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It seems that no sooner have I made some progress in my cantering, when something happens, and I find myself right back at square one. No, I didn’t fall off or get hurt. It’s worse. Shaking my head. So, much worse than that. Still shaking my head. I rode a different lesson horse. Shiver. The sensitive one. Now, I don’t know about you, but I suffer from New Horse Syndrome. It’s an affliction that can render me incapable of cantering. Walk, trot, no problem. Bucking, piece of cake. Canter? I don’t think so.
Fast Forward
Pick up a 20-meter circle at C. Make sure she’s connected and moving forward. Okay
Canter when you’re ready. Can’t, er, what?….not ready.
Take a deep breathe and ground your feet in the stirrups. Tense. Stretching inside leg downwards.
Asking for canter. Yuck! Bad.
You may need to very lightly touch her with your whip. WHAT! whip???…nu-huh…not happening.
Okay, sit and canter when you’re ready. Trying. Squeezing with legs…death grip…can’t…open hips…can’t, er, what?
Bleeeech!
Remember use talking, breathing legs. Don’t grip! Ha…can’t…control…it.
Asking again. Falling forward. Deep breathe. Push her into it. Breaking stride. Lost it!
Trust yourself and your balance! Don’t…trust…her.
Asking again. Sit back. Move hips.
Hips to hand! Lost it. Aaaaaargh! What’s wrong with me!
Don’t worry about it. This is your first lesson on this horse. You have the same cantering issues every time. You don’t know her or trust her. This is the best riding I’ve seen you do, ever, or in a long time. In a trot you kept her connected on a circle, around the arena, and across the diagonal! (More on this later.) You should be happy! How do you feel?
I’m frustrated and on the verge of tears!
What?! Why? What are you frustrated about?
I can’t control my body! My arms. My legs. Sniff.
For what it’s worth you looked great!
……………………………
I need to push myself outside of my comfort zone in order to become a real dressage rider. Only then will I be able to canter up to the next level. No one ever said that this journey would be an easy one.
One canter stride forward and two strides back.
(Disclaimer: In my defense I seem to have carried some emotional baggage into this lesson. I was very emotional before it even started and in a blue funk all week. Don’t know why so I’m blaming it all on menopause. Thanks for the pep talk Mom!)
In a perfect world I would be able to clearly communicate with my school horse. She would understand my requests and comply without resistance or hesitation. In turn I’d be able to understand her actions and behaviors. We would find ourselves riding toward partnership, trust and understanding. Packed away at the bottom of my tack trunk would be all the moments of confusion and frustration. Long forgotten.
Perfect. Sigh.
This just in! Be on the look out!
Reports are pouring in that there’s been a tack trunk break! Confusion and Frustration have escaped! They have been known to frequent riding stables, leaving riders confused and frustrated. Do not approach them! If seen report their presence to your trainer.
Oh, no! During an unguarded moment Confusion and Frustration made a break for it. They hightailed it out of that musty old tack trunk in search of greener pastures. In the ensuing months I’ve caught glimpses of them lurking near our indoor. Watching riders fumble through movements with unmistakable glee.
I’ve made several attempts to harness them and put them back where they belong. I swear that no sooner have I grasped one when the other jumps upon my back further disrupting the clarity of my communication. I am determined to bridge the gap they forge between Horse and Human. To achieve this goal I’ve hired a translator. She has been immersed in the Horse culture and language since childhood. We will concentrate on the Horse dialect Dressage.
Human to Horse
Impulsion = Non-existent until scary monsters are seen in every shadow.
Canter = “can’t, er, what?”
Free walk = time to leave the arena and munch some grass
Medium walk = more rare then medium
As you can see I have a lot of homework to do.
Wait a minute! Stop the presses!
Deep breath
I’ve been leg yielding for quite some time but it still boggles my mind that in posting trot it’s done on the wrong diagonal! Gasp! Let me reiterate…wrong diagonal, that’s right, errr make that correct.
THE. WRONG. DIAGONAL.
I’m sorry but do you have any idea how long it took me to learn to trot on the correct diagonal? (Especially on the left.) So, imagine my horror when I discovered that I have to leg yield on the wrong diagonal!
