Double Bridle!!

Penn started working in a double bridle!!

Big boy bridle!

Horses can use double bridles at third and above. So far, I've kept Penn in his snaffle because I felt like he would never ever be able to go in a double. There's a lot of metal in a double bridle, and I figured it would back him off the bridle and he'd be afraid of it. I didn't think he had enough push from behind to work well in the double.

It's always been in the back of my mind to try it- I tried it once over the '16-'17 winter with Mikey's bits and Penn was like "Holy hell, I can't do this" and couldn't even canter. I put the double away (plus GP Trainer finally had me understanding he wasn't ready for Third) and was content to work in his snaffle all year long. We did get to Third by July 2017, but thoughts of the double weren't in my head at all.

A spontaneous visit to Austen's house in December sent me home with Guinness' weymouth bit, a 5.25", 5" shank, NS Thoroughbred. When the time came to try the double again, I knew I wanted to try her weymouth because it is so much thinner than Mikey's was (12mm vs 18mm), so she sent me home with it!

First up was recovering Mikey's double bridle.
It had been living in the school horse tack room with the pelham.

First Ride

He was THRILLED

I meant to write this post a long time ago, so I can't remember the exact details of our first spin in the double (it was about a month ago, Dec 17-19). But I do know both Penn and myself were excessively polite to each other. He wasn't afraid of the bit and would meet it. I was afraid of the bit so my hands became very very quiet and I paid so much more attention to how I used them and where they were. I was afraid of over facing Penn!

No matter, I had a set of eyes on the ground to make sure I didn't creep up on my curb rein (a favorite pastime that I did to Mikey... my goodness that horse was a SAINT), and off we went. My set of eyes reported politeness, not too much curb contact, but Penn was a bit fussy in the mouth. I think that's to be expected, it's a lot of metal. I also gave Penn a mint while he had both bits in and he couldn't work out how to chew it... so I know he was sucking on it instead. We kept the ride short, sweet, and positive. Overall, I got a very good feeling from working in the double. The double requires a big motor behind, and I finally felt like I could say, "Let's roll!" and really push him up to the bridle without his first reaction being, "Let's dig a hole to China with our face!"

He foamed in his first ride in the double!

Second Ride
I had a vacation day to burn at the end of the year, so I took a half day on one of the last beautiful December days (12/21/2017) and went to the barn to ride in the double outside, which let me use my new SoloShot3 to get video! More on the camera later, but in short, I will not be hurting for media come summer!

For the entirety of the ride, see the below video (just under 20 min long, and there's an excellent spook at 8:20):

Link to YouTube

My goal was to just ride basic figures- circles, figure 8s and serpentines, and hit all the gaits. He was great! We did a lot of walk to get used to the two bits, and then he was very enthusiastic about the trot work (no dragging toes!) at first. As we worked through the serpentines, he started to want to lean, but I think that's because he was simply tired from putting so much effort into his work. He's not usually that up with suspension.

I remember thinking as I was riding the walk and canter, "Move your elbows! Follow! Even if it feels like you're moving way too much! Don't make him feel trapped! YOU are in charge of making this a good experience!" It felt like I was wagging my arms around like airport control. Watching the video... man, if I hadn't been moving my elbows as much as I thought I was, I'd be restricting him!

Halt needs to be prompter, but it was square and polite.

The last thing we did was a medium canter, collect, half pass to centerline. I was so pleased with him! The medium canter felt so much bigger than it actually was- it had jump and the start of suspension. The half pass felt better than it looked, maybe because of the camera angle, but he didn't stall out in it or get too straight on the diagonal line. He did fall on his forehand at the end, but that's ok. He held it together for longer than he usually does.

It wasn't our best work, but it was a positive experience. I wanted a positive ride for Penn's confidence in the double, and being a sympathetic rider was more important to me than getting steller work.

Lesson 12/23/17 (Third Ride)
By this point, I wanted a lesson to double check what was going on and to make sure I wasn't entirely off base. The local Dressage Trainer was coming out to our barn to teach and she's fairly conservative about things (erring on the side of caution I think), so I took a half hour lesson. I told her it was his third ride in the double, it seems to be going OK, but I wanted someone to double check the fit of the double and my use of it. I don't think my first education in it was all that great. She thought the fit was good, and off we went.

