Monday, May 23, 2016

All The Lessons

The barn I am at had a schooling show this weekend and my favorite dressage judge was the judge.  This means I got to have not just one but two lessons.  Yay for lessons!  It was really nice having two lessons, because we got to progress more.

Stinker was tired and didn't want to get photos taken.

The first one was Friday evening.  I foolishly thought that having a lesson at five would be a great idea.  My plan was to go into work early (which did happen) so I could leave early (did not happen).  I was hoping that the rain would push my time back a bit, but they ended up moving lessons to Saturday rather than shift on Friday.  I was a bit rushed and still stressed from being at work and Stinker was feeling fresh.

So many tired pony pictures.

It was good because the judge was able to help me work through his sassiness and get him relaxed and stretching more quickly than I have been able to do it on my own.  Sadly there was not any video or pictures.  The main focus of this lesson was to get him to stretch and release the tension in his neck.  Once you get him to start releasing, he is more than happy to release the tension.  Unfortunately it takes quite a bit of convincing and accurate riding to get him to start.

Still obsessed

In my second lesson we started building on the releases we had on Friday and focused more on the trot.  I was so proud of him, because the horses were being turned out (read galloping horses not horses being hand walked) and while Stinker did get tense and lose some focus he was totally rideable.  A few months ago this would have resulted in a total meltdown that would have required me to get off and hand walk him or spend 20ish minutes trying to get some relaxation back.

Such a hard life.

The biggest thing from this lesson was the timing of my aids.  I have been doing the right things, but my timing isn't the best.  Basically, I need to half halt, rotate my inside hand and open it, then as soon as I get some give I need to go back to neutral.  And repeat this fifty million times... I was spacing my timing too far out and not give back quick enough.

And he gave up on my attempts to take pictures...

After we got me back in tune, we moved onto some leg yields which were really nice.  Then we got to play with some leg yields and shoulder fore in the trot.  While they weren't perfect I had a horse that stayed rideable and wasn't frazzled.  This is so huge for us and made me so happy.  The icing on the cake happened on Sunday.  The judge told me that she was so surprised at how much progress Stinker has made.  When she saw him in January, she thought it would take a year to get his strength to where it is now.

10 comments:

  1. OMG the timing and going back to netural thing...it seems SO simple, but it really is like an art! So glad you felt some real improvement!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It really is especially when it needs to happen so quickly. If I'm a little bit slow I already need to be asking again which is why I end up hanging out too long. Oops

      Delete
  2. Yay for judge compliments! Those always make me feel good. Stinker's tired face is adorable.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They made me really happy (who doesn't love to hear that they are making progress tho)! His face gets him out of a lot of trouble :)

      Delete
  3. I'm so glad you had good lessons! I also struggle with timing and getting things back to neutral fast enough.

    BTW- Husband decided he wanted the SoloShot3 for autocross, so we agreed to spend some house money to preorder it! It probably won't get here until winter, but whatever!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yay! You will have to let me know what you think about it (If they get too slow with their production and you complain they might give you an upgrade. That happened to me with my 2).

      The timing and neutral thing sounds so simple but I was firmly on the struggle bus.

      Delete
    2. Husband wanted the professional version that accepts DSLR cameras, so I'm not sure what upgrade they'd give us... except maybe the indoor doodad thingy for riding inside!

      I am firmly on the struggle bus when it comes to flying changes. My timing is bad. Wish I could practice on another horse before trying to teach Penn!

      Delete
    3. Fancy! They upgraded the video camera on mine which is amazing because I use it so much outside of the soloshot too.

      Last week when I had my OMG I can't ride my horse meltdown, I was about to beg S to give me a lesson on her mare because I needed something that wasn't green for a boost. The only flying changes I've done were accidental when I was trying to counter canter on an ex hunter with auto changes or western ones...

      Delete
  4. what a bummer there's no media, it sounds like a fantastic couple of lessons!! it must be so exciting that Stinker is letting you push more and more buttons without getting frazzled or upset. yay for validating feedback that you're on the right track!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know! I would love to have video, but I am just happy that he is figuring things out and really wants to work.

      Delete