Spring Awakening: March/April Goals and Progress

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Exvet- I would be dang happy with a 65 at 3-3 and 4-3. It sounds like Junior is making steady progress so that's really exciting. Abc the saddle does sound promising.

Trot sounds fun, we need more photos!

SF, fingers crossed for the shoes helping!

I'm hoping to have a lesson today if my daughter isn't sick ... She was complaining about a scratchy throat last night. Worrisome since I'm still getting over a respiratory virus. The clinic is tomorrow so would be wonderful to get a ride in the day before....
My husband said he'd help with our daughter if she's very sick so I can still make the clinic tomorrow.

[exvet]

Working on getting some pictures. I definitely miss having my number one groom/photog who moved to North Carolina around the first of the year so I had to buy pictures from the professional photog they booked for the show. She did a really nice job. While waiting for the ones I ordered, I noticed that (a) have I aged LOL and (b) Junior's contact and maintaining him on the bit though at times not always 'perfect' as in happy was so much more consistent than it's been in shows past. Will post them when I receive them.

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Exvet, my post definitely auto corrected "Troy" to "trot." But I definitely want to see show photos of Junior and photos of Troy too. Lol!! It sounds like there actually has been a lot of progress with Junior and I'm eager to see! Your perseverance is really inspiring and sounds like it is paying off.

I did end up having my lesson, my daughter just rode her lease bareback for an easy ride (although she said he was quite hot today lol.) We started outside but again, it got WAY to windy so we were forced inside. They were doing construction to the barn but Lynx was very zen today. His canter was funky left lead on the lunge but wonderful going right. Now I have not cantered him in a long time , just my trainer, as I was trying to not interfere and have the amateur rider part in the mix. But today just felt right so we did a few strides of canter. He had a wonderful prompt transition and I'm glad we did it! I do still have a lot of respiratory gunk so I'm not sure how the clinic will go tomorrow. I'm hoping we can focus more on details in more of a quality over quantity type way tomorrow. I really do think his stifles are due so he has an appointment next week to get them reinjected. Besides the canter, he feels great. And the quality of the canter and the transition is wonderful... It really does kind of seem like his stifle starts to get sticky and he struggles after a few strides. Fingers crossed that next week fixes that and he feels better.

[Moutaineer]

Good scores, exvet!

I'm glad the shoes seem to help T, SF.

I hope you poor daughter catches a health break, LSP. It's been a rough few months.

It was a lovely day here today. A bit wild and windy this morning when I rode outside, so I was picking sand out of my teeth by the time we finished... however, a very nice ride with some clean flying changes and some nice trot half pass in both directions, once we'd had the "thou shalt go in front of my leg" conversation.

Trainer is rumbling about "working on the PSG stuff" and I'm instructed to go learn 4.1, so that's interesting!

We spooked at a butterfly whilst cooling out on a long rein today... but letter pylons were not an issue...

There's a big front blowing in overnight, a heavy snow event due for the next day or so. The barn contingent who were heading to Del Mar to the HITS dressage show tomorrow have put off traveling for 24 hours. It's going to be ugly out there tomorrow.

[exvet]

Moutaineer, we've had high winds and warnings of another dramatic weather change here in the higher elevations too. I had a great lesson today with Molly. Really worked on some exercises for forward as well as building the strength to get more jump in the canter. First exercise was to simply get Junior rolling forward over his back at the canter going back and forth between working canter and medium with the goal to introduce contact one rein at a time without having him back off. Next exercise was to halt Junior reinback and then jump into the trot. Rinse repeat and do the same with canter. After that it was riding 20 meter canter circles in medium canter and then 10 meter canter circles in collected canter with the idea that every time I touched a circle point coming into or going out of the 10 meter circle Junior had to accelerate. If at any moment I was ignored or failure to accelerate at any time throughout the lesson I was to immediately down shift a full gait and go back up to the original gait within 2 strides down and back which tended to rattle his cage and get more respect out of him. I am hopeful I can work on this homework over the next two weeks in preparation for the recognized show at the end of the month.

Here are a couple of pictures from the show.

LSP I promise to work on getting pictures of Troy soon though he does still look like a cute yak.

[StraightForward]

ExVet, always great to see the photos! I heard from a colleague in NM today, and it sounds rather apocalyptic down there with the dust storms. I remember being pelted in the legs with sand when I was in grad school down there. Definitely not a fan.

Moutaineer, exciting to be staring down the barrel of 4th/PSG!

LSP, hope you have a great clinic and your daughter is feeling better soon!

The wind is supposed to hit us again tomorrow, so I decided to squeeze in a ride tonight. Set up an interesting jump grid of a x-rail with 4 strides to a bounce, and then 4 strides to another cross rail.T was very slow to warm up today, but we eventually go with the program. I'll need to set this grid up again soon, though I might go with 3 strides and move up to verticals that actually make her leave the ground. I just used cavaletti for the bounce today and she tended to get flat and then squeeze in 5 strides to the last jump. But I guess, hoorah for me actually being aware enough to count strides.

My instructor will be here on Saturday, and then I'm planning to follow her out to Sun Valley for lessons on Sunday and Monday. We seem to be at a spot of embracing the suck and needing some oversight. Leslie Morse will be here in a couple weeks, and I made the hard decision not to sign up. I have a pretty good idea of what she would nail us for, so no need to pay $$$ to hear that and have a bruised ego to show for it. Plus we are riding with Carrie Harnden in mid-April, and three different clinicians in under a month seemed a bit much, with potential to cause confusion. I will try to audit some of the Leslie clinic though

[mari]

Great photos and scores Exvet!

