Dawn had her usual Thursday off. Since it was raining hard this afternoon, and Halloween to boot, there was almost no one at the barn this afternoon - which meant my boys and I had the indoor to ourselves.
Red and I had a good work session, with lots of trot and canter. I got a nice "big walk" (without a secondary cue for forward, just using my energy) before asking for trot, and had a very nice first trot transition. But then he was pretty sluggish at the trot initially, and was resenting my use of a tap with the dressage whip as a secondary cue - he did move forward, but I was having to nag him, and he was not happy about the whole thing - this means the secondary cue isn't working as it should but is becoming a brace of its own. Red's got a strong sense of fairness, and it's clear he didn't think what I was doing was fair - he didn't do anything bad but he was clearly annoyed. I got ride of the whip once he was moving forward nicely and he maintained it well. So I'm rethinking what to do - I'm not going to nag him with my leg to get forward - he'd resent this just as much and he's a master of the brace-against-brace thing, and it wouldn't be soft. I'm not sure what I'll do - some experimenting to come. Next ride we'll try no whip, and I may let him warm up a bit more slowly at first rather than asking for so much forward right away. If I need a secondary cue, I may try something a bit different, like slapping my hand on my leg - we'll see.
Pie and I did a lot of cantering work - work on his departures - his walk/canter departure tracking left is almost there; the right lead still needs work - and work on continuous cantering with softness. He did very well and his forward at the trot was pretty good, even though I (deliberately) wasn't carrying my dressage whip to give him secondary cues for forward - he's not resentful of this as Red is, but I wanted to see how we'd do without it.
It's supposed to be colder and windy, but sunny, tomorrow, so horses should feel good - particularly with all that fresh mud to roll in!
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Music Day, Hematoma, and My Shoulder, Elbow and Hand
Not too much riding today. Wednesdays are usually my main music day - I have to drive about an hour, have my lesson, and then play with a group for another hour and a half, and then drive home. So the boys get a day off on those days - just a quick check over and hoof picking. But Dawn gets her usual early morning ride on Wednesdays, and then gets Thursday off.
When checking Dawn over yesterday evening, I discovered she had a fairly sizable hematoma between her front legs but more to the right, and no other sign of injury - no cuts or other swellings on her chest or shoulder. She's been wearing her rain sheet the past few days, and she may have gotten kicked with the sheet preventing her from having a more obvious wound. The hematoma wasn't hot and not at all sore, so I gave her a gram of bute and left it at that. She's been completely sound, and we rode this morning and she was still just fine and had no problem working, so we worked.
My post yesterday about opening the door talked more about what I do with my lower body - hip and leg, and what I don't do. This morning as I was riding Dawn, we were thinking together about what I do with my upper body. Of course, in corners and when bending for circles, etc., I have to keep my eyes and upper body open and be looking where I want us to go. But what about that inside arm - what's it up to?
All my horses have always had more difficulty bending to the right, which translates into less softness and poorer quality of gaits when tracking right. This is entirely due to me and how I ride - there's nothing wrong with the horses. Yesterday I talked about slightly opening my inside hip - this is harder for me when it's my right hip, but it's becoming more automatic now that I'm thinking about it. And my horses tell me if I'm not doing it - the quality of the right bend goes away if I slip up.
But my upper body has also always been problematic when tracking right, and it's mostly a problem with my arm. I tend to drop my right shoulder, rotate my elbow out from my body and move my right hand to the outside, sometimes to the point of placing it behind the withers. This effectively blocks my horses from having a proper right bend, and if they manage it anyway it's not due to me.
Here's what I need to do instead - Dawn's teaching me the correct way. I need to keep my right shoulder up and open it slightly to the inside - just like my hip - keep my elbow close to my side and a straight line between my hand, elbow and the bit - if I raise my hands slightly this helps. If I do this - voila! problem fixed - lovely right bend, with the inside hind stepping under.
Dawn says I'm always a work in process, but at least I try, so she's willing to keep me on as a student . . .
When checking Dawn over yesterday evening, I discovered she had a fairly sizable hematoma between her front legs but more to the right, and no other sign of injury - no cuts or other swellings on her chest or shoulder. She's been wearing her rain sheet the past few days, and she may have gotten kicked with the sheet preventing her from having a more obvious wound. The hematoma wasn't hot and not at all sore, so I gave her a gram of bute and left it at that. She's been completely sound, and we rode this morning and she was still just fine and had no problem working, so we worked.
