I tried writing a few posts last week but just couldn't. Being in this weird place where sometimes I feel like we're getting somewhere with the throughness issue only to watch the same ride on video and know that something is still missing, well, it sucks.
Trainer came out on Thursday for her monthly clinic and fixed everything within ten minutes and then did her typical trainer thing like "okay what's the problem" and I obviously hate that. Even though I literally did it to a client earlier in the day. Hopped on her horse, fixed everything in one transition, horse was then perfect, rider gets back on and is like WHAT THE ACTUAL F- and I'm like "yeah I fail to see where the issue is" and then my trainer comes out, says five words to me and TC immediately is my dream horse.
 |
| These aren't from the lesson, he looked better in the lesson! |
I did pin her down and make her discuss more with me where she thinks I'm going wrong with this stuff. She gave me a protocol that I'm going to try to put to use this weekend and next week.
1) Gain access to his topline
2) Punch through with power
3) Half halt for engagement
I've been doing a lot of #2 and #3. In fact, she was really happy with TC's canter, yelling at me to half halt/slow down for basically the first time ever.
It's the first one that is the current issue. TC gives me no access to his topline (just in general, imagine riding on the top of a Zamboni with most of the screws loose and you'll know what he's like to ride) so when I try to punch through with power, he just gets more rigid.
Now, if he were an inherently heavy horse, I'd notice it way more, but he feels gooey by default so you think he's soft over his topline. So when he gets rigid, he just feels like he's IN the bridle, which is what we want, right? RIGHT? But no, that's TC's version of leaning.
So to gain access to his topline, I have to get him more laterally supple, hence her insistence that we do more lateral work in our last conversation. This time, we just worked on a large circle and moved his body around and even moved his neck around a little bit (I was mildly horrified, I'm not a move the neck around kind of person), trying to gain access to his topline so I could cycle energy through it properly.
 |
| Rigidity <> good weight in the reins |
Then it's just a matter of doing what I already know how to do, but pushing it well beyond where I normally push it in the trot. I'm happy to positively gallop this horse and the canter only feels good after I do, but the trot feels pretty decent even when he's just kind of bopping around.
From there, I just coil him up and he's good to go. It literally takes ten minutes and then I have that horse the rest of my ride. We couldn't even walk him on a loose rein to get him to go back to normal. Once I help him out that first time, he's committed to going like that. He likes it, his little ears push forward and he gets all proud of himself. THEN WHY DON'T YOU DO IT ON YOUR OWN FRIEND? I could use an ounce of help from him, I really could.
We went on in the lesson to work on the canter half passes and lead changes. His changes were great until she stumped him by having me do them down the long side and then on a serpentine. He's only schooled them twice since August so I was expecting a shit storm there. She wants me to be quicker with my aid from right to left and that messed me up big time. We did get it by the end and he did feel way better in them, so I'm currently evaluating everything I know about lead changes right now.
The half passes rode perfectly because he was where he needed to be to be able to do them. He's honestly a stellar horse when he's like this. I SEE the Prix St George around the corner. The path is so clear to me when he gets in that place. Then the Grand Prix, it's pretty clear too, not as clear, but it's there past a few more plateaus and setbacks.
 |
| It's sweet but it's boring |
After the lesson, she set up her Pixio and we tested it out, it worked perfectly well. That confirms that mine must be broken, so it is going back to France for them to fix. Honestly, the company has been shit to work with so I don't have high hopes for this. I want to get it fixed and then I might just sell it. She has had a lot of luck with her Pixio and so that's temping (although it's the same company, and I don't really want to give them more of my money). At this point, I'm thinking of just having someone video me for lessons until Pivo Meet is good enough for lessons, although the idea of having to find someone to video me AND work not only between her schedule and mine, but also the third person's schedule? Tough. So for now, I'm assuming that remote lessons are not a possibility.
Knowing this, she and I talked after my lesson and we both concluded that I needed more lessons to get past this hump. No remote lesson possibilities means traveling to her barn. It's nearly a 2 hour drive in a car from my barn. It'll be a 2.5+ hour haul. Over a bridge too. What a pain.
As I drove home, I started to second guess that thought. Drive TC all the way up there a bunch? I'm spoiled in that the farthest I've really travelled for lessons was a little over an hour. More than twice that? And multiple times a month? Plus having to give up days that I could be teaching and making money to spend a whole bunch of money? Ugh. There has to be another way. But I haven't found one yet. I know she can help us fix all this and I know it's not a permanent thing, but I felt rather reluctant.
 |
| Not supple enough, not inflated enough |
I talked to Kate about this, Kate is my favorite person to talk to about walls I keep running myself into. She asked me, what am I afraid of, what makes me afraid to commit to TC as my future FEI horse and do whatever it takes to get us there?
I did that with Rico. I was so hungry. I spent every penny on him and even went into a little bit of debt getting us to my Gold medal. Now I've gotten softer, I am way more reluctant to spend money on lessons and clinics and things that I know will guarantee that I'll get back in the shadbelly next year. And why?
Money and time, I said. I know he can do it, I know I can do it, I know how to get us there. It's a matter of just gritting my teeth, spending the money that I carefully save now, taking the time that I cherish, and making TC's FEI career a priority. So that's what we're doing. Hopefully it doesn't backfire on us!