[exvet]

Thank you guys again. As y'all know I wouldn't give up on this guy or find him an alternate path with someone else no matter what - unless things ended up out of my control which is why I broke down and purchased pictures (and of all things a schooling show). Each moment with him is precious, corny I know, but none of us including Junior are getting younger. I realized that I really don't have a ton of pictures of him especially those documenting his progress so instead of regretting not buying any somewhere down the road, I decided to cough up the cash. As difficult as he's been to develop, it's only been due to his adherence to not expending energy unnecessarily, not due to his lack of talent or bad attitude. I realized looking at the proofs that for most of them he had a look of true concentration or true interest to please. Just seeing that makes the perseverance worth it. Poor saddle fit of course has not been his fault and yet he still gives and tries at least the majority of the time.

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Mountaineer- that's exciting to start working on some PSG stuff and dipping your toes into 4th level. Crazy to think you took a little bit of a chance on Potters and wow, how great of a team you guys are! I love to hear it.

Exvet, lovely photos and I have to say I love your shirt! I think you are right for appreciating Junior for what he is and really you guys are still trucking along well. Better saddle fit can only help him!

SF, good call on the clinic. That's such a responsible decision. I will love doing clinics so I can understand how sometimes we have to suck it up and save the money LOL. But at least you have other good opportunities right now.

I'll update after the clinic. I'm SO congested still respiratory wise. Starting to think that this was on wise idea but I'm out the money now so I'm showing up LOL. It's only one day. We will make the best of it and take away what we can.

[Moutaineer]

LSP, believe it or not, it's my 4th anniversary with Potters this week! It's been an interesting journey and he's made me a much better rider.

After being shuffled round from owner to owner in the couple of years before he landed with me, I think he's finally settled into the idea that he's here to stay...

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Mountaineer, wow that really amazes me, where has the time gone!! It truly feels like you got him like last year lol. I'm so glad that you guys found each other It's been fun to hear and witness a little of your journey.

Well the clinic was great. My nose was leaking like a faucet and I had to take walk breaks to cough lol. But Lynx was totally focused in a barn that was shaking in 60 mph gusts. And she gave me a great positional tip to make the transition from shoulder in to haunches in more smooth. It worked! Lynx thought he was pretty cool after that work.

That said, I'm glad he's getting his stifles injected next week. He just is feeling a little flat behind. But I will say, his core and back feel SO strong.

[khall]

I’ve been reading everyone’s updates. Awesome to keep up with you all! Just been so busy here at the farm.

Lsp what a gem Lynx is with your daughter! Hope you all stay well for the foreseeable future. Hope your clinic went well

Mountaineer Potters was the Best Buy you could have made. Such a gem. Hope to see some video soon!

Yay Exvet! Great scores.

Chisamba exciting for your young one. Maybe you can get some answers with Saiph with the bute trial.

SF ugh on trying to get T to eat her meds. Feel your frustration. Rip would not eat his metformin trying to bring his insulin levels down. Had to resort to the more expensive meds. He’s costing me a mint these days.

I’ve got WE clinic this weekend. Cedar in April. Just trying to get horses worked. Joplin especially. Here’s a video from yesterday showing canter hp and fc in my new covered. So enjoy it. Have more video of trot work but need to shorten it it’s pretty long.

https://youtu.be/RTukH3Tsu6U?feature=shared


Hoping weather will improve for all. We are in full spring mode with pine pollen everywhere.

Happy riding all!

[StraightForward]

Dragged ass out to the barn tonight just to make sure T got out of her stall and moving a bit. It was windy and somewhat cold, and I was tired, so I was just going to lunge, but since she wasn't being too wild on the lunge, I sucked it up and signed up for an exercise ride. Actually ended up getting some good work done, just insisting that T get in front of my leg. We did lots of transitions and went back to the old ToF and then trot on. It took a bit for her to get with the program, and then we got some nice prompt T/C/T transitions, then we moved on to W/C transitions. I think canter is feeling better. I'll hopefully get anther tune up ride this week, then lessons Saturday through Monday.

[blob]

Riding has been all over the place lately. i've had some really great rides on RP and also some absolutely awful ones -- the kind where you should just throw up your hands and give up. I had one like that yesterday. I do think part of it is fueled by some tummy discomfort--he's been gassier than usual. He's passing manure and it looks normal, but lots of farts during our bad rides. In the past pro-biotics have not been his friends, but just ordered him some digestive enzymes so let's see if that might help the transition into spring (the grass is really starting to come in and I suspect that might be part of it).

We our clinic this weekend so let's see how that goes.

MM meanwhile is doing well, but I'd really like to bring her weight down some. She's currently only getting 1lbs of a pelleted balancer. But I'm debating pulling the balancer and giving her vit/mineral balancer (like vermont blend) with beet pulp or a hay pellet for less overall calories. In a perfect world she would get more work and I would keep feeding her the balancer. But getting her enough exercise is also tough as there are days when breathing isn't great. If i had more time, I would make sure she went on a LONG walk on those days (1 hour + ). But on weekdays there often just isn't time for that and RP. So she ends up getting a 30ish minute walk instead.

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Khall, congratulations on the covered arena. It looks great. And Joplin and you look great too, what a canter! Enjoy the working Eq clinic!

SF, glad T is feeling better!