She praised his trot- it was very good. She put us through our lateral paces: shoulder in, haunches in, shoulder in to renvers back to shoulder in. It was a new level of lateral work for him. I could really push him forward to the bridle in the lateral work to keep big steps coming, but he wasn't falling on the forehand out of balance.

She also nitpicked our right bend, which had become a struggle in December (and into January). She had me put him on a 10m circle in the middle of the ring, then do haunches in, and bring his shoulders around. She encouraged me to bring my right leg way forward, almost in front of the girth, to give him solid pokes to remind him of inside bend. He'd get the bend, step, and either straighten or his hind end would lead. We did the same to the left, but that was much easier for him.

This would have been OK except the stuck foot!

The right bend struggle shows up in half pass too. She had me go across the diagonal, and then haunches in, but not in a half pass way, just simply haunches in. He really really struggled with haunches in (which is probably why the half pass is broken!).

The last thing we did was check out the canter. She does not approve of the 4 beat canter that GP Trainer allows (until he's strong enough to not 4 beat), so on a 20m circle: she had me pick up canter, if it shifted to 4 beat, kick him forward. Big forward. Hand gallop. Then once forward was reestablished, sit on my tail bone (no hand), bring him back to collected canter (that imagery worked REALLY well for me!). As soon as he 4 beats, kick on. She reminded me to keep the jump coming in the big canter, but I think Penn was getting tired and he started to get low in the poll and curl a bit. She told me when he does that, make sure I don't have too much contact on my curb rein- as we got cantering I started creeping on that rein - and that it could be because of the double. I told her he was actually a lot better about it in the double than the snaffle in regard to curling, haha.

Overall, she approved of it, but I didn't really like her reasoning: he's competing third level and doubles are introduced at that time, so it's appropriate for his level of training. I'm like... yes, but is he ready for it? Sure, it's appropriate because of the level he's at, but I guess in my mind that doesn't mean he's actually ready for it. She did say not to work in it more than once a week, which I think is totally fair and aligns with my plans anyway. I do not want the double to become a band aid over bigger problems.

There isn't a band aid big enough for "suddenly horses in turnout"
Despite going around that end of the ring many times, he just saw the horses in turnout.

Saddle Fitter
By the time I had my lesson with DT, I had researched additional weymouth options. I found a website that described fleshy vs normal, small vs normal, and low palate vs normal mouths. The various bit descriptions are like, "good for horses with small mouths" or "good for horses that need tongue clearance" or "good for horses with low palates." Great, how do I know he has one of those? This website was helpful in how things look and feel when certain conditions are present. I basically determined that Penn has a small short mouth with a fleshy tongue and probably low palate.

DT thought the NS Thoroughbred weymouth fit him well, but I wanted to look at other options while various bits were available to me. The Saddle Fitter that came out at the beginning of January is a dealer for Neue Schule bits, and I had narrowed down the bit choices to the NS Thoroughbred or the NS Transform. I had her bring a Transform with her, and we popped Austen's Thoroughbred and the Transform in Penn's mouth and compared.

"Short smile" and fleshy tongue.

SF thought he would be more comfortable with the Transform, but thought both fit him well enough. Oddly, she wanted a narrower bradoon because the space in his mouth is so small. The official rules for double bridle bits are: 10mm for the bradoon, 12mm for the curb. I found several 12mm bradoons: NS makes one, the Team Up. The only two 10mm bradoons I could find (in an exceptionally brief search) are made by Coronet and Bomber Bits. But no matter, because I'm happy with the bradoon he has, a HS Aurigan Dynamic RS Ultra (14mm). I don't think thinner is the answer for him, even if it saves space in his mouth. He is enjoying a very generic Korsteel Copper Loose Ring on his snaffle bridle right now, and I measured that bit at a whopping 20mm.

SF had the best price on NS bits that I could find (in the USA), allowed trials, and specifically allowed a trial of the Transform bit (Dressage Extensions has the bit, but not for trials). I rode in it after she adjusted Penn's saddle, and I thought I would know an answer right away... but of course I didn't. I needed the full 2 week trial to make a decision...

I watch this, and all I can think is "prance prance prance"

This post is getting too long... so tomorrow, Thoroughbred vs Transform!

Second Level Test 3 Shenanigans

Ok, show of hands. Who knew the Dover Medal program was ending this year?

I sure didn't.

Crap.

That doesn't align perfectly into my plans! I had planned on riding the 2-3 Medal classes and 3-3 all next year until Penn was ready for 4th... finishing my 1*/2* centerline ratings, Penn's second and third level performance certificates, and hopefully winning a Dover Medal along the way.

