Training Level Test 1 Judge: D. Babcock

1. 6 Balanced halt, right of center line after

2. 6 Little unsteady, maintains energy

3. 6 Transition should be clearer

4. 6 Needs better balance

5. 5 Crooked off rail

6. 6 Should maintain more energy

7. 5 Must develop more stretch and energy

8. 6 A little unsteady

9. 6 Could have better balance

10. 6 Needs better balance

11. 6 Needs better balance

12. 6 Little unsteady

13. 7

Collective

Gaits 7

Impulsion 6

Submission 6

Rider 6 underline effect of aids a little unsteady

60%, 4th place

Further remarks: Try to sit up straighter to develop better balance, from seat and leg - talented pair with lots of potential.

Training Level Test 3 Judge D. Babcock ( first time showing this test)

1. 6 not straight

2. 5 too much bend, unsteady, small

3. 6 needs better balance

4. 6 hollow

5. 5 behind riders leg, sluggish

6. 4, turned at E not 1/2 circle

7. 5, lateral tendency

8. 4, must develop more stretch and longer frame

9. 6, needs more activity

10. 7

11. 6, a little hollow, needs jump

12. 5, half circle unbalanced

13. 6, needs more release and consistent cadence

14. 6, needs energy

Gaits 7

Impulsion 6

Submission 5 circled attention, confidence, ease of movements, and acceptance of bridle

Rider 6 circled effect of aids

Remarks

Horse a bit less energetic in this test, also you are falling in on half circles.

56.4% 3rd place

Training Level Test 4 Judge: D. Babcock

1. 6 needs more energy

2. 6 could show more suppleness

3. 6 a little crooked

4. 6 a little labored

5. 5 becoming unbalanced and ___ corner

6. 5 sluggish

7. 5 very tight in back, needs stretch

8. 6 bending well, but needs energy

9. 6 a little labored

10. 6 needs energy

11. 7 better balance

12. 6 unsteady

13. 6 stretch OK some resistance into contact

14. 6 little unsteady

Gaits 6 lateral walk

Impulsion 5 desire to move foreword, elasticity of steps, suppleness

Submission 5 a little behind the leg and should bend better

rider 6 effect of aids

57.2% 6th place

Training level test 2 Judge M. Schneider

1. 6, straight fairly round resistant proceed

2. 7, round & steady

3. 6, straight & steady but ___ corner

4. 7, fairly balanced

5. 6, steady pace, unsteady lead

6. 6, on shoulder at transition

7. 7, fluid transition, fairly good accuracy

8. 6, needs more activity and stretch

9. 6, needs rounder

10. 6, resisted transition at C

11. 7, round and steady

12. 7, straight and steady

13. 7, prompt and balanced (our problem lead!)

14. 6, steady pace, unsteady lead, needs to return to track at B

15. 6, against hand

16. 7, straight, round

Gaits 7

Impulsion 7 (whoo!)

Submission 6

Rider 6

Remarks: Nice gaits! Needs quieter connection! Nice coping by rider!

63.929% 2nd place

Catching up!

2009-07-07T11:48:00.002-05:00

This last week was crazy after going to Mason City and prepping for Alpine. So I'm going to do a quick recap to get everybody caught up. Werther had the day off on Monday and I had a lesson on Tuesday. We worked on energy, position, and circle size. We did a lot of transitions to work on getting Werther to move more off of the leg. We also switched my whip to my right hand, even though my left leg is weaker, Sarah thinks it will be more effective if I am using the whip in my stronger hand. For my position, it is just a matter of sitting up and back, not dropping my left shoulder and keeping my hands down and following at the walk and canter and allowing Werther's energy to go forward. We practiced getting Werther to go forward, shaping with the leg, and then the hand. It is also important that while he is moving quickly, it always feels like he should be able to give you one notch more of energy. For the circles, we just worked in the dressage court and practiced cantering a lot of circles, making sure I hit the track exactly were I need to. I went though Training 4 with Sarah, it went fairly well. Werther had the day off on Wednesday and I went though both tests 3 and 4 when I hacked him on Thursday. We really need to get the RSVP letters for the ring at home, I was having a lot of trouble doing the figure 8 in test 3 without them. I also had a little trouble with the half circles, and the turn to X to halt at G.

Horse Show Recap

2009-07-02T23:22:00.004-05:00

Busy week with family in town so I am playing catch up. I survived my first time riding training level, I ended up with two seconds on Saturday and a third and a fourth on Sunday. I didn't have any swaps which I was worried about, but I did have one break from canter to trot in two tests but I was able to correct it. I'm just going to write the scores and comments, you can look at the tests here.

Saturday Training Level Test I (Judge: Fatima Kranz)

1. 7, nice entrance

2. 7, center >

3. 6, > jump

4. 5, broke, corrected

5. 6, fell into trot

6. 6, early

7. 5, > energy

8. 7

9. 7, center (something illegible, better I think)

10. 5, labored

11. 6, > energy

12. 7, steady

13. 8, nice turn, nice halt

Collective marks

Gaits, 7

Impulsion, 6, lacks at times

Submission, 6, circled lightness on forehand wrote needs more bend

Rider, 7,

Judge drew a smiley face and wrote fairly steady

Total 63.478%

Saturday Training Level Test 2 (Judge: Fatima Kranz)

1. 8

2. 7, steady

3. 7, steady

4. 6, > forward

5. 6, could be bigger circle

6. 6, came off track

7. 7

8. 7 ( first time getting a 7 at freewalk definitely his max at the walk, I was really excited!)

9. 7

10. 7

11.7, steady

12. 7

13. 6, > forward

14. 6, small circle

15. 7, straight

16. 7

Collective Marks

Gaits 7

Impulsion 6 could be more at times

Submission 6 not always steady in ...?

Rider 6 circle sizes

Judge drew smiley face

Total 65.357%

Sunday Training Level Test I (Judge: Dolly Hannon, tough judge and painfully accurate)

1. 7, straight, try to keep hands quieter to trot

2. 7, good energy, fill out circle with his leg

3. 6, sit up and back for better balance

4. 6, rider needs balance in canter and less rein

5. 6, willing horse, needs better balance

6. 6, too strong in reins and walk loses rhythm

7. 5, walk looses rhythm and needs more strech

8. 7, fairly willing

9. 7, good energy, try to keep hands quieter

10. 6, feel your leads don't look

11. 6, tends to drift in on circle but fairly willing

12. 7, fairly smooth

13. 7, not quite straight but well maintained

Collective marks

Gaits, 6, walk varies

Impulsion, 6, underlined suppleness in back, wrote walk needs suppleness

Submission, 7

Rider, 6

"What a nice horse! Try to keep your hands steadier & sit up, look up + feel your canter leads - when you look down it effects his balance"

I'm not gonna lie, I beat myself up pretty hard when I got this test sheet back. This is all stuff I am working on, sometimes I feel like I have too nice a horse for my riding ability.

Total score 62.609%

Sunday Training Level Test 2 (Judge: Fatima Kranz)

1. 7, nice halt

2. 7, center more

3. 7, steady

4. 7

5. 6, not centered

6. 7, straight

7. 6, lost jump

8. 6, needs more

9. 6

10. 7

11.7, center more

12. 7

13. 5, more jump, broke (my left hand crept up and I lost my steering, wanted to avoid taking out the wall)

14. 6, not centered

15. 6, needs more jump, fell into trot

16. 8

Collective Marks

Gaits 7

Impulsion 6 needs to stay more foreword for higher scores

Submission 6

Rider 6

Judge drew smiley face

Total 63.929%

I was a little disappointed after this show, but it is a new show this week, and i've been working on impulsion, circle work and position, so hopefully I can up my game a little for some slightly higher scores.

Last Hack before Mason City

2009-06-25T21:58:00.002-05:00

I stopped in Stone Ridge Equestrian before my ride to get a few last minute things before the show. My favorite purchase black tall boot socks with purple flames. I rode in the indoor so I could get a chance to ride in our dressage ring again. I started out doing a lot of transitions which went well. I'm still having trouble with the right lead, when I try to take a feel of the outside rein to straighten Werther's neck he swaps. I think I may have too much inside rein. I have to remember when I am riding the outside rein controls the bend and the inside rein controls the frame. I went though both tests, I think it went fairly well. I'm still not 100% confident, but I will just have to fake it, and hopefully everything will come together. I certainly don't think I'm going to have an embarrassing ride, I just want it to be better than I think it is right now. Wish me luck, I'll let you know how things went on Sunday!

Amazing news!

2009-06-24T23:38:00.003-05:00

You heard it here first! My Mom and I were bidding on Debbie McDonald's clinic and we won! The item was set up by PVDA Ride for Life, and 100% goes to Johns Hopkins Breast Cancer Research. Special shout out to Bob McDonald, thanks for peer pressuring Mom into bidding more. (: There are 6 time slots after one for me and Werther and one for Sarah and her mare Sabrina. I'm going to try and get para dressage riders in those spots if I can, I think it will be amazing! Also, I've got to say I love my Mom for be amazing and so enthusiastic about my dressage endeavors. My hands are still shaking a little, my adrenaline is going strong!

Lesson

2009-06-23T21:35:00.003-05:00

Last lesson before Mason City and training level! My reader/hero Leslie came out and read for me again. The canter work was much better, I only had two swaps, one because I was working on the circle and took one hand off my reins to reach back to my cantle to remind me how deep I need to be sitting. The second time Sarah wanted me to go across the diagonal and hold the right lead and I am so used to doing lead changes across the diagonal I totally forgot what I was supposed to be doing. I did it again though and I was able to hold the lead. Now I just need to be able to do lengthenings at the canter and I will at least be able to do all the first level movements at home, which means I will be closer to doing first level and FEI para grade III next year. We did a lot of transitions, I felt like we were going to reach the 127 that Sarah threatened on Saturday. The indoor was very cool, even though we had a heat index of 100+ today, so we were able to keep working hard. The transitions really help get Werther out in front of my leg, which is something I struggle with. I rode beth tests, they went really well, and I was able to hold my right lead. My only complaint is that Werther was a little resistant to coming as round as I wanted him today, but he kept on improving as our ride continued. When I show I need to remember:

*really really tight turn to the center lines

*show clear bend in all corners

*open hip angle, shoulders back, and sit up tall, especially at the canter

* go forward

* following hand

*keep a right bend in the right lead canter

*smile!

Lesson

2009-06-21T14:43:00.002-05:00

The countdown to show time continues, and I had my second to last lesson before Mason City. My amazing reader Leslie came over with Sarah so we could ride though training level 1 and 2 before going to the show. I got on a little early and walked Werther outside and when Sarah and Leslie got the barn we went into the indoor. We did some work at the trot pushing Werther forward and building the trot, then we went into the canter and spent a lot of time on that. I'm still working on the connection and bend. I had trouble again with the right lead. We did a lot of canter transitions to help me, and stretch out Werther's back. Sarah said I should do "127" canter trot transitions in my warm up so Werther is really prepared and knows we can canter at any moment. One of the great things about Werther is that we can do something like canter transitions over and over again, which are easy for him and he does not get bothered or mad about it. Now if it were a canter zig zag 127 times we might have another story. We rode though each test once, I was terrible riding training level 1, it took me a while to get back into test riding mode, and planning 3 or 4 steps ahead, and Werther was really behind my leg. The second test was much better, but Werther got a little too curled in his neck and I really had to focus on lightening my hands and pushing him foreword. I am afraid that I am really going to suck at training level but I did so well at Intro that it doesn't really have a challenge any more and I am capable of executing all the movements, I just have to make sure I don't give Werther the wrong signals. Sarah is riding Werther on Monday, Leslie is coming over again on my lesson on Tuesday to read for me, Werther has the day off on Wednesday and Thursday is last hacking day before the show. I think i'll take the risk of over riding test and practice them again on Thursday. I would rather have to Werther over anticipate than me be under prepared.