Blob, good luck at your clinic. I hope you report back to us with how it goes! I admit, as much as it sucks to live in a state with virtually no grass for the horses there's perks with it too. Very little change from winter to spring here since most turnout is dry lot. There are definitely pros and cons with it.

I've been watching my footage from the clinic on Tuesday and I noticed I still need much more work on my position. And Lynx looks super duper happy in the work but he has some hock wringing going on so really glad the vet comes Monday. I was pretty happy with our lateral work though! Dani did not nitpick our leg yields at all which is really super because I know we have truly progressed with them. And our shoulder in looked pretty darn correct for the most part. And haunches in is definitely coming along, we have to really make sure we don't get too much angle though.

I wish Lynx didn't have physical challenges. But I'm so glad he's feeling and looking so happy in the work we are doing. And I'm still learning and enjoying the journey myself.

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Khall, congratulations on the covered arena. It looks great. And Joplin and you look great too, what a canter! Enjoy the working Eq clinic!

SF, glad T is feeling better!

Blob, good luck at your clinic. I hope you report back to us with how it goes! I admit, as much as it sucks to live in a state with virtually no grass for the horses there's perks with it too. Very little change from winter to spring here since most turnout is dry lot. There are definitely pros and cons with it.

I've been watching my footage from the clinic on Tuesday and I noticed I still need much more work on my position. And Lynx looks super duper happy in the work but he has some hock wringing going on so really glad the vet comes Monday. I was pretty happy with our lateral work though! Dani did not nitpick our leg yields at all which is really super because I know we have truly progressed with them. And our shoulder in looked pretty darn correct for the most part. And haunches in is definitely coming along, we have to really make sure we don't get too much angle though.

I wish Lynx didn't have physical challenges. But I'm so glad he's feeling and looking so happy in the work we are doing. And I'm still learning and enjoying the journey myself.

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Well, of course I was bound to have a not so great ride after quite a few weeks of great ones lol. Horses.

We went out to the open ring (no jumps in that one) and there was a few bags blowing around because the other day we had 60 mph winds, so the ruff raff is still showing up around the farm. So I removed those. As I was getting ready to mount, I heard Lynx crunch on something. He had grabbed my trainers headset from her Cee coach and chomped the earbud. He was also a little wiggly at the mounting block, going after a treat in my pocket he could smell. So basically, he seemed like he was just a little bit of a goofy mood.

We started out working on my position. I always fight a terrible chair seat (doesn't matter the saddle, sadly) and we focused on that mostly.

Then Lynx decided he wanted to throw his haunches way to the inside in the transition to trot. And he had a funky step where I think his stifle intermittently stuck for a second? I don't know. Then he had a pretty big spook where even lost when I stirrups ( although, my trainer's said, when the going gets tough my seat is always there to save me lol)

Afterwards we found a huge piece of plastic right outside the gate so honestly we can blame him for the spook. There was a lot of scary things. There was even some plastic really apparent some of the trees...

Part of me wonders if we really should have just buckle down and worked him... Maybe he was just a bit silly. But with the awkward step he took and the fact we have a vet appointment on Monday, I just would rather have piece of mind I guess.

I will ride him over the weekend though and see how he is too.maybe we were just not having the best day.

[Lipsmackerpony88]

If you guys have any ideas about throwing the haunches in, I'd love to discuss that! My trainer said it really looks very deliberate, I think he's not just randomly crooked since he goes from straight to throwing it in.My trainer's not sure if he's just confused or if he's just uncomfortable and really doesn't want to be straight at the moment. Yesterday she was having me play with doing renver when he did that ... Just to see if that would discourage him a little... Think we would have to play with it a little more to really know if it helps.

It's the reason why we try not to do very much haunches in with him. Which is sad because I actually think it's really good for his back, seems like it kind of stretches his lower back? But he's very smart so you have to be careful about reinforcing any type of invasion. He can be that way with leg yield too... Like sometimes he's just so sure that he knows what we're doing and then it's lateral work even when we're not asking for it! He's very busy minded sometimes.

Obviously the vet coming is a huge part of this too. I'm stuck between giving him the benefit of the doubt that maybe there's a little bit of uncomfortableness behind and he wants to not be straight in the transitions sometimes. Although on Tuesday this was not an issue... Just occasionally.

Does anybody have any thoughts? I think this is also partially from the Eventer that used to ride him. There's a lot of things I liked about her but I think she rushed him a bit in the lateral work as well. I don't think him learning it all so young was helpful... I'm just thinking of the training scale and I don't think that was followed. So know we have to keep that in mind with him always, forward and straight, first!

[blob]

I think something can be physical for many reasons. Often we think physical has to do with direct pain or even discomfort. But sometimes a physical reason is due to muscle memory or what's easier based on weakness/strength.

If he's throwing his haunches in on both directions, it's probably not a pain response as much as a 'this is easier' response, would be my guess. If he's only doing it one direction, what happens if you ride the opposite direction on the inside track--does he throw haunches out?

Renvers and HI will get you the same stretching benefits as they're the same position and bend just to a different orientation. So if he's throwing in both directions, it can be helpful to think riding in renvers to break the habit, even if just for the few strides before, during, and after the transition.

I'd also be careful to make sure you're not accidentally shifting your weight and making it easier for him to swing.

[blob]

I think something can be physical for many reasons. Often we think physical has to do with direct pain or even discomfort. But sometimes a physical reason is due to muscle memory or what's easier based on weakness/strength.

If he's throwing his haunches in on both directions, it's probably not a pain response as much as a 'this is easier' response, would be my guess. If he's only doing it one direction, what happens if you ride the opposite direction on the inside track--does he throw haunches out?

