Lesson

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.