Obviously if I want a Dover Medal, that can no longer be the plan. I have one more recognized show weekend before championships (champs is not the place for me to attempt to get a Dover Medal!). Since this upcoming show weekend is conveniently two separately numbered shows, there's two Dover Medal classes.

Of course, I snail mailed my entry before I found out about the Dover Medal Program... But the bright side of snail mail is that I don't have to pay an entry change fee since the secretaries don't even have my entries yet! (I sent emails and extra checks)

So we're signed up for 2-3 and 3-1 both days. If 2-3 is after 3-1 on Saturday, I'll ride both tests. If 2-3 is first, I'll scratch it. My bronze is more important to me, so the 3rd Level tests get the fresh horse. If I get my bronze Saturday, I'll scratch 3-1 Sunday and give 2-3 my full attention. So much is up in the air, it's all pending scheduling and results!

Anyway, that meant I needed to do a run through of 2-3 to see what I was working with. I haven't actively worked on counter canter since June's recognized show, only flying changes (swapping them out for simple changes or changes through trot when I need to mix it up).

I set up a dressage court in the outdoor this past Sunday, which ended up too narrow for the length so some stuff was awkward, and went to it to get a baseline: (the video was taken up and down and had a lot of shake, so this is cropped and stabilized, which is why it looks funny)

Link to YouTube

I made plenty of mistakes: the trot needs more power/forward/step/impulsion, and it needs to be not BTV. The TOH needs to be better, the halts need to be better, but the canter work was surprisingly good and uphill (until Penn got tired). I used my leg off technique for impulsion as I went into the first serpentine and Penn misinterpreted that as a cue for a flying change, hence the bobble starting that movement. In the first simple change, he went to hop immediately back into canter... I stopped him, then positively nailed him with my left spur for the right lead. I had to spend the time before the next medium apologizing to him for my rudeness.

BTV much?

Overall, I would have been happy to have that go down centerline! Would it have won a medal? I donno.

I scheduled a lesson with the local dressage trainer at her farm for Tuesday this week. She has a standard size outdoor court and an eye for test riding. I emailed asking to work on 2-3 because I decided to enter it on a whim. #3weeksisplentyoftime

She was immediately thrilled with Penn's topline. She last saw him about 2 months ago and thought he looked good then but a lot better now ("Whatever you've been doing is working!"). She also loved my new "fun button" that I found in walk: Penn sometimes comes out laying on my hands, which pissed me off to no end the other day. I gave him the kind of half halt I'd give him in the canter to sit the fuck down now (it's a motherfucking big one), leg slightly back and on lifting his barrel, then a few sharp taps on his hip with my whip. He makes an angry face, but lifts the front end and sits a bit more. DT thought it was great, and said I should start playing with half steps using that in trot (I can already feel a piaffe wanting to come out, but I am not pushing the button that hard for a few months yet!). She warned me to be careful with his walk- it gets a bit unorganized when I overshorten it.

The aforementioned outdoor. A little spooky even though it's neatly tucked into a hillside. 

We went right into what I would do to warm up at a show, but then stopped to mix in some turn on the haunches work:

• Work on a square at first, doing quarter turns.
• Keep them slow since he wants to rush through them and get unbalanced.
• When working 180s, stop at the 90 mark, then proceed.
• Until he gets stronger in them, make the beginning of the 180 tight behind, then let him get a bit bigger in the second half so he doesn't plant a hoof and get an automatic 4.
• Work him on a 10m circle in haunches in, bringing him around into a TOH and back out again. Make the center of the TOH vary in size like you would as you school pirouettes.
• If he's reluctant to make the TOH in a particular direction, begin it with a shallow haunches in, then bring it around.
• When bending right, keep my balance to the right. He wants to drop me off the left side of him and fall out. Release the left rein a hair.

For the trot:

• Let his nose out by pushing him forward then bringing him back with the "fun button".
• When tracking right Tuesday night, he did not want to bend right. Flex him with the inside hand and scratch his shoulder every now and then with the outside. His whole picture changes.
• Along the lines of bend, in 10m circles right, keep the outside leg on to force the left hind to keep up and stay in. It's almost a haunches in feeling for him. If I don't do this, I lose the hind end to the outside and it'll be a 5 or less.