Renvers and HI will get you the same stretching benefits as they're the same position and bend just to a different orientation. So if he's throwing in both directions, it can be helpful to think riding in renvers to break the habit, even if just for the few strides before, during, and after the transition.

I'd also be careful to make sure you're not accidentally shifting your weight and making it easier for him to swing.

[exvet]

LSP I agree with Blob. It may be that Lynx has a medical issue/soreness but it's also quite possible that he's just weak and is finding an evasion in order not to load where he's weaker. Doing lateral work in the walk I find to be very helpful in teaching a horse where to place their feet and to weight each leg properly without being to stressful or taxing. It also gives the rider plenty of time to assess their position (our we riding equally on both seat bones when we should be? Are we using our lower leg properly? are we collapsing our rib cage? etc) and correct their own errors. Lateral work at the walk can be done almost regardless of footing and can be done on the trail.

I had a great ride on Junior today. We worked on the most recent homework that I received from Molly. Unfortunately when I untacked Junior I found rub marks on the hair on his loin/croup. Because of the location I'm sure it was the saddle pad but was it because the saddle was moving too much as in forward and back? or was it because the saddle isn't fitting him evenly so the panels were shifting and causing movement? or was it due to the winderen pad I decided to add? Geesh! I guess I'll ride without the winderen tomorrow and see if there's a difference. He certainly was freer and more lifted up front. I can't get my saddle fitter out for a few more weeks which makes it even more frustrating.

[heddylamar]

Maia and I had another very useful fruitful lesson this morning, continuing working on suppleness and throughness. We're really starting to understand all the bits and pieces, and it's really starting to come together.

The wind was absolutely howling, and lifting the doors away from the barn 4-5', then crashing them back into the barn. Over and over, our entire ride. Maia jumped in place a few times, but mostly ignored the crashing and banging wind

[exvet]

Wow heddylamar, sounds like Maia was a very stoic and obedient girl. We occasionally get winds like that here but no barn doors to deal with but the realty signs now those give Junior extra lift in his get-a-long. Few remain in place when we get those type of winds.

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Blob and exvet- thank you for your thoughts. In pretty sure he does it in either direction (I'll have to pay attention next time) so perhaps it is just a weakness thing and him trying different things out. It's also possible that I was doing something with my seat. He is so sensitive to it so perhaps at times I'm getting tired and crooked too LOL not sure if it means anything, but doing renver didn't seem particularly hard for him either - so stretching and stepping the other way didn't seem difficult either. I do feel it's a symptom of being behind the leg. We have not had this issue in a bit but definitely felt like he wasn't in work mode the other day.

Heddylamar- good girl Maia! The winds were like that during our clinic but thankfully Lynx decided it was more like white noise than anything else.

[StraightForward]

I had a great ride on Junior today. We worked on the most recent homework that I received from Molly. Unfortunately when I untacked Junior I found rub marks on the hair on his loin/croup. Because of the location I'm sure it was the saddle pad but was it because the saddle was moving too much as in forward and back? or was it because the saddle isn't fitting him evenly so the panels were shifting and causing movement? or was it due to the winderen pad I decided to add? Geesh! I guess I'll ride without the winderen tomorrow and see if there's a difference. He certainly was freer and more lifted up front. I can't get my saddle fitter out for a few more weeks which makes it even more frustrating.

T had a lot of hair rubbing off winter before last. I checked in with both my saddle fitter and the vet/chiro I had working on her and they just said a combo of the pad material and dry brittle winter hair. The chiro didn't find issues associated with the hair loss, and it never happened in the summer. She is getting a little of that currently. I'm mostly riding in PSoS pads that have a sort of mesh material backing, which I could see rubbing, and there is probably inherently some movement there if they are moving their backs. So probably something to pay attention to, but it might not be a deal breaker.

We had a good little jump grid session last night. I set up a cross rail, three strides to a low oxer, and then three strides to a cross rail, which I eventually put up to a small vertical. The idea was that T wants to get flat and race off after the oxer, so the vertical encourages her to pull herself back together and keep a rounder canter. We definitely took some long spots, but on the last try, I used my brain and applied the right amount of HH in the stride after the oxer so she pulled herself together and jumped the vertical beautifully. Called it quits at that point in light of the three days of dressage lessons ahead of us. T is still having her sticky moments, but we're working through them more quickly. One thing my jumping instructor is big on is keeping lots of momentum through turns, to have enough energy to HH and collect on the line to a jump. T can get a bit pissy about that, but is getting a lot better, and I think it's helping our dressage, maintaining impulsion through the bends.

[exvet]

I realize that Junior's growing in from a body clip winter coat is quite brittle and am hoping that the rubbing isn't due to a ill fit of saddle. Actually today, Junior found his shoulders like he never knew he could reach his forelegs that far forward. He really galloped for me to day and it was great. There is always going to be some movement and I'm hoping that is what the sole cause is in that he's using his back properly but until I get a thumbs up from the saddle fitter I'm going to worry. For now I'll have to just keep checking in with Junior and see what he tells me though as frustrating as he can be sometimes he is a rather stoic good dooby type.

[StraightForward]

What would we even be doing if we weren't worrying about something, right?!