My post yesterday about opening the door talked more about what I do with my lower body - hip and leg, and what I don't do. This morning as I was riding Dawn, we were thinking together about what I do with my upper body. Of course, in corners and when bending for circles, etc., I have to keep my eyes and upper body open and be looking where I want us to go. But what about that inside arm - what's it up to?
All my horses have always had more difficulty bending to the right, which translates into less softness and poorer quality of gaits when tracking right. This is entirely due to me and how I ride - there's nothing wrong with the horses. Yesterday I talked about slightly opening my inside hip - this is harder for me when it's my right hip, but it's becoming more automatic now that I'm thinking about it. And my horses tell me if I'm not doing it - the quality of the right bend goes away if I slip up.
But my upper body has also always been problematic when tracking right, and it's mostly a problem with my arm. I tend to drop my right shoulder, rotate my elbow out from my body and move my right hand to the outside, sometimes to the point of placing it behind the withers. This effectively blocks my horses from having a proper right bend, and if they manage it anyway it's not due to me.
Here's what I need to do instead - Dawn's teaching me the correct way. I need to keep my right shoulder up and open it slightly to the inside - just like my hip - keep my elbow close to my side and a straight line between my hand, elbow and the bit - if I raise my hands slightly this helps. If I do this - voila! problem fixed - lovely right bend, with the inside hind stepping under.
Dawn says I'm always a work in process, but at least I try, so she's willing to keep me on as a student . . .
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Opening the Door
When I was taking riding lessons - in college (I had no lessons before that) and then in my 40s when I came back to riding, I heard a lot of things like this: "push the horse with your leg into your hand", "have the horse in front of your leg", "half halt", "inside leg to outside rein", "bend the horse around your leg". And that's how I rode, and the results can be pretty good. I now think most of that way of thinking about riding isn't good enough, at least for me, and here's why.
All of those things involve braces. Even using your leg as a cue for forward or something else is often a brace. The good news is horses learn to deal with this. But if there's a way I can communicate with the horse that doesn't involve a brace, then the horse will be more free to move without my action interfering - better responsiveness and better quality of movement, more softness.
Mark's message to me in my lesson this summer was to do less - of everything. Part of this, for me, is understanding what my responsibilities are and what the horse's are, in turn. My first job is to know what I want - exactly what I want - and to communicate that clearly to the horse, using my thought, focus and energy, and physical aids, as softly as possible, when needed. The horse's job is to give me a response to my ask - that's the horse's try (assuming the horse hasn't had the try taken out of him/her). My job is to consistently expect forward, and it's the horse's responsibility to offer forward consistently. I don't nag or push or increase my aids - if I don't get the forward I want, I use secondary aids to make myself clear. All my horses completely get this, and I all have to do is signal forward with my energy level and rhythm with my thought, and we've got it. My job is to offer connection, and the horse's job is to take up that connection - it's a two-way street and I can't do the connecting all by myself. My job is to offer leadership and direction, and not to leave any gaps. My job is to keep my posture and body in a position to help and not hinder the horse. My job is to offer softness and the horse's job is to respond with softness.
It's in the doing less, and offering softness, that the metaphor of opening/closing doors applies, I think - it's a way I'm working on using to communicate with my horses that goes a long way towards eliminating the braces that come with pulling with hands, pushing with seat, leg or by leaning. It eliminates a lot of the "noise" that we inflict on our horses by doing too much, and it leaves room for energy, thought, focus and breathing to be "heard" by the horse.
As usual when I'm working on something like this, I do it with all three horses, but again as usual, Dawn's my primary teacher in working it through. I'll give two small examples of what I mean.
Take traveling down the long side in posting trot - nothing simpler that that, right? Not quite - I'm continuing to make some significant changes to my position - keeping posture upright and open and eyes and head up - no leaning forward or to one side or the other. And breathing in a relaxed manner in rhythm with the trot . . . And staying "tight" to the horse but with my hips slightly open - no clamping with either my upper or lower leg or forcing my heel down - since my horse is giving me forward without my having to do anything, my leg can be relaxed and draped . . . And posting using my core, not my legs . . .
If I can do this, Dawn travels beautifully on her hind end, in engaged trot, straight, with only enough tension on the reins to maintain a soft contact - like holding a baby bird with your hands. This is because I'm opening a door for her to move into - forward and upwards. The feeling is pretty amazing.
