If Carlsberg made dressage outings....

today's would be a 4 pack of Tesco Value Lager...entertaining if you are 15 and possibly best that no one witnesses you with it.....

However, in a perverse way today was the best outing we have had in our short and inauspicious dressage career...

Thank heavens trainer worked us hard in our lesson yesterday...heaven knows what fate might have befallen us had he been fresher...

The first,first this time was the falling off in the warm up. In my head it was graceful, balletic even and definitely definitely not witnessed by anyone...in reality the little toad waiting until I had one foot in the stirrup and was at that point of no return where you have taken your weight off the mounting block and begun to swing it over the back before he charged off like a llama released from the gates of Hades. He didn't even look sorry! We regrouped after a quick 'discussion' about manners proceeded to clear the warm up in a very fine' passage' complete with arab tail and snorting....kill me now, I begged!!

Last week, I would have cried and gone home...what could I possibly do? My warm up involves 10 minutes of walk and lateral work..clearly not today!...There were banners!! Horror of horrors!!! Students turning out horses!!! And cows, oh killer cows!!! Somehow I found my inner dressage diva, thought on my feet and got firm...cue cantering sideways every time I shifted my weight...and paroxysms of indignant plunging...until I smacked his bottom, said absolutely NOT today...where upon he grumbled under his beard that this just wasn't fair and settled to do some work. We trotted and trotted and trotted. Then trotted some more...in for a penny I thought....death or glory...canter transition...no plunging, no running...hurrah...I had him back!!!

Today I thought on my feet, didn't give in, braved the tantrums and came out the other side...in the warm up at least!

Smugness is not an attractive trait...luckily it only fleetingly made an appearance :/

THE arena had markers!! Clearly never seen those before...lovely judge gave us a chance to trot round the entire 20 x 60 3 times, which must have felt like an eternity to her as we inspected everything at a 90 degree angle with obligatory snorting...at this point the photographer beat a hasty retreat!!

Could bore you with a blow by blow....potted version...a few 7's, 6.5's (thank the lord for half marks!!) A couple of  very justifiable 3's where we exited the arena stage right :O
The old me would have retired at the first arena exit...today through gritted teeth we battled on, some really nice moments between the madness at the C end...and no one more surprised that me to have scraped 58%...as to be honest I rather thought it might have been another sub 50 for the archives :)

So, what did I learn?

I didn't give in at any of the rather substantial hurdles today!
I got back on!!
I worked him until he was calm and submissive (or at least holding it together)
I didn't retire when it went wrong
I actually came out smiling with a sense of achievement!

And more than that: How much does a frilly cheer you up when you are about to leave without collecting your sheet ;)????!!!!!!

Taking a long hard look...

at ourselves this week....

On the surface our Elementary debut was a total, utter unmitigated disaster...a waste of diesel...a waste of entry fees...entertainment for the poor judge perhaps, a tale for the poor man I shouted at by the side of the arena as we piaffed our way to retirement...

But horses are our greatest teachers...a mirror for our own shortcomings...
So,after having a pity party and sobbing all the way home I stopped and asked:
What did I do wrong?
What did we learn?
How could we do it better?
Then, finally I could appreciate what we had done well!!!

Next time I will make sure the SmallBrown one is worked properly the day before...work or no work, it is no good going for a relaxing wander the day before an important competition...you wouldn't spend the day before your University finals ice skating....

Next time I will take into account I now have a fit dressage horse on my hands...no longer a panting, baby bog pony with no stamina....allowing 15 minutes to warm up is a recipe for disaster...and now we have the humble pie to show for it!

Going into a warm up with your head up, a plan and some commitment is vital....no good bumbling around apologising to everyone for getting in their way....be proud, be asssertive, we deserve to be there just as much as the huge, snorting warmblood half passing and flying changing everytime we turn up the centre line...

When it goes wrong...take a deep breath, go back to where you were AND GET ON WITH IT!

Above all, defeatist will be defeated....

Now, 5 days later, I can appreciate...we managed the entire trot and walk sections of an Elementary dressage test!! The first time we have EVER been out in public and had a go...