We had a good lesson today. I was the last ride of the day and started late, so we had an extra long warmup. Maybe not a bad thing. She had me get T a little deep and trotting more slowly thinking baby HI on a 10m circle, and then maintaining the bend and LY out. We eventually managed to get her canter right out of that, and then did some HP in on the circle, LY out, HP in and move the shoulders to have a little play at canter piri then LY back out of it. Right Lead T is still doing some funky bracing stuff, but she stayed with us and didn't have any tantrums. My instructor said she is moving better than ever, and she thinks she is on the cusp of figuring things out with the right lead. 3.5 hour drive tomorrow, and then lessons Sunday and Monday. I'll definitely try for a long warmup again and we'll see how things go. The arena out there used to be huge, but about 40% of it is currently used for housing huge farm machinery, so it's a bit of a spooky place. At least it shouldn't be frigid like when we were there in January, and T won't be abandoned by her lonesome all day when the resident horses are turned out.

[mari]

I realize that Junior's growing in from a body clip winter coat is quite brittle and am hoping that the rubbing isn't due to a ill fit of saddle. Actually today, Junior found his shoulders like he never knew he could reach his forelegs that far forward. He really galloped for me to day and it was great. There is always going to be some movement and I'm hoping that is what the sole cause is in that he's using his back properly but until I get a thumbs up from the saddle fitter I'm going to worry. For now I'll have to just keep checking in with Junior and see what he tells me though as frustrating as he can be sometimes he is a rather stoic good dooby type.

Could the rubbing not maybe also be because of the change of season? At the beginning of autumn and beginning of spring Odin's coat is super thin and he gets rubs everywhere.

[mari]

Had a show today, first one in ages. 3-1. I thought it went really well except for a big mistake where he broke into the most awful camel trot after the final extended canter. But the scores were terrible. I ended last in class of about 16 people with 57%. I'm very bleak, especially since my instructor and I were both very happy with the ride.

About the only thing that the judge liked were the flying changes, go figure.

I added pictures, let's hope they show.
The first is our halt at the start. He came down the CL wobbling like a chicken on one leg, and then planted all four feet really close together in his best try at perfectly square.
The second one is mid-change. Pity he is bent to the outside, I was desperately trying to delay the change for another two strides but he had other ideas...
The last one is walking around the arena before the start. He looks so shiny and strong.

Odin - KPC - Medium 1 - 2025 03 23 - 2 small.jpg (46.74 KiB) Viewed 4084 times

Odin - KPC - Medium 1 - 2025 03 23 - 4 small.jpg (53.4 KiB) Viewed 4084 times

Odin - KPC - Medium 1 - 2025 03 23 - 1 small.jpg (47.27 KiB) Viewed 4084 times

[exvet]

Odin looks like he's like, "I got this....." LOL. Good for you and nice halt. I can't tell you the number of rides/shows/tests that have gone much the same way. It's hard no doubt. I think you have one heck of a nice horse. I've always loved spots.

[Moutaineer]

Mari, you both look lovely. If you put yourself out there and go out and show, you are going to have days like that. Could be you've pushed the judge's buttons somehow, Could be you need to revisit something fundamental to the level of the test.

For instance, Third apparently starts to want a lot more forward and suppleness combined, which isn't an easy combination to get in an unfamiliar show environment, for us at any rate. You can have forward with tension or you can have doodling along relaxed. Combining the two, not so much! (That's what we've spent our winter working on. In front of the leg but supple. We shall see how well it translates to the show ring in a couple of months.)

I find it helpful, if humbling, to revisit video a week after the show when I am in a less defensive frame of mind and look for what the judge was looking for.

And you and your trainer are probably right, it may well have been a good test, for you and your horse, at this moment in time. And that's really good! It's all a progression in small increments!

(And sometimes the judge it just a mean witch who doesn't like spotted horses.)

[mari]

Thanks Exvet and Moutaineer, thanks for your words and kindness. I know these things rationally, but I'm in a bit of a funk after yesterday I guess. Which is unlike my usual riding mindset so I'm at a loss about how to make it go away

Moutaineer - the impulsion vs. suppleness, you nailed it! We have been working so hard at getting him to back off the bit, and to make everything smaller and more waiting, because he is massively strong and nearly unrideable for my puny muscles if he gets rolling. We've been working so much on having a rideable, supple horse. I, personally, in this body, cannot ride him effectively when he's powering along.

It all feels very unsolvable. But he's a love, and I end 99% of rides, whether dressage or jumping, with a huge grin. I just also want to do semi-okay at dressage, this thing I spend SO MUCH time thinking about, and puzzling out, and training. Blegh...

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Mari, lovely photos. I'm sorry the judge wasn't super thrilled and as someone who is really hard on myself, I can understand your feelings. I hope you keep going now and you might even find this was just a weird one-off thing.

[blob]

sorry the show was discouraging, Mari. I have been there many times before. I think sometimes when we don't show as often, there are little things and places that are easy to lose points. I wouldn't let this discourage you too much and hope you get back out there. Different judges want different things and sometimes even see different things. RPs scores can vary drastically even though his tests do not vary drastically. It can be valuable, imo to look at what the judge rewarded and what they did NOT and shift a bit for that. I've found that judges tend to prefer a very forward test to one that isn't forward enough. So the ride that feels a bit like he is taking over, might be the one that scores higher.

Clinic this weekend was good and helpful even if not all my rides were *great*, but I think that is probably more valuable than just super fancy perfect rides. Here are some notes:

General notes:

He had almost every horse rider pair that had w-c-w transitions do some variation of a canter collection exercise on a circle. Pick up normal canter but making sure tempo isn't too fast from the walk and then once you've established 3-4 strides of good working canter, ask for a collection for 3-4 slides and then come down to walk. The goal was to ask for a level of collection that would be challenging for the horse and where they are. And he wanted the collection to come from driving greater engagement and not from using the hands or aiming for slower tempo.

