OVCTA's Test Clinic with Pamela Wooding

Saturday I was the organizer for OVCTA’s 2011 Test Clinic with Pamela Wooding. This was the first time I ran this size of a project. I have run big events, but they were for my own students, an audience accustomed to my many shortfalls. This time the audience was OVCTA and DVCTA members. I’ve also helped on committees that organized events bigger than our test clinic, but this was the first time I flew solo.

I know, I really didn’t have to fly solo. I could have delegated more of this event, but I had overcommitted myself in February and early March, which means I wasn’t organized enough to divide the job into delegate-able parts. Plus I have a bad habit of working things out in my head as I go, and if I delegate something, I have to be clear enough in my directions to give my help confidence.  Which makes delegating hard, especially first time I do something, because I really don’t know what I’m going to do until I do it. 

 I did pass along lunch/refreshments to Cheryle and Linda, and of course I had a lot of help on the day (by then I’d gotten organized enough to pass out jobs), but the rest of it was on me.  I learned a lot putting this project together.

A little info on our day – Pamela Wooding, a very tactful R judge with gobs and gobs of experience, and also a competitor of everything from training to FEI, came down from NJ. We had live demo horses, and each rider had prepared a specific test. Pam evaluated each horse’s basics, then helped them with any problem areas they were having in the tests, then each rider rode a complete test that Pam judged out loud. We had horses of many different breeds, shapes and background, and presented tests from Intro to Fourth, USEA Novice A and B, and I-2. Pam answered questions as we went, and in our Q and A session before lunch. We had a booklet for just about everyone that had descriptions of the changes to the tests, directives of the levels, where the double coefficients are, and bios of the horses and riders.

What I learned putting this together:

1.       This kind of education is EXPENSIVE.  The total bill for the day was over $1200.  The judge’s fee was the lion’s share of it, and given her experience, I think that is as it should be.

2.       Pricing an event like this is really hard. Most people have no idea of the expenses of this kind of education, and therefore think the auditor fee should be minimal. The riders, who know that they are there for the auditors, also think that their fee should be minimal. I do understand that money is tight, and in this world where so much information (and misinformation) is free on the internet, it makes writing a check for education hard. But I managed to keep the fees less than the cost of entering a schooling show, and included lunch. For as much information as was presented, I thought it was cheap.

Plus, in events like this one, there’s always ways around the expense. On Thursday, someone I had never met called and said she wanted to come but the finances were getting in the way. I happily handed her the registration table Saturday morning in return for her day’s auditing.

3.       Color printing from Staples makes education costs seem cheap. Only the front cover of the booklet was color, but when I went to send it to Staples online, the price came in at $352.80 for 30 copies. Wow. That is not what I had budgeted at all.

Of course, I found this out late Friday afternoon, when I had ran home to make Pam’s last changes to the booklet. My plan was to send it to Staples, then go back and ride two horses and braid one, then swing by Staples and pick the booklets up on my way home. But when I saw that price, I kinda panicked. My wonderful husband came to my rescue, and monitored the printer while 30 6-page, double-sided pages printed, then folded them for me. I would have been up until 3 am without his help.

4.       Cutting corners is a BAD idea. I cut a corner by not making an application for the demo riders, and it was a corner I really shouldn’t have cut.  I needed to have demo riders organized well before hand so Pam and I could work out the format, which meant I was looking for demo riders in my already-overloaded February. Because I didn’t make an application, my demo riders really didn’t understand what they were committing to. Once I realized my gaff, I apologized like mad, and probably over-communicated with them the last two weeks. It’s a testament to the rider’s character that they didn’t all revolt and refuse to ride. Thank you all of you. The day wouldn’t have been nearly as special without you and your horses.

5.       Set-up creates unforeseen dramas.  On Friday, Cara and I headed out to pick up the portable OVCTA arena, and I realized I had left my lights on. We jumped into Cara’s truck, and drove to Hunter Hill to get the arena, but alas, the arena now lives at Ludwig’s Hardware, which, of course, is 2 miles from the farm. When I hopped out of the truck to unload the arena, I ripped my jeans from the zipper to the tailbone. Great.

Then, Saturday morning Amy went to vacuum the lounge. The vacuum had died, so I suggested she use the shop vac. Dumb idea. The shop vac blew dust out the back side, and I mean a lot of dust – enough to set off the fire alarm. Rest assured, the fire department gets to Journey’s End FAST. 