And yesterday 2014 has started with such a high:

 My most special SmallBrown will be taking me down the centre line at our very first regional championship...and we will have our heads held high, big smiles on our faces and  enjoy every single second whether we come first or last....

Now , where do I get hypnotherapy.......

How do I love thee....

One of  my favourite sonnets:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Today I am feeling the love so much for the SmallBrown one!

We have been with our trainer a year today...achieved things I never dreamed possible with a little brown bog pony.

He is totally and without a shadow of a doubt, my best furry-faced friend, my inspiration, my teacher,  my horse of a lifetime..

Because after a week confined to the barracks he went out and did this: 

Because he is always interested:

never sick, sorry, petulent, bad tempered and  never, ever says no!
Because he gives the best cuddles, and is always pleased to see you:

and most of all, he works the hardest out of everyone!

Le Lunge...

Today should have been a relaxing stretch day for the Small Brown one...still too wet to turn out, so variety, variety, variety needed to keep him sweet....

Yesterday was canter work...as we are running out of time before D day (or should that be E Day??!!) on Sunday, wanted to run through canter sections before lesson on Thursday, so I had a concrete plan for things to work on...transitions now have more jump,but still need to focus on the softness and relaxation into the upwards. Sit deep, look up!!! Having digested ideas from video, shapes are now much better, especially 15m circles. Have focused on using the corners to give us time to prepare, especially for 5m loops...otherwise we find ourselves too far up the arena and not back at the track!!!

Popped him on the horse walker for half an hour before heading down to lunge pen...beautiful day...bright, crisp, not too cold...unless you are a naked dressage pony..in which case it is cause for great excitement!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzDznR9QhH8

Oh dear....took a good 10 minutes for there to be ANY stretching, far too busy have fun snorting and doing best arab impressions :D

Got to love his enthusiasm...is it only Wednesday??!!!

Tempo and rhythm and relaxation

Two terms we have focused on in recent weeks
So, what is the difference?
We are learning that tempo is much more the speed we move at and the rhythm is the defined beat pattern that the hooves fall into...canter has been the gait we have had the main issue as far as rhythm is concerned, however in the trot AND canter our tempo has very much been dictated to me by Small Brown, his weakness and my lack of understanding and therefore control.
So interesting to me, in our dressage journey, that the 'building blocks' or Training Pyramid places rhythm (with tempo within that) before relaxation...(although I understand they are connected more holistically than a pyramid suggests) as without the relaxation our tempo has been very difficult to regulate/control/influence.

I am a tense rider...I am improving as our bond of trust grows, but it has taken a long time for me to be able to 'sit out' any 'moments' that might occur...especially in a competition environment. If I am not relaxed, by definition how can my horse EVER be so? Without relaxation through neck and back I can't sit into my horse, we are not in harmony...it feels awful and looks even worse...if I cannot use my seat effectively how can I control the tempo of walk, trot or canter?

A short snippet of a tense rider (me) and a 4 year old SmallBrown...running into transitions, with no ability to control tempo or rhythm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCvNqyJXcTI
And at 3mins in this video a useful comparison: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS-lkYSAElQ

The single most effective way my trainer has helped me become aware of the interaction of these ideas and improving my ability to control them is to work without stirrups...a lot! I HAD to find our centre of balance and quickly...as I became less reliant on my hands and more reliant on my seat and once he was truly off the leg, we could refine how we moderated tempo and enhanced the rhythm.

So, today's training session focused on tempo in the trot  in both sitting and rising.
We are (with the bigger picture in mind) building up the amount of sitting trot I do in a session. I find the lateral work easier sitting BUT only when we have a relaxed frame and a soft jaw.
10m circles at each marker,leg yielding in and out from 20m to 10 m circles, shallow loops, focusing on maintaining the SAME tempo throughout.
We then played with increasing the tempo on the long side and decreasing before a corner, through a corner and out the other side, thinking about making the transitions crisp and clear.
Finally we worked on medium strides, where the energy and stride length increased but NOT the tempo...easier said than done. I have to focus on looking up not down,controlling the tempo of my rise, whilst asking for the extra effort...easier said than done
As he is getting stronger it is getting easier and I already feel a MASSIVE difference,but having sat on a PSG mare...and felt THE trot, I know there is a great deal still to work on
I stand by Kottas' words that 'time and patience' are the two qualities we MUST display in training and building rapport with our wonderful horses
Time and patience....