Lunging and lightening

2009-06-20T23:01:00.002-05:00

I rode outside on Friday, our head groom Ramon was nice enough to meet me out at the barn at he helped me on the lunge line. I worked for about 20 minutes doing trot and canter work on the lunge line. I think it really helped. I did some exercises grabbing the cantle, hands on hips, and straight out. I took back my stirrups and did some more canter work, and it still was not perfect, but I felt like I was starting out sitting deeper, but I found myself creeping forward with my body, so I would get a swap. I'm also struggling with how much of a feel to take with the outside rein, I also get myself into trouble when I take too firm a grip with the outside rein when I try and straighten out his neck, because right now he is over-bent to the right when I am trying to keep him on the correct lead. The most frustrating thing of all is that is all my fault. When I rode hunters most of the horses I rode needed very little direction. Werther is so trained that he thinks he is doing the right thing. I'm not used to having to give so many directions, I'm used to riding very minimal and sometimes I have a tendency to overdo it. As I was finishing riding these dark grey low clouds started to roll in. The next time I looked up, the sky was absolutely purple and there were flashes of lightening in-between the clouds. I was at the far end of the ring, so I trotted to the near end of the ring, jumped off, ran up the stirrups. Right after I jumped off the wind started to kick up, so we half jogged to the barn. I got into the barn, threw Werther into his stall, and peeled off the bridle. The heavens opened up then and it was starting to rain sideways into the barn though the screen doors. I ran around and shut all six garage doors. I looked at the weather.com app on my iphone and it was calling for hail, so I called the guys at the farmhouse, and got them to come down at pull the truck and trailer in the indoor and put away the rest of the vehicles, a rather exciting ending to such a quiet ride. I didn't end up hailing, but the storm came up so quickly, better safe than sorry. It seemed a little to me like tornado weather, and that is what really worried me.

Hacking

2009-06-18T21:41:00.001-05:00

I rode outside today, we have a tornado watch going on, so the weather is really humid, so Werther was pretty lazy. I started out working on walk trot transitions to try and get Werther more sensitive to the leg. Then after some trot work with good connection I went into the canter work. The canter work was a mix bag, the transitions to the canter were pretty good, but I had a hard time getting a of jump out of him. Werther did flying changes a number of times to the right, but I felt like I could really feel what I was doing wrong, so I could try and fix it. I felt like I started to sit down more, but I know I wasn't as far back as I need to be. I'm still working at the connection at the canter, but he didn't feel strung out, which is another point in the good column. After a good walk break, I ran though training level test 3 once, which I have memorized but I haven't ridden before. I think test 3 is going to be way harder than test 4. It was hard to remember all the transition spots without the letters in the outdoor, but I got the gist of it. Canter work to the right was bad, I was getting really tired and had a big moment of being too passive, which allowed Werther to swap. Werther and I were both sweaty and tired by the end of the ride, and well I don't think things went great, I feel like I accomplished something.

Tuesday's Lesson

2009-06-18T21:16:00.004-05:00

We started out on Tuesday working on the following hand again. We were in the indoor because of bad weather, so we circled by the big bank of mirrors so I could look at my hands. I found for me, me hands actually were quieter if I moved my hands slightly out with the motion of the horse, instead of foreword which is what I had been trying to do before. The big part of the lesson was the canter, we just spent a long time trying to get me in the right position with Werther having good energy and jump to his canter and trying to get me into the right position. We worked really hard, but it is hard to see the progress right now. Sarah is working on having me sit further back, and I really struggle with that, I am so used to cantering in half seat. My left hand kept creeping up on me too, this is caused by my CP. I try hard to keep it down, but sometimes the brain and the body signals don't sync up and it is really frustrating. My homework is to have Sarah tell me in my next lesson I am sitting too far back and my left hand is too low. Ride times for Mason City have been posted, Sarah and I are almost always riding at the same time, so I will have to do most of my warm ups independently, which is really a pain. I would really like to have the extra support, especially since it is my first time showing training level.

Lesson

2009-06-13T18:16:00.003-05:00

It was really nice outside today and I had my lesson in the outdoor ring. We worked on getting my hands quieter by having my elbows open and close more, it is really hard! My arms are short and I have a big chest to work around. I also am used to riding hunters were they told us not to flap our arms around like chicken wings. I'm also having a hard time getting a feel for the timing, I feel like it is one of those things were you have to have it click just once to make your body get what your are supposed to do, and it hasn't happened for me yet, though Sarah assured me I was improving. We did a lot of canter transitions to, if Werther did not respond to me asking politely with my leg, I had to give him a tap with my whip, and he kicked out quite a few times, but he started to respond to the lighter aids later in the lesson. Getting Werther lighter to the aids is one of our long term goals with Werther. We worked on my position in the canter transition as well, I have a tendency to want to throw my body forward, I'm used to getting up in a half seat at the canter, I really have to put in a lot of mental work to tell my body to stay back and in the tack. I the canter we worked at making it have more "jump" and asking him to come round. It is still challenging for me to get him to come round at the canter, but I have to remind myself that when I first started taking lessons with Sarah I had a hard time at the walk and the trot too, but now I can get it done without even thinking. Right now Werther wants to be slow and round or fast and flat, I need to find a happy medium. I was happy Werther didn't swap leads on me at all today, I picked up the wrong lead once, but it was my fault. I did not organize Werther well enough. We finished up the lesson by doing some walt trot transitions to get Werther lighter to the aids and some trot stretching circles.

Thursday and Friday

2009-06-13T14:29:00.002-05:00

I got out of work early on Thursday because they were remodeling our workspace, it was nice to got out to the barn early. I was not able to ride outside however, the guys were working on the footing in the outdoor ring. Our outdoor is a sand rubber mix and we have been having issues with it being over crowned since it was built. The guys used the compactor on the ring and then watered it heavily, and it needed to wait until Friday to be dragged. I worked inside and Werther was very good. The right lead canter is getting much better, I only had one swap and it was because I made a bad turn. I memorized training level test 2 and I ran though both 1 and 2 once, which I will be riding at Mason City. It went well, I think the canter trot transition and the quick turn on to the final center line in test two will be a challenge. I rode in the outdoor on Friday, the footing felt pretty good, although it was much firmer out there than I am used to. It was a little chilly, so Werther was really moving nicely foreword. Again, I just had one swap, this time when I was shortening my reins, it must have caused my position to go out of wack. I still wasn't quite confident that I had the tests down, so I ran through them one last time. Werther started to anticipate a little bit, so I will have to take a break from practicing the tests for awhile. It was odd doing the tests in the outdoor which is much larger than a regulation size dressage ring, I felt like I was going around for miles. At one point I miss judged the size of canter circle I needed to make to get him back on the rail and ended up at about the quarter line. I just asked him to move over like I would in a leg yield and he took some really nice lateral steps, which was a cool bonus for my ride.

Two Weeks to Training Level!

2009-06-12T00:04:00.003-05:00

Werther got the day off on Monday and I had a lesson with Sarah on Tuesday. It was lightly sprinkling, and the last thing I wanted was to get wet after this weekend, so we rode inside. We spent the majority of our time working on the canter, which is going to be our biggest challenge for Mason City. We also worked on developing more of a following hand at the walk and canter, which is challenging, with hunters you get yelled at for having chicken wings if you move your arms too much. Near the end of our canter work I was able to get him pretty round, Werther is still trying his best to convince me he cannot be round and foreword, my job is to convince him it is not the case. The biggest breakthrough was we figured out what is triggering Werther to swap from his right to left lead. Basically what is happening is that I'm falling in on my weaker left side at the canter which causes my right leg to slip back, which makes Werther think (and rightly so) that I am cueing for a lead change. What I have to do is be really conscious about pushing my right leg foreword and my right shoulder back. I really like the way Sarah is framing me fixing my position in the context of my right side, when a lot of trainers would just yell at me about my left side. I also am asking for a slight bend at the right lead to help prevent a swap. We finished up by going though training level test one which I have memorized, it went really well for the first time running through it, we didn't have any swaps.

Horse Show Recap

2009-06-10T23:34:00.002-05:00

I'm sufficently recovered from Stillwater so I'm posting now! The stalls and prizes were nice, and it was nice to go to a horse show close to home. However, the footing was too deep for my liking, and there was virtually no warm up area for my ring, just the grass or a 20m circle of sand and the grass was too hard and slick to be riding in. It was pouring rain on saturday so I didn't even try for pictures, and Sunday my classes we too close together, I didn't even think of handing off my camera to someone. There person who was supposed to go in my Intro A classes scratched so I won those by default, and on Saturday the girl who was supposed to be riding in my B test got bucked off by her pony. My best test was my Intro B, I got a 68.5% and I thought it was a better test than my 70.5%. Someone who was not entered on Saturday got a 73% however, so I was second in that class. The judge on Saturday was really tough, I got a 65% on test A (got the same score on Sunday) and I got a 64% on test B.

Comments Saturday Test A

7's in first three movements "fairly straight; fluid; well balanced"

8 on my trot circle "well balanced"

8 scratched out to 7 medium walk "fluid transition, some rhythm changes"

6 free walk "needs more stretch down"

5 trot transition "needs more straightness and clarity"

6s on last two movements "falling in, not quite on C line"

7 on gaits and submission

6 on impulsion and riders position

remarks

"Lovely pair with potential, overall test could have had a bit more energy for higher scores".

Comments Sunday Test A

7s on first four movements "straight halt; active walk; smooth transition; round circle"

6s on two walk movements "should be move active"

7s on last three movements "smooth transition; round circle; straight halt"

7 on gaits

6 on impulsion, submission, and riders position

remarks

"Nice horse; keep your heels down". Ellie in- Heels down comment kind of ticked me off, did he not see the para form?!

Intro Test B Saturday

6 enter halt salute "not quite immobile"

7 track right at c "fairly smooth"

6 circle "should be rounder 1st half"

7 change rein and medium walk "fairly steady"

5 free walk "needs more energy and stretch"

7s last three movements "steady, more energy; straight, needs more energy; fairly straight"

7s on gaits and submission

6s on impulsion and position

remarks

"very nicely presented test, could be more energetically ridden, lots of potential"

Intro Test B Sunday

6 on enter and halt "not straight"

7s on next four movements "round circle; straight; smooth transition"

6 on free walk "should stretch more foreword"

7s on last three movements "round circle; straight; straight and halt"

7s on all collective marks

remarks

"nice test"

I'm glad I survived! looking at the test and seeing the progression, I think I fixed a lot of things I needed to. Next show, on to training level!

Videos

2009-06-07T17:55:00.003-05:00

Just got back from Stillwater, too tired for full post but here are the Mason City videos.

hmmph... can't get them to embedded into the post here are the links.

: Kicks Youtube :

2009-06-05T07:29:00.002-05:00

I was delaying posting because I got my video from Mason City and I was trying to upload it to youtube so I could post it here. I had to convert the files, and now youtube is taking forever. Anyway, I had a lesson on Tuesday, it went well. Sarah had me do a mock warm up for the show without her coaching, (well, as much as she could help herself). I did well, I just need to remember to throw in a bit more walk work and some halt transitions. The canter was really good, we didn't have any problems with the right lead at all. Sarah had me work on getting him to "jump forward" in the canter. We finished with some turns on to centerline which were OK, I need to remember in my test to turn much tighter than I think I need to. I hacked yesterday, and I practiced warming up like I would warm up for a show, but again, I think I did alright with my amount of walk work, but I should have done some more halt trot transitions. When I started my canter work I had some issues with him swapping off the right lead again, and rather than get in a big fight about it, I switched and practiced my tests. I did Intro Test A twice, the first time was a little shaky, he cantered in the second circle, and I was late on one trot transition, and I was wide on my final turn to centerline. The second time around was much better, but he tried to die on me a little early going on up centerline to halt. I only had to do Test B once, Werther felt really good. By the time I finished test B I made up my mind that I was going to fix this canter issue, I did not want to end on a bad note before my show. I made him pick up the canter off of the walk from centerline, and I had Werther go around the outside of the dressage ring while I practiced sitting back and deep and keeping the canter energetic. He was able to go around the outside of the dressage ring just fine, but when I moved in, he swapped again. I reorganized Werther while still staying in the ring and thought about doing a shoulder fore while going around the ring, it was a little exaggerated though, because I don't have the fine tuning at the canter yet that I do at the trot. It did the trick though, he went around the dressage ring without swapping off. The good news is, I can now do the canter transition without really thinking about it, I just have to work out this bug. I'm off to the horse show today, wish me luck!