I can’t seem to do it. Total mental block.
And this is considered a basic dressage movement! (Well maybe not so basic. It’s a First Level movement which is about all I can handle right now.) Why do I have to think so hard about it? How many times will I need to do it before it becomes second nature?
Wait, don’t answer that. I don’t think I really want to know. I don’t own a horse so it could take me years!
To leg yield or not leg yield that is the question
Yesterday I rode our dressage school master and my lesson focused on leg yielding from the quarterline to the rail. Not only am I working to supple my horse but I’m working on the coordination of my aids. Something that I seem to lack. Sigh.
If I’m not totally there with my aids the horse will only travel forward or diagonally. He won’t be straight and there won’t be any crossing over of the horse’s legs.
I usually started off rough but ended successfully.
I was exhausted!
Jane Savoie has an excellent video. I haven’t found any other articles that relate to doing this at a posting trot.
Hey! Did anyone go to the NEDA Fall Festival?
You were there?!
How come you didn’t introduce yourself? I was there.
Huh? Where was I?
I was in the Awards tent, running tests for Ring 5 and the VIP tent.
You must’ve seen me. I was wearing a blue shirt and khakis.
What? Oh, I’m blonde…ish.
Are you sure you didn’t see me?
Hmmm…I was walking around the VIP tent with a dog.
No? You saw a lot of dogs, huh?
Oh. You saw a lot of volunteers.
Well, did you see the dog that ran through Ring 1 during Cindi Rose Wylie’s Grand Prix?
Yeah, that dog.
Some of the spectators brought the dog into the VIP tent and I became the dog sitter. I walked around looking for an owner but I think they were embarrassed. Maybe trying to dodge the fine.
Nice dog. People were upset though.
Why? Oh, well she was wearing a pinch collar. You know how people get. I figure it’s there for a reason. I use one on my Lab.
Her name? Maggie. We re-united them in the show office.
The rider? What about her?
Oh, no nothing happened. No ear twitching, shying…nothing. I hear things like this happen to her all the time.
Do you remember me now?
Lars Petersen
I served French Toast to Lars Petersen and Melissa Taylor! Sadly, I didn’t even know it was Lars until Melissa called him by name. Sigh. People just don’t look the same unmounted. Shrug.
Okay, I admit it! I didn’t even know who Melissa was until just now. She was very pleasant and said that Lars would talk to me if I’d like. Even pose for a photo. I didn’t want to impose, VIP tent and all. Chicken, bock, bock!
I also stood just feet away from Cesar Parra! He and Olympia won the Prix St. Georges, Intermediaire I and Freestyle giving them a hat trick! As a volunteer at the NEDA Fall Festival I saw so many lovely rides!
I spent an entire day running dressage tests in the pouring rain. At one point I noticed that my rubber rain boots had sprung a leak. I was squishing as I walked, errrr ran tests to the show office. I was cold, wet and miserable. Then I found myself teetering on the edge…of a large puddle of course. I looked over at my fellow runner who was also contemplating the puddle.
“I know you want to.”
Silly grin.
“Come on. On the count of three. 1 – 2 – 3.”
Splash
Splash, splash, splash
Splash to the right
Splash center
Splash to the left
I leapt into the puddle. The teen didn’t. He just grinned at the water logged woman who had apparently lost her mind.
I continued to splash.
“Hey! Whatcha doing down there? That’s toooooo far down.”
I had finally won the “yes, ma’am” fight and gotten my horse to round but in seconds flat she had turned the tables on me. She was dropping her poll even lower and curling in behind the bit!
Not fair!
Of course my reaction was to lift my hands up. Bad! Logical but bad!
This only seemed to encourage her more. Like she really needed any more encouragement.
My instructor caught me out of the corner of her eye, “Don’t pull her up. Ride her up from behind.”
Right. Toothpaste!
I continued to trot around the arena chatting, “toothpaste, toothpaste.” Send her forward.
She got it quickly enough and started carrying herself. It was beautiful.
When I moved to my current barn and instructor I was honest about my riding ability. I told her that I could walk, trot and canter. My cantering wasn’t that great and don’t even get me started regarding the sitting trot! I was looking to change disciplines from hunter/jumper to dressage but most importantly, I needed fine-tuning and refinement. You know what I’m talking about, all that…minutia. The stuff that makes an average dressage rider into a dressage diva!
