A Long Time Coming - Our First Dressage Lesson Back

Oh wow it's been a minute. I've been insanely busy at work and loving it, but have let the blog fall to the bottom of the to do list. 

TC is doing fabulously well though! He's actually feeling really amazing in my (real) saddle, which I got back a couple of weeks ago, and we started the collected work again and that's going SUPER well for basically the first time ever. 

Because of that, on Sunday, I took TC over the hill to ride with a trainer I've ridden on and off with for years. This was our first real dressage lesson in about a year and our first lesson with her in 1.5 years. It went SO well. I'm so glad we went and I definitely want to go back. 

Working a TON on the collection, this is from a
week or two ago, working on walk pirouette to
canter and learning to sit down a bit better

I got to the barn kind of early and it was cool, so TC walked out of his stall on his tip toes snaking his neck because he knew we were going somewhere. I decided that not dying was more important than being on time, so I let him play in the arena. He rolled a few times, ran a bunch, at one point he grabbed a small plant out of the ground and galloped around with it, flinging his head like a dog with a rope toy. Also not letting me grab it out of his mouth like a dog would. Then I finally did get it and then later, he galloped by it and snatched it up again, only to accidentally step on it and yank it out of his own mouth. Absurd. 

This paid off because at our destination, he was quiet but not too tired. He warmed up beautifully! I always forget that in better quality footing and in an arena that's actually normal size/shape, he moves SO much better. We had so much suspension and he was just RIGHT there under me. 

Don't steal my stick - TC

At the beginning of the lesson, I explained that we hadn't been doing *real* dressage for about a year, that we'd been focusing more on just having fun and trying to change the way that TC uses his body. She noted that this was good, but that he was probably going to be who he was going to be due to his conformation. Challenge accepted. Well, mostly I'm kidding, but it's a good reminder for me to remember that he does not have to be perfect. 

We warmed up and she was quite complimentary of where he was at. She noted that I'm riding him QUITE long in the neck, which she understands given how he went before but she wants him to now find a happy medium. 

There were some minor position changes, which I made sure to note: watch that my left hand does not prevent him from connecting and watch that my right leg doesn't stay too far back. These are very typical for me, but I'm always happy to hear them again!

He was paid well in cookies, believe me

The main theme of the lesson was using transitions to bring more tone into his body to help him with the collection and connection. I was SO unbelievably proud of him. He was so obedient and really stayed true to his spinal integrity for most of the lesson. The only times he slipped up was in the left canter, which is a challenge at home still anyway. 

This is a horse who has, in the past, just willingly contorted his body to do whatever I ask him to do, to his detriment and to mine as then we don't really get the result necessary. It felt like he said multiple times "I can't without compromising myself" and I was able to say "that's okay, do your best" and he was able to do that. 

I have the TCS to thank for that, it really drew my intention to the spinal integrity and I feel like I was able to call him out very early on him not maintaining it. As he got stronger, it feels like he was able to understand that yes, this indeed feels way better. 

Anyways, I figure I'll go through each transition in more details! 

He is so silly

In the walk, he needed more power and tone to stay in front of my leg. I've been told not to run him off his feet, so I've allowed the walk to be smaller and more deliberate, but I've gone in too much that direction. He is to practice his "quite good walk once he actually gets going" regularly and not "plod along as if he's on a trail ride" all the time. 

Once we had that, the walk to trot transition was actually quite good. We have done a TON of work in the creeping walk to the creeping trot, working on keeping him in his body/more like a rectangle. His tendency is to basically lean forward until he's about to fall over, like a rhombus, and then his legs pick up the trot to catch his balance. But in working on this, we lost the big, brilliant medium walk he has. He is now ready to do both, go from a prowling medium walk to a collected trot without compromising his balance in either. 

Slow walking = trail ride only

I also needed to keep his neck long but my reins shorter, the length of his neck coming from the base lifting, not from the reins being long. Right now I put him so far out that he has no choice but to keep his neck long at the base, which has been helpful for getting him uncoiled. But he does need to continue to lift his neck at the base as he shortens his frame, since that will be required for collection. 

At first I was like... I do not want to shorten his neck... but luckily the barn has mirrors so I kept looking over and what I felt was borderline too short was actually SUPER WEAK AND LONG. So that's good for me to note. It now feels much shorter than it is. 

Still though, there were moments where this felt precarious. I don't want to go backwards, so I'll be taking video and experimenting a bit. What is the optimal rein length to maximize him lifting through the base of his neck? We'll find out! 

Neck is quite long lol, I like it though! But I get
what she was saying

In the trot to walk transition, I was to keep him in front of the leg and up through his thoracic sling and poll. I have a tendency to basically let him stop the hind legs and dump a bit into the walk with his poll low. The fix was to keep him in a state of higher tone, which was tricky given that he's not carrying a lot of tension (positive or negative!) in his body. 