Lesson

2009-05-30T18:32:00.002-05:00

I had a really nice lesson outside this morning. Two of our babies, Curly and Orvis were turned out in the paddock next to the outdoor ring, and they were so cute, they watched my whole lesson, occasionally seeing in they could bite Werther as I walked by. Werther is totally recovered from his shots now, he was able to come round right away today. Sarah and I talked about show logistics, we decided that I am going to stay at Intro level for one more show. Sarah and my ride times are very close together for this next show, so Sarah will be able to help me some, but I am going to have to be responsible for the bulk of my warm up. I think it will be a good exercise, a little test of my abilities to see if I can find the right balance between too much and not enough. At the Mason City show after Stillwater I am going to do training level 1 and 2 both days. I won't qualify for regionals, but it is my first year showing Dressage, so I am not really worried about it. Werther was really good at the trot today, Sarah I decided if he is that good at Stillwater I might have to exaggerate my limp so people don't think I'm riding at too low a level! I got to do a extended trot on Werther today, it was really exciting. He has the best extensions, he doesn't go any faster at all, he just has a lot more air time with his trot step, Sarah says that elasticity is what puts his trot at a 8 or 9. The canter work also had some significant improvement. Sarah had me think about really sitting down on his butt and making him ball up underneath me. We also worked on getting the canter more forward, but without going faster, just having more energy at that same pace if that makes sense. He didn't swap leads at all today, and we only picked up the wrong lead going to right once. The left is still way better than the right but I was really happy with our progress today. Sarah says it is going to be like when I started to work on framing him up at the trot, which used to be such a challenge for me but now I hardly even have to think about it. We finished out the ride with some stretching circles at the trot which are also getting much better, he is getting really toned in his back muscles and really helps his stretch. Sarah also liked what tying the left stirrup did for my position, so we are going to keep doing it for now.

Hacking

2009-05-29T20:08:00.002-05:00

Werther got his shots and worming on Wednesday. I rode him outside on Thursday and he was really good, though understandably a little stiff. He still started out a little stiff today, but was nice a supple by the time I finished my ride. I spent both days working on forward energy, doing stretching circles at the trot and working free walk, and lastly the canter. I used a leather spur strap to tie my left stirrup to the girth, which is one of my allowed dispensations with my para classification. It helped me a lot, with my leg more stable I felt like I was able to get easier canter transitions, and it allowed me to sit deeper in the saddle. I'm pretty happy with my canter transitions now but now I am having trouble with the actual canter work. I've gotten to the point in my dressage riding where I am finally at the point where I can start to put Werther in a working frame at the canter. I'm having trouble with Werther swapping leads on me, which has not been a problem with him before. I could not really pin point in yesterday riding outside, but today we had high winds and a storm moving in so I rode in the dressage ring set up in the indoor. I found that he was more prone to swap leads on the right lead to the left, on the straight line after corners M and K. Try as I might, I could not get him around the ring to the right without swapping. I think I am getting him over bent to the outside, but I can't figure out how to fix it on my own, so I am going to ask Sarah tomorrow. Sarah said in my lesson on Tuesday that she is going to start working with Werther on his canter transitions, especially that counter canter, so he has to be really clear which lead we are asking for and hold it, instead of taking matters into his own hands.

Back to work!

2009-05-26T22:15:00.002-05:00

Thanks everyone for the well wishes, I had a great time and I am glad I could share it with all of you. On Monday Mom, Maddy and I went on a family trail ride. We just walked in a circuit around our property and Werther tried his darndest to cram as much food as possible in his mouth with a bit in. Werther had good energy on the trail and I did work on asking him to come on the bit, so I could work on harnessing the energy I need for my tests. I had a lesson today, and we spent most of the time working at energy at the walk and canter. I have not decided if I am going to change my entries to training level for the Stillwater show in two weeks, Sarah and I are going to decide next week. The canter transitions are getting much better, but still not consistently good enough for the show ring yet. We also worked on getting him really connected and bending at the canter which I had some difficulty with. My left side got really tight, and I kept twisting my body. I worked with the grab strap and that helped, but with the longer rein Werther would cut in and switch his bend, so he would do a flying change. I would say about 20% of the time I had a really nice package and my position was OK. I need to bring that number up.

Horse Show!

2009-05-25T21:58:00.003-05:00

The horse show was awesome! I schooled Werther at home on Thursday, and he was really good. We got the show on Friday afternoon. The Brightonwood ladies had a great setup and were really helpful in getting our stalls organized. My Mom brought her coming three year old with to camp out. It was raining out, and I went to get on, Werther turned as I got on, and I had one foot in the stirrup and I didn't have my balance yet, and I fell off the other side. Werther was really tense when I rode him, but he didn't do anything really bad. Sarah got after I got a chance to go into both of the rings I would be showing in. Sarah did a lot of lateral work, bending, and transitions just getting him to focus on her. Saturday, it was pouring rain with thunder and lightening, so the TD came by, and they decided to delay the show for one hour. As you can see from my pictures, it was still pouring when I went in for my first class. I was really happy to just have survived the whole thing and I was elated to get a score of 63%! Comments for that test : "Well matched pair - overall a pleasant test. Work on energy in the walk." Sarah and I had decided since I rode a conservative, but accurate test earlier for test B we would really work on pushing Werther forward and getting more activity. He got really tired half way though, and I really had to work to keep up the energy, my hunter training came in handy and I was able to downplay my use of the whip. I got a 67% percent with very similar comments from the first test. I was really happy with the further comments section she said: "A very nice horse and you're doing a good job, especially at the trot. Keep working on the walk energy." For Intro Test A on Sunday, it was my one test in ring three with the same judge from yesterday. I had the same plan as yesterday, to just keep pushing the energy. Sarah said if Werther broke into the canter in any of my tests she would throw me a parade. My test was a 7:36 in the morning, so it was still a little chilly, which was much to my advantage. I was really happy with my test, while I didn't break into the canter, I felt I had better energy and improved on the day before. This is the test I am probably most proud of. I got a 8 for the turn on center line and halt, with the comment "balanced!" and for the final turn on center line I also got an 8 and the comment "good turn at A and balanced halt". This is something Sarah and I spent a long time working on. Her further remarks "You and your horse present a harmonious picture. It was a nice test with improvement in the walk, good job." Our total score was a 69.5%. My last test, we had the same game plan, worst case, my best score is a 69.5% which I think just about anybody would be happy with. I really pushed him in the second intro B class, and almost got a canter step in the corner as I turned to go onto the diagonal. I backed off, after that and was a little frazzled because I thought I was going to get a low score for that movement. My other mistake was in preparing for the free walk across the two diagonals, I started to let my reins out in the corner, before I remembered that I could not do that before I turned off the wall. Werther only took a step or two though, and I was able to repackage him, but I was so distracted by my mistake I didn't push him hard enough in the free walk. What I thought was my worst test turned out to be best score wise. I got an 8 on my second diagonal, and only one 6 on this test for the free walk. I got a 8 on Werther's submission, which made me happy because that score is doubled in FEI para tests. The total was a 70.5%! Even though I didn't have anyone in my division, my score was the best of the day!

Horse Show Photos Part II

2009-05-25T21:47:00.003-05:00

Again, blogger cut off some images, click on the picture to see the whole thing.

Horse Show Photos Part I

2009-05-25T21:29:00.004-05:00

Blogger cropped some of the photos click on the image to see the full thing.

All In The Family

2009-05-20T17:20:00.002-05:00

Just for fun! I put Werther's pedigree though the All Breed Pedigree Query. He has quite a bit more Thoroughbred in him than I expected, and it is neat to look at his Westphalian breeding on his dam line.

Wendenfalk

Lesson

2009-05-19T23:12:00.003-05:00

Today I had my last lesson before the show this weekend. We basically worked on what we will do at the horse show. We started out with some forward walk and trot work, focusing on getting Werther's back swinging. The Sarah had me gather Werther up into a frame and we worked on bending and using the corners to improve connection on the bit. Then we did some canter transitions so I could get Werther into the nice forward working trot I need for my tests. We took a walk break and we talked a little bit about how everything is going to go. Werther has a tendency to have a lateral walk so that is at 5 or a 6 if I am lucky, but he has an excellent trot and if I can get him forward and going well he could get a 8 or 9. I'm not showing at the canter at this show, but Sarah thinks it is about a 7. For the second half of the tests we worked on the trot outside the ring, establishing the impulsion and rhythm I need to have a really excellent test.

Some of the little details we work on while I rode my tests:

under turning to center line, and not cutting my turn at C

Sitting really heavy for the halt while still keeping leg on, and getting right at X

really riding the corners

keeping a slight shoulder fore around the ring to get a smooth bend in the turns

making sure I hit E and B in the 20 m circle and really showing my bend in the circle

pushing the free walk forward and down

correctly using the space across the diagonal and in the serpentine

Keep a firm outside rein

They also just posted the ride times and schedule for my show are I'm the only one in my division! I am kind of excited about it because it really takes the pressure off, I can just treat it like a clinic where I get a blue ribbon for not falling off or throwing up. :)

My First Blog Award!

2009-05-18T22:12:00.003-05:00

Thanks to Solitaremare for giving me this cute award!

According to Solitaremare's post:

7 of my favorite things:

1. Getting sucked into a good story, book, tv series, movie, a piece of artwork, play, song, what have you.

2. Travel, the best place i've been is Antarctica!

3. Food, gourmet or street food, I love it all.

4. Spending time with friends, I went to boarding school and college on the east coast, so I don't get to see my friends very often, so I really appreciate the time I get to spend with them.

5. Learning, I'm a total liberal arts geek and I think there is nothing better than a really good lecture.

6. All of my horses! Wesley and Werther are my two bad boys, Fiona is my little princess pony, and Twinkie is the best.

7. Technology, I heart my macbook pro, ipod, kindle and tivo.

Passing it on to 7 blogs:

1. Diary of the Overanxious Horse Owner - We got our horses at the same time, it has been fun following Juniors progress!

2. Viva Volte- She has been so helpful as I have been switching over to dressage.

3. Over The Hills and Far Away- Awesome pictures!

4. Adventures with Super Sam- Another rider with a new horse, i've just started following her recently.

5. Peonies and Paper- My sisters blog, fun design ideas.

6. Riding Aside- It has been really fun following her as she ventures into the sidesaddle world.

7. Tacky Tack of the Day- The name says it all.

I'm back!

2009-05-17T14:51:00.002-05:00

I have a new motherboard in my computer and I am back in business. I had a good lesson last Tuesday, we got the indoor set up to the proper 20 x 60 regulation size. It was really windy outside, so the indoor was creaking and making a fair bit of noise, which I think worried me more than it worried Werther. We just did walk trot work, but we really focused on making full use of the smaller space of the Dressage ring. We worked on really getting deep in the corners on the ring and putting a lot of bend in the turns. We did some really tiny 8 meter circles at the trot to practice. We also spent a good chunk of the lesson working on the turn up the center line. The goal is turn sooner than you need to and leg yield over, but under no circumstances overshoot the turn, because it makes it much difficult to get back on the center line. We also worked on the halt to trot transitions and the free walk. We worked on the freewalk serpintine in Intro Level Test B. I think that the freewalk is coming along well and the directions Sarah gave me really about where to turn really helped. Werther got a little mini vacation because my Mom and I flew to Chicago on Thursday night to go watch the CDI show at lamplight and to get my para dressage certification. We were able to watch the Prix Saint George in the morning, and I did a little bit of shopping (socks, new shirt, and stock tie pins) and went a did my certification. They did a series of physical therapy tests checking my range of motion, response time, and strength and flexibility. I am now officially classified as a Grade III para dressage rider. Grade III tests are equivalent to first level dressage. I am also allowed to have certain dispensations, I can salute while still holding the reins (just nodding my head), I can carry a whip in championship level classes, I can tie my left stirrup to the girth and I can use a rubber band to keep my foot on stirrup iron. By the time I was done with my evaluation it started monsooning, and I had to watch the Grand Prix from the snack bar. I braved the outdoors for the para classes, but it was still raining really hard. It was really nice to meet a lot of people involved in the para dressage community, everyone was very nice and I am really excited to get started showing. I talked with Sarah about it in my lesson yesterday and she thinks I will definitely be ready to show first level next year. I think the show inspired me, I had a really good lesson yesterday. Werther had a few moments of distraction, but we were able to work though it. Sarah gave me some good advice "If he has enough energy to be distracted, he is not working hard enough.".

Mini blog via email computer on deathbed

2009-05-11T21:06:00.001-05:00

Last Tuesday- Good lesson worked on halts, free walk, trot streching
circles and canter transitions.

Thursday- really nice weather, hacked outside, a little difficult with
leg yield trot circle, worked on canter tranistions and free walk ran
through both intro level tests.

Friday- rain, rode inside with poles laid out for standard arena.
Werther decided in this slightly smaller space he need to be worlds
slowest horse but very round. Good lateral work a little trouble with
canter transition. Worked on free walk and tests again.

Saturday - cold and windy, took werther over to brightonwood for my
lesson so we could go somewhere before show. Werther was total rock
star, rode even better than home. Went though tests with reader at
show, worked on turning onto centerline and halt.

Today- werther had bad hive reaction to bugs today so Sarah did not
ride, got bath and some dex seemed to help.

Show stuff- Friday going to lamplight cdi show to get evaluated for
paradressage can't wait to watch and shop!

