heat wave!

These last days, the Pacific Northwest have been having a pretty hot weather for the area, hitting close to a 100 degrees (Fake degrees, real degrees: 38-ish). The barn has been feeling like a sauna, everything is so hot.

Monday I did not have lesson, and when I came to the barn I decided it was too hot to ride. I wouldn't get anything useful done. Odin, I think, fully agreed with me. He was wet with sweat under his fly sheet, both is croup and chest were wet. I gave him a bath and took him grazing in the shade, nice and relaxing. No more fly sheet, have to deal with the flies.

Last night, Tuesday, I had a lesson. Odin was still a bit damp on the chest just standing around, yuck. We really need a good thunderstorm to get the humidity out of the air (but this is no Florida, but the heat is so unusual. Not like there are fans in the barns!). My whole lesson was in walk, we did turn on the haunches. Very interesting to work a whole lesson on medium-free walk transitions, collected walk and the turns. Took him a bit to be marching forward to the bit, but we got there. By the end L. said he had a foot overstep in the free walk. Nice feeling!

This morning, it was a bit cooler due to the time, so we could work on some more things, I was still sweating like crazy though.
I worked on getting his hind legs to track up and under and his back to come up, for Odin to be truly on the bit. Since we have been working on getting more forward without getting longer, L. called out that when I take my reins in one hand (to use my whip effectively - otherwise I end up nagging a lot), he gets above the bit, and pulls me forward. She then used this as an illustration of even if I have his neck curled up in front of me, both of us a leaning so much on the bit/reins, so he is not really together at all.
I then went on to have no stirrups, and a lot of forward, give hands forward, take reins in one hand, where Odin should stay on the bit and not rush forward and go downhill, and I should not balance on the reins and hunch forward as soon as I gave on them. Hard! But I did get a nice feeling of his back being up under me, more than I have had before. Nice to know what I am looking for. It helped doing it with no stirrups so my butt stayed in the saddle too...
It is a bit hard to get to that point, for now to make it happen I have to get Odin fired up a bit. He really doesn't want to do it, and usually I need a bit of an Odin tantrum before it gets there (kicking out, jumping up in canter or out in trot, jigging along...). Part of it is that we still need to figure out the communication, he needs to know what I want, then he can relax, I need to know how to ask for it. Part of it is just his personality, I am sure... Some times he acts like a 5 year old who doesn't want to go to bed when his parents tell him to!

happy to get some riding in, L. is training him the next two days, with what she can do in the heat.
At least I now Odin is drinking lots, and S. keeps filling their buckets. (Yay for having 100% confidence in the barn management!).

Shows...

Since my last update we have been to 3 (!) shows. A one day show in May, and 2 3 day shows in June and July.

Last weekend we went to Dressage @ DevonWood, which is a huge show, with very experienced judges. DevonWood is just south of Portland, OR, and it is a very, very pretty facility. I was very impressed, the footing was impeccable too.

The shows were all fun, but we didn't get a lot of high scores. I did First level tests, which means I have to sit the trot, and this is really still a huge problem for me. When I have Odin forward enough (which is starting to happen), I just can't follow is trot. Lots of lunge lessons and no stirrup work to come, I suspect.

Just before this last show I had a lunge lessons where L. told me to feel like I am posting with my abs, even when sitting. Another thing she said was to feel like my body was dribbling basket ball. Both these things really help me to understand what I need to be doing, but it is really hard for me to do when trying to ride Odin too! I used to think if I just could relax my seat I would be good, but it is more than that.

I also need more experience for the whole showing thing, how to warm up, how to not be too nervous and tense. The first day I ride too stiff and braced usually, I don't dare to ride forward.

as always we are a work in progress!

This year, USDF removed the citizen requirement for the Regional finals, but we didn't manage to qualify. Still happy the requirement is gone. Maybe next year!

Half halts and balance

A few musings on the half halt from tonight's lesson.

We worked on my tests, and on balancing to do the movements. I realized I needed to do the following continuously:

Balance, forward, collect, forward, repeat.

