Leslie Morse Clinic Notes

[StraightForward]

Hope something here is helpful to others!

Piaffe (ground assist to rider on a ~4th level horse) helpful to start on a circle, don't overbend. This helps with diagonalization. Don't overbend - ride forward into piaffe. Too many people make the piaffe about coming backwards.

Canter/FC - make sure to keep the neck forward and out, shoulders straight. Once the change is there, expect it and focus on the quality. Don't continue to exaggerate aids to get the change. It is better to be more UP than side to side. Don't run, stay on the hind legs.

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1st/2nd level very compliant 5 year old mare - Rhythm comes first - own the rhythm!

Ride the neck at the natural position, and then ride the body around that. Make sure the bend into the outer rein happens without changing the tempo (this was a theme throughout, no change in tempo and rhythm).

Don't rush a growing horse into an uphill balance. Do simple stuff if they are ahead in training. We want horses that are at GP for 8-9 years and sound, not breaking down their first year at GP because they were rushed.

Swing the hips at the walk and take the neck down - touch with the whip to get the overtrack. Low neck is OK in medium walk in a test at this level. Concentrate on quality of the neck stretch - look for the neck bulging on the sides (this is what Jillian Kreinbring calls the "breadbox" muscle).

The canter needs to have a rolling quality - walk and reestablish the bend as much as needed. Don't keep cantering if the horse isn't around the inside leg.

Don't cheat and cover up mistakes at home - if you do that, in the show ring you have nowhere to go. Home is for making mistakes.

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Fancy 8 year old that was "fried" in German stallion testing, so showing TL at 8:

Alter the circle to maintain the connection if you must - (the connection is fragile with this horse)

Establish the connection of your dreams in the warmup.

Your tricep is part of your core, was it pertains to the outside rein. Don't float it out and give it away.

She had riders turn onto the diagonal for one step, and then do a long LY across the diagonal - Make sure the trot stays the same, you stay the same, let the exercise do the work.

Don't produce the trot right now - save the fanciness for the passage.

Counter flection - think of 1/100th of a degree to the outside of the horse's knee to straighten and allow the IH through (I started using this immediately and it is magic)

Create one warmup and do it every time, horses need routine (I think she meant all in general, but probably this one especially).

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PSG horse ridden by a GP trainer:

Use your ankles to hold him up in the C/W transition. Think of a little piaffe, don't take the ankles away.

Keep rein/hand up in the neck to control impulsion coming through from the belly (she mentioned Carl Hester here several times)

When something unplanned happens, ride like you asked for it and keep going.

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Other notes:

Sit very lightly into the down transitions. I thought I was, but when she had me post all the way down into the T/W transition, T's poll stayed up and the walk quality was better right away. I'll work towards that feeling without visibly posting.

Use the whip where your leg goes, not farther back. This made a big difference when I used it on Annabelle tonight. No shortage of tapping to keep the walk marching.

Zero tolerance for getting behind the leg/tempo - tap with the whip, use it like you mean it if there is a serious stall out. She recommended I get a FlexiWhip, which I'm about to go buy - I think SmartPak has them. Tempo needs to stay the same through corners, change of bend, and lateral work. "She should be taking you out to lunch and paying the bill!"

Cantering in a W/T transition is a behind the leg issue - gallop forward, and then do it again.

Rubber bits - she recommended them for me and the horse that was brain fried from the stallion testing. I've ordered a Bomber's that doesn't have a joint, but flexes at the middle.

Circles - keep looking around the circle to the next letter (duh) keep the hands up into the neck and coming around the corner.

C/T transitions - slide a bit to the outside and use the outside rein in the transition. Don't tighten the knees and thighs so much (this worked so well, T can get all scrambly in her C/T transition and this helped a lot!)

Walking - make sure it is all just swinging through the hips - no gyrating side to side or rocking forward/back with the shoulders. I found this difficult!

Keep the shoulders back like you've been stabbed between the shoulder blades and have blood running down your back.

Stirrups - she had a few of us go up a hole or two.

Ride every step - don't freeze in the transitions.

[zevida]

Keep the shoulders back like you've been stabbed between the shoulder blades and have blood running down your back.

This is funny!

The other day my trainer told me to sit up like I’m the Queen of England and that really helped! I have better posture and keep my chin up and stretch my legs down. But yours is more entertaining

[mari]

Create one warmup and do it every time, horses need routine (I think she meant all in general, but probably this one especially).

I've found one that works on my lazy horse, and I've been sticking with it for a few years now. Sometimes we ride some slight variations, but it really boosts his brain into "forward" mode if he knows exactly what to do and can anticipate.

Thanks for the notes, I always love reading clinic details <3

[Chisamba]

Do you all agree on the warmup routine? I purposefully change my warmup because sometimes you go to a show and cannot follow the routine because of time between rides or something unexpected. So I try my best to give them preparation for those type of situations. I also after try to warm up in one place and school in another, for the same reason. Also I have a different warm up theme in hot weather and cold weather.
I wonder if wild horses follow a routine. Ooh it's eight o clock I need to be at the third rock to the west to spook at a shadow. I'm sorry Mr predator I cannot run now it's time for my 5 o clock neck scratch.



Behavioral analysis shows that horses cannot tell time, they are triggered not by time but by human routine . they don't need to be fed at the same time every day, they actually need free choice long feed at least 75% of the time. I've gone to barns with routines. The horses are frantic as soon as the routine begins, banging buckets kicking doors. I try very hard to have feed and supplements dispensed and made hours ahead of time and once start feeding, I get it out as quickly and quietly as possible. Then I sit and listen to the sound of happy horses eating.