Sent from my iPhone

Mini Update

2009-05-04T20:28:00.002-05:00

Talked to Sarah as I was getting out of work today. She said Werther was pretty tense during most of their ride. I'm not too worried, he was just basically be obnoxious because all of the jumpers are back, and they were wild. Werther is not a huge fan of working when his friends are not working, but he should settle down in a couple of days. I'm getting pretty close to being set with my horse show stuff, I have Intro Level Test B memorized now. Now it is just the nitpicky stuff like:

Return shirts to smartpak and get ones that fit

Get a carry bag for my dressage saddle

Work on my USEF dispensation letter

Get Werther's breed papers into USDF

Get fitted for new tall boots and get new stirrups

Also, my Mom said she would get dressage arena rails for the indoor so we could set up a ring that is the actual regulation size. I'm really excited to have a "proper" ring to practice in!

Lesson

2009-05-02T19:55:00.002-05:00

I had a really good lesson with Sarah this morning. Werther was a little displeased to find himself inside all by himself, especially since all the show horses just got back and the entire barn was outside while he had to work. Werther let out one big whinny then pretty much got over it. I had Mom sit in the viewing area in the indoor, Werther was a little distracted when Maddy and Mom where up there last night, and I wanted to make sure he didn't try and make an issue out of it. We started out worked on getting a forward working trot, Werther had a bit of energy today, so that wasn't too difficult. Werther did want to look out the windows at the far end of the indoor so he could see his friends grazing, so I had to ask him for a little bit of a exaggerated bend so he had something else to think about. We did some 20m circles and leg yields off of the quarter line to the wall, which went well, the leg yields were particularly nice. We worked on our canter transitions, which were much better today, Sarah even let me do some transitions off of the circle and in the corners on the rail. Definitely a step in the right direction, but he still gets a little defensive when I ask for the canter. I have a feeling this is going to take me a long time to get really right, but it will be so worth it when I finally do. We finished up by doing some work with the free walk, coordinating pushing for the big walk while still maintaining a little frame and not getting him too jazzed is challenging. The hardest part is timing the transition back into the working walk and making it look effortless. We finished with walk halt and trot halt transitions, my practice this week helped, but that transition still needs a lot of work. I faxed in my entries for Mason City today, I hope I got everything right! The next set of entries are due on the 19th, my goal is to have them done by the 12th.

Big updates!

2009-05-01T22:32:00.002-05:00

I finally got Werther's papers from his old owners! They included his German Hanoverian registration papers, his German passport and his Canadian passport. His registered name is Wenderfalk, which from my internet searching I'm guessing can loosely be translated to "Peregine Falcon". Werther is as I guessed, by the stallion Werther. He is out of a Westphalian mare named Ricca by the stallion Rigoletto. He was imported from Germany to Canada as a eight year old, as a jumper. Which pretty confirms Sarah's theory, that he was trained in Germany up to fourth level and found not to be flashy enough to be competitive at the FEI was sold across the pond as a low level jumper. Aside: Interesting fact on Canadian passport, Werther is 16.0 hands, shorter than I thought. He was in Canada for 3 years before being sold to the girl who owned him before me. For his previous two owners he was a high children's jumper and equitation horse. Before I got Werther, he was being leased out as a children's hunter and equitation horse. It is really fun to have this history and background, I love being able to fill in the gaps, or at least to further educate my guesses. I've got Werther's papers all organized now, I am sending in my show entries for Mason City at the end of the month tomorrow. Werther was very good in our hacks on Thursday and Friday. Mom came home late last night, she came out the barn with my sister Maddy to watch me ride and we all went out to dinner afterwards.

Mini Rant - To tell you the truth, as much as I love having my Mom back, it put it a little on edge. I got very used to my solitude over the winter, and having people watch me, made feel rushed and that I had to perform really well. We did perform well, though I had a touch of trouble with my left lead. I was having trouble keeping that bad left leg far enough forward. It didn't help that my sister, a ex-rider, kept saying stuff to the effect of "Oh, I could just hop on right now and do what Ellie's doing, no problem." I had the tack room organized, but Mom was critical, she didn't like how I had it set up. which also stressed me. She gets to spend large portions of her day at the farm, and has her own tack room, (Andre and I share the boarder tack room). She doesn't seem to understand that my time at the farm is very limited, and I need to make things as efficient as possible. Her way is very nice, but it is time I don't have. I would love to have every little thing squared away each time I left the barn, but I work a full 4o hour week, and I only get two hours, four days a week out at the barn, and because I don't drive (long story), I just simply don't have the time to everything every day.

We now return regular programing - Other news on the horse show front, I am also working on getting my classification grade and USEF dispensation to compete in Para-Dressage classes. The closest classifier is in Michigan, I am going to try and get it done when Mom goes to show in Traverse City in July.

I'm back!

2009-04-29T23:08:00.002-05:00

I am sans wisdom teeth now and back in action! Werther had almost a week off, Dr. Sarah was able to get his hocks injected on saturday. I got to the barn early yesterday and turned Werther out in the indoor before I got on. He galloped, bucked, and did some impressive stops. The weather was really nice so I was able to have my lesson outside. Werther started out a little stiff in his neck, and not wanting to move off his outside hind leg. As Sarah put it, Werther can't be trusted to do any stretching on his own! I was also a little rusty, I had to fight against my instinct to try and put pressure on the inside rein which Werther was leaning on when I should have been giving with the inside rein and taking a stronger feel with the outside rein. We did some 10m circles at trot, really focusing on getting Werther to stretch his neck and bend his body which helped, then we leg yielded out. After a break, we worked on our canter transitions, they were so much better. I actually got what Sarah has been telling me about sitting back for the transition, and it feeling like Werther is jumping out in front of me. If I can get that feeling consistent, I shouldn't have a problem with training level.

Lesson

2009-04-22T21:17:00.002-05:00

Sarah said Werther was very good for her on Monday. Werther must have used up all his good will for the week, because he was definitely a little bit of a brat with me. After warming up, we started working on a very forward trot, while still maintaining a nice frame. Werther was less than pleased with this development, and tried to suck back a couple times and when I corrected him with the whip he kicked out. I think we are reaching a new stage in our relationship where I have gotten good enough at riding him that I can actually make him work, and Werther can't do whatever he wants. I think he is testing me to see if he can intimidate me into getting his way, and after a couple good working rides where I don't let him take the upper hand, he will acquiesce. The canter transitions were OK, I had one really good one at the end. We spent a good chunk of the lesson on halt walk, at trot halt transitions though the walk. This was very challenging work. We used the quarter line, so I didn't have the wall is a crouch to help me keep Werther straight. I really struggled with getting the halt exactly were I want it, I would prepare too much and he would die before the spot, or I wouldn't prepare enough and he would go past it. Getting an energetic walk after the halt is going to be very hard, and if I don't have enough impulsion it is going to be near impossible to stay straight. Also maintaining the frame in the halt, so I don't have to do too much to get him round once he is completely still is going to be tricky. I just need to practice, but I have to do it in such a way that he doesn't anticipate too much. Werther got his feet done today, he was supposed to get his hocks injected today but the vet could not make it out, and now she says she can't make it out till monday which kind of irritates me. I'm getting my wisdom teeth out on Friday, so I wanted both of our times off to coincide, and if he gets his hocks done on Monday he misses a ride with Sarah and I miss my lesson. If she can't do it tomorrow or friday, I will just have to aim for Wednesday of next week.

Friday and Saturday's rides

2009-04-19T13:06:00.002-05:00

I didn't get a chance to ride on Thursday, I had a family obligation, but I was able to take care of some things at the farm and turn Werther out in the indoor for a little bit, so he got a chance to roll, run, and buck. The weather was amazing on Friday, in the seventies so I rode outside. It was my first time riding outside when I was at the barn by myself. I was a little worried about being able to get on outside, the mounting block is smaller and lighter, making it a little more precarious. Also, there is not as a effective place to position Werther, in the indoor, I make him stand next to the viewing area, so he can't turn when I mount him. In the outdoor, it is hard to create that kind of chute. Werther was excellent, we had a lot to deal with, including dumb people honking at us from the road and someone shooting their gun in the distance. He was a little looky at the walk when he didn't have enough to do but other than that he was very good. I ran through the first intro test again and the trot work was better. One thing I noticed in the outdoor, we have definitely come to rely on the walls of the indoor for support with the bend. When I make a big circle in the outdoor, Werther is much more difficult to bend when we are away from the rail. This is something I really need to work on.

Saturday's Lesson

I've been working on getting all my equipment organized for showing, and I think I finally have all of my tack sorted. I got my metal stirrup pads screwed in place, a grab strap for my saddle, show pads, a new browband, and a pretty new KK ultra snaffle, Werther needed a size bigger than what we had been riding in. The new stirrup pads were really helpful, it gave me just enough "stick" with my weak left leg, I was able to keep my stirrup the whole time. I got a new fleck whip, 120 cm, slightly longer and more flexible than the whip I have been using. It was so helpful, it was much easier the reach behind my leg, and I didn't have to use it as much because the flexibility made it much more effective. Our trot work was really good and I was able to get some really nice leg yields. We were back in the indoor because it was really windy out, so I'm sure that was a factor as well. We spent some time on the walk trot transitions, one thing Sarah said that was really helpful with the downward transition, is to think about making the trot steps smaller before you ask for the walk, it made a lot of sense. The canter transitions are still not 100% but getting better. When I asked for the canter the first time each direction the first time, he didn't respond to my leg, so I gave him a firm tap with my whip and he bucked, but afterwards was very good for the subsequent transitions. We also worked on the halt, he gets a little impatient, I need to practice it more.

Showing question

I tried to buy some plain white show shirts for Ariat, but I was swimming in them so I am sending them back for a smaller size, or possibly a different brand. Any advice on good show shirts? Coolmax a must, and I don't like the zipper look or short sleeves, I think it looks too casual. My hunt shirts were usually by Essex, and I like the white with blue or pink lining inside the collar and cuff, but would they be OK with the collar unbuttoned for waived coats.

Saddle

2009-04-19T12:53:00.002-05:00

Edit: sorry for random post, I was testing emailing photos via bloggers email post feature.

Outside!

2009-04-15T22:04:00.003-05:00

The guys rolled and dragged the ring for me this weekend, and the weather was nice enough I got to ride outside for the first time in about five months. I had Sarah ride Werther outside on Monday, since it has been such a long time since he was out of the indoor. Sarah said Werther was very good. I went to take Werther outside and he was sure the new statue in the picture above my Mom had delivered that day, was some kind of horse eating demon lying in wait for him. After some dramatic giraffe poses and snorting, he pretty much got over it and we went into the ring and got to work. Werther was fine, but I didn't ride very well last night. I had two days in a row off, so my left leg was tight and I had trouble keeping that stirrup and my balance was off, I had to work really hard to sit further back and get my center of gravity where it should be. On the circle I had some trouble being effective pushing him away with my leg, and he kept falling in on his shoulder. The canter transitions were slightly better, but no major breakthroughs. The one thing I am really happy about is that I memorized the first intro level test and road it for the first time. The second half was much better than the first half. We were really good about having a clear define bend in our turns, and the circles were decent. The biggest challenges are going to be keeping impulsion (especially since I have to look like i'm not making an effort in the ring!) and the upward transitions. The hardest one was after the first halt, he walked a little crooked off, because I didn't have enough impulsion. I hope he gets just a tiny bit jazzed at the shows, it would really help me out!

Good news, Wesley is still hanging in there! Dr. Sarah came out and looked him on Monday, she thinks his swelling is down a little bit, and when I saw him on Tuesday night he seemed very bright eyed a chipper, in spite of his current difficulties. We are going to monitor him very closely, but this is better than I ever hoped for. I talked with Dr. Sarah tonight, she agrees with me he is a tough old guy, if any horse could pull though it would be him, he certainly likes deifying the odds.

Lesson

2009-04-12T13:19:00.002-05:00

Werther was really good yesterday. We did some serpentine work which we have not done in awhile. I got to do three loop serpentines, which I was better at, the two loop ones that go the longways of the arena really mess with my sense of space for some reason. We also did some shoulder in work which went well. I finally feel like I have the on the bit work for the walk and trot down, our big challenge right now is transitions. Because Werther is so lazy, in the downward transition from the walk to the trot, he wants to die and fall in on his shoulder. So I have to get him to keep going forward even in the downward transitions and keep a firm contact with my outside rein so he can't fall on his shoulder. The walk to trot is getting better, I still usually have to nail him with whip at least once before he moves off my leg, but it is getting better. It is the most difficult after we take a long walking break, because Werther thinks he is done. The canter transition is still the most difficult. He is still getting inverted in the transition. There was something new though, Sarah had me make him go in a really forward trot and get him round before I got into the canter, and he kept wanting to break into the canter. This is much better to me than offering that speed up into a faux extended trot rather than canter, but I have to make him canter on my terms otherwise the quality of the canter will just be mediocre. My biggest problem, and probably the majority of the cause of my troubles, is that I am still not comfortable taking a feel in the transition. All my hunter training makes me want to throw the reins away to make him move forward. The last couple transitions, I felt like I had better control over my hands. I think things will get better, it will just take some time. I just really need to take my time in the canter transition and do everything very deliberately, and not rush anything. Werther is teaching me to be a good rider, he is well trained, but he does not have much tolerance for inaccurate riding. At the same time, he does not have the ambition to spend the energy it would take to get mad about it, he just won't give to you until you ask right and proper.