Then I realized that this is the ‘balancing half-halt’ and the ‘collecting half-halt’. But it makes no sense trying to think of it as a half-halt. I have always thought, oh, I need to do a half-halt, and ended up just slowing Odin down, or tensing up my body. Tonight I didn’t think half-halt, I just thought, ‘I need to balance him and them push him forward’, or' ‘I need to collect before starting the stretchy circle’. I thought about what result I wanted from the half-halt, instead of just doing a half-halt.

It made me think that maybe the half-halt is a bad name? It feels more like ‘all the little things we do to make the horse do actual dressage’.

Or maybe it just is me that needs to think about it this way, but I now know I need to focus on the result of my actions; how do I want Odin to go? How do I get there?

Balance & showing

We are going the the first show of the year next weekend, a one-day show on Sunday. We are doing First level 1 and 2, it will be interesting to see how that goes. Since the schooling shows earlier got cancelled, this is the first show since I showed in August, so I am pretty excited/nervous.

First level means lengthenings, legyields, 12 m circles in canter, a halt, and of course sitting the trot. The last part is such a general problem for me, I still feel like I am bouncing around like crazy, or tightening up my whole body to keep my butt in the saddle. L. did tell me that she though Odin had a relatively big trot, and if I learn to sit that, I will be able to sit most horses trot. Not sure that makes me feel better…

Otherwise we have been training a lot of balance. Keeping Odin forward and balanced has been the idea, usually I can get one or the other. Every time he goes forward he wants to go on the forehand and pull me out of the saddle (see, the sitting thing is connected). We have been working on training him to this being unacceptable, but it is hard for me, since I have to stay in balance and help him being balanced, so that I don’t give the reins away either and let him stay on the forehand. I had a bad canter-trot transition where Odin slipped and feel to his knees (no one got hurt), so it really drove the point home about balance, so we have been working on this quite a bit.

When I get him balanced, the lengthenings and legyields are so much better, and actually possible. I did a nice canter lengthening in my lesson yesterday, where I really could feel him push from behind. The trick was to keep him balanced and together, then he could do it.

We have also been working on straightness, but mostly forward & straight, without thinking that much about balance. Doing all these things at once is hard, but they are all so connected.

What is new?

I got kindly reminded that I don't really update here anymore, and I should.
If nothing else, then to keep track of our progress for my own sake.

Well, March held 2 cancelled schooling shows due to snow (one of them we actually got up, loaded the horses, drove down there, turned around and went back. Not fun, but Odin got some trailer training - he rushes out of them, dangerous).

We have been working on forward and on the aids. Lately on shoulder-in and renvers, about how to get him between the aids, outside rein, inside leg. Usually it is either-or. I can get him forward, but he falls out. I pick up the outside rein, he stops moving. Sigh. I find it quite complicated, and Odin finds it hard.

Also, bits. I use a Myler bit on him, and I like it, Odin is not fuzzy about it, but it still doesn't give him a lot of opportunity to hang on it. However, they have squarish edges instead of round, and he had been getting a little rub from it on the side of his mouth. I changed back to regular 3-part snaffle, and it doesn't rub him, but he will totally ignore the bit. I think I might try some bit guards.

A whole new horse!

We put Odin back to work Monday, and the difference is amazing. He is much more willing to step under, to bend, to go forward. I feel bad we didn't do this 6 months ago! I think it is hard to pin point these things which progressively gets worse, you keep thinking that maybe he is just not ridden supple enough, maybe he is getting old, maybe, maybe, maybe! It was good to see him flexed and see that there was a problem, and we can now feel this is much better. I still have to keep an eye on the back to see if it still is sore (I find it hard to poke hard enough to see the soreness, though). L. also suggested that I should have him flexed a year from now, just too see if he might need another injection, as this sneaked up on us.

Another great thing, last night L. told me to not let him hang on the reins and not hold him together by force. She explained it in a new way, half-halt, forward, let go. Keep doing this until he stays forward and up in the half halts, without me holding him there. This really helped! He felt so much lighter last night and today when I did this. I think I hadn't gotten a good feel for a light contact while he stayed in balance before. The 'let go' is the important part to remember for me, but I need to also remember than he can't stay up if he isn't forward.
That is another thing, he needs to be more forward than I am used to when I do this. I think it is a better speed overall, but I really need to get used to it. I instinctively want to slow down :).