Now another example - turns. Going around corners, making circles, and changing direction. The only changes Dawn is having me make from my straight-ahead position and "opening" as we turn, is to keep my focus going up and around the turn and also to adjust what I'm doing with my pelvis, just the very tiniest amount. I open my inside hip just a tiny bit more - it's almost more of a thought - to create an opening for her to bend and step under with the inside hind leg. And I get lovely bend without pushing with my inside leg, changing how I use my seat or holding with the outside rein, just movement forward, up and around. And my outside hip stays where it is, slightly open but not quite as open as the inside hip, to close the door on that side and provide a boundary for her to use as guidance.
If overdone, any of these things could become a brace too, but Dawn's got me on the hunt for the least I can do, and the boys say she's doing a good job - they can see how I'm improving.
This stuff is very exciting and fun, and it's really delightful to see how the horses respond.
All of those things involve braces. Even using your leg as a cue for forward or something else is often a brace. The good news is horses learn to deal with this. But if there's a way I can communicate with the horse that doesn't involve a brace, then the horse will be more free to move without my action interfering - better responsiveness and better quality of movement, more softness.
Mark's message to me in my lesson this summer was to do less - of everything. Part of this, for me, is understanding what my responsibilities are and what the horse's are, in turn. My first job is to know what I want - exactly what I want - and to communicate that clearly to the horse, using my thought, focus and energy, and physical aids, as softly as possible, when needed. The horse's job is to give me a response to my ask - that's the horse's try (assuming the horse hasn't had the try taken out of him/her). My job is to consistently expect forward, and it's the horse's responsibility to offer forward consistently. I don't nag or push or increase my aids - if I don't get the forward I want, I use secondary aids to make myself clear. All my horses completely get this, and I all have to do is signal forward with my energy level and rhythm with my thought, and we've got it. My job is to offer connection, and the horse's job is to take up that connection - it's a two-way street and I can't do the connecting all by myself. My job is to offer leadership and direction, and not to leave any gaps. My job is to keep my posture and body in a position to help and not hinder the horse. My job is to offer softness and the horse's job is to respond with softness.
It's in the doing less, and offering softness, that the metaphor of opening/closing doors applies, I think - it's a way I'm working on using to communicate with my horses that goes a long way towards eliminating the braces that come with pulling with hands, pushing with seat, leg or by leaning. It eliminates a lot of the "noise" that we inflict on our horses by doing too much, and it leaves room for energy, thought, focus and breathing to be "heard" by the horse.
As usual when I'm working on something like this, I do it with all three horses, but again as usual, Dawn's my primary teacher in working it through. I'll give two small examples of what I mean.
Take traveling down the long side in posting trot - nothing simpler that that, right? Not quite - I'm continuing to make some significant changes to my position - keeping posture upright and open and eyes and head up - no leaning forward or to one side or the other. And breathing in a relaxed manner in rhythm with the trot . . . And staying "tight" to the horse but with my hips slightly open - no clamping with either my upper or lower leg or forcing my heel down - since my horse is giving me forward without my having to do anything, my leg can be relaxed and draped . . . And posting using my core, not my legs . . .
If I can do this, Dawn travels beautifully on her hind end, in engaged trot, straight, with only enough tension on the reins to maintain a soft contact - like holding a baby bird with your hands. This is because I'm opening a door for her to move into - forward and upwards. The feeling is pretty amazing.
Now another example - turns. Going around corners, making circles, and changing direction. The only changes Dawn is having me make from my straight-ahead position and "opening" as we turn, is to keep my focus going up and around the turn and also to adjust what I'm doing with my pelvis, just the very tiniest amount. I open my inside hip just a tiny bit more - it's almost more of a thought - to create an opening for her to bend and step under with the inside hind leg. And I get lovely bend without pushing with my inside leg, changing how I use my seat or holding with the outside rein, just movement forward, up and around. And my outside hip stays where it is, slightly open but not quite as open as the inside hip, to close the door on that side and provide a boundary for her to use as guidance.
If overdone, any of these things could become a brace too, but Dawn's got me on the hunt for the least I can do, and the boys say she's doing a good job - they can see how I'm improving.
This stuff is very exciting and fun, and it's really delightful to see how the horses respond.