Big focus on everyone having an up and out frame. How that was achieved varied on the horse's level and tendency. For example there was an upper level horse that would really want to root down and get heavy when the work got difficult. He had that rider give more of a sharper correection but then let go. Another one really wanted to tuck in and truck when asked for more impulsion, so there more focus on slowing down tempo and keeping poll up. A helpful tip was the reminder that the right hand position is the one that helps the horse have the right carriage, which means it may vary as a horse progresses and it may even vary within one ride depending on what you're working on.

Lateral work was a bit part of every ride and with nearly every rider he pushed them to take their lateral work to the next step. Meaning, the horse that only had LY, he used part of the time to introduce SI. The horse that had a very good single HP, he pushed to explore zig-zag, etc. The idea partly being that lateral work is designed to gymnasticize the horse and so use that toolkit broadly even if it's not always perfect, keep working at it. And that sometimes the step ahead might help with something, meaning even if your HI isn't perfect, you can start playing with HP and it might improve the HI.

My rides:

First day after our warm up and trot lateral work, we went to work on changes. First he wanted to watch me do the exercise i've been using to get changes (CC to true canter on the rail). Watching this, he said he felt I need the shoulder a bit more upright and in control to get them more on my aids and sharp, so he had me do a a figure-8 type line but a square instead of a circle. So I'd basically ride a canter square and then in the open side of one of the square sidse, I'd shift over and change and then make my next square. This helped him from being as butt high in the changes, but he did start anticipating and getting a bit leapy. So homework was to play with that square exercise even without the change or a simple change to work on that upright alignment. He then suggested we do some canter lateral work to also loosen things up, but this quickly exposed a big hole. I haven't done much HI in the canter because RP used to trail his haunches in during the canter. But now, it was evident that HI left in the canter was REALLY hard for him. So we spent a good bit of time working on that in baby steps to get him stronger, more used to it.


Second day we spent more time on the canter lateral work to build that flexibility and strength. We did not work on changes partly because he flet we really need to unlock that lateral work (I agree) and also because RP came out anticipating and hopping all over. So we need to level set, 'sometimes we just canter'. We also took the HI in the canter to the circle a bit. Also at my request we worked on medium trot (which doesn't really exist). He observed that I was letting him go too much infront, which was making him just fall on the forehand and run. So rather than actually working on the mediums directly, worked on getting slow and elevated without losing impulsion which could then be built into the medium trot.

My homework:
--Get more comfort with the HI in the canter and build to have a lot of adjustability in it: HI to straight to SI to HI, whatever I need to do being able to move in and out of different positions without tempo changing
-- Build that into HI on the cirlce so i'm playing with a biggish pirouette feeling
-- all of that should translate into the changes being cleaner, the idea is there
--in the trot work on getting more suspension through slow and up work and then when i move into medium trot priortize up over power and gradually build
-- introduce some half steps on the group (even just lifting the hind legs) to help with the coming under and suspension in trot work

[Moutaineer]

Sounds like a useful clinic, Blob.

I'm having a "normal service will be resumed as soon as possible" stretch at the moment. Work and life have intervened since the middle of last week, and I doubt I'll get back on until Thursday this week. But such is life. Potters is fine, won't so him any harm to have a couple of extra days off.

[StraightForward]

Sounds like a good clinic Blob! Can you remind me who the clinician was?

Mari, sorry your scores didn't measure up to expectations. I agree that letting it go for a few days, and then reviewing the tests to figure out where you might pick up points would be good. I've been there done that. But it's great that you got out there, and I bet next time will be better!

I just got home from a couple out of town rides with my regular instructor. I'm really glad I took the time to do the three lessons in a row. T really stepped up to the plate, and I think we had some good breakthroughs. She had me working on lowering her into the contact and maintaining contact. Yesterday we worked over poles on a circle at trot and then canter. She felt like doing that on a regular basis will work wonders for T's canter, and getting her to articulate her hocks more in trot. Of course I use cavaletti on a straight line, but it was more of a challenge for her just to maintain the bend and navigate the ground poles. This morning T had about the best warmup she's had in a long time. The arena there is kind of a big square, so I used it to turn early and LY to the wall every side in both trot and canter. In the lesson, we worked on more HP in and LY out on a circle, and then w/t transitions in a really low/stretched frame, which she said is something Jo Hinneman uses a lot. Eventually we did the same, with not quite as low of a position, with t/c transitions. T found this more difficult to the left. To the right, she started out nicely in canter, and then started sucking back and getting a little hoppy in the hind end, so she said to just do the transitions and canter a short amount to the right for awhile, until the hopping goes away. She feels like we should hold off on changes until she can work through this on the right lead. Overall this morning she was feeling much more supple, and even more slinky and swingy in the walk. Now she gets a couple days off, and a proper bath, since it's supposed to be 80 on Wednesday.

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Sounds like a wonderful clinic Blob. Thank you for sharing such detailed notes!

I had a light lesson this morning. Lynx REALLY was throwing his haunches in both directions during the w/T transitions. Today we played with doing a step or two of leg yield to get him listening to my aids and then into shoulder in. Then we got at least some straight transitions. We did a little pole work too, mostly walking but a few times at trot. Not a long or hard lesson because we had a vet appointment a little after.