I think, I suppose, that it's not a good idea to follow too much of a routine, I believe in hacking, hill walk, trail riding, poles and cones, I have found horses put too much into routine mode suffer too much stress if that has to change for any reason. Horses accustomed to a flexible schedule accept change more naturally. Be it daily schedule, turnout, or riding. As always jmho. One also has to weigh that she is a hell of a lot more successful than I have been . I must have been doing it wrong Lol

[StraightForward]

Chisamba, she didn't talk about hacking out or crosstraining. I think it is more setting the horse up for the dressage work, not that they can't go ride across a field without doing their perfect warmup first. And I agree that it's not always possible to do the same thing if there are other riders, different arena sizes, etc. I think she was emphasizing it for this horse because it was pretty fried and needed to build confidence (he had a fairly impressive meltdown the second day).

[blob]

Do you all agree on the warmup routine?

I think it depends on the horse. i credit a very consistent warmup routine to helping RP settle down. He does not do well with the new or the unknown. I do the same warm up with him always, not because it's an esp great warmup, but because it is something he knows and it gives him reassurance. This means I can go to a new environment and do the same 2-3 things in a row and he instantly relaxes because even if many things are new, I am providing him with a constant. It is not an elaborate warm up, just a few things repeated in order.

I don't do the same warm up with MM and it's probably better that I don't. She gets bored easily and doesn't put much effort into anything she can predict or anticipate. But the objective of my warm up with her is always the same--get her sharp on my aids, get her mentally engaged/jazzed up, get her changing her body position. In order to meet the objective of getting her mentally engaged, I have to mix things up.

[zevida]

I prefer to mix-up the warm-up routine from a set of typical exercises we would do. I don't like my horse to be anticipating. But I can agree that for a nervous horse or who is fried that consistency and predictability of the warm-up could be really valuable.

[mari]

Do you all agree on the warmup routine?

I'll elaborate a bit to explain my reasoning for my horse. There is a very specific exercise that I start with on dressage arena days (lessons or schooling by myself). It's an exercise where he anticipates a prompt upwards transition, and he knows it well enough that he snaps into an enthusiastic trot at the points where he knows to. For a slightly lazier horse, it is magical. Something about this initial anticipation (where it is sort of HIS idea to be forward) then carries through into a much more cruising and forward ride the whole rest of the ride.

But then after those first 4 or 5 minutes, we do a warmup that is geared as prep for whatever we want to work on that day, and that varies ride by ride.
And of course in jumping lessons we warm up as a group. But I can definitely feel the lag in trot work on those days

[StraightForward]

It is funny, now that Tesla seems to have "woken up" I was told to trot slower in the warmup in my jumping lesson this weekend. I never thought I'd see the day! So I guess at this point I'd say warmup approaches need to change if the horse changes.

[Chisamba]

Forward ( prompt response to leg,) slowly is a huge step up straightforward. Well done

[StraightForward]

I didn't watch the full clinic like last time, but jotting notes about my own ride since I've had some time to digest but hopefully not forget.

For now, ride with wider hands, about the width of my hips or the horse's shoulders to prevent wiggly evasions out the side. However, keep the contact.

Do not give up the contact was probably the thing I was told the most. The triceps are part of the core; keep them in and back. Don't give up contact in the stretch. I need to get T stretching into the contact.

With her, she is too light, so I'm looking almost for some heaviness at this point, getting her FDO.

Maintain the bend in the transitions. Don't allow a moment of straightness and then try to bend again after the change of gait.

Keep pushing out on the circle. Fat circles, no skinny circles!

Keep the thigh loose in the downward transition.

Walking - keep the shoulders still. Make the walk slow.

Control the speed. More energy does not mean quicker. Control the tempo in all gaits without losing the energy.

Dressage takes tons of focus. Ride a few minutes with intention, and take a walk break before you lose focus. Ride a few good steps and build upon it.

If a horse is behind the leg, they need to get HOT to the leg. Doesn't matter if they have to gallop off and have a fit a few times. Get an electric reaction from a little whip tap right behind the leg. Don't accept the horse telling you to F-off.

Use lots of LY across the diagonal, being careful of the alignment. Take one step off the rail like a diagonal, and then turn it into a LY with the horse looking at the letter you'll arrive at. Don't go too sideways and watch that the hips don't trail or lead.

[StraightForward]

Video from our ride with Leslie today. She felt T was doing much, much better. She had me put her deeper and rounder while maintaining contact. I'm glad I have the video, because it felt like I had her lower and deeper than she actually was. She suggested shoulder stretches, as basically the hind end is working in the canter now, but she's tight in front and needs to get the front end out of the way. I was doing the shoulder stretches and slacked off over winter. Riding again tomorrow, so I'll start out with this in the warmup and see where she has us go from there. Also going to shim the right side of my saddle as it was slipping to the right but more at the cantle so that my right foot looked lower and she had me shorten that stirrup, so I was riding around with one shorter leg, which perhaps was necessary if the saddle was so off-kilter.

https://youtu.be/q2zJpXCbm_c

[StraightForward]

We had another solid ride this morning. It was cool and breezy, and T was a little more wound up but only did a couple little spooks. Leslie had me thinking more tailbone towards the ears in the walk while keeping the upper body still to get more swing forward and less side to side. That was admittedly something my body did not want to cooperation with, but I was starting to get it and could see the walk improving. Most of the ride was again focusing on getting her rounder in a lower neck position and being more insistent about maintaining contact, especially through the transitions, and not giving up my position. So simple, but difficult details! I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how T responds to the work in this frame, as she absolutely looks looser in her back at the trot. My SoloShot tag lost its charge, so I just have static video from today, so I might edit it and upload some bits later on since it doesn't capture the entire arena.