(no subject)

[diaryofarider]

Lesson was good, but challenging. We did some very good trot work, and some good canter transitions, till the end when Trudi was tired. I felt her trot didn't have enough impulsion, and since I didn't fix that, it was dribble, dribble, dribble, OOOMPH, canter. :) The last 2 transitions themselves were ok, just took a long time to get them.
At the canter we worked on "the falling down neck" - basically she was curling in the neck (yuck) even though the canter was overall more balanced and not rushing. So I had to lengthen the reins a touch and get her more through, which for now she uses to rush a little, but she's THERE on the bit now and the connection is steady. I remember how long and flat her neck looked to me the first few times we did this at trot, but I have faith and will keep working on this. It feels really good to have her body connected and through, I just have to get the knack of it at the canter now that I can do it some at the trot. It's a little terrifying because she feels more powerful. We also did some small (probably around 15 m) canter circles, where the object was NOT to run over trainer (nutty woman, standing there telling us to go in front of her, while Trudi was all "Yay! Let's play Leapfrog!") Every few strides we managed to engage the hindquarters instead of simply hauling drunkenly around this extremely lopsided circle (I believe it would better be described as a splat).
Trot work started out focusing on "absolute straightness" - basically straightening through bending. :) Shoulder in left on the circle, straighten, shoulder in right on the circle, straighten, and haunches in on the circle (HI is still really hard for me, just feels really wierd and I sort of get it in pieces- move the shoulders, ok now move the haunches, get the bend, push forward, etc). She told me to lift my inside hand up a little to help lift the shoulder- I'll have to remember that because it's new.
After the canter work we finished up with more trot work- volte in the corner, lengthen down the longside, volte again in the corner. It was hard. I thought it would be easier than it was. In the end we finally got a really good one though- in the volte I suddenly felt her hindquarters click into place, and I was like "AH HA! We can do the lengthening now!" And Trudi was all "Whoosh! Whoosh!". :) We quit on that good note.

Comments

[halfpass-19.livejournal.com]

I read something on another BB recently that was like a lightbulb moment. The woman is a dressage rider and a judge, and she said that she thinks a lot of people quit riding once they enter the arena. She said oftentimes riders just sort of coast through tests, never really taking the initiative or correcting the horse when it's necessary.

For some reason, reading that made me realize that's exactly what I do! I'm going to start riding tests in my lessons once a week from now til show season, because I want to break myself of the braindead-in-the-ring habit.

[diaryofarider.livejournal.com]

Definitely it's easy to get caught up in, "OMG, are my shoulders back enough? Am I looking up? AM I SMILING?" instead of just riding. But with a green horse a lot of it is just chilling out and settling down and getting some focus- because there's so much to look at, and there's whinnying, shying, rushing, etc. So once you get past that, then there's the part of me that just forgets most of what I always need to think about to ride well as soon as I think anyone other than trainer is watching, untill trainer yells at me for 10 or 20 minutes. THEN it's a matter of doing stuff well where the test says you have to, whereas schooling it's like "OK, we're not quite balanced for this movement, let's wait a couple of strides, get it together, and then do it." But I definitely think there's also a sense of "OMG I have to do a circle HERE let's just get the circle done and then canter THERE" and you're right- instead it should be DO the circle AND do it right- give the halfhalt RIGHT NOW when you need it and don't worry that the horse will break, or get the foreward in the leg yield instead of worrying if it's going to hit the track right at the letter.