Pictures!

2009-04-10T22:57:00.006-05:00

I took some pictures out at the barn today, hope you enjoy!

kind of funny angle on this one, I was holding Wesley and I was trying to keep him from eating my phone while I took the picture. Left to right the horses are: Beckham, bay, 3 years old by Accord III; Curly, grey, almost a year, by Cassini II. Orvis, chestnut, 2 years old, by Orleandro.

Again, trying to take a pic and keep phone from being eaten, accounting for the wonky angle.

The boys getting bored and going back to playing.

Werther, wearing his Dressage bridle Karen gave me. Now Werther's dressage makeover is complete!

Free Friday

2009-04-10T22:37:00.003-05:00

No work today, so I spent a long time at the barn in the afternoon. I cleaned and oiled tack, washed brushes and boots, and did horse laundry. Werther has been really good, he has been really round in his topline, but he is also going very slow, I need to work on impulsion. My focus the past two days has been transitions and my equitation, mainly moving my elbows and sitting deep in the saddle. I also spent a long time grooming Wesley, he was happy for the attention. He is still not doing very well, his left hind is stocked up as well, and the has some swelling on his stomach. He is however, still eating and drinking well, and all body functions seem to be working. Dr. Sarah is going to come out and evaluate him on Monday, but I don't see this thing ending well. I'm kind of at peace with it right now, but I know when it actually happens I'll be devastated. I've decided I don't want to be there when they do put him down, I would rather think of him the way he is now. Even though this is incredibly hard, it is not sudden, like a young horse with a broken leg or colic you expect to have in your life for a very long time. The girl who owned Wesley is a few years younger then me, a former boarder. I asked my Mom to talk to her dad, so she knows the situation and can come out and see him if she wants. I think if I tried to talk to her, I'd just start crying, and it isn't the kind of news you want to send someone over the internet, so it is probably better this way.

Update

2009-04-08T21:39:00.003-05:00

Just got off the phone, Mom said Wesley was looking better today. Still not out of the woods yet, but I'm feeling a little bit more hopeful. I'll see Wesley when I go out to hack Werther tomorrow and I plan to spend a long time at the barn on Friday since I have the day off.

Lesson / Wesley Update

2009-04-07T23:53:00.004-05:00

Lesson

Lesson went pretty well considering I'm so worried about Wesley. Sarah was very kind and took it easy on me today, but still gave me enough to work on I was plenty busy. Sarah said her ride with Werther went well, I'm kind of blanking on what she told me... I believe Sarah worked on getting Werther to come on the outside rein, and getting him more "thorough" she also worked on his hind legs, said he tends to canter with them either too fast or too slow. We talked for awhile about his walk. Sarah said Werther has a tendency to do a lateral walk, instead of a true four beat walk. Sarah said this is most likely from being pushed too collect at the walk too early in training. She also said there is not much you can do about it, but put a strong emphasis on making sure the back is relaxed in the walk and make an effort to do hill work at home. We spent a lot of time working on transitions, which are getting better. Most importantly equitation wise, moving my elbows with the horse and keeping my butt in the saddle. Also worked on going forward and maintaining the bend. Werther was lazy today, feeling very tranquil, as Sarah put it. I was glad for it today, I really don't think I could have handled any antics.

Wesley

Wesley still not looking very good. I'm posting a picture below of his swollen sheath, if that sort of thing upsets you skip it. He seemed in good spirits though, I went into his stall and talked with him for awhile and gave him treats. He was his usual sassy self. I don't know how long they are going to wait to see if the antibotics and bute fix it, but as the saying goes, I am preparing for the worst but still hoping for the best.

Wesley

2009-04-06T16:44:00.003-05:00

Got some bad news today, Wesley is not doing well. His hind leg is swollen all the way up to the sheath , the vet thinks it is related to his melanomas. Dr. Sarah put him on antibiotics and bute, so hopefully that will help. We've done everything for Wesley we know how, Cimedidine and a new tumor vaccine which is new but has shown to be successful. This horse has been so good to me, I'm just going to be heartbroken when the inevitable happens, but I hope we can get this fixed and Wesley will stick around for awhile longer.

Saturday's Lesson / Show Prep

2009-04-05T12:27:00.002-05:00

Lesson

We made a lot of progress in Saturday's lesson. I felt much more organized as a rider. We spent a lot of time working on my position, especially at the sitting trot and canter. I feel at least like i'm getting better, but I'm still far away from what would think of as being a good seat. The hardest thing is taking all of the separate components of good equitation and getting it all to work together in harmony. For example, I've found that when I get really focused on my hands, I will hold my body away from the saddle and get thrown off the correct posting diagonal. I have to really work on my self awareness, that will be a good project for when I am hacking. I know how to post correctly, but riding hunters I was never called upon to do quite so many things at once. We spent a lot of time working on the canter transition, trying to fix the issue where Werther just wants to trot faster instead of actually canter. We did a lot of half halts, and really worked on setting Werther up, so he could not get away with getting into that fast trot and throwing me off balance. We got some good transitions out of him, but Werther's facial expression looks like someone who is about to be tortured. I think as soon as Werther figures out I'm not going to hang on his face, that will get better.

Show prep

I got the two dvds I order from the USDF the levels DVD and one called "Lower Levels with Olympians". My two favorite lectures from that DVD were Hilda Gurney and Robert Dover. They seemed to break things down into small enough particles where I could actually understand. The levels DVD is also helpful, I have a test booklet so I can follow along, but I wish they had an audio track which just listed the movements.

Shopping!

I went to the tack store after my lesson. They are ordering a Kentucky show coat for me, it is really pretty navy blue with a velvet navy collar and gold buttons. (They can't make me give up all color yet!) I think it will look really good with Werther's deep chestnut coat, and the cut of the jacket actually fits over my chest! I tried the Pikeur and RJ Classic as well, no way the Pikeur was going to fit. I also bought new metal stirrup pads, really nice ones that screw in to the iron. I made a list on Dover of all the rest of the show stuff I need to get, now it is just a matter of writing the check.

Thursday and Friday

2009-04-04T18:54:00.003-05:00

Playing catch up once again. My ride out to the farm cancelled on me on Tuesday so I did not have a ride to the barn, so Sarah rode Werther. She said it was nice to get two ride back to back on him. She worked on the canter a lot, transitions to the canter, getting his collected canter more foreword and making him use his hind end, and tempi changes. Thursday and Friday I rode Werther for a long time, I spent half the time on him working on his frame and getting to stay forward and spent the rest of time working on me, mainly sitting trot and canter transitions. I can get a few minutes of a good sitting trot, but i'm still trying to get consistent. Canter transitions are getting better, he is not really rooting too much now, but it takes me a few tries to get the canter, Werther would prefer to go into a really foreword almost extended trot. He is looking really good, I took some pictures:
New dark coat coming in, old coat on legs from trace clip.

Werther, starting to look every inch of a respectable dressage horse.

Lesson / Show Season Prep

2009-03-28T21:52:00.003-05:00

Lesson

Due to circumstances beyond my control, Werther had a mini vacation and got the last three days off work. I could tell he was fresh when I brought him in the ring so I put him on the lunge line for a few minutes before minutes. Werther didn't buck, but he trotted around like the energizer bunny. When Werther settled at the one direction, I had him go the other way and he didn't seem too ambitious anymore so I hopped on after just a few minutes. I'm much better getting him round in his back know and on the bit, I think that piece has finally clicked in. The next big challenge is my position. I'm getting much better about having a following hand, my biggest challenge is sitting further back and deep. My leg also needs to stay straight and forward because I am so short, if it moves back, I touch the saddle pad, which makes me pretty ineffective. I'm still trying to figure out my post in the dressage saddle, I keep getting bounced on the incorrect diagonal and because my right side is so much stronger, a lot of the time I don't notice. Sarah says I need to sit deeper when I post, I hope that helps. We worked on the canter transition, I have the bad habit of pitching my body forward in an effort to make Werther go forward and he uses my vulnerability in that position to root. I need to figure out sitting back and still allowing enough with my hand that I don't catch Werther in the mouth. I think I just need time to figure this out, I feel a little rushed in my lesson sometimes, I think just a lot of practice will help. Sarah did give me a glimmer of hope today, she made a comment that I need to get him more responsive to my leg if we are going to do tempi changes, and the fact that she thinks I can get to the level to attempt tempis is huge for me. I try really hard to do what I can, and I love to compete, but at the same time there is this frustration when your body limits you from moving foreword. I'm considering getting a disability dispensation, looking at the classification, I think I would qualify for the Para Equestrian classes at Grade IV. Another thing I talked with Sarah about today, she said horses get hotter as they more up the levels, the need to be to compete at that level. I worry too much about things yet to come, but I really do hope I can get to that upper level and some point and I'm not shut out, because I can't handle a hot horse.

Show Prep

Along the lines worrying too much, kind of having a mini-panic attack! I have two months to prep for the show season. I got my new girth and my Mattes fleece pad, Of my list of things to do, I got my letters up (need to fix two), me registered, and I'm working on getting Werther's papers transfered. I went to the eye doctor so I can get glasses I can show in, and as soon as I finish this blog I am ordering the levels DVD. My next dover order is going to be a new whip for showing, new stirrup pads and a grab strap. Working on the test memorization, I got the book "Dressage A to X" the 20 m circle of life recommended. It is very helpful, I'm about half way though reading and just got to the chapter on test memorization strategies. Sarah sent me the show schedule which is the following:

May 9-10

Mayflower I and II (two days, two shows)

Otter Creek in Wheeler, WI

Closing Date: April 28

May 23-24

Bara Trac I and I-too (two days, two shows)

Mason City, IA

Closing date: May 4

June 6-7

St. Croix Classic

Lake Elmo, MN

Closing Date: May 19

Note: They chose this one because it is usually a VERY quiet show, not many

people go to it for some reason, AND Brightenwood needs to support Nancy Porter

at at least one of her shows.... and this fits in the schedule as at least an

option.

June 27-28

Dressage Lite and Lite-too (two days, two shows)

Mason City, IA

Closing Date: June 4

**Parkside is an option IF anyone wants another chance at getting qualifying

scores, but the whole group does not intend on going, mostly because the new

management probably won't grant B-wood the favor of giving us the REALLY NICE

stabling location. They only had that stabling for us as a special favor last

year. The other stabling is just too far for the old ladies to walk ;) Plus,

it's only a week after the Mason City show. That's pretty tight.

July 4-5

Parkside

Alpine Farm

Closing Date: June 12

July 31, Aug 1-2

Bara Trac II and II-too (three days, two shows)

Mason City, IA

Closing Date: July 10

**B-wood does not intend to go to any of the August shows (ie., Otter Creek,

Northern Lights, etc.) because qualifying scores are due by AUGUST 6. Any

scores obtained at those shows can, however, be rolled over as qualifying

scores for NEXT year.

Sept. 4, 5, 6

Region 4 Championships

Mason City, IA

Closing date: Aug 6

Sept 19-20

CSDEA Fall Festival

Lake Elmo, MN

Closing Date: Aug 31

**Scores obtained at this show can roll over to qualifying scores for NEXT

year.

Seems pretty reasonable, but what I am panicking about is what she wrote in the top of email. She says she will be showing two horses and will only be coaching as time allows! Is this normal for Dressage? She didn't mention anything in her email about paying for coaching which I would be more than happy to do. I know you can't be at the ring, but I would like to have someone help me with my warm up. I'm going to talk with my Mom tomorrow and see what she thinks, also going to ask Sarah about possibly getting some help from Cathy, the head trainer and Brightenwood, if Sarah can't do it.

