Allie Dressage Lesson 22.12.12

I had been having issues with Allie while schooling for a week or so before I decided to schedule a lesson with Ann. Allie seemed to have lost her trust in the contact in walk and was fussy in the trot and was not going forward into it, to the extent that three rides had me cracking her on the arse with the whip to stop her from reversing violently and just go forward even without a contact. She kept stopping and hitting reverse, ignoring leg and generally chucking a hissy fit. Each of these rides she eventually warmed out of it but I was not happy. She was reefing the reins out of my hands, causing small sores in her mouth. She was fussy. She was not happy. Teeth were fine, she was just blergh. Cue lesson. We had had time off when my bruise was healing after that kick I copped from Gracie, then I bought the jump saddle and fluffed around with that for a few rides, then we have been getting back into schooling properly and I stupidly thought I could pick up where we left off without going through the couple of weeks of suppling rides first. Plus I have been working on my sitting trot which hasn't helped. Ann says the drama was Allie trying to tell me she was a bit sore and we spent the lesson getting her through in a longer frame. She went excellently. Trot work:

Canter is still giving us drama but we just need to work through it. This one is funny - watch what she does when I ask for right canter:

Fairly consistent canter right:

Inconsistent canter left:

Sneak Peek

We had a dressage lesson last Saturday. Here's a sneak peek, full write up (with videos that are pretty freakin funny tbh) to follow!

Lesson Videos

Had another lesson with Ann today. Gracie and Nat came to have a lesson after mine too. While we were getting ready a horse galloped in his yard and spooked our mares - who then proceeded to pull back, break the twine they were tied to (Gracie has NEVER done that before!) then they pranced off to disturb the lesson before us and ran all over the property causing havoc. Allie even ducked under a temporary one strand fence! Brat

Allie was amazing there as per usual. We worked on proper flexion (she tends to tip her nose to the right to avoid that rein) and transitions within the trot.

It was pretty fun, the exercise we were doing - big trot, then little trot (almost walking) then immediately bog trot again, over and over. She did so well!

Then, out of the blue, Ann said "alright, now canter, don't even think about it" and suddenly she gave me the most beautiful right lead canter depart. I laughed out loud it was just perfect and easy and I can't wait to do that again.

Left canter was pretty funny - the video below shows how hard Allie tries to get it right but she just doesn't have the balance there to canter while being through anf forward into the bridle. IT's geting there though.

Seriously though - watch this video, it's pretty funny.

Photo spam of pretty well behaved ponies:

Pretty mareface!

Ann talked Nat through the whole 'lowering the neck' and 'reaching down' and 'taking control' thing. I think it is some sort of initiation into dressage? :P

Next lesson in a month's time. We certainly have some homework to do!

Dressage Lesson 15.09.12

Allie and I had another lesson with Ann yesterday. We needed one badly.

We worked on going through and forward into the contact, straight lines and the right canter lead.


Contact

Ann reminded me it will take years for Allie to be solid in the contact. But her moments are getting better and better, longer and longer.

Ann had us practicing letting allie follow the contact forward and out.

Sucking back and me not taking the contact back too. It is my responsibility to keep the contact a constant and follow her when she sucks back like this.

Example of Allie's moments. First she says "I can't stay through when you ask me to turn!" then "I am an overachiever how great am I?" then finally "This frame is sustainable".

Straight Lines
So - I had been trying to get my wiggly wobbly horse to go in straight lines by trying to straighten her with my legs. Apparently that is impossible (and glaringly obvious now). It is her shoulders I need to keep straight. With my reins. Voila! Straighter lines, happy unconfused pony. I love a simple fix!

Canter
Canter, oh canter, why do you remain so elusive?

Left canter is going alright actually - we don't get frazzled and it kinda just magically happens. Right canter though - we both freak out and apparently according to Ann, Allie has kinda gone a little dyslexic. Like, she can;t figure out which way her legs need to go which is why she gets all disunited, swaps to the left lead, spazzes out and rushes, etc. etc. etc. Then I haul on her face to stop her and she takes that as a punishment which makes her worry every time I ask her to work on it again.

