September 2015 I had one last clinic before turning TC's life (and my own) upside down and moving him to a new barn. After that, TC got worse and worse, then got hurt, got even worse, then came back and has been steadily getting better.
Every few days, weeks, months, of his rehab, I would watch the video from that clinic. It reminded me of what a cool horse he had been, why I was doing this. Because TC was not fun to ride in the fall after that clinic.
Since he's come back, I haven't watched the video. At first I didn't want it to make me sad, because he's not the same horse that I could dump into the trailer and take to a new place without much drama. And then I sort of forgot about it. I decided to look at the video again because I wanted to do a comparison post, since I had some faith after watching the video from the other day, that we might be a bit better.
Here's what I see:
I think my position is better now than it was in 2015. I don't know how that happened. I haven't taken any dresssage lessons literally since that lesson a year ago (wtf). But I think the months riding trainer friend's horses, as well as me being generally fitter right now, has helped a lot.
His neck looks bigger now, but that's also just because he's being ridden more up. But his topline in general is better developed, which at first I found odd, but then I remembered that he was also growing at the same time as getting stronger. He's absolutely PACKING on the muscle right now. I actually should probably call the saddle fitter, ugh.
I think he looks more relaxed in 2015 (living in pasture) than now (living in a stall and being a bit of a dingbat the day of the video), but that he looks stronger and more impressive now than in 2015. Now to combine the two...
I'm naturally just riding him a lot more up and out (when I can) these days. In 2015 he looks like a solid Training level horse- I was still working hard to get the DOWN part of roundness. Now he looks like a solid First level horse with some issues leaving his hind legs behind him (which is what he does while tense so to be expected).
The canter is fast, flat, and slightly out of control in 2015. I'm sitting tense in the tack and am against the rhythm. In 2016 I still have the tendency to want to get against rhythm when he gets a bit unsteerable, but he's slowed down considerably, is getting a bit more cadence to his canter, and... well, he's still slightly out of control but that's okay.
The only thing I don't like is how the walk has developed, he nods a lot more now. He's always nodded a little bit, but now it's worse. It's only nodding now because I had to do a lot of work with that damn outside side rein when he was bolting a lot. So we've got that issue left over in the walk and canter.
His poll is almost always the highest point now, and I think he's steadier, though not as steady as I want him to be.
He is keeping his shoulders up much better now, and showing the beginnings of taking weight behind.
In general I think we both look a hell of a lot more competent! I'm so happy with how he's going these days, even if I miss the more relaxed horse from last year.
This is really cool! He has packed on so much muscle.
ReplyDeleteooooo I love this post. I wonder if I've got enough video of Tango to do a TWO years apart post?
ReplyDeleteProbably somewhere. Maybe not though. I think in general he looks much more like an adult horse now than he does in those videos a year ago.
Holy canter difference! and THAT trot DOH <3
ReplyDeletelove the comparisons!! he seems to look better in almost every dimension now (at least to my admittedly uneducated eye) - you guys look fantastic!
ReplyDeleteYou've been riding the PSG wonder pony and clinicing too since then so that probably helps with the position fixes!!
ReplyDeleteI think he looks quite lovely in both videos but I agree, he looks like a more uphill/grown up/beefcake in the recent videos :) What a cool comparison! Well done for using the same saddle pad too! :P
ReplyDeleteThis was super cool to watch!
ReplyDelete