6.       No matter how much you plan, on the day of the event, something will go wrong. My little PA system failed me miserably. If I put it too close to the wall, it fed back. I tracked down enough extension cord to get it away from the metal walls, and it would randomly feedback whenever anyone’s cell phone went off. Of course, feedback and horses never go well together, so we finally abandoned ship, and Pam ended the day hoarse projecting her voice. She did ok until the barn staff decided to drag the arena just outside of the indoor, but that was only temporary. But I couldn’t control that, which brings us to the next point.

7.       I can’t control everything. I really wish I could have controlled the weather (don’t we all??). It was COLD. Just to add insult to injury, last weekend it was 70. I was completely impressed by the die-hards who huddled there until the bitter end. You guys are awesome, so completely committed to your educations. And you must have more long johns than most of us.

8.       Trying to learn when I’m the organizer is pretty much impossible. I spent most of the day hopping up and down, answering questions, making sure everyone was where they needed to be, and doing random stuff. I was optimistic that I could squeeze some education time in as well, but it really didn’t happen. I got excellent, usable feedback when I was riding, but wasn’t able to sit still long enough to absorb much from the other rides.

9.       A beer with my awesome volunteers to celebrate a successful day makes everything so much better. But then, I knew that already. Thanks so much for all of your help, you are the best.

Linda was all over the place with her camera, so I’ll get some photos up soon. 

Early March lessons, part 2

We went to the canter work first, and Barbara had me ride him just a little more forward, and his neck just a little longer, and check the balance with an occasional counter flexion, and he locked into a rolling, forward, effortless collection.

In the trot, after some tinkering with the balance, he found a nice, uphill swinging trot, but was setting that giant stallion neck right into my hands. Barbara liked how he looked, and when I glanced in the mirror I agreed with her, but I wasn’t happy with the heaviness. So she had me purposely lighten my hands whenever I half-halted, to which responded by shortening and stiffening his neck (his favorite mistake). So we tried doing the same in shoulder-in, and again we got a short, stiff neck.  Then we tried it in a slight renvers. Bingo. The trot got rounder, with a softly swinging back. 

The whole process of finding Eclipse’s best gaits was a bit like Venus’ canter corrections with Scott—get in, make the adjustment, then get out and ride the harmony—but  with the adjustments toned down for Eclipse’s sensitivity.

Then we spent some time working the half passes. I had gotten in the habit of letting my weight fall to the outside in the half passes and pushing the horses over, instead of sitting with the bend and leading the motion. Once she got me sitting more correctly, his half passes became more fluid and correct. 

For the last two weeks, I’ve been applying her insights to Eclipse’s training plan, and the quality of his gaits feels more fluid and forward. This Friday I let him do some of his tricks, and his tempi changes were straighter and more on my seat, without a hint of him taking over.  In his trot lateral work, I can really feel the shoulder freedom. I can’t wait to get some fresh video of him.  

Silhouette was last to go, with a ride in the OVCTA Jean Moyer clinic on Sunday.  Jean Moyer has made a name for herself as an eventing coach. I signed up for the lesson because, a few weeks before the clinic, entries were looking pretty light. Plus the clinic was to be hosted at Firefly Farm, which is a five minute hack from Journey’s End.  On Friday night, at the OVCTA Annual Meeting, Jean was our speaker, and discussed her annual educational trips to Germany, and bragged about her horse who is competing Prix St. George in Germany.  I was starting to look forward to my lesson.

After I introduced myself to Jean, I discovered her German education includes time spent at
Herbert Rehbein’s barn.  My most influential instructors all go back to Rehbein’s training program, so I knew instantly our training priorities would align. She immediately saw Silly’s weakness and her highlight.  Silly’s weakness is her try-too-hard attitude, which means she can get tense and quick easily. When she’s a little nervous, like at the beginning of a clinic in a new environment, it really shows up.  Her highlight is her wonderfully sensitive back, which means I can make small changes with my seat that will affect her overall balance.  Jean used her sensitive back to settle the tempo, then took it to small, repeated collections with just my abdominal muscles, followed by allowing her to go a bit more forward and a bit more uphill by relaxing my abdominal muscles, followed by a following seat.  Again this confirmed Scott and Barbara’s work with me – get in, get the job done, then get out and relax and ride.