In the canter:

• Same right bend/flex right/scratch left problem.
• More prep for the simple changes.
• Keep the outside leg on in the right lead - he is suddenly weaker this direction and wants to leave the outside hind behind and 4 beat.

Someone had to "tie" to the trailer upon arrival because we cut it too close to lesson start time for me to schlep his stuff into the barn. He was extremely unsure and definitely still needed his helmet on.

Off we went to the test!

• Keep the entry centerline straighter. Maybe I need to track left to enter. He's been especially fussy to the right which makes for a squiggly centerline.
• Let his nose out just a hair in the medium trot.
• Shoulder-in is good.
• 10m circles are good as long as I keep my outside leg on.
• More angle in the haunches in right- from C, it doesn't read as enough. Push him forward and resteady myself to the right and add some extra outside leg halfway through. A lot of the same theory as the TOH right.
• I need to keep my right hand extra down in the shoulder in left so he doesn't tilt his head.
• Same 10m circle rules.
• Same more angle in the haunches in left. Keep my hands down and quiet because I end up wagging him.
• Get better halts.
• Know your count for the rein back and stop asking one step early.
• Same rules as above for the TOH.
• Free walk is good, play the fingers to keep the topline round.
• Walk/Canter was excellent.
• Medium canter A++
• Serpentine good.
• He dropped out early at the first simple change- she had me represent the change and add more new inside leg in a leg yield thought (without actually moving sideways) to keep him straight and get him hopping, and to start riding the change after the centerline so he won't break early in my test.
• Medium canter A++
• Serpentine good. Keep applying leg to keep him hopping.
• Same rules in the second simple change.
• Trot and final centerline, A++, easy 8.

Nothing much huh? Lol

We reviewed the haunches in after the test and added more angle, but by then Penn was pretty beat. She was thrilled with how his canter was looking- like night and day from when she saw him last. It's so much more uphill.

So that's the story of how we entered two more classes at the next show and took a lesson I never planned on taking (which was very beneficial). I might take another one before we go to Loch Moy, but we'll see. The next few weeks get tough for me to do anything extra as we gear up to finish my bronze and then hopefully smoke them at First Level AA Championships by riding a third level horse. 

6/17/2017 - The Unexpected Lesson

I meant to get this posted in June, but GP Trainer came to the farm for a clinic on July 1/2, and stayed at my house instead of a hotel (save money on those lessons yo!), so I was obnoxiously cleaning the house, inside and out, during the week I wanted to get this posted.

________________________

Since the last horse show, I set two pseudo-goals: get the changes more confirmed (aka get at least a late change every time) and make our medium gaits better. This was in anticipation of... riding 3-1 at a schooling show July 16, and a recognized show July 22-23. Finally finish that bronze, you know?

So I've been cracking away at it. Working on straightness to build engagement. Keeping the changes low key. Things had been going ok. Until they weren't.

Foamy mouth with gross bit sucking noises = good

I had been working on the changes, and he was giving me something every time I asked on the short diagonal (the way it is in 3-1), so I was happy. Until he started hopping through the right to left change. NBD I thought, he's a green horse. Green horses sometimes hop. Check the connection, move on. He hopped half the time, changed the other half. Until he started outright bucking. Then the bucking got bigger. I was not about to pop him with the whip over it- I could tell his response would be to retaliate, not to take his spanking and move on. I knew something was wrong training-wise, I didn't know what (am I setting him up wrong? trapping him? holding him back? is he just fucking sassy? what combo of all of the above?), and I knew if I wanted to meet my goal of trying 3-1, I needed to work it out ASAP. I needed HELP.

So I took stock of who I had available to me: GP Trainer wasn't an option, she's too far away to help without video, of which I had none (and she doesn't exactly approve of me working on the changes right now, which is pretty valid considering Penn is a barely-second level horse, but we might be getting closer!). Cowboy Dressage Trainer was actually one of my top choices, but I didn't think she would approve of working on it either. She'd sidetrack into something else we needed to work on (which I know wouldn't be all bad to do either). I didn't want to ask Event Trainer since I haven't really talked to her in ages. BO's daughter mentioned Dressage Trainer was going to be out the next morning, and had a lot of experience with teaching flying changes since her PSG horse put her through the flying change ringer (he did not take to flying changes well at all), and she's brought a bunch of horses through successfully to 3rd and 4th. I decided to give Dressage Trainer a whirl: she has a lot of experience and I could get help immediately.