One thing at a time

Beautiful dry, frosty morning
Perfect for a wander

Today was a good day...as we marched out,I realised for the first time in a loooooong time, we were on a loose rein! Purposeful, striding,but none of the recent piaffe/passage moments I have sat through (calmly) while killer sheep pop up from ditches and plastic feed bags lie in wait in gateways, or horror of all horrors a leaf has dropped,silently,menacingly....

We spent 20 minutes in the school first....always useful to check the brakes after a day off and in due to apocalyptic rain!!

On thing I have learned over the last year is that every moment counts when you are schooling your horse...I no longer sit without a plan or purpose, it is not merely exercise...I see it as education (for both of us)
I wouldn't go into one of my lessons in school without a plan...and now I never enter the school without a focus in mind. I HAVE to be disciplined....how else can I expect him to be the same?
I ask: What do I want to achieve? HOW are WE going to achieve it? Always useful to me to then reflect and see where we could improve...always improvements to be made!

Was interesting to read Kyra Kirklands ideas about focusing on one thing at a time...
So today we did!
I always warm up for 10 mins in walk,lots of shapes, circles, half circles, shoulder in, traver, leg yield, free walk to medium, medium to collected, collected to extended...whilst focusing in the mirrors on my posture, position, balance.
Today we focused on the trot work:
Elementary 44 involves working trot to halt. Halt to collected trot. Collected trot to medium trot to collected again,10m circles and half circles, so our focused active 10mins work was just that. Lots of centre lines, 10m  half circles on and off the CL. Halting at different places with a definite focus on the quality of the collected trot,really riding from the seat and forward and 'up' into the halts. relaxation in the halt and then a crisp transition back to a lovely forward, active trot. LOTS to think about....Small Brown was pinging so my job was to remember relaxation and control of the neck. He is so much fun!!!
Tomorrow I am back to work, so time is more limited, so sessions will need a lot of thought before hand....lesson on Thursday!

Reflections

Its raining...again...Small Brown has a day off....and I am pondering...
Every so often when we get in a rut, I always think it is good to go back to the beginning and see where we came from.

I am a dressage novice in every way...I thought I knew a lot...turns out I know very little and the more I learn the more I realise I have to learn...

Two short videos:
First one was Small Brown at 4 years old, our first lesson together and 2 months after I bought him
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmWmXGUFAGs

The second was taken last week...we have been under the watchful eye of our trainer for a year now...and we are about to attempt our first Elementary at BD next week:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS-lkYSAElQ

Not perfect...plenty to work on,but isn't that part of the fun? The journey...
I love the very bones of this little horse, who puts a smile on my face every single day xx

2nd January 2014: Start as we mean to go on

At last some sunshine!
The year began as 2013 ended...relentless rain!
The SmallBrown one has now been confined to barracks for a week, but as usual has proved to be incredibly level headed,munched his haylage,ignored the face pulling neighbours and got on with it!!
Hacking today- could be fun...but at least he has been out for a leg stretch and a roll in the mud...on top of which the 'killer sheep' have been moved to new pastures,so one less thing to spook at today.
Spent the evening plotting January and February:
So far we are looking like :

Sunday 5th January: good old blast round Hankley or Hascombe Hill
Sunday 12th January: E44 at Priory BD (our first attempt at an Elementary)
Sunday 19th January: N38 at Sparsholt BD
Sunday 26th January: E44 at Patchetts BD
Saturday 1st February : potentially E40 at Pachesham depending on how the others have gone...he is not a great fan of the noisy,slippy surface at Pachesham!!
Sunday 9th February: Ele 44 at Merrist Wood

The we are on the countdown to the Regionals FSM at Merrist on Saturday 24th February.
Whether we go or not is up for debate...a scare at Oldencraig has left him finding the music aspect (quite key to FSM!!) a challenge...
Onwards and upwards!!!