Jean kept the small transitions within the gait going through transitions, circles, figure 8’s, shoulder in, half pass, and counter canter.  Silly, true to her good girl nature, kept working harder and harder, and her gaits became more uphill and swingy.  At the end, Jean had me collect her all the way back to half steps, and once Silly showed off her half steps, Jean had me set up a few baby passage steps. Silly was pretty tired by that time (event folks don’t seem to believe in breaks), but she came up with a couple steps for me.  Gotta love this mare’s heart. 

Again the true test of a clinic is in the next ride, and I was a bit worried as Silly was really whipped at the end of her lesson. But on her next schooling session, she was awesome--really swinging and uphill from the first steps. By the following Tuesday I could see a difference in her topline muscles, and feel more suspension in her trot and canter. 

The other horses in my barn have also benefited from my three-lesson reminder-course in ‘ride better.’  Secret has been going like a rock star. Rocky, who I develop with his owner and only sit on once or twice a week, is more accepting of my seat. Flash has made huge strides this winter, as has her owner, and the last two weeks have just been icing on the cake. 

Looking at all three lessons as a whole, the recurring theme of clear, quick corrections followed by riding the harmony, is not a new idea for me. I teach it almost daily. Working on my own, it’s easy for my type-A controlling dressage personality to take over and want to fiddle along, under the guise of “light corrections,” instead of making a clear correction and trusting that correction to work.  When I ride this way, my eclectic collection of mounts each begin to happily show me their best gaits, regardless of their bloodlines or conformation.  That’s what it is all about.     

Now the challenge, to make it happen in front of a judge in May.  

Early March lessons, part 1

One big problem with dressage competition is the judges judge how the horse looks, not how they feel, and sometimes there’s a big difference between those two.   And sometimes, as a trainer, I’ll need to break the rules a bit for a time to help a horse get strong in a specific part of their body.  It’s not the kind of thing a trainer likes to do when there’s a show looming on the calendar, so that training is reserved for the non-competition season, which is when the ‘real’ training happens. Show season is for showing off, training season is for training. 

During training, when I feel the need to break the rules a bit, I prefer to do so with some help from the ground.  One of the amazing things about living here in Chester County, PA, is the wealth and depth of dressage training experience just a short trailer ride away.  Some years I trailer more in the winter than in show season.

This has been a really hard winter, and to me, that means I couldn’t trailer. Added to the weather, Cara had an ugly abscess that put her out of commission for a couple of weeks in January, then as she was playing catch up from that, she and I passed a nasty cold back and forth, so we couldn’t even rely on each other’s eyes.  I was left to go it on my own, which can mean I have time to work things out, or it can mean I have just enough rope to hang myself.  After my last trip to Hasslers’, I was a little worried about Venus.  Secret, Sling, Silhouette, Eclipse, Flash -- those guys I feel ok developing with the help of a camcorder. But Venus, well, I’ve learned a lot about training from her, as her personal training path is not my instinctive way of training, so with her, I need help.  With all the ice this winter, help just wasn’t available.  

By the end of February, I was ripe and ready for help. 

In this mindset, of course I said “yes” to a dressage lesson at OVCTA’s Jean Moyer clinic March 5-6.  When Happily Ever After farm announced that Barb Strawson would be teaching there March 3, again I said “yes.”  Then, when Jann, Hassler Dressage’s secretary, e-mailed and said Scott would be available March 2, of course I said “yes” again.  

Venus was first up for the education week.  Last time Scott saw her we were working on a better forward response to my aids and a more correct reaction to the use of the whip.  Such lofty dressage goals, I know.

We began by discussing her progress in the 6 weeks since he saw her. I wanted to check our homework, to have some help with the in-hand whip, and to look at the half pass and maybe her flying changes. I also said the homework of breaking-the-rules with a slightly rounder topline was creating more swing and power in the trot, but was concerned because, in that outline in the canter, she can get really short in her neck.

Once we started the work, Scott thought she looked much better in her back, and was much more responsive and quicker to the aids. We went to the in-hand work right away, and he had me focus on the transition into the first half step. He wanted it really crisp. When I let her ease into the half steps, she’s tipped onto the forehand. When I got her crisper, with his help from the ground, she started sitting more and tipping her withers and her poll up. The good news is he could just touch her with the whip to get a response, instead of the much-higher pressure from our January visit.