And Lynx did appear more warmed up on the lunge so his canter transitions were better. But my vet saw enough and with some *mild* flexions it was time to inject with prostride. We have a week off and then back to work next week. I am riding another horse in a lesson in Thursday though. Weather is supposed to be amazing.

[mari]

Great clinic notes Blob, I love the comment about hand position, specifically.

[exvet]

Appreciate the clinic notes Blob. Sounds like it was a great investment. Hope the weather holds out as expected LSP.

SF, it sounds like T and Junior have similar focuses in their work.

I was working in our pasture yesterday really demanding that Junior remain forward in his gaits and requiring him to work over his back into the hand at all three gaits. It's been the theme for the entire weekend however this time he had to do so over varied terrain. I also worked the changes with the same idea of FORWARD, over the back and really focusing on the transition - first get true bend (going to the new direction and in Molly's vernacular "C" ), then half halt with the outside hand ( in Molly's world -A-), then ask for the change with new outside leg back (again in Molly's world - "T"). By being very specific and keeping Junior forward through the half-halt (which we're getting much better at doing), Junior spelled C-A-T and got a really nice flying change, complete with nice jump and air time and no croup high business. I also worked him in hand asking for half-steps and he's getting quicker with the hind, starting to understand the correct rhythm without getting so balled up in front - good progress.

[khall]

Sounds like some productive clinics are happening!

Lsp Joplin was bad about throwing her haunches at one point. Two things is needed strengthening and always correct the shoulders to the HQs.


Got the trot work video cut down some.

https://youtu.be/kiVT82yUauQ?feature=shared

Also had the WE clinic this past weekend. Joplin was so good. The work we’ve done with Cedar certainly helps to navigate the WE course. Nothing fazes her either.

Picture of her in the double slalom
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AKs4Y ... tid=wwXIfr

Those are tight turns in the canter and she handled them easily. I can feel the cp in the canter. Now gearing up for Cedar later in April. Full clinic already.

Excited to keep progressing and looking to possibly show just at a schooling show in May

Happy riding all!

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Khall, yeah SF is our jam with him. It's weird that he doesn't always do it though. And when I say he's throwing his haunches in, when I mean he really is. Not slightly crooked...but really putting his haunches in like he's doing that movement instead of just going straight. I do think it's a strength thing now and perhaps I'm doing something with my position that's confusing him too.. He's very sensitive like that.

Lovely work with Joplin, I always love how fluid and loose she looks. Lovely shoulder in. And what a good girl all around!

I'm riding a different horse today. A little quarter horse school master. Although to be honest he's just as trained as my own horse these days... But older and more seasoned. He is much more downhill built than Lynx.it will be interesting to see how he feels. I'm kind of excited as I think it'll be a good opportunity to assess some things with my position.

[StraightForward]

LSP, Miss T tends to throw her haunches left, and sometimes I find it challenging to capture that inside hind in SI. Like, she is making the shape but I can feel that she's cheating the inside hind. Sometimes changing to renvers will help, but I actually have better luck straightening her body out and maintaining the angle, so we're doing a shallow LY along the wall. Then that IH has to get under the body more. SI on a circle is a good test too; it's harder to escape the IH to the inside.

I'll be interested to hear your takeaways from riding the schoolmaster! Sadly Susan had to move Kyra out of my barn, so I only got one ride in on her before they left. I learned a lot riding Kyra and being able to focus on myself over the years. She is much more self-propelled than T.

T had her days off, so I'm thinking easy stretchy and maybe some x-rails this afternoon. Yesterday I lunged her for a few minutes after her bath and she gave a really lovely stretchy trot with her nose out and nicely balanced stretching down from the withers. I've never seen her go that nicely on the lunge, so I think she is feeling good in her body! We have some more rain on the way, but hopefully nothing too crazy. They are busy re-doing the pastures and will be doubling the space, so I'm looking forward to the horses getting turnout again in a couple weeks. T really has handled it will though, and isn't nearly as wild as she would have been a year or two ago with this long of no turnout. Of course getting out and moving and socializing will do her good though.

[Lipsmackerpony88]

SF, he's pretty good in shoulder in but going from SI to LY at an angle certainly could be good for him and possibly diagnostic. I mean hopefully with his stifle injections, he feels more straight. Fingers crossed.

The ride on the schoolmaster was good! He definitely wasn't as sharp as Lynx. Which is of course, bittersweet. Like lateral work was actually much harder on the schoolmaster but it was nice to be able to focus on myself without the young horse mind as much (no spooks.) We did a bit of everything, leg yield, SI, HI and half pass. Half pass was SO hard for me but possibly because I was getting tired then. He has a wonderful walk to canter transition which was wonderful. My trainer decided that the other saddle was not a magical fix for me, But instead just fought my position in different ways. In fact my lower back was quite sore after. Although I don't have a good lower back anyways... My saddle does provide a lot of comfort for me but I still think it also lets me have a bad yet comfortable position lol. Sigh. It's a work in progress.

Lynx seems like he's standing more square already so really looking forward to how he feels next week!

[Moutaineer]

Laddie used to be terribly crooked in the canter. When I first got him, he'd avoid the left lead completely and just crab around with his haunches in. It was a strength issue. He was such a big horse that it took a lot of patient and steady insistence, and short bursts of canter, to build up his hind end and persuade him that he really could go straight. And it had a tendency to sneak back in during shows at the extended canter, which was a tension problem. The question was, whose?