I think between the injection and the oats, I have a whole lot more horse, yay!

Injection

The vet was there yesterday, and she flexed Odin's stifle, hock and fetlock. IT was clear that he was not 100% OK on the right, he wasn't limping on 3 legs, but not a clean flex.
NH (the vet) said that she would call the hock a '3', the fetlock a '1-2' and the stifle a '2'. She said he was 100% clean on the right.

She thought that the back pain and possibly the fetlock pain were secondary to the hock, the stifle might be too. She recommended that he got injected in the stifle and hock on the right, and I agreed to that. She did that last morning (I didn't stay to watch the sedation and needles - work & chicken), so now Odin has 5 days off. There is a small risk of infection (and joint infection would BAD), but she is a really experiences vet and has never seen complications doing the procedure.

We talked about doing the left as well, but as he looked clean, it might be better to try this first and then if we then see issues to the left, then we can consider it. In that way it is easier to pinpoint how effective the different things are (all it will cost is the farm call and sedation - and 5 days off).

he got injected in both hocks 1 1/2 years ago, and it was a big difference, so I am hoping for similar results.

It was interesting to see the flex test, and how she did the different joints. Odin was being really patient through the whole thing.

Oats = good, soreness = not good

So, the oat experiment seems to be going well. Odin gets 1/2 scoop oats with 1 scoop pellets AM & PM, and I have a lot more horse suddenly. He doesn't get tired during my lesson, and is a lot easier to get to go forward. Now, I have to get used to it, he runs a little bit through my hands forward (evading that way instead of slowing to a crawl, I think its progress), but I just think I have to get used to it. Now I suddenly have more power, I need to contain it.

Now the other thing which has come up, some soreness/stiffness. Here the last week or 2 Odin has been a lot more reluctant to canter on the right lead, especially while being straight (or at least a little less crooked). As soon as I try to straighten or do a half-halt he is swapping leads. I can get him a little more supple on the right and it helps, but it is clear that he is uncomfortable cantering to the right.

L. and I talked about it yesterday and today. He doesn't look uneven or stiff/jerky in the trot at all, clear 2 beat trot. In the canter to the right he keeps stiffening his hind legs and swapping leads, especially when first cantering without suppleling. L. ride him today in the first part of my lesson to make sure he felt like that as well for her, she could feel he did the same with her as with me.
L. also poked his back, he was quite sore in his back, in the hind end.

So, what is it?
1) cold weather stiffness? Well he didn't do it in the end of December where it was very cold too
2) the oats? This started at the same time as the oats, and he was on a high-protein feed earlier. The pellets didn't seem to have any difference, but the oats are probably more starchy/sugar?
3) general stiffness. Well he is trained the same, and it does get better with riding, but the sore back indicates that it might be more than that.
4) Hocks. He had his hocks injected about 1 1/2 years ago, and he swapped leads then. It really helped with the stepping the right leg under himself. L. thinks the sore back points to a hock problem. (The saddle fits well)
5) bad riding. We don't ride him that deep/out/over his back, but he is not ridden hollow either, and he doesn't have any glaring conformation issues. I don't think he is ridden perfectly, but I think issues like this would have come up earlier, and I don't think the way he goes when I see L. ride him looks bad.

So, tomorrow the vet was NH coming by the barn anyway, so we will have her look at him, and probably flex him and see if she can see anything. So maybe an injection.

The other thing we can do is put him off the oats, and back on the Purina Ultium, but keep the pellets so he still has more energy. If NH doesn't think there is anything with the hocks we might try that.

He is getting a shot of Legend (HA) every month. I tried Adequan (Glucosamine) this summer and it made no difference, but I might try again, since this is new.

It might also be a combination of all the points, of course...

Well, he is almost 17 years old, and have been during dressage his whole life, so there probably is some wear and tear on the joints, and it is not so that he can't/wont do it, but that doesn't mean he should be uncomfortable being asked to canter right.
Hopefully it will get better.

The great oat experiment

When I got Odin, he was on the Ultima feed from Purina, a high protein/fat performance feed. When the prices rose the summer, L. and I discusses putting him on alfalfa pellets and see how he did (alfalfa & oats are included in board price). So we tried, and we didn't see any change. Saving cost and bother for barn manager (who had been so kind and pick up my special feed when he went to feed store).