After a bit more suppleness work, Venus started to give me the super-swingy trot I’ve been getting at home. I was concerned that her hind legs were too slow in it, and Scott said she was fine.  My new self test is to take the trot a bit more forward and back, to verify that she was right with me and not just bouncing behind my aids. 

When we took the super-swingy trot sideways in half pass though, she lost her bend, just like she’s been doing at home (I was so thrilled she was making the same mistakes in front of Scott. Nothing is more frustrating than taking a horse for help, have the horse go perfect away from home when I have help available, then go home and have the issues crop back up again.).  He described her movement as “sliding sideways,” which is exactly how it feels.  He had me quicken the tempo a little just before the first half pass steps, and when I combined that with a more active seat, her half pass started to bound sideways instead of slide.  I still have more work to do until the half pass is show-ring ready, but I now have a plan to get there.

By the time we got to the canter, she was starting to fatigue, which meant she showed Scott the short, stiff neck-tipping forward routine that had recently crept up at home.  He said I was being too nice when she set her neck muscles against me. If I needed to supple her neck, I should try once politely, and if she ignored that, make a clear correction, and then go back to riding nicely. In short, get in, get the job done, then get out and ride the harmony.

He had me keep the connection, no matter how short her neck became, and put enough leg on (translate – a whole heck of a lot of leg) that she finally took a firm contact with the bit. Once she took the bit, I could more easily unlock her neck, and push her neck longer using my seat and leg. 

With the canter sorted out, we ran a couple of changes, and talked about a strategy for getting both changes more consistent. Her right-to-left change is quite fluid, and she’ll let me influence the canter before, during, and after the change.  The left-to-right change is a bit more tricky.  In the left lead canter, she leans against my right rein, and I’ve been using counter canter to help straighten the canter. Venus has gotten confused as to when she is supposed to change leads and when she is to stay in counter canter.  He had me be very clear, even to the point of quite loud aids, for the first left-to-right change, then come back and ride that same change from a much more collected canter.  Going between those two ideas, she started to focus more on the aids.

The test of any lesson is the next day—if the horse feels better and the work is repeatable the next day, then the lesson was a success, no matter how pretty or ugly the actual lesson was.  I’ve been working with Scott for quite a while now, so of course the next ride she was fabulous.  I have been focusing on keeping her correct in the contact and really active with her hind legs, and she’s been rewarding me with super work for the last two weeks.

Next up was Eclipse’s lesson with Barbara Strawson. Eclipse hasn’t been off the farm since last June, when he was diagnosed with Lyme’s.  He’s been feeling super, and the video looks good, but I needed confirmation that I have enough collection for his FEI debut this season. 

I enjoy working with Barbara. She has a great eye, and asks about the feel at just the right time—working with her is truly training together.

                                                                                                                                                               

Well, as expected, I had a lot of horse. Eclipse is a wonderful stallion, with a fantastic mind, but on March 3^rd spring was in the air, and the trailer sometimes goes to New Bolton’s reproductive center, and he’s an optimist, so it took a bit for him to quit craning his neck around looking for the ladies. Once he finally settled, Barb and I discussed our plan. I wanted to focus on the balance and the thoroughness, to make sure I was riding Eclipse’s most expressive, fluid gaits. The “tricks” are pretty easy for Eclipse, but with his over-achiever mentality, he can get a little over tempo, or a little over bent, or a little too collected in a matter of moments. So we got to work.

For more, see part 2

I Ride a Chestnut Mare

I ride a red mare.  And I enjoy it.  It seems to sum up a lot of things about me. 

For those few odd non-horse people who follow my blog, chestnut mares have a reputation.  They tend to be sensitive, smart, slow to trust, and come with red-headed tensions. 

Before anyone goes getting all “stereotyping/color profiling” on me, after spending chunks of my career at breed farms, where many of the horses were related, and other chunks of my career riding a mix of horses, I have come to the conclusion that a lot of equine behavior is nature, not nurture.  Their DNA hard-wires them certain ways. As a trainer, my job is to educate the horses to be safer, more fun mounts for their humans. Sometimes this means my job is to help them learn to cope with their nature before I can work on their educations. 

