Tracey Lesson

So Monday was a great day, getting into graduate school and getting my pell grant. But yesterday trumps Monday like CRAZY and it's all thanks to my amazing horse and my infinitely more amazing trainer.

I got there quite early so I was able to walk around the property. Woodmyst has a TON of arenas and even a little trail course! So Rico and I played over the obstacles which included some logs, a bridge and an L shaped figure that you're supposed to back up through. After I realized that I probably should have asked permission before playing in the trail course, we left the area and just wandered around until my lesson started. 

The first thing out of Tracey's mouth when she saw us warming up was "hey he looks less like a driving horse," which was a great compliment! We started with some trot work, doing an exercise which Tracey learned from Conrad Schumacher. The exercise was quite basic- using shoulder-in and haunches-in to establish a better connection, then asking for a stretch circle- but surprisingly effective. By the end of the trot work, he was much better in the bridle and I was able to get the best trot of my life! My horse is so ridiculously talented, I wish I was as good as he is (I mean I have been training him myself for the last four years so I can take some of the credit but STILL). 

After the trot work, we moved into the canter. I told Tracey that I hadn't quite understood the canter work in my last lesson so we did quite a bit. She had us canter on a large circle in haunches-in, while maintaining the activity and connection. To the left, he felt great but I tended to do way too much with my body, pulling my right rein too far out, leaning back with my shoulders in the down beat, and slipping my right leg way back. She also pointed out that I used my outside leg for both the angle and the activity, so Rico couldn't tell when I used it whether I wanted more energy or more haunches-in. I need to start practicing using my inside leg for activity and my outside leg for angle only. After we found a nice canter with good activity and connection, Tracey had me ask Rico to stretch a bit to change the shape of his neck. That was hard! But despite sucking back a few times and my position being wonky every now and then, the left was amazing and we did a beautiful walk transition with very little in my hand.

To the right, we struggled a bit more. The first thing I said was "he feels crooked this way" and she said something along the lines of "sure he feels crooked, you're way off to the left side." After my rider correction, he became a lot easier! The connection on the left side while going right is tricky though, this comes from him using his right hind a lot more than his left as well as his unwillingness to connect to the left rein. This made complete sense- his right pirouette is weak because he doesn't stay on my left rein, so to balance in the pirouette, he sticks his left hind way out to the side. So we did the same exercise this direction, haunches-in on a large circle, then ride straight and stretch a bit. He struggled quite a bit and I felt like he was grabbing the bit and taking off so I said something about it. Tracey said "do a walk transition," and internally I was pretty convinced that we were going to SPLAT into the ground. I set him up without taking back with the reins, asked for the walk.... and got a beautifully balanced transition.

Tracey and I talked about my inability to trust Rico when he takes a bit of contact and she told me that because I've been riding him so muted (in hopes of keeping him from taking the contact and yanking on me), his canter is not at its best right now. I agreed completely, I know that Rico has a lot more potential than I do, I always tell people that he's infinitely better than I am and that I wish I did him justice. Tracey said that we would be slowly improving the canter so that I could learn to trust him. She mentioned PSG during that conversation which made me really happy!! 

So overall I was immensely pleased! I was happy that in just a week I could make such progress with Rico, and I was happy that I have new exercises to use for the connection. In addition to the happiness I was feeling while riding, I made the decision to ride with Tracey regularly as long as I could afford it and it made sense. It occurred to me that I was not going to have THIS nice of a horse for a long long time and why should I not attempt to do this horse justice while I have the means and the opportunity to ride with such an amazing trainer? Money is probably the only thing that will keep me from riding with her, but currently I'm working like crazy so that should be okay.

Pictures from this weekend!

love this dog

I love this tree in my back yard

my camera is ridiculous