Apparently I made Dressage Trainer's day when BO texted her to ask if she'd shuffle her schedule a small bit so I could have a lesson. She said that's fine, and was thrilled to teach me. Well that's exciting! I know she has a bunch of lower level students (First and below), and I know trainers get excited to work with students who know, and can do, more.

4 white standards = markers to count strides between on long sides and diagonals, in trot and canter.
Trying to get a handle on the mediums! I crunched some interesting numbers to go with these, I might make that into a post.
This work on Friday was MUCH more acceptable than his flying change work.

I told her up front when we started that my end goal for the moment was to squeak out two 60s in 3-1 in July and finally finish my bronze... that it has been on hold now for 3 years and I'd really like to finish it because we are SO CLOSE. She laughed and said ok. I told her the trot work is all good, except the mediums need to be bigger, but I'm working on it and they're getting better. I was also working on the flying changes, and usually getting something when I asked, but he's started bucking through the one change, and it's getting worse.

She said alright, let's warm up the trot, and go straight to the changes. She said the changes are a change in bend behind the saddle (which ensures the hind end keeps up in the change), so our warm up work focused on lateral work to get that part of his back moving. She also didn't want to work the changes on the diagonal- she thought that might not be a good way to approach them right now.

She had me mess around a bit with going forward and coming back on a 25ish-m circle- short bouts of medium trot, then collect, do another medium, collect, change directions, medium, collect. It was really good- his medium trot got better immediately and within a couple go/collect rounds, DT was pleased with the medium he was offering and said that's plenty of reach. Wahoo, we'll keep working on those so maybe I can have a medium and a medium + 1 (aka not an extended but hey look, this medium is a hair bigger!)

She then had me work SI and haunches in (HI). She had me do both on the 20m circle, but then when I'd go "straight" on the circle, ask for a short bit of medium trot. Repeat. Then we took it down the wall. SI down the wall. Make the trot bigger in SI. Smaller again. Bigger again. Smaller again. Straight. Turn to the short side, medium trot. Collect, turn the corner, SI again. Repeat. Then we did the same with the HI. All the while, she wanted a more uphill trot. It was super interesting work, and it helped me cement the new feeling of core activity/seat engagement that I found I needed at the last show to get a better uphill trot.

Something she continually reminded me of in the SI was to keep my outside hand down, especially tracking left because Penn wants to tilt his head in that direction. Keeping my outside hand down really helped with fighting the tilt, and steadied him a lot better. I imagine that's because it helped me keep him connected to my elbows, instead of breaking the connection at the wrist.

All of the go forward/come back within straight and the lateral work was to show me the elasticity and suppleness Penn needed in that kind of work. How he needs to be that adjustable, all the time, no matter where I put him. It was super cool, I really wish I had video of it (of course there was no one on hand to take video for me!). I'm super excited to give it a whirl on my own though.

New fly clothes. This is a 72", BTW. Penn's regular clothes? 75-78".
He was hulking out of his fly sheet from last year, and basically ripped the shoulders out of it.
I may have picked this one because its color was "Illusion Blue" and well, Penn is Illuczion.

We took a break, then moved on to the canter right. The very first thing she said was make the canter much more uphill. He can't buck through the changes if his poll is up. She phrased it as, "Sit on his hind end." I don't know why, but that clicked for me. I know I've heard it before. I think it goes hand in hand with MF telling me to sit against his outside hind while I stretched him down to prevent him from speeding up. It was super easy for me to engage my seat in a way that encouraged him to be more uphill and collect, but without closing any of the front doors.

We did the same thing: medium canter on the 20m circle for no more than a quarter of the circle, collect, medium, collect, medium, collect. I had warned her before we cantered that we struggled with the HI at the canter last time I tried it, he would try and simply couldn't hold it very long. After we worked medium/collect, she had me work SI, straight and medium, collect and SI, straight and medium, collect and HI (holding the HI as long we we could, but no more than a quarter circle), straight and medium. Holding the laterals on the circle for no more than a quarter was enough to give Penn something to do, but release him before he got flustered. As we progressed, the medium canter found that awesome shoulder pop-and-reach motion, and it was effortless. Combining the "sit on his hind end" feeling into asking for the transition med-col worked really well too- no more squeezing him to death with him thighs (which didn't work well, let's face it). Just sit against him and he has to collect. Durrrrrrrrr. It works for both working to collected AND medium to working? Who knew?!