To me, this has been the main point of the last year. When he was in biomechanical failure, any tone became negative tension since it would just perpetuate that cycle due to the problematic movement patterns and which muscles he found easiest to carry tone in. Fixing it required me to take all of the tension out of him first, then to address the movement patterns so that he would understand what to engage when moving, then to build those (good) muscles up so that they were stronger than the (bad) muscles he was using before. 

Now though, we need to add tone in order to encourage collection in the trot. And we did! Every time we'd go to walk, if he didn't keep the tone, I was to push him out of it. This generally is one of my favorite exercises and we have been doing it quite a bit at home, but I was held more accountable for my tone and my timing. I can't just drop my tone as we go to walk, I have to hold the quality of the trot in my seat and core. In addition, keeping my core engaged also helped him stay out to contact, something that was an excellent test for whether he stayed balanced enough in the transition or not. 

So absurd

The trot to canter transition was probably our best transition. Honestly what the fuck? I mean, it hasn't been all that great at home necessarily, but it has been our main focus in the TCS so maybe that finally paid off. Or maybe he was like oh thank god if we canter, she'll stop wheezing in the sitting trot. Either way, there wasn't much to be said about it other than to watch that he wants to fold sideways to the left and pop his right shoulder.  

The canter to trot was also not bad. But different on each side. The right lead canter is so much more rideable for me, I think because the spinal integrity is so much easier for him, I don't have to manage it for him. He 

More where we want him, but to me I want his neck
the tiniest bit longer because of course I do

I was SO happy by the end of the lesson for so many reasons. 

First, TC feels AMAZING. He felt so good in his body and so good in his mind. He felt genuinely pleased to be out and doing the thing again, going for a trailer ride, having a human sitting in a chair telling me to ride better, being told he was brilliant, and going home again. His gaits have never felt better, like they've been bigger but they've never been more supple or more cadenced. We will develop the big gaits, but this time he'll be more rideable and happier than he was the last time we had the gaits amplified. 

Second, our relationship is unbelievably rock solid at this point and I didn't realize how palpable the difference was to me until we were put back into a location we'd been before we did all this work. The last time we were at this facility taking a lesson, I was a mess and he was a mess and we were completely disconnected from one another. In this lesson, it felt like we were completely connected and so much more in tune with one another. 

Still time for Friday night music even
with my crazy schedule

Third, it was so much fun to get someone else's eyes on him, a judge's eyes, and to see that I'm not insane. In the last year, I've had just a few lessons, and the vast majority of those have been on the bodywork-type stuff, not real nitty gritty dressage. I sometimes wonder if I've really gone off the deep end and if what I'm doing is even recognizable as dressage, but having her verify that he actually looks really amazing for a dressage horse was great. What I'm working on is right on track with what he needs to be comfortable in his body AND to be a good dressage horse. I didn't realize how much I needed that validation to keep going with my weird shit, but I did! 

Fourth, it was really nice to chat with someone about the prospect of showing again. I feel like I'm so far away from showing at this point. Both because we literally have been doing like... Training and First level work for so long that we have probably lost our changes and many other movements, but also because I feel a little weird about it. Being able to talk to her about showing and why we show was so nice. I left with the feeling that if I do show again, it'll be for the ritual, the experience of preparing for a show, practicing my test, braiding, showing, unbraiding, and going home. She reassured me that the comments don't have to be accurate, the score doesn't have to be what I think it should be, that there are other reasons to show. 

Reasons to show: the horse loves it

We'll definitely be going back! I don't know when, since it's a solid 3/4 day to get over there and back and ride the pony, but it's definitely worth doing at least once a month I think. And now we decide what to do in the mean time... I'm rather afraid of momentum since that's what got us trapped before. But I think I've got a good idea of how I'm going to implement some of these changes into the work I'm already doing that is working so well. Stay tuned! Or, well, stay tuned and also hope that my job allows me to post more! 

Wrap Around the Inside Leg

On Wednesday, I had a lesson with my old trainer! Since our last lesson, we'd been working hard on getting TC to stretch to the left rein and also working on our transitions so that TC doesn't fall apart during them. I mentioned the transitions to trainer but she was wanting to revisit the lateral work again, which was fine, really. I can do the transitions on my own. 

The balance is getting better I think

We began in trot and chatted about TC's low-tone-ness and how he's lucky to have me, a high tone rider, which I thought was funny. He does tend to want to melt into the ground sometimes. She was happy with how he looked in trot though, so we popped into canter. 

Trainer's main complaint about TC right now is that he doesn't split his hind legs enough, a theme for him (and anything with an ounce of friesian blood it seems). The split of the hind legs is how far in front of the outside hind leg the inside hind leg lands in the second beat of the canter. Friesians tend to land too soon with their inside hind leg and when you collect that, they get together behind and lack correct rhythm. New trainer's technique for more split was to basically gallop him over the ground, which did get him more split but it took him out of collection. She wants to develop the split without losing the collection, which was much harder but the canter we got out of it was AMAZING. 