And that’s how my journey began.
We started by tweaking my posting trot. Wait a minute…did I say tweaking? Make that a major overhaul! It felt as though I needed to relearn everything!
To begin with I needed to change my upper body position. Less forward tilting and more of a vertical dressage alignment. In the downward part of the posting trot I was staying in the saddle too long and landing a wee bit too hard. This was putting me behind the motion. To fix this I was to just touch the saddle and then rise upwards. My mantra became “touch, you’re up, touch, you’re up.” In the upward position, I needed to think hips to hands and imagine that a string was attached to the top of my helmet pulling me upwards. Open and close my hips. If you don’t fully open your hips in the rise you won’t get the forward.
Then there was my back end to consider. You know…the junk in my trunk. We all have a natural arch in the small of our back but I had a habit of increasing the arch by sticking out my bum. That meant I was riding on my crotch. Ow! I needed to tuck my bum under me as I was sitting and rising. This would help flatten my back and ensure that I was riding in balance and on my seat bones. I spent a lot of time riding around the arena with my arm in the small of my back and a hand at my hip joint.
During this time we also worked on my canter. The funny thing is that I was stronger and better in the corners then I was on the straights. I know why too. I felt more precarious on the scary corners so I sat deeper determined not to fall off. The biggest change I had to make was opening and closing my hips. My mantra become “grow tall on the up, close on the down.” This also helped me keep my bum in the saddle. “I don’t want to see any air or daylight!” The other change was not to fall behind the vertical. I had to imagine a wall behind me so that my upper body would stay with the motion. Then there was my tendency to go fetal with my legs. I needed to relax my thighs. When I was remind my leg would drop about 2 inches! No more lost stirrups! I was also throwing myself off balance by bringing my outside leg back too far to give the canter cue. Who knew? She did. My biggest breakthrough moment was when my instructor said, “you have great balance, trust yourself.”
Trust yourself.
Powerful words.
Now I’m beginning to see and feel the rewards for this fine-tuning and refinement. My trot work has really come along and my canter! I’m finally starting to feel plugged in! At least on the left lead. Still working on transferring all this good stuff onto the right lead.
Please join me on the next leg of my journey.
Vacation, <sigh> I really needed a vacation and there’s nothing better then staying at a resort that provides a lot of activities and allows dogs! The Basin Harbor Club in Vergennes, Vermont has it all!
Their activities are plentiful and include a golf course, pool, Lake Champlain, kayaking, tubing, bicycles, hiking, tennis, and kid camps. Unfortunately, this meant that we had a lot of stuff to pack.
My riding helmet, tall boots, gloves and socks were quickly added to my pile in hopes that an area dressage instructor would be able to fit me into her schedule. Then the clothing. Warm and cold weather stuff. (This is the Green Mountains after all.) Hmmm, a rain coat, swim suit (Ha! Like I’ll be wearing that!), shoes and toiletries. Oh, can’t forget my computer. I need to reply to post comments in a timely manner. Ah, bug spray, sunscreen and a camera. Done!
Now for the girls, their food, dishes, toys, leashes, clean up bags, grooming brush and we’re off!
I had to talk my husband out of packing the kayak, 3 bikes and his golf bag. Please! Where would all the stuff go? We’re going on vacation not moving! Luckily all these things are available for rent at the resort. We compromised and brought my son’s BMX bike and 3 golf clubs for my husband.
We were about half way to the resort when it hit me. I forgot something.
Let’s see…
coffee maker turned off? check
dogs? check
bicycle? check
bicycle helmets? check
riding stuff? … hmmm
helmet? check
gloves? check
tall boots? check
socks? check
riding breeches? … RIDING BREECHES!
I can’t believe I forgot to pack my riding breeches! How will anyone take me seriously if I show up for a lesson decked out in all my dressage finery wearing jeans? Visions of chaffing dance in my head. Not that I haven’t ridden in jeans but…
As luck would have it I didn’t hook up with the instructor. She doesn’t have any lesson horses. Ah, well maybe I’ll get a riding fix next time.
