I have the best aunt ever!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.