To explain, some horses are just born with more fear than other horses.  Horses born with a lot of fear seem to be hard-wired to believe that every moment is a life-and-death moment, and I have to teach them to manage their fear.  With these horses, I spend lots of time working on their confidence, by first teaching them to trust the structure of the rider’s aids, then taking that trust into scary situations. I let the horse figure out that they will survive if they trust the rider’s aids.  Over time, they learn that the rider’s aids mean safety, and they manage their fear by being on the aids.  If this is a young horse, who has never learned that rider’s aren’t always trustworthy, the process is pretty straight forward.  But in the case of a re-train, sometimes it takes longer.

Then there are the chestnut mares.

In the case of most chestnut mares, well, they have a strong need to be right, and they need to learn to manage their tension.   Teaching a horse to manage their tension is tricky business, because it first requires that I manage my temper.  And yea, that hair peaking out under my helmet is, well, chestnut.  You could say I understand the chestnut mare on a very basic level. 

And I happily climb on 1200 lbs of that every day.

There is an up-side to the chestnut mare.  That strong need to be right can work in my favor.  Once the red-headed mare knows her job, she will take over and do it, 100%, with all she has.  If I praise her at just the right time, she’ll dig even deeper and give me more. 

That makes it all worth it.

Venus’ trip to Hassler Dressage

Ah, Venus. I started this blog two weeks ago, right after we got back, and every time I decide I need to work on this blog, suddenly the laundry needs my attention, or the dog needs played with, or some other distraction comes up. Distraction is my favorite way to deal with things that I am uncertain about.  And Venus, well, her training has left me lots of room for uncertainty. Distraction has delayed this blog three weeks (but has also gotten my part of year-end paperwork done, so it’s not all bad…) , but this week I saw hope, and yesterday I felt a few minutes of WOW, so quick, while I’m feeling inspired, I’ll get this blog done.

I talked about Venus’ background in this 2009 blog, back before “the accident.”  I bought her as a 2-year old because frankly, I had one too many training horses sold about the time they were getting fun.  I wanted a horse of my own to bring up the levels.  She has the most amazing hind end, but it came with an insecure personality.  With Scott’s help, I got her confident and swinging.   I started to dream.  

As a 5-and 6-year-old, I showed her often, as she really needed the mileage, and she rewarded my perseverance with a pretty red ribbon from Dressage at Devon in 2008. My dreams were starting to look a little like hope. I decided to keep her home for 2009 to train, with hopes of the young horse PSG class her 8-year-old year.  

Well, with horses, nothing is certain.

In June of 2009 she got quite grumpy about her training, so we pulled a Lyme’s titer, and sure enough, she got to eat doxicyclene for 6 weeks. I kept her out on the hills three times a week for the duration.  About Christmastime she got strong and really rocking in her training, so I started to dream again. Maybe the Young Horse PSG class as a 9-year-old then, I thought.  

Venus had other plans.  In late February, “the accident” happened.  She tried to jump out of the indoor arena and did didn’t quite make it (why did free schooling her seem like such a good idea that day?).  We finally got all that sorted out and rehabbed, then in September she had yet another break from work due to an abscess/twisted ankle (things are rarely black and white with horses).

So now we are here, in December, and she is very obediently doing all of her work, but I’m not pleased with the quality.  It is just not what I was feeling before “the accident.” I feel like her back doesn’t have the swing it used to have, and when I ask for more power, she hovers behind my leg and bounces up-and-down in her hindquarters instead of swinging her back and lifting her shoulders.  Of course, everyone tells me she looks great, but heck, her trot has gotten easy to sit and the canter has brakes--this isn’t my red-hot-firecracker chestnut.  I know I’m not riding my best horse, or at least my best horse before her dramatic injury. I worry that there’s still some pain somewhere, or maybe this is all she has in her now. Not a happy mental place for me at all.

Whenever I have this kind of this-horse-is-not-right-is-it-from-discomfort-or-training, my vet, Dr. Crowley’s advice is usually to “really work them, and they’ll either break or get better.”  So my plan is to pretend I don’t know her history, and have Scott help me sort out the training issues.  Then be a good dressage queen and do my homework for the next few weeks, and see if dressage can work some physical therapy magic.   If she’s not better by our annual coggins appointment the first week in February, then I’ll re-think my plan.

So, armed with that, I take head down to Scott’s for 3 days. 

He listens to my laundry list of vague she’s-just-not-right whining, and agrees with me that she’s not using her body like she used to. His term is “stale in the back,” and that pretty much nails it on the head. He thinks the problem is a lack of suppleness in the back.  So we devise a plan for day one – lots of sweeping, flowing leg yields, and then play with transitions within the gait, ridden with a slightly lower, rounder neck .