So, the only difference was that Odin ate his pellets a lot slower than the Ultima, he always eats his hay first, but it is not as if he doesn't eat, its just clearly not his favorite stuff.

However, recently we talked about his energy level, and it seems very low. He has never been an energetic horse, but he feels so tired after 30-40 min work with me, and 20 min work with L.
So she suggested we try and feed him oats, just 1/2 scoop on top of the pellets. We will be trying the whole of this week, and evaluate Saturday.

I don't think he will get 'hot', but it will be interesting to see if his energy level is higher. He is also lazy, but L. reminded me that it is a training issue, you can have a hot and lazy horse. His whole 'I'm done, just end it' attitude (he runs and hangs on the bit (more) in the last part of my lessons) might be lack of energy, though.

I don't know if the Ultima fed him more calories, or were better for him and it just took a while to really discover, or if I work him a bit harder now, or if it is cold (for this area) and he has been worked little the 2 weeks prior and doesn't move around when there is lots of snow outside and thus got out of training ( I know I can feel 2 weeks not going to the gym!).

lots of things to consider, but it will be interesting to see how he feels on the oats. I know some of my TB owning barn mates feed oats in winter.

On another note, I had a few awesome downwards transitions in my lesson yesterday, from canter to trot and canter to walk. Both I think because I really tried to make him not hang on bit, do a decent forward half-halt before, and then align my seat bones and legs correctly in the downward transition. I had problems communicating the difference between a half-halt and a transition, but that last part with alignment helped.

I also got one nice upward transition into canter, where I could really feel the push behind. It is great to feel how it always should be!

Odin & Me at Whidbey Show

Odin & Me at Whidbey Show, originally uploaded by IdaWW.

Finally got the pictures I wanted from the pro photographer ordered. Here is one of the them. I really like the way Odin looks at the camera, and you can see the awesome braids M. made for me (yeah, I still need practice. Mine came out in the first test).

I look a little concened, and yes, I am hunched a little forward (but, really, you should have seen the other pics :P).

I do ride in jods, yes, I didn't own tlal boots, and it is actually legal. Now it is legal to ride in halfchaps through First Level, which I think is great. I have brought boots though, still waiting to break them in.

btw, we scored between 59 and 62%, and got some second and forth places, I was happy.

Riding from the inside leg to the outside rein

I saw that jesterjigger commented on my previous post, about releasing the inside rein while half halting the outside rein, while doing a transitions.

My last couple of lessons we have been focusing on driving Odin to the outside rein. He tends to fall out (or in) when I do a half halt, instead of coming together. L. had me tap his inside shoulder while half halting his outside rein, to make him have better balance. My problem is that I don't always feel him falling in, and I feel I have quite a bit of weight in both my hands (since Odin is usually heavy on the bit), so it hard to feel that I don't have enough on my outside rein.

This does require quite a bit of coordination, especially since I have to try and keep a consistent contact on the inside rein (I can't ride him together/balanced enough for me to have slack on the inside rein, yet). However, if I do manage this feat, I can see in the mirrors how much more balanced he is. It is harder for me to feel it, though, which is annoying, I need to feel if my corrections are effective.

Last lesson I did some counter-canter while doing this, and it felt a lot more balanced/straight that usual, when Odin is together he has a really awesome canter, it puts a smile on my face :D.

All this has really make me think about the title of this, you always read you should ride from the inside leg to the outside rein, now I understand a little of what that is about.

Timing

After being on vacation for 2 weeks, I have now been back for a week, and it feels good to ride again.

Yesterday we focused on timing in transitions, and it was a really good lesson. L. made me aware of my timing when doing a half halt to re-balance, it needs to be collect/contract - then forward immediately, which I knew, but not really concentrated on applying all the time. In transitions we did the same, collect, then immediately do the transition. I use to do a half halt, think about if it worked, then do the transition. Doing the half halt almost at the same time as doing the transition made them so much better, Odin was able to be a lot more balanced. Yay! It is really hard for me to remember to do, though, as with anything that is not a habit.

we also did a bit of lenghtenings in trot, here I could also feel how much I had to support him with half halts too keep his balance and collection in the lenghtenings. I don't think we entirely succeeded, but I could feel what needed to be done much better.

