Back to square one. Again.

When you start something new (like, say, coming back into work after being a pasture puff for a couple of years), your horse is in disbelief. He doesn't want necessarily want to work ("I could spook instead!") and it takes the better part of an hour lesson to convince him of what his job is and that he has to do it. And then, maybe the last 10-15 minutes of your lesson, he starts to really put in some quality work - like a nice, connected trot. And just when it's starting to feel awesome, your time is up. You've been through the wringer (how much inside leg can you possibly NEED???!?!), and your horse looks like he's just run the Derby. You despair at how hard that was and how you'll never be any good and how COULD HE PLEASE JUST TROT LIKE A NORMAL HORSE and jeez. Why do you do dressage again?

Spooking is the best way to get out of work. 

But each ride, it gets a little better. That connected trot comes sooner and with less effort. He starts understanding his job, and you start understanding how to use your aids with less conscious effort. You're both figuring it out, working a little more smoothly, more like a team.

You know, kind of like this.

Then you add something new and difficult, like asking for bend in the corners AND a nice connected trot, and you go back to square one. Because once again, how much inside leg can you possibly need for bend (more, always more), and oh now you have to actually prepare for the corners and you can't just ride halfway through the corners and use the far wall for the second half (I've tried, it doesn't work) and and and. You're back to despairing about the damn corners because there are four of them (whyyyy so many?) and why can't your horse just keep stepping up with his inside hind and just DO them and not lose his balance and...

Forget corners, just riding in a straight line is hard.

... then you realize, after approximately 123897587123 corners, that you CAN do them and your horse DOES stay balanced and forward and stepping through and in the outside rein and since you're feeling awesome why not add something like a canter transition because hey you need to do those too...

It's a canter transition. Really.

... and you're back to square one again. Only this time, you've lost that connected trot because now he's anticipating the canter ALL THE TIME and trying to fling himself into it and WHERE DID MY NICE TROT GO OMG I'VE RUINED MY HORSE.

Totally, completely ruined. 

So you go back to trot. You try not to get frustrated when really you want to stomp around and pout because JEEZ we could totally do this yesterday but now we can't and how could he have possibly gone and forgotten how to trot in the space of two canter transitions? You remind yourself how to put his trot together, and he relaxes because this is a job he knows how to do and he knows he's right and he's good at it and you tell him he's a good boy when he does it. And you spend the rest of your ride reminding both of you that you CAN do a nice trot and you still love your horse and he's still the best horse ever and he's awesome and he gets all the cookies. And you try the canter again. And maybe it's better and maybe it's worse, but that doesn't matter, because he's still awesome and amazing.

And you try again. And again. And again. You take all the lessons you can get your hands on because you really need eyes on the ground and someone to remind you what to do with your body parts and not to pull and add more leg (you'd think I would have that by now) and talk you off the cliff when you are frustrated. Some days the canter is great, and some days it's terrible, and some days the trot sucks too. But every day is a little better, a little more, until the pieces start coming together...

Having someone yell at you in a heavy Spanish accent also helps.

... and then you add something new. But this is how it goes. You're doing great until you add something new. Sometimes the "something new" makes other things better (like shoulder in is improving his right rein connection) and sometimes the something new causes the wheels to fall off (like w/c transitions have caused our t/c transitions to fall apart. And for heaven's sakes let's not discuss our c/w transitions, because sliding stops don't get you extra points in dressage.)

I'd give this a 10 for the WTF factor.

Progress is filled with lots of steps backwards (speaking of, it would be super if Taran learned how to step backward. As in rein back. Why is this so hard?). That doesn't make it any easier or less frustrating, because I often feel like I'm starting over again from square one. But I'm not, not really, because things that were really hard 6 months ago are (mostly) easy today*. I just keep making the square bigger and more complicated, and asking more and more of both myself and Taran. It's definitely not always pretty, but that little bit better every day? That's what keeps me coming back.

This was a long time in the making. 

*I've probably just jinxed today's ride horribly. Your mileage may vary.

Taran's MEDIUM (?) TROT(!!!)

Sorry for the blog silence... I set up blogger to post while I was off doing jousting things but it didn't, so oh well. More on Brego later!

I mentioned a while ago that I'd found Taran's big trot while we were chasing Brego out on a trail ride. Since then, I've been asking him for a little more trot every time we work, and we're starting to actually get it! And then Friday, it all clicked together and we got this:

So.

Much.

TROT!

Here's the video: 

I can't even tell you how excited I am about this! It's the first time I've really ever felt something that might be approaching a medium trot (maybe? I wouldn't know lol!) and it just feels. So. Awesome. 

I'm doing something in my head that is really helping me ride this movement, because you'll see that I'm struggling to stay in balance with him. You know how Charlotte du Jardin looks in extended trot?She's looking up, her shoulders are back, chest open, hands up a little. She's clearly riding him UP into the trot, and not DOWN into a bigger step (like you would a stretchy trot), which is how I previously tried to ride lengthen trot. I don't want to bury Taran on his forehand, so I'm picking my hands up and forward a touch and envisioning "offering" him the reins on a platter, while keeping the contact steady (no pulling! no dropping the contact! ack!). This is SUPER HARD for me because it means I have to be soft in my arms and very balanced through my body while riding this huge step I'm not used to. Keeping my body up and open seems to be key too, because otherwise we lose the connection and I can feel his hind end trailing behind. It's a fine line to surf, but OMG... when it works, it's SUCH an amazing feeling! 