Shoulder-in

She put us on a 12-15m circle tracking left and noted that TC got a little over his right shoulder in addition to not having as much split as she wanted. This also took him out of the collection, so she had me bring his shoulders in on the circle and ask him to glance outward, not counter flex but not flexed inward either. From there, I was to ride his neck long and focus on the connection on the inside rein. 

The change in the canter was immediate and the only thing I could say was "I can SIT this canter" and explained to Trainer that TC doesn't always want me sitting on his left lead. I really felt like I was on his outside edge and Trainer's directions were to "keep his outside shoulder under himself" which I know didn't mean keep it on the ground too long (longitudinally) but instead it meant keep his right shoulder under him laterally and in front of the left hind leg. 

To the right, the changes weren't as apparent to me because I can sit on him no matter what in that direction. I've been working my ass off getting better plugged in in the canter because I tend to unplug when he gets behind my leg or props. She complimented my seat when I told her that I could sit on him better in this direction, which was really nice to hear. She said that I had no cheese wedge and that even she struggles with her cheese wedge! I've always struggled with it so it was nice to hear that I was doing a good job with that.

Starting to put on some muscle finally!

She then surprised me again by asking to see his changes. Unfortunately, TC is very picky about the canter he wants to change out of and this canter was unacceptably collected for it, so we had two clean but proppy changes. She just kept telling me they were clean which I thought was funny, she said we'd work on them later. I told her that I'd refresh his memory of them and get them a little better on my aids (we haven't done that many since August) and then I'd love some help. 

From there, she asked to see canter half pass! What! I came into my lesson wanting help on the canter to trot transition and she was the one pushing ME along. My how the times have changed. 

The canter half pass felt fabulous (probably because I was surprised it happened because we also haven't schooled it since August) but she wanted him to be more wrapped around my inside leg, my main issue in half pass that I taught TC. She then taught me the exact same lesson I gave one of my clients recently, half pass to the quarterline, then leg yield back to the rail. It definitely helped get TC more on my aids but I don't know how much it helped get him wrapped around my inside leg. I think I need someone to get on him and put their pattern on him because even if I ride it properly, I'm sure TC feels my "fuck this movement" and is like "maybe not this then" lol! 

The smiliest and most obedient

From there, we went to the trot and did some shoulder-in and half pass. Bend was a theme there too (I hate half pass) so we did a lot of shoulder-in to half pass to shoulder-in and throwing in 10m circles before and during the movements. It definitely got better and her reminders to keep pressing his neck forward and out away from me was really great. He's the kind of horse who gets shorter and shorter and shorter in the neck the more he does, so I think I need to implement some new techniques in our test riding. Mainly, ride a movement, lengthen the neck, ride a movement, lengthen the neck, and so on. 

Overall, it was a great lesson and I was glad that she pushed us a little bit. I still ended up working on transitions today, but it was good to get her eyes on some of our actual Third level stuff. I'd like to start gathering scores for All Breeds and Championships in early April, so we have like five or six weeks until our first show of the year. 

Our next lesson is this weekend! But not with this trainer, we are riding in a cavalletti clinic and I'm so excited for that for so many reasons. Fingers crossed it goes well! 

Confusing Myself with Two Philosophies

I discovered that as of October 1st, I'd only had fifteen lessons in 2020. Sure, the global pandemic has made things *challenging* but I told myself at the beginning of this year that I'd take way more lessons. And I haven't. Ugh. But it's okay, it means I can go a little nuts this fall without feeling guilty at least! 

So, on Wednesday of last week, I had another lesson with Tracey. 

Once again, it was very different from my lesson with Tanya, but still useful, although this ride-with-two-very-different-trainers thing is starting to bug me. So, like a crazy person, I have scheduled two lessons with yet another trainer to talk to her about these things (and because she's been my friend/mentor/someone I look up to for the last 10+ years) this weekend. 

But, THIS lesson. 

This is not from the lesson but a couple days after

Tracey watched me warm up and didn't yell at me for walking too fast, so that was good. I rode as much of my typical Tanya warm up as possible - lots of bending exercises and lateral work, lots of forward and back. I have to hand it to TC, he is getting way better in that work and comes out more and more through each day, it definitely makes me feel like SOMETHING is working? Who knows what at this point though. 

Her main feedback in the beginning is to make sure I come back enough in my forward and back. That I'm too quick to shoot him off and not quick enough to half halt. Valid. I definitely feel better sending this horse over the ground (and horses in general, let's be honest) than putting him in collection. 