We go sideways, and not much really changes.  I put the aids on, and nothing happens. She is blowing me off.  I might as well be sitting ringside for all the notice she is giving me.  So I increase the volume-we go really sideways, and she gets fussier in the bridle.  Then we go sideways, compress, sideways, and she gets REALLY fussy in the bridle. So we blast forward, and she gets all strung-out and running.  So we go to canter, and I can feel her hind end bouncing up behind me, jarring my lower back each canter stride.  Her hind legs hover behind me in every half halt, and she won’t even stay on the bit.  This is not working.

So Scott pulls out the in-hand whip.  Venus, of course, is already angry, so she ignores the in hand whip completely, until the pressure is enough that she kicks out a few times. Then she begins to lower her hips just a tiny, tiny bit. So we end there. 

As we discuss the ride, Scott still feels the problem is in her back.  We decide that tomorrow, we’ll skip the sideways and start with in-hand work. 

Day two comes, and Scott comes out with the in-hand whip, but as we begin, the training heads in other directions.  She has more swing in her back than day one, and she is acknowledging the half halts, but about half of the time she is either coming behind the contact or bracing into the right rein.  We have to address the connection. 

We go with her usual mix-up-the-work routine (shoulder in, straighten, haunches in, compress, go out, lather, rinse repeat), but add slow flexions, asking her to yield each side of her neck, to the mix.  She does some tail wringing, and fussy face stuff, then I start to feel more life in her back.  Scott pulls out the in-hand whip, and she shows us a hint of her talent. 

Day three comes, and Scott adds one more aid to the mix. He has me use my calf to add power/volume to the trot and canter, without changing the tempo or the direction.  It helped, and her back started to move a tiny bit more than the day before.  I even felt her start to chew the bit a little.  But still not the Venus I had before “the accident.”

So we packed up and headed home, me with decidedly mixed feelings. I was, of course, delighted with Secret, but bummed about Venus.  I was beginning to wonder if this was all she had in her now.  Not a good mental place to be.

The following Wednesday, Fred, from Custom Saddlery was due out, and with my new “sponsored rider” status, I thought it was time for Venus to get her own saddle.  When she was off work for her injury, I had her saddle fitted to Silly, who has been going super in it.  Since returning to work, Venus has been going in borrowed equipment. Fred did some measurements, and pulled out several saddles for us to try.  Four models later, I climbed into the Flight, which gave me a whole new feel for her back.  She, of course, started wringing her tail and fussing with the bit, which I couldn’t decide if it was good or bad. So I asked Fred if I could borrow the demo over the holidays.

About four rides into the new saddle, I noticed a definite difference to her canter.  The right lead in particular was much more up-hill and organized. When she backed off, I could push her back up to the bridle without a fight.  It wasn’t perfect, but definitely better.

So now I was beginning to think some of Venus’ training problems were just that, training problems, from me working on my own with her for too long, combined with less-than-ideal saddle fit.  I wasn’t sure when and if I should bring her out of the rounder frame, or where to go next with her. So I sent an e-mail to Jann, who schedules Scott’s time, begging for an early January lesson.

Monday Dr. Blakeslee, the vet chiropractor, was out for Venus' routine treatment. She commented on her sore left gluteus muscles, and then worked on her back.  Venus wasn’t particularly sore in her back, just immobile. After a few pops and tweaks, Venus’ trot looked much more expressive.  

Wednesday I took her down to Scott’s. We had a rough trip down – someone pulled out in front of me and I’m sure Venus sat down on the butt bar when I slammed on the brakes.  She started the lesson pissy and behind my leg, so I pushed her forward.  Scott had me push her again, and again, little short burst forward, until I felt her back release as she went forward.  Then, to prevent her getting long and running, he had me halt and praise her. Then back to work.  We only had to do this a couple of times, and she understood, and became a much more willing partner.

 

He thought she looked much more free and solid in the work than 2 ½ weeks before, and felt that I should continue with same work. He felt it may take until Feb for me to feel happy with where she is.  He also said she looked quite acceptable, and if he hadn’t known how she moved before “the accident,” he would be happy with her work.  For moments, at the end, we both saw a hint of the old Venus in the trot work.