Lesson

2009-03-24T22:48:00.002-05:00

Sarah said she had a good ride on Werther Monday, she spent a lot of time on transitions and getting him lighter to the leg aids. Werther was really good for me today, he was willing to get on the bit right away, no problem even when we started out to the left which is my CP side. I actually had a bit more trouble to the right today, go figure. He didn't want to respond to my right leg and instead of stepping over and into the outside rein, he wanted to speed up and move forward. We got that sorted fairly quickly though. We moved away from circle work and did some leg yields on the quarter line to the wall which we decent. We worked on my position and the canter, which is basically, ride the exact opposite as you were told to do as a hunter and you'll be fine. Because Werther is so quiet my first instinct is to get into a half seat when I feel him slowing down. Sarah tells me, I will be in a better driving position if I sit further back and deeper, which I can understand but I'm finding myself fighting my muscle memory. The other big issue is gripping with my knee, which in fairness is also a issue with huntseat riding, but because of my CP I couldn't rely on my lower leg like a regular rider, so I adapted to using the upper leg more, with a lot of balance going to the knee. It is very hard for me to open my knee, physically and mentally. Physically, because when I had surgery on my left leg for my CP the surgeon twisted my knee cap to a "better" position because the muscles where pushing my knee cap out of alignment, so that knee wants to turn in. Mentally it is hard because I fear that I will loose my hard won balance on the horse. The only way to get better is to just keep working at it. Thanks to my barn manager and our grooms, we got the letters up in the dressage ring. One problem though, I can't read them without my glasses! I never had an issue riding without glasses with hunters because I did not need to see too much detail. Nike has these metal alloy glasses that are pretty much twistable. I'm going to get myself a pair as soon as I get my eyes looked at for a new prescription, I think those would be pretty safe to ride in.

Six Months!

2009-03-22T11:29:00.002-05:00

Today is my six month anniversary owning Werther. It has been an interesting journey. When I first got Werther, he was very attached to other horses, and a little burned out on ring work. six months ago I had not been riding very consistantly outside of lessons twice a week though my college's riding program because I had been looking for a horse for about year after we decided to retire Wesley. Since I was rusty and Werther was burned out we spent a lot of the summer taking it easy and riding the hunt trails around our farm. When I tried to start jumping again I had issues with my trainer because she didn't seem willing to work with me and put in the time to start back slow with my disability. I decided to take advantage of my huntseat trainer being gone all winter showing to try dressage. We knew Werther had been a dressage horse in the past and Sarah evaluated him as being trained up to fourth level. Since taking Dressage lessons the quality of my flat work has increased greatly and i've decided to stick with the discipline. I think there is a lot more of a chance for upward mobility for me in dressage than there ever was in hunters and in-spite of the fact that the lower levels may look easy to someone who has never tried dressage, it is very challenging. Over the next six months my goal is to show successfully and intro/training level and to make sure Werther works hard but still has a good time. Thanks for reading, I know only a small group of people have posted on this blog, I would love to hear from more of you!

Lesson

2009-03-21T17:31:00.002-05:00

I did fairly well in my lesson today. We did a lot of work on getting him more sensitive to my leg, if I am ever lucky enough to compete in a championship class whips are not allowed. Still dealing with the stirrup issue, no right hip issues today, but my left knee got really sore. The hole punch is a must for my lesson on tuesday. We also worked on getting me to sit deeper and be looser in my hips at the sitting trot and canter, it was not great, but I think I am improving. Sarah recommended I buy a grab strap to help me get the feel of sitting deeper. The most important thing I did to work on is when I am tracking left, Werther wants to lean on my inside left rein so he can trick me into putting pressure on that rein so he has an excuse to put his head up. What I need to do is give frequently with the inside rein so it is not there for him to put weight on.

Hacking

2009-03-20T23:27:00.002-05:00

Not much to report these last two days, Werther has been really good. I've been working on getting him on the bit and figuring out the feel I need. I still have a little bit of a hard time starting out between his inital resistance to work, and me remembering everything I have to do to make Werther happy. I'm doing a little lateral work, mainly leg yields to get him on the bit, but mainly focusing on my equitation. The two big things I have been working on is moving my elbows with my horse, because I have short arms I tend to lock my elbows to try and make my arms reach where I want them, and sitting deeper in the saddle. I need to figure out my stirrup issue, so I can be more stable with my left leg, I think I'm going to punch a quarter hole inbetween the half holes of my stirrup leathers and see if that does the trick of allowing me to still keep my left leg in the iron while not putting too much stress on my right hip and making me sore. Now that Werther is really getting his act together, I have to bring myself to the next level.

Cool, 100th Post!

2009-03-19T00:56:00.002-05:00

Just a quick update, I got a few things accomplished today. I renewed my USEF membership and joined the Central States Dressage & Eventing Association which gives me a group membership to USDF. I'm not sure if I will still have get an individual membership for USDF, I will ask Sarah what she thinks on Saturday. I also ordered from Amazon, Dressage A to X which was recommended to me by 20m Circle of Life.

Lesson

2009-03-17T21:59:00.002-05:00

Happy Saint Patrick's day everybody! I took a pass on getting drunk on green beer and went out to the barn and had a lesson. Werther was pretty tough today. I think he played really hard outside with this nice weather we have been having, he was a little stiff and a bit lazier than usual. We started going to the left which did not help, because that was my weaker side, so it took a long time to get him on the bit. He was much better to the right, which is my stronger side. Sarah thinks it will set a better tone for my rides if I always start him to the right because then he will have to listen and get working right away. I'm having some issues keeping my left stirrup, ( this is my leg affected by the CP) I think I am still not used to dressage lengths and my new equitation position. I tried shortening my left stirrup a hole, but it made my right hip very sore. I think I am going to raid my Mom's tack room and see if she has an extra pair "cheese grater" stirrup pads, that might give me just enough traction to have my foot stay in place. I mainly lose it when I have to push into Werther's side to move him on to the outside rein, or ask for the canter. We cantered in a circle until I was practically dizzy today, the two main goals were to have me sit deeper in the saddle and move my elbows more. Werther was actually a little sweaty after today's ride, and I was a little tired myself. Even though it wasn't the best ride, it was nice to feel that we had both worked hard.

Planning for the Summer Show Season

2009-03-15T17:20:00.002-05:00

I'm planning on showing with Sarah this summer, I thought I would write a little to do list for myself to see at that I need to get prepared to start showing in May.

Put up Dressage letters in indoor. (ring size: 90 x 200).
Get USDF levels DVD so I can watch tests repeatedly. (also practice intro level tests at home, and print out some ring diagrams so I can practice writing the tests out.)
Get my USEF membership renewed and Werther's transfered over to me.
Get USDF membership for both Werther and myself.
Buy Dressage show clothes.
Switch Werther's bit over to the dressage snaffle, get a couple more plain white pads for showing.

Any advice for a Dressage newbie? The showing is going to be different for me, more local than my hunter stuff because there is no ratings so to speak for classes. Also, Brightenwood doesn't bring grooms to shows. The plus side is it will be a heck of a lot cheaper than doing the hunter stuff, but it seems a little intimidating starting a new discipline. I'm also bumming that we don't get to have a trainer ring side to give you hints as you go by, but glad that we get to have a reader. I also like the fact that you get a ride time instead of having to wait around all day.

Catch Up - rambling post

2009-03-15T15:50:00.003-05:00

I've been really busy the last couple days, so here is a recap of my last few rides. I hacked on Thursday and Friday, Thursday I could get him on the bit and round but I had trouble maintaining the connection consistently. The bright spot however, was that he was excellent with his canter transitions, I think it is because I have become so much better at keeping him balanced and collected at the the trot, so he does not rush as much into it and then root. He still wants to take a couple quick trot steps before he moves into the canter but he is not rooting really anymore, which makes me really happy. It is nice to keep my arms in my sockets! Friday was a huge step forward, I had a better trot but more importantly than that his attitude was so much better. I felt like he was actually willing to try for me, instead of me having to strong arm him into actually working. In my lesson on Saturday we worked on the frame at the trot, my position sitting and posting. Sarah says about Werther, "while a soft inside rein is important to all horses, it is life and death to him, he will not do anything with too much contact on the inside rein." We worked on leg yielding to the wall while still maintaining the roundness though his back, which were much better. We did a little bit of canter work, getting me used to the feel of really sitting the canter instead on the normal hunter half seat. I bought some full seat breeches on closeout from Dover, and Saturday was my second time riding in them, they feel a little weird, like a diaper, but Sarah says I will learn to love them. I also got to practice a turn on the forehand, which I have not done in a long time. We were using it to practice making Werther more sensitive to my leg. If he did not move over with one squeeze, he got a correction with the dressage whip until he moved over. Then we went back to leg yields and it seemed to help. We finished the lesson with stretching at the trot, which is Werther's favorite part of the lesson. I'm still getting the hang of my new leg position riding dressage, I think I finally am used to the knee rolls, but I am still not used to having longer stirrups, I still loose them a couple times a lesson.

Trainer 1, Student 0

2009-03-10T23:36:00.004-05:00

I got my butt kicked in my lesson today. My lessons make me wish I was six inches taller. I'm trying to stretch my legs down, engage my core muscles and maintain a tall upper body to help Werther balance. Meanwhile, I still have to loosen my elbows to move my hands with the motion of the horse, while still keeping my hands low so Werther has somewhere to move into the contact, and still keep my head up and look where I'm going. I feel like I'm being stretched like gumby. Werther was so lazy, he could have very well been "pokey" to take the analogy further. We spent the majority of the time working on my position and trying to get the timing of everything right. We also worked at getting Werther to move off the leg, so he does not use his shoulder to fall in. Werther spent most of the lesson trying to convince me he could not move forward and in a frame at the same time. I kept having to give him corrections with the hip because he was not responding to my leg and that was throwing my timing off. Also, we worked on posting over the hindquarters to help Werther balance, which is difficult for me because I am used to hunter posting where you are trying to be really light and almost going off of your pubic bone. Sarah said that post farther back helps the horse to balance, which makes sense to me, if you are using the energy from their hindquarters, that should be a lot less energy that has to be created and a lot less interference with the horse. Since I have not had a video up here in a while, I thought I would offer a gumby video to refresh everyones memory, embedded video is not cooperating so click HERE and enjoy!

PS, Sarah said Werther was good on Monday, she worked on getting him to move off of his hind end.

Friday and Saturday's rides

2009-03-07T19:15:00.004-06:00

The guys pulled Werther's mane for me and clipped his ears and nose. He doesn't look quite so much like a backyard horse now!

I think I must have hit bottom on my lesson on Tuesday because things seem to be improving now. He was still a little difficult on Friday, but I was able to get him to walk around the ring once both directions with his neck exactly where I wanted it. I rewarded him by letting him canter nice and forward and did a few lead changes, which he was very pleased about. The biggest issue I am having right now, is that Werther likes to think he cannot go forward and in a frame at the same time, and I have to convince him otherwise. Today he was just excellent, I was able to get him quickly in a frame and stay there without a whole lot of matinence. Sarah kept telling me was to let him fill up the outside rein. The main thing is pushing him away from my inside leg, because he want to be lazy and fall in rather than stay straight where he needs to be straight and bend where he needs to bend. We did some lateral work a few leg yields and shoulder in. The shoulder in was much better, I think I have a better idea of getting my hands in the right place so I can get the bend thorough the shoulder and not overbend in the neck. We worked on the sitting trot for a little bit, that was really challenging to me, because years on huntseat riding to me I need to be tight in my leg and hold myself into position. Now, with dressage I am being told to be loose though my leg and that looseness will allow me to stay with the motion of the horse, that is a hard thing for me to trust. We worked on my seat at the canter too, I'm used to wanting to get automatically up in half seat, but I am slowly reschooling myself. I talked to Sarah about doing some shows this summer, she said they do about 2 a month in the summer and tend to stay local, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa which would suit me really well.

Hack / Planning

2009-03-05T23:53:00.003-06:00

Werther is deceptive when you chase him. First thing he does is gets down and rolls, then he kind of wanders around the ring a little bit and I really have to put in a lot of effort just to get a slow canter. The all the sudden. he takes off galloping and bucking like a madman. I'm choosing to think Werther is being smart enough to warm himself up. I warmed up on a loose rein at the walk at trot and worked on really getting Werther to move off my leg. Then I stopped and halted and did framing exersize. I got to the point today where I can get Werther to drop his head without too much effort,now I just need to figure out how to keep him there. I think my problem was I was not relaxing my feel quickly enough once I got him round. He would either pick his head right back up again, or he would not want to move forward. I took a break and cantered for awhile, he was much better today, I tired to stay out of his face as much as possible and just let him relax. I halted and did frame work a few more times and he seemed to get better which gives me hope.