I'm to let her truck along and figure it out while keeping her through and forward into the contact prior to the canter transition. If she stuffs it up, DO NOT HAUL ON HER FACE! Let her drop back into the trot again with my voice, then ask again.


We probably won't have this whole canter thing figured out in time for my test. I'm going to take her along anyway, warm her up, see where we are at and if we feel good, do the test. If not, scratch. It's not worth her spazzing out and having a bad experience just for a comp.

A few more pictures:

Boy, this dressage thing is HARD WORK!

p.s. I have dropped a size in jodphurs. So pleased about that! I'm working REALLY hard on my fitness and strength at the gym (I'm totally not a gym person so its a big deal I'm actually going there) and it is starting to show in my riding which is still looking terrible but is getting more effective.

On a Lesson High

Ever been on a lesson high? That is me right now. I'm addicted. :)

We went to Ann's today - Allie went amazing again - riding there is like magic!

We finally figured out left flexion. I got in trouble for fussing with her at the walk when I should be leaving her to figure out going forward into the contact herself. We had a BEAUTIFUL right canter, we had a pretty good left canter. We had some AH-MAZING trot work. We had a stretchy trot, stretchy walk. Allie was loving it too.

Best of all, Ann said Allie could very easily be an advanced level dressage horse. The more Ann sees of her, the more she likes her. She says Als has three lovely paces. My horse is just amazing, I am so so so lucky to have her. :D

Have a few crappy pictures.

Back on Track

We had our lesson with Ann today. It went really well.

No pictures or video though as I had to go by myself. Sucks, I know.

I asked Ann for homework - told her how abysmal our tests last week were. Told her how fussy Allie gets, how offended she can be when I take up a contact. Ann said Allie sounds exactly like her mare when they first started. Told me she knew exactly how to get past this.

It was a great ride. Basically, Als is way overdue to put her big girl pants on and deal with contact. Like super consistent contact that she has to move forward into. And to be honest, she did for most of the ride. Plus I need to put my big girl pants on too and take the responsibility of helping her go correctly. We had some fairly awesome moments, the very best being a left lead canter depart where she was truly through the whole time. We only held the canter for about 2 strides but the try was there. I smiled almost the whole lesson.

I'm going back again on the 18th - in the meantime our homework is to get Allie moving forward into the contact, at all times.

I'm very excited about where we are headed. We are going to smash our next test, really nail it. :)

Saddle Fit, Lesson, Happy Ponies.

We had Tony Flynn come do a saddle fitting for both Allie and Gracie yesterday. I bought my saddle from him over a year ago, but I could tell that my saddle wasn't balanced for me (it was fine for Allie). Sure enough, it was tilting me forward and needed a heap of flocking up front. It felt great in my lesson!

Gracie's dressage saddle is no good. It doesn't have a changable gullet so it is now for sale for about $50 if anyone wants it? Natalie's other saddle, a wintec all purpose, DOES have a changeable gullet so he fitted that to her and she went so.much.better. under saddle with it - Nat said it was her best ride on her - ever. He put an extra wide gullet in it! No wonder the poor mare didn't have much forward or want to lift her back before.

We got some photos and video:

Nat was trying to get up off her back here I think - looks like it worked!

Watch this one, it has a lol moment!

Happy pony and rider after the cool down walk up the street.

Our neighbor's cute dog who came for a walk too. LOVE those ears!

I also got a lesson with Ann before Nat rode Gracie - pics and vid of this too! We concentrated on her being 'through' to help with our walk-trot transitions (which are normally 'leaping' - Ann said "we will fix that today!" and so we did!) and then have a little go with the same principles at the trot-canter transition.

Finally - a nice trot-canter transition. Just what I was looking for!

 

I was so satisfied with the lesson - Ann said that with a horse at this stage normally they look for nice moments - Allie rather has bad moments among the nice, if that makes sense? She also said once Allie has the balance and strength, her trot is going to be amazing. I'm so excited. :D

So motivated and excited for my test now!!