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...