Mobile Post Attempt = FAIL repost

2009-03-05T23:49:00.001-06:00

What I wrote this morning:

Testing mobile blog feature, slow day at work today. I had a difficult lesson on Tuesday. Werther was a little fresh and we were working on the same excersize we did last week of halting and then getting him to soften his jaw and drop his head down and walk off in a frame. It is really hard to figure out just how much hand to use without it being too much or too little. The other thing we worked on is the upward transition which we worked on in two parts. The first part was trying to make werther more sensative to my leg, he got one squeeze and after that one or more taps with the whip until he moved forward. The second part was my position, making sure I engage my core mucsles and don't pump with my body to get him to go forward. Sarah said that any pumping puts pressure on their back and makes them go hallow instead of round which makes sense. Sarah says I'm pretty much on track for someone with two months of dressage lessons, it is just really frusterating right now, I feel like I am so close to getting everything to click into place but I have this anxiety in the back of my head that my disability will stop me from being able to do it. Since we didn't do much in our lesson I went to canter when we were done and was good on the right when Sarah was there but a total snot to the left he kept moving out from under my leg when I asked for the transition and bucking. I got him settled in the end, but I am definetly chasing him before I ride tonight!

Lesson

2009-02-28T21:27:00.003-06:00

I was definitely a little rusty today after being gone last weekend at Thermal and Sarah missing our lesson on Tuesday. Even though I wasn't very happy with how I rode, Werther was really good, which was really nice. He did not test me too much and was easy to get on the bit today. Sarah said the saddle fit him really well so I get to keep it! For me it could be a little bigger in the seat, and I've never ridden with knee rolls this big, so it screwed up my leg a little now that I finally got my stirrups at the proper length. Sarah thinks that once I get used to having not so much bend in the knee as I do in hunters. Those two thing definitely are not deal breakers considering I am getting such a nice saddle for free! I'm really excited that it fits Werther so well, he is moving so much better though his shoulder and his lateral comes much easier. I think he is also more willing to be round though his back and connected because he is so much more comfortable. Today we worked on the frame and my position. I had a hard time with my hands today, but at least now every time I did something wrong with my hands I felt it right away and I could try to fix it as soon as possible. While I did get Werther going in a nice frame today, he kept wanting to over bend I struggled with keeping his neck straight. The good thing is that I am starting to have my automatic reaction to him overbending is to correct him by taking a stronger feel of my outside rein. Another big step for me in my thinking today is that contact is starting to feel much more comfortable than loose rein. My old horse Wesley could not stand anyone messing with his face and I got very used to just riding in two point almost on the buckle the whole time. Wesley knows his job very well, and took a strong exception to anyone trying to tell him how he should be doing. Werther is a much more demanding horse, he knows how to do all this stuff but tries to spend most his time trying to convince me he doesn't not know what i'm asking him and I have to be very firm and precise until he gives in. My favorite thing we did today was sarah had me halt, maintain a tight outside rein and suppling the inside rein until gave in a dropped his head down. Then I would get Werther to bend his neck exercise slightly to the inside until I could just see the corner of eye. The final part of the was to get his neck straight again and get him to walk off and eventually trot while still maintaining the frame. I think this will be a good exercise to incorporate into my hacks.

Something else Sarah said that was interesting is that any horse I ride is going to likely want to overbend though the neck because my legs are always going to be weaker than my hands.

Thank Goodness for Indoors

2009-02-26T19:56:00.002-06:00

I got off of work early because we are having a pretty major snow storm, 5-8 inches. My friend Carrie and I braved the roads in her SUV and we both went to our perspective barns to ride. Carrie used to be a boarder at our barn, but after Mom privatized she moved to barn about 10 minutes away. I rode in the new saddle again today, I put on these 53 inch Prestige leathers I bought and my Herm Sprenger stirrups with the off set eye from my jumping saddle. I guessed the stirrup length which is never good, I went up two holes after I started trotting and the still felt too long. Werther was very easy to get on the bit today and did really well in his lateral work, I think he is liking the new saddle. Sarah still has to approve it, I may cry if she says it doesn't work. I struggled a little bit with the canter transition, I think it was mainly because the stirrup length was off it made me more prone to try and balance with my hands which pisses Werther off. Carrie came in just as I started cantering on the left lead and Werther lost his focus, but I was able to get him back and we had a really nice canter in a really good frame. I don't think I will be able to make it out to the barn tomorrow because I can't find a ride out there, I wish I could get one more ride in before my lesson but I will just have to hope for the best on Saturday.

Quick Post Before Bed

2009-02-25T00:43:00.004-06:00

Going to Thermal this weekend was fabulous, I loved watching the world cup qualifying class and seeing Stoli in his new life as "hunter boy" for my Mom in the A/Os. My stuff from Aunt Karen was at the barn when I got there today. I did not have a lesson because Sarah was not feeling well. She rode Werther on Sunday and Monday and said he felt really good, he even got up enough ambition to throw in some playful bucks. She worked a lot with him on transitions. I was not in the mood to deal with any hijinx after a few days off so I turned Werther out in the indoor before I rode him, he had a good time rolling and galloped around and got a few bucks out. I just did a light hack in Karen's saddle, it is amazing. It is a high profile Albion SLK. I don't know if it is clear from the picture, but the pommel is higher and more cut back than a regular dressage saddle, which I think alleviated the problem of shoulder tightness we were getting with the other saddles I tried. Even up to the last hole the stirrups were still very much too long for me, but I felt really secure in the saddle's seat. This thing has some of the biggest knee rolls I have even seen, I'm not sure how that will affect my position. The cantle is also very high, I had trouble swinging my leg over to get out! Karen sent a couple different pads, I tried the EA Mattes pad with sheepskin lining that sits on the horse's back where the saddle goes and that seemed to work well.

couple more pictures

2009-02-21T17:32:00.006-06:00

Hard getting good shots with the cell phone but here are a few more from today.

Andre getting ready to hack Violet, I love her bling brow band!

Tryst getting ready to hack, not showing this week as he was a little sick last week.

A Few Horse Show Pictures

2009-02-20T18:03:00.003-06:00

Spike and Hootie playing across the aisle.
Side profile of Stoli's tail braided for the A/O Hunters will try and get a better pic tomorrow.
Me and Stoli waiting for him to jog.

Lesson

2009-02-17T22:31:00.002-06:00

The training wheels came off today, I rode without the rein aids. I was much better with my hands today and as a result Werther was really good today. It took a minimal amount of time to get on the bit and even after our walking break he did not put up too much of a fuss. I feel like a made a big step forward in my Dressage education today. We just trotted today but my goal was to memorize the feel of Werther being on the bit and in a frame. I still need to work on keeping my outside hand lower and taking a stronger feel with that hand, the hunter rider in me wants to be soft and give with that hand. My Aunt Karen shipped off her tack today, I should get it by next week! I am taking a long weekend and getting out of this terrible Minnesota weather and I am going to watch my Mom and Andre show at HITS Thermal. I will try and take lots of pictures for you guys!

Sarah's Ride

2009-02-16T21:59:00.002-06:00

I didn't have work today so I went out to the barn to watch Sarah ride Werther. I wanted to take pictures but I couldn't find my real camera and the cell phone camera just could not cut it. It was really helpful to me to watch Sarah ride. I don't have much experience with Dressage apart for watching the olympics. I was able to watch Sarah's position especially her hands, and see where Werther's neck should be when he is on the bit. We talked about what Sarah was working on with Werther, and her challenges when she rides him. Sarah worked on getting a quicker reaction time off of the leg aids. She said he was more dull on the left side, which is the side that is effected by CP. She did half steps with Werther as well and is working him up to a full passage. She also worked on getting his canter more uphill and dynamic. One of Sarah's challenges when she rode Werther was getting him to overcome that intial resitanece and getting him to go to work. This made me feel better because this is my main challenge with Werther, abeit he testes me a lot harder that he does Sarah. Sarah has to work on keeping her hands soft with Werther as well. She said that Werther has the most sensative mouth out of any upper level horse that she has ever ridden and if you get too much in his face he shuts down and she sometimes struggles with how much hand to use. If you ask for something correctly and firmly Werther will do it right away. Sarah said he is almost so push button that she has trouble timing her aids right, especially for the flying change. We also talked about Werther in general, we think the reason he was sold to be a big EQ horse is that while he is able to perform the movements, he is not quite flashy enough to be super successful at FEI level, and his quietness would make it a more difficult ride at that level. At some point I may have to do some soul searching a decide if I want to continue with Hunters or just do Dressage. Werther may not be a Grand Prix horse for me but if he can take me all the way to fourth that is a lot to learn. I feel like Werther is a horse that doesn't seem challenge when you first ride him, but as you continue things get more and more nuanced. I think he will teach me how to be a really good rider no matter what I decide to do.

Lesson

2009-02-14T19:19:00.002-06:00

I had my lesson with Sarah this morning. Werther was really good, he was very easy to get on the bit today. We spent the whole lesson trotting and working on the frame with a little bit of lateral work. The two really important tips I learned today is to have the same amount to bend in a corner that you would in a 10 m circle. The other key piece we worked on is getting the bend I want and then immediately softening my hand so Werther has to carry himself and maintain the bend. The way Sarah put it is that once you get the trot, you don't ask for the trot every single step. This especially helped in the shoulder in, me placing the shoulders were I want them and the letting Werther maintain the shoulder in. After our walking break he did protest about getting back on the bit and going back to work, but that was improved too, in the time that it took him to give up and the intensity of the protest was less. There is a clinic for low level riders at Brightonwood with a local dressage judge tomorrow, I want to go watch if I can get a ride.

Thursday and Friday

2009-02-13T22:18:00.003-06:00

I decided I need to add some more pictures to this blog so I took this one while I was cooling Werther out today. I think it looks kinda cool, it would look better if I had something nicer than a cell phone camera. Werther was a little bit difficult on Thursday, he actually "ran away" at a very controlled canter. I was working on the canter transition and he was anticipating and started cantering in the corner after I changed direction. I could not get him back because I had the rein aids in and it was too spongy when I tried to pull back. I just ended up dropping my reins and circling and he got the idea. Today he was pretty good. He only rooted once at the canter, and I was able to get him in about 75% of frame I wanted. I had some really nice moments now I just need to maintain it. I can keep a nice frame throughout a whole lesson now once I get him connected, I just need to be able to do it by myself. I got some awesome leg yields today though which made me really happy because it felt like I was at least making some progress.

Lesson

2009-02-10T23:15:00.004-06:00

I had my lesson today. Sarah rode Werther yesterday with the rein-aids still on my bridle. Sarag thought Werther went well in it, but it worked a little too well for her, she could not get the check she needed for the lead change and the passage. Werther was very good for me today, we worked mainly at the trot on the frame and leg yield. I have to relax my upper arms so I don't brace my hand against the motion at the trot. I need to have a low and steady contact with the outside rein and a soft, low and opening inside rein. I was much better in my leg yields today, I was able to use them properly as a tool to push Werther into the outside rein and make him frame up. I'm still struggling a little with the canter transition, I am getting the hang of using my inside leg to ask for the canter instead of the outside rein. If I don't keep Werther's stride collected and forward before I ask for the canter he uses his advantage to root or get in a buck if I get after him. My homework for this week when I hack is to make sure I do not use the inside rein to balance, which is a bad habit I have from trying to accommodate my poor balance because of my CP.

Saturday's Lesson

2009-02-08T09:57:00.003-06:00

Things were much improved in Saturday's lesson. We tried these rein aid things my Mom has. It really seemed to help. We spent the entire lesson just doing trot work and working on keeping my hands quiet. Sarah said I was good with my hands 90% of the time but in that 10% when I would have a little bouble the rein aids helped to absorb the shock so Werther could keep working and not use it as a reason to get pissed and stop. The leg yields and shoulder ins when better, I think I am getting a better feel of what I am supposed to be doing. Even though you have all this pressure on the reins, Sarah says that I really should not be using my hands much at all. I am also working on relaxing my elbow, something you need to a lot of in Dressage than in Hunters. I have short arms, so I also have to bring my hands up a lot higher than a traditional position allows, but that way I don't lock my elbows in an effort to put my hands down lower.

Thursday and Friday

2009-02-06T22:49:00.003-06:00

Things did not improve after my lesson on Tuesday. I went to the gym on Wednesday, I am working on incorporating some forearm strengthening exercises into my weight training to hopefully help me quiet my hands while still maintaining the level of contact I need to. On Thursday Werther was a total brat, he was heavy on the forehand and would not use his hind end. He rooted in the canter transition, and kept swinging his haunches out in the shoulder in. I spent a long time at the trot trying to get him on the bit and round but he really wasn't having it. Eventually some 10m circles did the trick, but he kept on pretend spooking out of boredom and I would loose the connection. Today before I rode I chased him in the indoor and made sure he was tired out, I'm not really amused with his shanagans. He rooted the first two times I tried the canter transition but then we got some really nice ones. I also got some decent shoulder ins out of him today, but I had trouble getting a really good connection with him. He kept chewing the bit and had a slight roundness about him but not enough to call it a true frame. Eventually I got tired and decided it was better to quit for the day. We will see how my lesson goes tomorrow.