As we brainstormed about her lack of power and enthusiasm, combined with how sound she looks, he mentioned the problem could be a bit more between her ears.  She may be a bit ring sour. She has spent the last year in various phases of rehab, and in the new barn, her stall isn’t right in the middle of the all the human activity, so she very well could be a bit bored.  The next day, I worked out a plan with Apryl to give Venus more variety in her day. 

Thursday we finally had a day that wasn’t freezing, snowing, or blowing, so I took her for a hack.

Friday, I warmed her up, and she felt awesome, especially in the canter. She was right with me in the seat and the contact, but I still wanted that fluid, flowing energy feeling she had before the accident.  Amy came in with the in-hand whip, and Venus’ half steps, always a highlight for her, were very good.  Then I trotted out from the half steps.

And there it was.

Venus let go in her back, and just floated.  We flowed from collected trot, to medium trot, to shoulder in, and it was that wonderful, connected feeling of before the accident.  Amy just stood there, jaw open.  “I now understand why you are so protective of her.”  Yep, this horse is amazing.  For five whole minutes she rocked my world again.  It’s still in there.

Happy New Year

It’s already January , and as I surf the web I see that the “unwritten blogger code” seems to mandate a year-in-review blog, a best-of blog, or a new-year’s resolution blog.  Who am I to break the rules?

The year in Review

Frankly, 2010 was not my favorite year.  It started with the passing of our landlord, Ted Gorman, followed six months later Red Bridge Farm going on the market, and a subsequent search for Straight Forward Dressage’s new home. Then, of course, there was the move itself.  That stress overshadowed most of the year.

Plus my show plans for 2010 went south.  In February, Venus, my super-fun red mare, was injured, knocking her out for the show season.  I went through a huge emotional roller-coaster while we sorted out her injuries and her rehab plan. During this time, I rode poorly the Klimke clinic, and in my already vulnerable state, it rocked my confidence a bit.  Then, shortly after the show season started, Eclipse, the Stud-boy with a heart of gold, started uncharacteristically stopping in the show ring. Sure enough, a raging Lyme’s titer benched him for the show season. 

Lest you think the year was all bad, Secret and I felt like stars at the Region 1 Adult Dressage Symposium, and even got our photo in USDF Connections Magazine.  She continued to be a star all season, winning at first and second levels and finishing with all-breeds awards and a new ‘/’ after her name.

Frankly, my horses and my students got me through this year.  Pikasso, Flash, Sling and Silly each made amazing progress in their training, which helped keep me going. Pikasso’s awesome progress was caught on film.  I had watched Flash, an Art Deco-line mare, run away with her owner for years, and this year I got the opportunity to teach Flash to turn that speed into suspension, improving her attitude in the process.  Sling,  Wendy's awkward yearling bloomed into a swan of a 4-year-old.  And Silly, the mare I bought in December 2008 to resale and had been frustrated by her lack of progress, figured out how to use her back and let her talent come out.

The amazing progress my students have made also kept me going.  Last weekend, we had our annual “Winter Workshop, formerly known as Winter Camp.” Watching my students now compared to last year, wow, it was really impressive.  Linda, Liz, Joyce, Kristen, Paige and Wendy were so much more confident horse people this year than last year.  It made my teacher’s heart warm.  As soon as I get the pictures, I’ll tell you more about it.

And, of course, the year had a happy ending with us finding a home a Journey’s End Farm in Glenmoore.  We were all anxious about sharing the facility with the two businesses already in residence, Point of View farm as well as Journey’s End Farm, but our anxieties were not warranted.  Sharing with Pixie and Deb is pleasant and comfortable.

Plus, as an additional happy ending, I became a Custom Saddlery Sponsored rider.  When I look at the list of riders they sponsored, I’m humbled to be in the same company.

Best of Blogs

My favorite blogs were also noticed by others, which I think is really cool.  The Warm-Up Ring Safety blog was picked up by OVCTA and LVDA for their newsletters, and Retread Eventer listed it in her “best blogs” column.  The Michael Klimke Clinic blog was painful and therapeutic to write, and my old college newspaper editor stumbled across it and sent me a compliment, making my day. I also liked my Band Nerd blog, but it was actually December 2009, so I’m kinda cheating on this one.

New Year’s Resolutions

This year, I want to become a better trainer for my horses, competitor for my clients, teacher for my students, and boss to my amazing, reliable and hardworking staff. 