Great ride and being sick

Saturday I had a fantastic ride. We were outside, since a clinic was going on at the barn, and it actually wasn't raining. Odin started off with being silly, since a horse out side started galloping around in her paddock, bucking and kicking the gate - unfortunately I couldn't ride him through and keep him focused, but after that it got better.

I really was focusing on keeping him forward, and sitting back and deep, so he couldn't pull me forward and go on the forehand. The ride felt really good, but it was hard, and required a lot of concentration. Unfortunately I couldn't quite keep him as straight as I wanted when I did this; when he couldn't slow down or go on his forehand he tries to throw his shoulders in or out. However, I was pleased that I was able to feel this. We worked a little on that in the end of the lesson, and all in all it felt really good.

Monday, however I was sick. This is the 3rd time I have been sick in this last month or so, and I am getting very tired of it. My doctor said I kept getting reinfected with the same virus, I have had sore throat all times. So now I am trying to get really rid of it. The worst part is that I haven't been riding much in Oct/Nov, and in a week we are going on vacation for 14 days. So little riding :(.

Recap

so, I havn't updated in a while, which I should.

In August, the big thing was that we went to a recognized show. We did training level, just to try out showing without having to do anything difficult, and it went great. Got 5 out of 6 scores abobe 60%, and 2 second placings. A lot of feedback about the same things we work on at home, my seat, rein contact, forwardness, balance of rider (and badly influencing the horse). Lots of encouragements and comments about having a great horse to learn on.
And yes, Odin was a STAR. He is such a cool guy to learn on. He came, he was 'ok, this is a show. I know this stuff. Let me do my nice trot'. He really helped me get my nervousness out. Of course he should be more forward, more uphill, the stretchy circle and free walk need a LOT of work, but overall that wasn't the important things (though ribbons were nice), but that I am not nervous about showing him at all now, he is such a levelheaded horse.

I will try and see if I can find some pictures where I don't lean forward too much :P.

After the show we worked in the free walk and the stretchy circle a bit, and how to get an elastic feeling on the rein.

Recently we worked on straightness. We did some shoulder-in to renvers, which were really helpful in getting Odin more supple and straight. We practiced doing trot-canter transitions while straight, that is hard! I think two important things came from this: I try to make Odin less stiff and crooked, since it has been getting worse, and is shouldn't be, that leads to frustration. I think it is a bit better now. I also developed a much better 'feel' for when he is straight or not, and some skills to straighten him. I got the difference between when he falls out or in on a circle or long side, or when he stays straight or correctly bend. The 'feel' is the hardest part of riding, it is what you need master, but I now think it can be learned. And I do have the rest of my life for it :)

Lastly, the last week we worked on forward, half-halts, and expectations. I have been trying to expect more from him, to not allow him to come out of collection when I go forward, or slow down when I collect. It is hard, because now it has become a habit, Odin expects to slow down when I collect, so we need to do a bit of retraining. L. told me the other lesson, if you have to use your legs in a half-halt to prevent him to slow down, he is not in front of you legs. You collect and allow, not push. Hmm... we're not quite there yet, but I did have a bit of that feeling the last lesson.

these last lessons I have been riding with drawreins, which are not my favorite thing. I have a hard time organizing 2 sets of reins, I am terrified of using them too much. They do help me with not letting Odin lean on my hands, and also I don't lean on the reins either, because I have to be more careful with the drawreins. L. is good at making sure they are not used to make Odin curl his neck up and that they are loose enough. I am still sceptical whether this is ultimately the right thing to do, but now I try.

One more thing I have to remind myself, I could really feel a difference after the Legend shot in the start of Oct. The end of September he quite stiff in the right hind, but it really changed with the Legend. I tried an Adequan shot this summer, didn't seem to change anything, but I will definitely keep going with the Legend.

Communication

My lessons Wednesday and Saturday was more work with no stirrups, and all about communication.