Anyway, down the long wall: Go to SI for half of it, medium out of it. Collect and turn the corner and get a little more forward and uphill going again. SI down the first half of the long wall, medium out, collect, turn, find uphill again. She had me change one of the SI to a renvers-like change and seemed pleased that it was relatively easy for him. Next was substituting HI for SI, being careful not to trap him in it (aka medium out).

Then she had me tear drop back around to the other direction, but maintain the counter canter. We balanced the counter canter- it mostly involved me continuing to remind him to stay uphill and compressed and to keep his balance. Then she had me turn down a quarterline and leg yield out to the wall- left leg with every stride, then hit the wall and right leg, flying change. He did a quiet and clean flying change. Walk, make a big fuss over him.

Due to the recent heatwave, Penn has finally learned fans are his friend.

We did the same to the left after a good rest- he could hold the HI!!! I was amazed. He clearly didn't have the same endurance to the left as the right (we also started with the easier change), but she rather liked his left lead better than his right. I rode it much better because I had to, which might be part of it. She got after me to keep after his hind legs, especially the right hind. She said something similar to what GP Trainer has said- his hind end gets slow this direction (GP Trainer has phrased it as he gets scrambly). I need to keep after his hind legs and make them keep up and slow the front end down (something else GP Trainer has told me).

Partway through the left lead work (while we were still tracking left), she had me introduce the concept of half steps to him- when I was putting him together to walk-canter, he just was not engaging his hind end. She had me half halt and basically jazz him up, tapping a couple times with the whip. I got a, "Finally! He's bending his hocks!" Haha. He absolutely leapt off the ground into the canter, which was pretty cool. It was uphill from the start. Gotta figure out how to channel that better.

The left was really hard for him (and me). It took a couple tries through the quarterline to wall leg yield to get the first left to right change. She had me really get after his right hind in the leg yield and then apply the same pressure with the new outside leg for the change cue. This was super hard for me- I didn't want to over cue him, and I was letting him expand his frame in the last few strides before the change. We got a couple that way- then she had me set it up with a 20m circle, compress, straight, cue new lead onto the adjoining 20m circle. She said the left to right wasn't late, per se. It was late to be sure, but he would change the front and change the hinds a half stride late- like a funny hitch.

One of the times he broke in counter canter while on the left lead, I tried picking up the counter canter directly, like I normally do. We hit the straight away as I cued, he picked up the left lead, went two strides, and did a perfect flying change to the inside right lead. DT laughed, I laughed, I pulled him up and gave him a rest and a pat while we giggled. Sneaky horse. He looked super proud of himself too for being so clever. One might even say, smug. Lol

Picture courtesy of BO- he took a nap Saturday afternoon after that lesson!

She said overall he wants to expand his frame and pull his poll down through the flying changes (which then lets him buck), and I need to keep him up and compressed. That's why she doesn't want him doing them off of long approaches like diagonals right now- it's too much time for him to lengthen his frame and drag me forward out of my seat.

This lesson stressed being able to make him laterally supple and elastic (get that back bending for the changes), and making him longitudinally supple and elastic (so I can keep him compressed and up through the changes). DT apologized for making the lateral work so mentally taxing and quick-coming, but she said she's trying to cover a lot of ground in a short time. I told her, "No problem- I brought you a long list!" In fact it was great the way she structured it. I'm super excited to try this all on my own. I won't hit the changes every time, but I can work those lateral moves a bunch.

We'll see how the next few weeks shake out, but I might try to ride with DT again before our July debut. I'm a bit nervous about riding 3rd- the last time we tried 3-1 it was not good (53%), and I feel like I'm rushing Penn like I did Mikey (Great, we got recognized scores at second! Move on to third!). But I think Penn's quality of work and connection is much better than Mikey's, and Mikey averaged 55% at third. I think of 3-1 as 'second level with flying changes' because it's SI, trot half pass, medium/extended trots, medium/extended canters, flying changes. I donno, we'll see. It'll be an interesting experiment.

Lesson 2/20 with Dressage Trainer

A pretty weekend at the farm.

I had a lesson Saturday with the other trainer that comes to winter barn. I'll call her DT (for Dressage Trainer), since my regular trainer I call Trainer on here.

I explained to her that I was having trouble with Penn jumping on and off the contact, and that I have trouble getting his poll to stay up- he tends to dive. We went over what Penn knows how to do (shoulder in, haunches in, leg yield), and where he's going (ready to go recognized first level by mid May).

She had me start by going down the quarterline and asking for leg yield to the wall.