Now, if we can just do this in front of a judge, on MXK...

From stiff to bendy in under an hour!

I don't usually write much about my lessons, because I find it hard to write about minutiae in an interesting way. However, I do enjoy reading about others' lessons, because I always learn something. So here goes - with loads of pics and some video.

We've been warming up at the walk with tons of bend and changes of direction. I've mentioned that Taran likes to tilt his head instead of actually bending, so getting true bend through the entire body - including from the base of the neck to his nose - is a focus of the whole ride. He also will be great going one way, but if I work too long one direction, he gets stuck and finds it very hard to change his body to bend in the other direction. So I ask for a lot of changes of direction to start with. 

Right head tilt instead of bend. This apparently creates giant weird neck muscles.

Better.

Here's a video of our super awkward walk warmup. The interesting take-away for me is that it's OK to hold onto the right rein until he does what I'm asking for (with appropriate ask of inside leg, of course), but when I give, I need to follow him and keep the contact, instead of just throwing it all away as a "reward". In other words, keep the tension in the rein, but allow his neck to straighten.

As we moved on to trot, I'm looking for more of the same bending, but *I* have to be steadier with the connection. If you listen to my trainer's comments, there are some notes about better contact - and of course, more inside leg. Always more leg. 

Falling out on right shoulder works great (for him)

Better into the contact.

Haha, just kidding.

OMG WTF WAS THAT!!?!?! (I have no idea, because there is literally nothing there and we'd been past that spot like 50 times already. Weirdo.)

I need to be quicker with the corrections. I can't let him flop around with his head tilted for half a circle - I need to ask for the bend with my inside leg, back it up with fingers, and then relax when he responds. Oh and FFS don't pull back on the stupid reins. Here's the video of our trot warmup...

If you pull the horse into the new direction of bend, you lose the connection and he gets hollow. Duh.

If you push him into the new bend by using your new inside leg to ask for the change of direction, you get to keep the connection and all the other nice pieces too. Also Duh.

3 loop shallow serpentine - note nice connection and left leg asking for the change of bend (at least, I'm going to pretend that's what my left leg is doing, because otherwise it might be doing some strange yoga move on me)

Wait, maybe not...

SCREW YOU LADY I HATE DRESSAGE

If you want to see the epic objection, it's near the end of the video. But to get to that, you have to enjoy some actual pleasant changes of bend and nice trotwork (for us).

I had issue with the canter videos (mostly watching myself flop around was painful) and we just did a smidge of canter at the end, so you get a few stills. The upward transitions are still sticky and a bit of a toss-up (literally, he tosses his front end up), but the canter itself is getting stronger and more balanced. 

Horse looks decent, wtf left leg?

Focus on the horse and not whatever my leg is doing.

So there you have it. From walk warm-up, through iffy trot to nice trot, to iffy canter. This lesson was really all about the connection and getting bend by owning one rein or the other (in a nice way), and that's my main takeaway and what I will continue to work on. We have some really nice moments in the trot, and we're definitely getting to be more consistent. Canter and walk... eh, I'm sure those aren't scored much so I really don't need to care for the schooling show this weekend, right?

Unlocking the big trot

Taran is half Fells Pony, and it shows up in his trot. His usual trot is this tiny, mincing gait, with no reach and not much forward movement.

Fells Pony x TB = Llama?

He’s also quite stuck in his shoulder, an affliction which may in part be left over from when he stepped on a nail 5 years ago, had surgery, and spent months limping around on his RF. 

Stuck in the shoulder.

On the bright side, Taran has an excellent tempo that requires very little management on my part, unlike certain Haffies who require micro-management of every step lest they barge off down centerline (ahem).

In our regular rides, Taran has started to relax his shoulder and stride out more, which is exciting. He’s better going left, probably because his RH doesn’t step under as well (we’re working on that). I’ve asked him for a little lengthening now and again, and while he does try for a bigger step, it’s only marginally bigger, and not really what I’m looking for.

It takes some convincing, but this is now his "normal" working trot.

It is SO HARD to be Taran.

So last weekend, hubby and I were out on the trails and I wanted to try something new. We had Brego go first at a canter, and I brought Taran behind him, but kept him to a trot (Brego is a wee bit slow lol). His trot got bigger… and bigger… and bigger… until suddenly it was like someone unlocked all his joints and he was REALLY moving out! His back had so much swing, and his shoulders really came up and out – the difference was amazing! We only did it for a short time because I’m sure it was hard for him, but I was able to ask him several times and get it. In my head it looks like a Grand Prix extended trot, which is probably not the case, but it’s definitely better than his mincing pony trot!

Now, we just need to be able to do that in the arena, on command…