The great thing was that in Saturday's lesson, L. asked me to canter across the diagonal, trot at X and then pick up the other lead canter. I was very concerned by doing this, he usually think I want a change and does one, I was afraid of sitting that with no stirrups! The diagonal is very long too, sometimes Odin anticipates a canter lengthening! This made me tense up, of course, so he did pop a change. And I stayed sitting, no problem. My confidence is rising :D.

As for communication, we did some downward transitions. They are not so good, they are not precise, and they are not forward. Canter-trot I tend to just take my driving aids off, and he goes into trot, but I have been able to improve this a bit. They are especially better when I ride with no stirrups, I know if his trot is crappy after the transition, I might not be able to sit it.

The trot-walk ones are really frustrating. I try to keep him moving forward into the transition, and making the transition by 'stopping my seat'. When Odin doesn't react, I get desperate and tense up more and more of my body, thighs, butt, back, pushing myself out of the saddle. I keep thinking that it is because I don't use my seat correctly for the downward transition, which is part of the problem, but not all of it. L. pointed out that Odin ignores me, because I let him. I need to correct him when he doesn't listen to me, and he is not a young horse who might be confused as to what I want, he should already know this, and probably also know when he can blow trough my aids. We did some work where I corrected him if he didn't halt at a light aid, and like magic he suddenly understood what I wanted.

I am not the type of person who blames the horse, or the trainer, or the weather (ok, maybe the weather), I know I have lot to learn, but sometimes I need to remember that part of learning is also how to train the horse to respond to me, and that Odin is an experienced guy who is not too bad at trying to do things the easy way. I need to higher my expectations to his reactions to my aids. Always, consistently.

saddle fitting

Friday the saddler came by the barn to look at 4 of the horses. Most of us have Schleese saddles, and have brought from this guy, who is the local fitter for Schleese (and also competes locally in eventing). It has been 10 months since I got my saddle, so a fitting was due.

Odin had already worked earlier in the day, it was hot, and I couldn't get him to go forward at all, not even one little nice trot circle! So the fitter had to see s at our worst, I really can't collect him when he doesn't go forward.

He took the saddle up in front, I could feel that immediately. IT seems like Odin's muscles behind the withers have changed a bit. He also did a bit of adjusting to the sides, he ended up being 95% happy. Odin is really unequal on his two sides, mostly due to me not being able to bend him well enough. The saddler even noticed that my right and left leg rests against Odin quite differently. It is funny how you never notice these things yourself.

I think it was very useful to have the saddle adjusted, and I just have to work on making his right side as strong as his left side.

Cantering, now without stirrups

In today's lesson we continued what we have been doing recently, namely balance/seat and transitions. After some trotting, L. asked me to canter. It has been a long while since I have cantered with no stirrups. I must say I have been a bit afraid of it, but it was easy. I follow Odin so much better without the stirrups, no way to push my seat out of the saddle! I also make my downward transitions a lot better, since I know if he gets into a bad, stung out trot, I might not be able to sit it...

In the canter and canter transitions we worked on straightness. I sit to the right, but when I sit in the middle, I feel like I sit to the left. I also find it hard to keep him straight though the neck and bend around my inside leg, especially the right. I feel like I loose control if I I don't keep his neck to the right. I probably don't use my inside aids. Use of legs, and keep my balance. More to learn!

I did the entire lesson with no stirrups, and now I am sore, but I feel accomplished :)

transitions with suppleness

Besides starting out with a lot of forward (Odin was lazy after a weekend off), we did the usual no stirrups thing in the lesson. Getting better all the time!

Then we went on to transitions. Which were supposed to happen forward, and result in a more upright, collected horse. Which really wasn't what was happening, more like a strung out falling on his forehand horse.

L. then had me leg yield him into the transition, and drive him forward during it. The leg yielding should keep him more supple, and not let him hand on the bit, together with the forward.
It was hard for me to do this. I had to steer and leg yield, and wrap my head around what the end result should be. I tended to let go of my outside aids too much, so he became crooked instead of bending. In the end I think we got one nice transition from canter to trot, where the trot was forward and Odin was in a nice frame. But more practice needed!

On the fungus side of things, it seems to be almost gone. Only his skin is still full of bare patches, so waiting for that to heal. There were some flaky stuff still, but it looked like it might be the mikrotek stuff, it looked like a film of inorganic material and not like fungus crust. Hmm. We will see.