In the first few minutes she gave me the following observations/directions:

• Do a lot of work in shoulder fore- Penn's hind end shifts in, especially to the right.
• Do less wiggling and moving on the inside rein - quiet it down because his head gets wagging and his nose twirling.
• Too much inside hand is causing Penn to tilt his head in, and his whole head is shifting in.
• Open the inside hand if I need a bit of inside flexion (he was a bit distracted because it was the first time the arena doors have been open and he could see out 3 sides of the indoor).
• Do less for Penn! He has to carry himself.
• Follow the nod in walk with my elbows.
• Make sure I don't lock up while turning.

Then more specifically in regard to the leg yields:

• Do a lot of straight lines on the quarter line and center line- he seems to try to guess what we're doing and just doesn't know what to do.
• Turn a little sooner to get on quarterline and centerline.
• Get on the quarterline, and stay straight for several strides. He hits the straight line and is already over his outside shoulder moving out.
• Turning into the quarterline going left: be very careful with my left shoulder it tends to drop back in the turn and stay there. Hence the already shoving him out feeling.
• Work up to leg yield on the straight lines- go down quarterline and stay straight. Go down the next one and leg yield towards centerline for just a few steps to make him think about not going out, then leg yield out to the wall.
• In the leg yield, Penn's hind end is leading. I tend to put my leg way back to move over, which then shoves his hind end into leading, so keep the leg initiating the leg yield closer to the girth. We reset my feel of what the leg yield should feel like- to me it felt like I was dragging his hind end behind me, but she said nope, it's right where it should be. Soften outside rein (the one we were moving towards), but half halt with it when needed to help the shoulders stay a little ahead by slowing everything down.

A lot of those bullets are condensed from the time we spent walking and addressing the leg yield, and then trotting and repeating. I had some really, really nice leg yields left that just flowed and were wonderful.

In the trot:

• Focus on keeping the poll up - it takes much more inside leg than I think is required. That means I also need to regulate the tempo more often by half halting the outside rein and core every few steps to reset him. I'll half halt, he'll slow and steady himself, and stretch to the bit without lowering his poll for about two steps, then he falls forward and down. Half halt again, repeat. Make sure I find a release in the half halt.
• Keep an even feel on each rein with less pounds in each hand. Use and release!
• Relax the outside hand on circles, just a little. I'm smothering him again.
• When tracking to the right, the half halts need to be more from the core, because adding the outside rein (like how the left needs it) is way too much and he half steps into walk. The right rein seems to be where he needs the help in both directions (heavy on the left).
• Hands up and even and together (omg, they've crept down!) and beware of the outside hand getting higher.
• I posted the trot in the beginning, then switched to sit trot. It was the best sitting work I've had - easy to stay with and ride, even when the motion was big.
• Lots of trot-walk-trot and trot-halt-trot transitions.

In the canter:

• The diagonal pair in canter is unclear- they don't step the same. I believe she said the front hoof of the pair lands first (it's really what makes the most sense in an unclear pairing that's bad).
• Our first canter was to the right and on a circle, and her first response was "MORE!" then "Do something! Medium!" So then I was like, "ohhhhh" and kicked him into gear.
• Let him go large around the arena- rebalance on circles as needed, but he tends to drop the poll even more on them, so for now, avoid them and think about getting him rolling.
• Kick on with the inside leg to lift his poll, outside rein half halt. Think medium canter. As soon as his poll comes up, his neck gets out of the way so his shoulders free up and his animation is quite nice and the diagonal pair clears up.
• More canter needs to come from the seat, not just the leg.

General comments:

• Trot to the right is better, canter to the left is better, which surprised her. It doesn't surprise me - Penn has always been quieter to the right, so he maintains the tempo in trot better, but the canter ends up underpowered. Going left has always been a bit zoomier, so the left trot needs more regulating and the the left canter has more oomph and is clearer in rhythm.
• Penn's hind end is slow off the ground, so I need to think about slowing down the front end (keeping it on the ground for longer) and speeding up the hind end.
• DT provided an excellent eye for me when it comes to "how much connection and throughness is enough." I really need more eyes correcting me so I nail down the feeling, because right now it feels like above the bit. She also nailed me every time his poll dropped down a fraction of an inch. I appreciate that!
• She recommended finding long gentle hills to canter up to help build his butt and back. I agreed and said it was already on my spring list.