Aside: Do you twitter? I am playing around with it. My user name is ellieandwerther, let me know if you are on twitter or you know of any good horse feeds.

Monday and Tuesday Update

2009-02-03T23:04:00.002-06:00

Sarah said Werther was good on Monday. She did a lot of canter transitions with him and worked on sharping his response to the flying lead change aids. She ended doing a little work on the passage with Werther, she said it seems like somebody started to teach him the movement but never quite finished. He gets the hesitation in the trot step, but has not quite figured out the airtime piece to it yet. Before I heard that I had basically won the tack lottery thanks to my Aunt Karen, I had ordered a saddle to try from a shop in White Bear Lake, a Stubben Tristan this time. It came today and I thought I would try it for my lesson. Werther pinned his ears and made faces when I put on the saddle, but I wrote that off as him complaining about me swinging the saddle over without the stirrups run up because they are wrapped. When Sarah and I checked on the ground, the saddle fit seemed to be OK, but when I got on and felt under the saddle, it felt a little tight on the withers. We started out with some trot with a light an gradually increasing the contact. Werther was a little spooky, but it was more of a bored spooking, than a I am actually scared of something spook. We decided to give Werther some work to do, since obviously he needed a harder task. Sarah had me ask for the canter, and he bucked repeatedly.

We did the transition several times until he did it properly. We decided that the saddle was putting too much pressure on his withers, so we switched back to the one that I have been borrowing. Werther, the delicate flower that he is, was pissed for the rest of the lesson and I had a really hard time getting a connection with him. Overall I feel like I am becoming a much better rider these past few months with Werther, and I am glad that Werther's antics didn't phase me when they would have upset me before but I don't feel like I rode very well today. We worked on the leg yield at the trot on the circle and Sarah had me work on keeping Werther's neck straight and not letting him cheat by falling in with his shoulder. She also had me work on using less hand a more leg. This was really hard for me because we started out leg yielding to the right and I had to use my left leg which is the one that is effected by my CP. Automatically my brain wanted to go to using my hand, but that wasn't getting the result I needed. I need to to work more at using my dressage whip as a way to supplement the weakness of my left leg. Sarah's next big project for me is working on quieter hands, because Werther actually has quite a sensative mouth, and any jostling of the bit he wants to hold himself away from it. Which is why she thinks my ability to get Werther into a good frame right now is hit and miss. I guess this means more bicep and tricep work at the gym, as well as just really working on my mental awareness of what I am doing with my hand while I am riding.

I have the best aunt ever!

2009-01-31T17:32:00.003-06:00

The final verdict on the saddle with Sarah was once again too tight on the withers, so it was a no go. We did not ever canter in our lesson today just did a ton of trot work getting Werther to really connect. This week when I hack I need to incorporate using a counter bend and 10m circles as way to get him in a frame and putting weight in my outside rein. The exciting news is my Mom talked to my aunt Karen and she is going to send me ALL her dressage tack!!!! I'm so excited, a regular dressage bridle, a barely used double bridle, girth, and a TRILOGY DEBBIE MCDONALD SADDLE!!! This saddle is amazing, and I'm praying like all get out that it will fit, Karen did not know what size it is. Karen also said I should come and visit Debbie's barn, River Grove. Karen rides with Debbie's husband Bob in the jumpers, and did a little bit dressage with Debbie with her old horse, Zack. I'm trying to study up on good Dressage equitation, and Sarah recommended I watch Courtney King and Steffan Peters. I've included two videos for your viewing pleasure:

The trials of trying a saddle

2009-01-31T00:12:00.002-06:00

Thursday I went to the tack shop and picked up another saddle to try, a Canterbury again but a medium tree. It says it is also an Equation, but this one in different from the one I previously tried. It has recessed stirrup bars which I have never used before, and the inside flap of trial saddle #2 has a master saddler brand, so I think it may have been a semi custom job. The twist on saddle #2 also felt narrower, which I really liked. The first day I *tried* to ride in these test ride stirrup leathers they gave me that are supposed to prevent damage to the saddle. These things were so beeping long I had to wrap them and could not get the right length to save my life. So much to Werther's pleasure we did not ride too hard, I ended up abandoning the stirrups and mainly working on my sitting trot and working on his connection. Today I rode with the stirrups from trial saddle #1, I figure that the saddle is already used and what the tack shop does not know won't kill them. The stirrup length was much better, but because of the recessed bars on saddle #2 they were about 1/2 an inch too long. The stirrups were already wrapped and on the top whole and I did not want to mess with them so I just canter a little bit and worked mainly on my trot again. I did a lot of shoulder in and leg yield to working on Werther's frame and maintaining a consistent connection. He did really well, put up a little fight after our walking break, mainly sticking his head up like a giraffe, but I was able to work him though it.

Monday and Tuesday Update

2009-01-28T23:58:00.000-06:00

Sarah said her ride on Monday was good. I talked to her while I was at work and she said they worked on a lot of transitions to work on building Werther's muscle. She said that in the collection he wants to shorten his neck to cheat his way out of using his hind end, so she worked on lengthening his neck in the collection and making him use his hind end. (that makes sense right? I wrote down a few notes from our conversation). Werther tested Sarah a little, she was working on haunches in with him at trot and he slowed his pace down, Sarah initially let him because she thought he was doing it because he did not have the muscle, but she tried to haunches in again after she cantered and was able to do the exercise with much more impulsion. Our Lesson on Tuesday went really well, we started out with a loose rein walk and trot and gradually increased the impulsion and feel at the trot. Then we did some leg yields on a circle and worked on making him bend, but not too much, he has a tendency to want to over bend. We asked for the canter and he was good about his leads and I worked on my position. Next we worked on the sitting trot and we did some shoulder ins working on making Werther have a straight neck but still maintaining the angle. My sitting trot in getting better, I still need to put my shoulders further back. At about this point in the lesson, Werther decided he was bored and started fake spooking at the door to the ring. I'm really glad I didn't let it rattle me. We spent some more time at the sitting trot and I worked on maintaining my contact (Sarah: "You will hold that outside rein come hell or highwater!") . I got all the way around the ring with a really nice, forward, connected trot, I was very proud of my self. We let Werther walk and have a long break, when we went back to work he was pissed, he thought he was done. So Werther and I worked at the trot with shoulders fore, and shoulder in on the circle until he accepted the bit again and was going around in a nice frame and we quit with that.

I don't know about you Silly Pony, but I'm having difficulty with my saddle shopping. Sarah and I decided the one I've been trying isn't going to work for the long term, it is too wide and does not sit well on his withers. It works with padding, but I would rather have something that fits well enough I don't have to worry about it. So now I am looking for a 17 1/2 or 17 inch used dressage saddle with a medium wide tree. I'm hoping to keep it to about a grand. I'm going to call the local tack shop that is on the way out to my barn tomorrow and see what they have. If they don't have anything, I am going to get this shop in White Bear Lake to ship me one to try.

Friday and Saturday's rides

2009-01-25T10:33:00.003-06:00

So my farrier Scott was on the other side of the state on Thursday and could not come out until Friday to put on Werther's shoe. When I got to the barn on Friday night I decided to turn Werther out in the indoor and chase him before I got on to be safe since he had an extra day off and I was riding alone. I'm awfully glad I did, because Werther ran and bucked like an idiot. He was still puffing a little when I got him tacked up and got on. I spent some extra time at the walk so Werther could catch his breath and I practiced switching hands with my Dressage whip. I rode in the Dressage saddle I am trying again, I think with the extra day off it was hard. I just felt like I could not get myself in sync with Werther, especially at the posting trot. I did some leg yields which were pretty good, but I had a hard time maintaining his impulsion. The Shoulder-in however, I was very happy with. I worked on my position at the sitting trot and canter, and I felt much more connected and in sync than at the posting trot. I ended with a sitting trot on a loose rein while still maintaining the frame, and Werther had really nice forward trot, and I just need to work on getting that trot when I have more contact. In my lesson on Saturday we spent the majority of the lesson working on my position again. We did some shoulder-in off the wall as well as the quarter line, we worked on making sure Werther still had a straight neck, but maintained plenty of angle in the shoulder in. At the sitting trot and canter the key equitation thing we worked on was me maintaining a loose long leg, that is weighted in the feet and not in the heels. With my seat we worked on keeping in the saddle, but allowing it to flexible enough to accommodate the horses side to side motion at the trot. We also worked on loosening my lower back and opening up my hips, which is very counter intuitive coming from a huntseat background. I've always had to work at keeping my shoulders back, but Sarah wants them even further back than my hunt seat trainers, and of course, there is the challenge of every discipline quiet hands! I got a really nice connection with Werther at the sitting trot, but he was going really slow. Sarah was OK with that, she said we can build on getting the impulsion out of him. I really like training with Sarah and I think she really likes giving lessons, unlike Andre who I think views giving lessons as a necessary evil so she can ride horses. I think it is especially fun for Sarah to work with someone close to her age, she said all of the boarders at the barn she works with are 50 plus with exception of her and her younger sister. They actually refer to themselves as menopause manor! We are still not entirely sure on the saddle, the lady who owns it wants a grand for it, and it may be a little close to Werther's withers. We are going to try it with a different pad next week, and she is going to bring another saddle so I have a base of comparison. I definitely don't want to rush into a big purchase like this.

Aside: Little barn updates, Callie went back to Crooked Willow on Thursday and Dr. Turner came out and gave Wesley his tumor vaccine. We also got in our shipment of paddock cakes, which the horses would gladly murder for!

Farrier

2009-01-21T17:28:00.002-06:00

I got a call at work today, Werther pulled a shoe. Farrier should be out tomorrow and it should be fixed in time for me to hack after work. It does not stop me from having an acute anxiety attack about it though.

Lesson

2009-01-20T23:09:00.002-06:00

I tried a dressage saddle today:

It is a used Canterbury Equation, which has been collecting dust for one of Sarah's clients who has moved on to another saddle. I've never heard of this brand, anyone have experience with it? My legs are so short we had to wrap the stirrup leathers, but it seemed to fit Werther and myself. It also did not seem like too dramatic a transition from my huntseat saddle which was nice. Today in my lesson we worked a lot on me and less on Werther. I spent some time doing our usual warm up getting used to the new saddle and I also rode with a dressage whip for the first time, so I had to get used to that. We worked on my sitting trot and my seat at the canter. When I sat the way I was supposed to, Werther got really nice and round with a really steady contact, Sarah said that the way the dressage saddle is built encourages that roundness. We also worked on giving with my elbows so the horse feels comfortable maintaining the contact, I'm still not entirely sure if I have the motion right. He did not have any issue stumbling today, he must have just been really lazy yesterday. Sarah let me keep the saddle to try for a few days and she knows of a couple more for sale she is going to let me try so I can have a better understanding of what works for me in a dressage saddle. Also, I had a hard time switching hands with the dressage whip, I bought it home to practice and I think I am getting better at it, but any tips or ticks would be helpful.

Sarah's Ride

2009-01-19T20:39:00.002-06:00

This is from the message Sarah left me:

"Werther was pretty good today. He was not as energetic as last week but I forgot my long Dressage whip and I think maybe that was the difference. I worked on Werther's collect canter quite a bit, and I did lots of transitions to the canter from the walk and trot. I was trying to get his collected canter more energetic and I found that if his neck is a little longer he is a little less uphill but he has better energy and vise versa. What I think I need to do is play with going back and forth between longer neck with impulsion and and shorter neck with less impulsion, and work on getting him a little more jazzed. I did some tempi changes to see if I could get him excited, and he was not excited today, but the tempi's were pretty good. I did practice half steps, which are piaffe like steps a little bit to try and get him a little quicker on his feet and little excited, but he was still kind of sleepy, so it was not quite as good as last week. Also, he stumbled a few times at the walk, not any huge trips, but it was like he was not setting his right front down squarely."

Ellie in: I'm really okay with him being lazy, I would much rather have a horse that I have to work to create energy with than struggle to contain it. It lowers the risk level significantly for me with my disability. I don't know what the tripping was about, it was 20 degrees today which is like a heat wave to our horses compared to last week, so I bet he played really hard outside today and was just being extra lazy and didn't feel like picking his feet up. I have a lesson tomorrow so Sarah can watch him from the ground, and if he still has that little stumble we'll evaluate further and I'll probably have Dr. Sarah come check him out.