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!