To clear up what we did as a progression since I summed everything up: walk with leg yields, trot circles and leg yields, walk rest for a lap, canter large right, trot stretchy circle, walk rest to change directions, canter large left, trot stretchy circle.

The canter - this was the best canter work I've gotten from Penn. Hands down. I think this was what Trainer was getting at, but DT explained in a way that made it click in my head as to what's right and what's wrong.

The trot after the first canter was incredible - popping shoulder and lift and suspension. Then he got carried away and dropped his poll. She made me halt and he promptly dragged me into a wall, rubbing my leg (my boots!!!) against the kick boards. I yelled at him out loud, "you son of a bitch!" and pulled his head to the wall and she laughed so hard while I apologized for my outburst. Redo please!  More outside leg into the halt. We played with trot-halt-trot after coming down from canter to the left- keeping the poll up in the halt. When moving into trot, I need to keep my hands soft, but in my effort to stay soft, make sure I don't get left behind. I had to think about leaning forward into the trot so I didn't drop back.

After each canter we did a stretchy trot, and he did his wonderful thing of reaching down (my "peanut roller dressage horse" we joked), and the second trot stretch was so good, she was like, "if that's not a 9, I don't know what is!" And I said he usually is a 6.5 to 7 for them, only because of tempo. She agreed there were some small tempo issues (his recent stretchy circles have been a ton better than what we did at the show), and recommended I play with them and practice keeping the tempo with my seat. Quite obvious to me that's where the tempo control has to come from, but it is something to spend some time working on. I'm pretty sure the lack of control comes from my difficulty maintaining the tempo in posting trot. I never had that problem on Mikey, but Penn is a very different horse! I need to make sure that when Penn comes up from the stretchy trot, I do a lot of reset half halts to bring the poll back up all the way. No cheating and only bring it up partway.

Some of her comments as we worked: "I hope I don't have to compete against you." "He's going to have a lovely medium trot." and "His changes will be very expressive!" I particularly like the competing one, only because: she has a number of fancy imported warmbloods to show, she's a score short of her silver medal, and she's been to Finals.

We didn't have any contact issues until the end, and we both agreed it was Penn getting tired more than anything. He never curled in lesson, and she helped me find the poll up and face on the vertical to slightly ahead feeling. I tried my best to memorize it! He spent the ride truly stretching out to the bit.

All of the half halts come from a very upright shoulder in my part - even more so in canter. Without that very up shoulder, I would never have gotten his poll up. I keep the "pushing back a recliner with the space between your shoulder blades" thinking - and that's exactly what I needed to get the lift. It was a large reason I went to sitting trot- I find it hard to maintain that level of up in my shoulders while posting.

I'm actually quite keen to have another lesson with DT, which surprises me. I think she was saying the same things Trainer says and this is a logical step forward from Trainer's directions before she left - "ride lower and quietly until the end of January and then push him up - you'll be impressed with what you get." I'm very happy that we clicked better this time around - the last time I rode with her was in 2007 and I was working training level (barely) and she hadn't gotten her Bronze yet. We're both much more educated now- especially her since she's a PSG score away from her Silver and she's a certified instructor through 4th.

One of the boarders I've known for ages said it was the most fluid work she's ever seen from Penn. I have to agree, everything felt fantastic. I wish I had video from lesson so I could compare it to video from the shows. Penn's movement at shows looks a little mechanical to me. This work just flowed and he floated- I want to see it! I'm hoping to keep this train going for the next two weeks so the next show has some big improvements! If we can replicate this, I should get an extra 1/2 point to point on each movement, which is an extra 5-10% at the end of a test!

Looking cute before I put his clothes back on and put him out in the field to get muddy on Sunday.

I rode him again Sunday, but outside where we've been having some major connection issues (I wanted to repeat lesson to cement it in my head, but the sun was calling to me!). Things worked out better in walk, but it kind of went to hell in trot. I finally got a decent leg yield and kicked him into canter after it- and promptly said "Up! And more! Medium! Collect and Up! More!" We did several laps of the big outdoor and when I brought him back to trot, he was like "ahhh, ok, I can do this now!" And we had some nice trot work. So apparently, cantering nice and big unlocks him and wears down his nerves (for now until he gets fitter!) Funny though, the bigger that canter is, the easier it was to bring him down to a better trot, and a better stretchy trot. He was more willing to keep his tempo.

We went for a little hack through the woods after with BO's daughter to finish out a great weekend of riding!