Competitively, I’d love to make a run for the Young Horse Championships with Sling, see how Venus, Silly, and Secret do at 3^rd level, and see if Eclipse and I can hit the show ring in tails and a top hat, but horses are horses, so we’ll see how the season unfolds.

I’d like to get better at blocking off non-horse time for my patient husband and circle of good friends.

 

I’d like to get to the gym more, to be as fit of an athlete as I ask my horses to be. 

Ok,  2011, bring it on.

Ockie's Three Days at Hassler Dressage

By Cara Klothe

Ockie’s trip to Riveredge was an unexpected success.  Two weeks prior, I had totally given up and given her to Ange for four rides (I think it only lasted four rides).  This happens to Ockie and I sometimes—we just need a time out from one another.  The pressure of having your own horse hit a training plateau can cloud the ability to train correctly, which is when having a second trainer around comes in handy.  Plus, for some reason, it seems harder to acknowledge how much progress YOUR horse has made. Other people’s horses, no problem, but seeing your horse’s own progress seems to be harder.

But enough with that, on to Scott’s.

The last time I was down, a few months back, we were working on Ockie’s one tempis, or flying changes every stride.  (sidenote: for anyone who saw Ockie’s changes a year ago, yes, it’s a miracle that we are even working on the ones.)  At that time I could get two one-tempis, and he sent me home with lots of homework on how to improve those two one-time changes.

I had done my homework, and even I could admit our two one-tempis had definitely improved.  With great confidence I can go down the quarter line and make multiple sets of two one-tempis….so now add a third, that can’t be too hard, she had the two one-tempis down so well.  Well let me tell you, it was hard.  Ockie is not naturally confident in her changes.  I’ve worked hard to make good, high quality single changes (down to two tepis), but she still gets nervous when she thinks she’s messing up the changes.  Teaching her the one-tempis we have to address her brain more than body.

So the first day down at Hassler’s we focused the one-tempis.  More specifically, we looked at the half halt that leads up to the changes.  Because one-tempis come so fast, the half-halt to has to be fast.  Additionally, the half-halt before the tempis has the extra purpose of making the horse quicker in the canter, not slower.  We worked on getting the three parts of that half halt really good—the in, the during, and, most importantly, the out.  Once we got that we moved to the two one-tempis, which were even better.  Then we tried three in a row…no dice.  At that point we had tortured the poor mare enough and called it a day.

Day two we again started with the one-tempis after her warm up.  When working on something hard for Ockie, it is important to do that work when she is fresh, not tired.  We used the same plan as the day before, working the details of the half halt and single changes to make the ones better.  We then looked at her tricky right shoulder.  Her favorite evasion is to carry her right shoulder too far to the right right, which takes all of the contact out of the left rein, resulting in no half halt on the left rein.  I need a left rein to half-halt to get the final change back to the left lead.

We addressed this by leg yielding her off my right leg to quarter line. I got a better feeling in my left hand for the changes, but still no luck when it came to three in a row.  However, she felt much more connected over her back than she had the day before, so that was positive and hopeful for more one-tempis in the near future.

At the end of day two we worked on half steps, the short trot steps that prepare a horse for piaffe.  We worked on these a bit at home, so Ockie was pretty good.  Scott used an in-hand whip to activate her hind legs from behind, while I kept Ockie relatively in place and elaxed in her topline.  We were able to get some pretty good half steps out of her before we called it a day.

Day three poor Ockie really worked.  Again we went right to the ones, while the pieces were all good, but still no luck with three in a row, so Scott gave me lots of homework for getting them at home, and we moved on. 

The in -hand work on day three was awesome!  Ockie got some actual piaffe steps and by reinforcing the half-halt with the in-hand work, the trot was amazing, the best I have ever felt. We then really tested her by going on to pirouette work.  I was really happy with her work, considering I haven’t done much with pirouette’s since BLM Finals in October.  We ended with some more one-tempis, ones down the quarter line just to test her willingness to work when tired, and she was great!

All in all it was a great weekend, not only did we get a lot of work accomplished, but, probably more importantly, I was so impressed by how much Ockie has matured.  She did not get emotional about much at all: maybe a little in the one-teempis, but that is to be expected.  I have to admit, she has come a long way from the horse I bought two years ago, no matter what I thought two weeks before our trip to Riveredge.

Just in case anyone was wondering, two rides latter we got three ones in a row J