Ouch, my seatbone(s)!

Tuesday and Wednesday I had lessons, more stirrup less riding.

Tuesday we started off with a bunch of trot-canter-trot transitions, to get Odin a bit more round. We practiced the correct canter aid again, not just running into it. It is quite hard for me, and a bit frustrating. I ended up getting one or two good one, and he did get rounder.

Then I did lots of trot with no stirrups, as I did Monday. L. was noticing that I was working too hard, Odin needs to go more on his own. I think part of it is that I get mentally exhausted from sitting with no stirrups, it wears me out. I have a hard time concentrating on riding, using my aids, and stay upright in the saddle.

Wednesday we started out with an aid sensitivity exercise. I would very, very lightly tap Odin with me legs, and if he didn't immediately scoot forward, a BIG correction would follow. Rinse, repeat. In the beginning L. would ask me to say now when I used my legs, and then she would correct so I could see how quickly she timed it. She then asked me to do it, and it was OK, but I had to practice not pulling back when using the whip, deliberately letting go.
It actually didn't take that many corrections before Odin got it, he moved off nicely from a light aid. Added benefit: When he is in front of my legs, he is a lot lighter in my hand. Just like the theory tells!

The problem is of course that I need to be 100% consistent to make this work. After a minute of going forward promptly, he gets more and more sluggish again. I, of course, don't notice since it gradual (he still moved forward), and I am concentrating on whatever else I am doing. Then we go back to using bigger and bigger aids, and then it goes back to nagging every stride...

Something to continue to work on. The whole concept of having enough mental surplus to train the horse 100% of the time you ride is hard, it does take a lot of effort just to sit up.

It was a very useful exercise, a step on the way.

Then we did trotting with no stirrups again, this time also 10m circles and more serpentines and leg yields. This prompted the seatbone soreness! My right seatbone especially was sore - and one of the things we worked on was me sitting straight, L. said I was not sitting in the middle of the saddle, and collapsing the right hip. Well, I guess the soreness proves it - it was also way harder for me to do 10 m circles to left, even if this is Odin's 'good' side. So we worked on sitting in the middle of the saddle.

Riding without stirrups is getting so much easier, I feel a lot more confident, so while there seem to be an endless list of corrections to make, I do feel a lot of progress.


Also: stupid fungus, I can't get rid of it. Every day there is lot of scabbing to scrub off. I took away his flymask, my theory was that he was sweating under it aggravating it. I also made sure to disinfect his halter with an alcohol wipe, and make sure all the sweat is off his face after we ride. Hopefully there will be less fungus soon!

Lessons again

L. was back about one and a half week ago, and I am happy to be back in full training. I must admit that I find it hard to motivate my self and be consistent, and not just jog around.
I would love to blame it on the hot weather, but the truth is that cold or wet weather doesn't make my any more motivated :P.

What was really nice was that even though I might not be 100% consistent, I could feel an improvement in our downward transitions, which I had been working on. It felt like we were communicating a little better. It was nice to feel that I could get a bit progress on my own, I not regress while I am riding on my own, as it sometimes feels like.

Most of our lessons have been partly without stirrups. The lessons yesterday I actually felt OK with it, not panicking, and relaxing a bit. L. makes me ride him and do leg yields and serpentines, the hardest part is not to hang on the reins, and the next thing is not to clamp.

Next step will be to not stand in the stirrups when I take them back, I relax more when I have the stirrups, but I sit worse.

We also worked on transitions, as I said they feel better, but there is still much work to make them forward, both up and down. Again I need to not hang on the reins, and stop clamping.

Yesterday we worked on canter transitions, it was frustrating, since Odin basically ignored me until I ran him forward while leaning forward and letting go of him mouth. One strung out crappy canter follows that, of course. L. had me correcting him when he didn't respond to my light canter aid, but it is hard for me to think about, instead of just 'doing what works'- aka running. I also need to sit to give the aid with my seat bones.

We did manage one nice trot-canter and one nice canter-trot, but it was tough. L.'s comment was that if I just sit and give the correct aid and keeps hims on the bit it looks great! Do that every time! hmm...