Monday, October 28, 2013
Expertly Me, and Three Excellent Rides
I really appreciate all the supportive comments on the last post - I suppose that it's fair to say that, when I write these posts, I'm "expertly me", with all my flaws and imperfections as a rider. Since I don't presume to be an expert, or to tell anyone how to ride, my blog is about what I do with my horses, every day, as honestly as I can tell it. And if my position's not that great in certain photos or videos, that's OK - in fact my posture and position have been a focus in my work for the past year or so, and I've made some improvements, and I actually think I ride a lot better now than I did when those sidebar posts were done. Anyhow . . .
I have a terrible cold - and today is day 4. Even with decongestants, I still feel pretty awful. Nevertheless, I rode all three horses, and in fact felt a lot better while I was riding. I've been working on the same thing with all three horses - keeping my focus up and out, posture open, and allowing with my body - particularly opening with my inside hip and shoulder to indicate bend and allow the horse to move without constraint. I'm also working on keeping my leg off and hand very soft and having the horse move up and through me from the hindquarters. I can tell if I'm doing this if the horses deliver forward with softness and tracking left and right feel about the same - if they don't feel the same I'm probably blocking the motion somewhere with my body.
With Red and Pie, I've also been working on getting consistent forward - not just speed but engagement - at all three gaits - plus softness. Both boys would just dink around given the choice. With Dawn, on the other hand, forward is almost never an issue - with her combining forward and relaxation is the challenge.
So allowing, and forward. All three horses were really excellent today - I had the advantage of riding in an empty ring for most of my three rides, which helps my concentration. I got some real relaxation and softness from Dawn, some excellent engagement and forward with softness from Red, and excellent energy, forward and softness from Pie. Who could ask for anything more?
I have a terrible cold - and today is day 4. Even with decongestants, I still feel pretty awful. Nevertheless, I rode all three horses, and in fact felt a lot better while I was riding. I've been working on the same thing with all three horses - keeping my focus up and out, posture open, and allowing with my body - particularly opening with my inside hip and shoulder to indicate bend and allow the horse to move without constraint. I'm also working on keeping my leg off and hand very soft and having the horse move up and through me from the hindquarters. I can tell if I'm doing this if the horses deliver forward with softness and tracking left and right feel about the same - if they don't feel the same I'm probably blocking the motion somewhere with my body.
With Red and Pie, I've also been working on getting consistent forward - not just speed but engagement - at all three gaits - plus softness. Both boys would just dink around given the choice. With Dawn, on the other hand, forward is almost never an issue - with her combining forward and relaxation is the challenge.
So allowing, and forward. All three horses were really excellent today - I had the advantage of riding in an empty ring for most of my three rides, which helps my concentration. I got some real relaxation and softness from Dawn, some excellent engagement and forward with softness from Red, and excellent energy, forward and softness from Pie. Who could ask for anything more?
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Not an Expert
I'm just a horseperson - the best I can be (on my good days). I'm no trainer, or expert, although I try to learn from those who know more than I do whenever I can. Blogging under these circumstances can be troubling. I know more than some and less than a lot - does that mean I should blog about my horse experiences, or not? I got one of those comments today - they're always "anonymous", not even a name - on one of my softness sidebar posts. The comment was to the effect that the idea was nice, but my hands were too low and my posture leaning forward. Yeah, guilty as charged - those are both riding faults I've struggled with for years - and some days I actually look better than that but a lot of days I don't.
I'm troubled by the whole blogging thing - I've got lots of followers and presumably some of them even read my posts. But should I be posting about this stuff? I'm no expert, don't presume to advise anyone else (particularly if I've never seen their horse and often not then), and think I have a long way to go in my horsemanship journey.
But somehow, I continue to think that the journey itself is valuable, and the small things I learn are valuable - at least to me and my horses although they may be obvious to others. I certainly don't think I have answers, although I continue to learn things from my horses. And I do strongly believe that there are certain ways of approaching and dealing with horses that are better than others - fairer, more effective and which take account of the horse and how the horse feels about things. I think better learning and connection come out from this foundation.
Perhaps I should take down some of the softness posts - they're certainly not always great examples of horsemanship. Perhaps this blog should just slim down to a riding log of what my horses and I experience each day. I'm a bit inclined that way right now.
Let me know what you think.
I'm troubled by the whole blogging thing - I've got lots of followers and presumably some of them even read my posts. But should I be posting about this stuff? I'm no expert, don't presume to advise anyone else (particularly if I've never seen their horse and often not then), and think I have a long way to go in my horsemanship journey.