I had a splendid ride out in the sunshine and wind today. It was a joy to be back in the saddle after a rough week, and Potters was happy, too. I'm really enjoying the ride I can get with my newly reconditioned body. I'm much more take charge and confident.

What I want to get now is better "flow." (I realized this is what I need during my yoga class the other evening!) I think I have the stamina now to be able to achieve it. I can perform individual movements, I just need to be able to string them together with more fluidity and elegance, if that makes any sense!

[exvet]

Yikes crooked horses..............I raise my hand. I flew home after work and loaded horses after tidying the place up. I know I sound like a broken record but I am SO GRATEFUL that my horses load like champs and put up with a 2.5 hour haul especially knowing what is going on. We have an open house this weekend (3 days). Our realtor is also a client of mine. I will say she's definitely busting her hump on this one. We've already had a few showing but no takers. Today was particularly tough because I had to euthanize 4 pets, tell a 5th owner that their cat is dying from cancer (so I predict I'll be euthanizing her within 2 weeks) and my associate lost one of my patients under anesthesia so I had to handle the client communication aspect. It's been nothing but tears all day long. I am so looking forward to immersing myself in a horse show this weekend. I'm heading down tomorrow for a lesson with Molly, then coming back to my Scottsdale house and bathing Junior so we can leave bright and early Sat morning to head back to the show ground for a morning test. I simply do NOT WANT TO THINK ABOUT VETERINARY MEDICINE for at least 3 solid days. I'll take whatever Junior wants to hand out which I know will be at least a steady eddie on the show grounds.

[Moutaineer]

Exvet, I lost my much loved older cat a week ago. My vet was wonderful. Thank you for what to you do let our friends go with dignity.

Good luck at the show, and good luck on property offers this weekend.

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Thank you guys, I won't over worry about this occasional (but pronounced) crookedness and will stay the course with the strength training! I'm sure the more fit I also get, the better off we both will be. First ride back under saddle will be Monday, looking forward to it.

Exvet, I don't think we all say it enough but THANK YOU for what you do in veterinary medicine and for the animals. It's a hard job and I'm really hoping you have a good show (Even if it's just a good weekend away with your buddy Junior.)

[Moutaineer]

A wonderful ride this morning on this cool, grey day. Potters started out a bit draggy as he's had quite a big week, but we worked on some lateral stuff and he got himself together, literally, and moved right along. I'm still struggling a bit with the half pass to the right. It definitely lacks flow. But I think it's me, as much as or more than him. I need to bore us both to death with getting the mechanics of it right. Margo says it looks better than I think it does, so there's that.

Canter work was just lovely. We played with a lot of sequential changes, which he finds fun and I have to think about the counting, and with the half-pirouettes, which we both think are fun. If I don't try to help to much with my hands and just ride them off my seat, they work. I think I need to take that thought to the half pass...

Mette in 3 weeks. I want to have that damn half pass sorted by then!

And I need to continue to scrape off the half ton of extra hair that is currently oh-so-slowly letting go. He looks a bit ragged at the moment standing on the cross-ties next to the sleek beauties who have just got back from HITS in CA. (Where my barn mates from little old Utah absolutely cleaned up. I think they won every class they entered! Very proud of them!)

Any quick shedding techniques that dont involve coating my horse in mayo? I posture prepped him pretty thoroughly after our ride and got a fairly satisfying amount out. I seem to remember back in ye olde days that we'd hit them with Ivermectin to help them shed out. Who knows whether it worked or not.

[heddylamar]

@Mountaineer, I've always found a good sudsy bath will loosen the long hair.

Speaking of crooked, Maia very much refuses to bend right We're working on it. She does bend now. But, wow. 12+ yo and we're still working on bending to the right! She's an entirely different horse to the right.

Hopefully, I have some decent video of today's lesson. The beginning was decent, but I quit watching when I realized I couldn't edit it on the ipad. We started with her in a huff — stomping, tight, pissy loud tail — and ended with some very decent trot and canter work.

At home, we've become a guinea pig hospice. Our older girlie started fading two weeks ago, and today decided she's not too interested in moving at all, so I don't think it will be long now. These guys are so teeny and surprisingly fragile for such big personalities.

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Mountaineer, Lynx is in the same boat cost wise. The main barn is lightly heated in cold weather so the inside horses seem to stay slick or get body clipped. Lynx looks like a yak next to them since he lives in an outside pen and we didn't do any clipping this year.

Heddylamar-sounds like you guys are making a lot of progress! Lynx is over flexible one direction and the other seems to be more straight but no real issues there. The over bendy side is more an issue than anything.

Speaking of Lynx, he's had the week off and I gave him a quickie bath yesterday. He was great for that but LOST HIS MIND when we stepped back outside. I think it was partially extra energy, storm rolling in and feeding time. He was super naughty. He can't officially go back to work until tomorrow... And of course they stayed in today because of the rain this morning. So going to hand walk him today is going to be fun. Lol.

I did tell the barn hand to lighten way up on the alfalfa as I really suspect he's a little sensitive to it. For a while they were out of alfalfa or getting it very little of it and Lynx was SO much more focused. Back on it (and they feed a good amount of it) and he just gets twitchy and spooky it seems. I love things about alfalfa but really want to see how he does with much less of it. Or cut it out altogether at this point.

My daughter had a wonderful lesson morning on her golden oldie lease horse. They worked again on feeling where the horse's legs were. She did so well at feeling that at the walk and trot. Her lease horse gets the correct leads probably 85% of the time now (before he was pretty bad about it.) Feeling the leads still needs more work but practice makes perfect.