She also had me go a little less sideways in our leg yields for a little more balance, which was a good call because it did seem more effective that way. Given that my mantra leaving my Tanya lesson was "don't let her tell you these things again," I think we're doing well. Tanya is always saying more sideways and more forward, so next time I want to bring her a completely terrifyingly forward horse that won't go in any kind of a straight line. According to Tracey, I might have achieved this. 

Making sure it's tracking me lol

From there, she put us into canter and I instantly regretted doing it. He started out very behind me and when I put my leg on, I felt him prop behind, which is his first step toward bucking through an entire ride. I think this was in response to him getting worked somewhat hard the day before in canter in the covered arena. He hates cantering in that arena and it always makes him more behind the leg in the dressage court for some reason. 

We never really got it right. Tracey did not appreciate my way of dealing with it, but she didn't have a lot of ways to fix it other than telling me to not ask him to do anything that made him kick out. Okay. But he kicks out when I put my leg on and to me, a Third level horse scoring in the high 60s and low 70s should, I don't know, probably not kick out when I put my leg on. He does this about once a month and we just have a nice galloping day and he is committed to being in front of me for the next month. Vet has checked him out blah blah blah, it's just a thing we do. 

This set me on a rampage and I felt a little bad for getting frustrated at her. I challenged her when she said good, saying that it may look good, but I had no ability to ride him when I couldn't feel his hind legs. We had a discussion about how this might just be his conformation and maybe I just will never be able to feel his hind legs and I shot back that I could feel his hind legs just fine when he's got enough power. We honestly didn't end on a good note in the canter and I kind of want to stop writing about what a shit show it was. 

Stretching to contact like a good pony

Back in trot, I was probably a little too combative (with her, not TC, poor Tracey) after the canter. I basically said that I needed to feel his hind legs and that's all I wanted to work on. There's no point in riding this horse through movements without his hind legs because they're not going to be good and I'd already gotten a couple of digs about TC not being anywhere near ready for the level of collection required for Third level. Of course he's not showing the level of collection required, I have no hind legs. I made it very clear that when I have him in the right place, I've never not been able to ride a movement. There is even a canter I can get out of this horse where I could easily put a canter pirouette on him. I dunno, it felt kind of shitty to make proclamations to me when we've already proven that we have enough collection for Third level by scoring so well.

So we brought it way down and worked on half steps to collected trot to half steps. Tracey was impressed that TC knew his half steps and he was a good boy about coming back into them and stepping out of them. In this work, she had me think a lot about making my sit trot mechanic more vertical and said that she wanted him to be responsive to that. 

The change was great, he was way more engaged, way more collected, and seemed more softly responsive to the aids. He seemed to like it. But I couldn't shake the feeling that there was just no power in it. There's no way we move up the levels with respectable scores without power. So I asked Tracey, I like the trot, it's a nice trot, it feels good, he looks good... but it's not powerful, there's no medium trot living in it, there's a lot of floatiness but not a lot of digging into the ground and pressing upward/forward. She explained that he just needed time to gain the power in that posture/collection and I called it a day after that discussion. But I don't know, is collection attainable without impulsion? No. I wouldn't call what we got a trot with a lot of impulsion. But he did get more vertical in his chest and more upright in his front end, which is a better place for him to be and not where we get him with Tanya with his neck out like that. 

He looks downright SHORT in his back and that
inside hind leg is under my seat, whaaaaat, neither
trainer got him moving like this!

So at this point, I'm struggling with the two trainers with very different philosophies thing. All last week and weekend, I rode him a little softer and swingier than Tanya wanted, but with more energy than Tracey wanted. That seemed to be helpful (where these screenshots came from, the whole ride was like that on Friday) and I was happy with where he was. He was not as rideable as he is with Tanya, but his posture was much better. He was not as collected as he was with Tracey, but he is much more forward. You could say it was the best of both worlds or that it fell short of what both trainers want. 

If I had my pick, I'd take the power and responsiveness that Tanya provides us and combine it with the posture and collection that Tracey provides us. 

Basically, Tanya is willing to get his neck a little short and get him a little unloaded behind in order to get forward first, then we half halt to fix his neck. But I can't help thinking that I don't really ever want his neck short and his hind legs unloaded. And then on the other side, Tracey is willing to sacrifice the electric responsiveness to my aids (and therefore the power/energy) to get him in the right posture, then when he's strong there, we add the responsiveness back. But I can't help thinking that I don't really ever want him behind my leg or unresponsive. 

Hopefully my trainer friend will help me out this coming weekend. I think getting fresh eyes on him from someone who has been extraordinarily successful at all levels on off breeds and from someone who knows me so well (but not him, she only knew him as a 4yo) will be unbelievably helpful. Also as a bonus, she's fabulous at putting piaffe and passage on horses! So we'll be at least getting those half steps better developed. Fingers crossed she's the help I need!