But somehow, I continue to think that the journey itself is valuable, and the small things I learn are valuable - at least to me and my horses although they may be obvious to others. I certainly don't think I have answers, although I continue to learn things from my horses. And I do strongly believe that there are certain ways of approaching and dealing with horses that are better than others - fairer, more effective and which take account of the horse and how the horse feels about things. I think better learning and connection come out from this foundation.
Perhaps I should take down some of the softness posts - they're certainly not always great examples of horsemanship. Perhaps this blog should just slim down to a riding log of what my horses and I experience each day. I'm a bit inclined that way right now.
Let me know what you think.
Day of Rest
We had a proper day of rest today - a little light grooming and that was all. And I finally got my music practice started again - for me, somehow, routines are connected to physical locations. This new place will be great for music - lots of hardwood floors and high ceilings.
More riding tomorrow . . .
More riding tomorrow . . .
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Getting a Routine Back, and the Boys Go Missing
Now that the boxes have been unboxed and most of the errands completed, and the new place is starting to feel like home, I'm starting to get my routine back. My usual routine, if appointments and other interruptions (like lameness or too much to do in other areas) don't get in the way, is to ride Dawn five mornings a week - every day but Sunday and Thursday - I'm doing other things on those mornings. I try to ride the boys five afternoons a week, and they almost always get Wednesday afternoons off (music lessons) and one other afternoon off, usually Sunday. So other than most Sundays, that means I ride every day at least once and three times on some days. This means riding takes up a really big chunk of my day, but that's how I like it and I configure my life to make it possible. For example, I live about a five minute drive from the barn - this makes going there twice in one day possible.
I actually managed three rides both yesterday and today. Dawn and I had a fantastic ride this morning. She was much more relaxed from the start than she's been in our previous two rides, although it was cold and windy and the arena roof was whistling and the doors were banging. We had a freshly dragged arena, which was delightful - the guys get done early on Saturdays so the arena is dragged before I ride. I worked on keeping my posture open and body allowing so she could move up and through me without blocks. She responded very well and delivered excellent softness with forward in all three gaits.
Red was stiff again and took quite a while to be able to use himself properly - I can tell he's stiff because his trot gets very flat and somewhat short-strided. I think the cold is making his hock arthritis act up a bit. But the regular exercise plus the aspirin are probably the best thing for him. When he's stiff, his forward also isn't really there as it should be. Sometimes, like today, we do some canter work early in our ride to help him stretch out what's tight. By the end, he was working nicely, but we kept it fairly short. We'll see how he is after his day off tomorrow.
Pie and I had a good ride, although he was a bit "clunky", and even tripped once in front at the canter, which is very rare for him. I think both he and Red are a bit tired as they're getting back into full work after their break during my move. But Pie did some very nice trot and canter work, and we had some fun with some cones another rider put out.
Funny story from today - as I parked my truck, I notice a plume of dust in the gelding pasture. It turns out that after all the horses had been brought in, Red and Pie were nowhere to be found. One of the guys had to hike way back in the pasture to find them - of course then they galloped to the gate - that's the dust I saw. Bad boys!
I actually managed three rides both yesterday and today. Dawn and I had a fantastic ride this morning. She was much more relaxed from the start than she's been in our previous two rides, although it was cold and windy and the arena roof was whistling and the doors were banging. We had a freshly dragged arena, which was delightful - the guys get done early on Saturdays so the arena is dragged before I ride. I worked on keeping my posture open and body allowing so she could move up and through me without blocks. She responded very well and delivered excellent softness with forward in all three gaits.
Red was stiff again and took quite a while to be able to use himself properly - I can tell he's stiff because his trot gets very flat and somewhat short-strided. I think the cold is making his hock arthritis act up a bit. But the regular exercise plus the aspirin are probably the best thing for him. When he's stiff, his forward also isn't really there as it should be. Sometimes, like today, we do some canter work early in our ride to help him stretch out what's tight. By the end, he was working nicely, but we kept it fairly short. We'll see how he is after his day off tomorrow.
Pie and I had a good ride, although he was a bit "clunky", and even tripped once in front at the canter, which is very rare for him. I think both he and Red are a bit tired as they're getting back into full work after their break during my move. But Pie did some very nice trot and canter work, and we had some fun with some cones another rider put out.
Funny story from today - as I parked my truck, I notice a plume of dust in the gelding pasture. It turns out that after all the horses had been brought in, Red and Pie were nowhere to be found. One of the guys had to hike way back in the pasture to find them - of course then they galloped to the gate - that's the dust I saw. Bad boys!
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