January Clinic Recap

Mr. Mort and I went on an adventure Saturday.  We rode in a clinic with Britta Johnston at Riverside Equestrian Center.  Mort isn’t well-traveled in the horse show life, so I am always so impressed by how happily he jumps into the trailer and settles quickly into a new place.  I had never been to this facility before, but I really enjoyed the tidy barn.  It looked well-run and was spacious.  Mort was given a stall in the main aisle making us close to everything. 

We settled in a watched the lesson before mine to get a feel of everything.  They were a touch ahead of schedule so I ended up getting on about 3:40 but we still had time to wander around and look at the arena, because Mort thinks that looking at himself in the mirrors is necessary.  There are a few spots in the videos of my lesson that Mort definitely glances at himself as we ride by one—silly boy.  We did a few laps of loose rein walking before starting our warm-up. 

The lesson was great and definitely a wake-up call for how much more Mort is capable of giving me.  In the first ten minutes or so of us working Britta pointed out that Mort does what I ask, but only gives me about 80%.  A lot of the lesson was me making him give me 100% via my body position and actually asking him to.  That was really the moral of the story. 

While the main take-away from the lesson was stepping up our game we also did play with a couple of fun items.  After our warm-up we played with some half steps with Britta holding a lunge whip.  As far as getting really good quality half steps we only got a few, but the work really helped when we went back out to “normal” trot.  He came under himself a lot more which was a lot of fun!

 

Mort and I have not done much more than some very shallow loops and counter-bending in canter.  Saturday we started with some shallow loops, but Mort gave me a flying change (unorganized) and we just kept the counter canter.  We were on the right lead and he stayed it in perfectly and easily for several times around.  More counter canter is definitely on the agenda for the future. 

We ended the work playing with some extensions.  He was a bit tired by this point, so none of them were awe-inspiring.  But he did free up his shoulders some and push well from behind.  Definitely more things to play with and work on.  The weather is supposed to be nice today, so I am hoping that we will be able to go outside in the field and play with these some more on a fresh Mort.   

I just hand walked him on Sunday and Monday we went on a bareback trail ride.  It was really nice outside and I forgot my girth in the trailer (which was now parked at BM’s house).  Another easy day mentally and physically for Mort won’t kill him.  He and I both enjoy trail rides and they’re full of good, muscle-building hills. 

                The wonderful BM videoed my ride, so now I get to spend this week reviewing those over and over again so that I can really focus in on our main problems and how to fix them.  Feel free to catch a few moments of them as I’ve put the links below.  The third video around the ten-minute mark has a very exciting canter depart as it was after our half step work and he was really amped up.  Silly Mort doesn’t always know how to express his exuberance.

https://youtu.be/pgQOjSu_h-c  (First twenty minutes working on quality of gaits and my position)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X8wSX5mUKEY&feature=youtu.be (Short clip that went beyond the 20-minute youtube cut-off)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=ZedAYD-Ntrw (Last twenty minutes has half step work, counter canter, and extensions)

Our Current Problems

Since I am writing this blog mainly to keep track of our progress together I’m going to focus this post on what we’re currently struggling with.  I’m sure some of the things we will always struggle with (he tracks better right than left), but hopefully some of these items go away or get more specific with time. 

Transitions

Trot to canter is actually getting better, but he still will sometimes pin his ears and kick out a hind leg or he’ll try to rush his trot and fall into the canter instead of stepping into it. 

Canter to trot definitely involves falling onto the forehand or just slamming on the breaks so hard that we walk/trot scramble.  There are also improvements on this front as I do more of them. 

Walk/free walk involves tension and anticipation.  He knows that when I start to gather him that exciting things are about to happen.  I need to just combat this with gathering him and letting him back down without doing anything too exciting—it’ll help get a better free walk too.  No rein walking around the arena he has a wonderful walk, but when I start to try to make it a free walk on contact he gets tension and doesn’t want to give me that topline stretch and loose stride. 

Lengthened gaits to working gaits still sometimes seem to surprise him and cause too much of a shutdown.  More of these will hopefully make these transitions better as well (half halts happen bro).

 

Lateral Movements

Moving off left leg is still a real struggle somedays (I know it being my weak way doesn’t help but we’ll talk about that later).  He wants to fall out through his shoulder so when I try to prevent that he thinks that I don’t want him to move out at all.  Getting that left hind underneath him laterally is ongoing for sure.  Oddly enough he’s been a lot better about it at the canter lately than trot.  I fixed one thing and broke another because I’m an adult amateur.  Sorry Mort.

Shoulder-in isn’t actually too bad.  Every once in a while he wants to just swing his haunches out instead of truly bringing in the shoulder, but as long as I notice it it’s not too bad. 

Haunches-in is still a real struggle for us.  I have the feel of it in my head, but that feel comes from horses who were already trained to do it correctly.  I’m definitely struggling to convey what I want to Mort.  We can hold it for a few strides coming out of corners or off of circles but more than that and we lose it.  He doesn’t understand moving his haunches in while maintaining the bend that I want.  Leg pressure outside = haunches in.  Leg pressure at the girth at the same time = confusing.  They often turn into leg yields.  For now, I’m just trying to set him up for success and do them coming off of a circle or corner and keeping it for a couple strides then straightening him myself before we lose it.  Hopefully that will click someday—also lessons from people who are smarter and better than I. 

Quality of Gaits

Walk without human interference = awesome and swingy and big.  Walk with human interference = some tension and anticipation.  We lose some of that swing and power and it makes me sad.  I need to work on that.

Trot has good days and bad.  Tracking right I am having more and more good days where I can really feel him pushing from behind and getting that controlled power feeling.  To the left he’s much less likely to give me that feeling without a lot of work on ‘forward and back’.  He wants to give me more of a training level frame (instead of the uphill feeling I get the other direction) and I definitely can’t feel his back working as well this direction.  He has been sucking back a lot less lately and really working into the contact well—every ride has foamy lips these days. 

Canter is coming along.  He is round and using his back well.  His hind legs come underneath him fairly well.  Getting him to sit is going to be a real challenge, but I knew that coming in from his conformation and usual way of going.  He gives me uphill moments (especially to the right), so I know it’s in there somewhere.  I’m just going to have to work on strength and understanding. 

My Problems

The entire left side of my body.  It’s dumb and I can’t make it stop.  When Mr. Mort wants to blow through his right shoulder and fall out my left hand does things that it shouldn’t and it holds him in place (none of that wonderful inside leg to outside hand feeling).  When I can’t get him to turn off of that outside shoulder I twist my upper body (making my seat actually lean the OTHER way).  When I can’t get him to move off of my left leg I crunch that whole side down until I’m a dang C; it surprisingly doesn’t make my left leg stronger in case anyone wanted to try it.  I’m sure I also have timing issues and lack of core strength and a million other things, but these are my current glaring frustrations.  Also my forever battle to sit up straight like a dang dressage rider and not a hunter.   

I feel like a lot of our struggles are turning into dressage struggles and less OTTB dumbs; which is progress for sure.  He’s also at a point where he’s getting fun to ride and adjustable.  I know a lot of our problems stem from me being a potato and not being knowledgeable in bringing a horse up through the levels.  I’ve ridden green horses to a forth level horse (and everything in between), but I haven’t ever taken a green horse to a forth level horse.  Poor Mort is my experiment in me being a trainer.  I have the feeling in my mind of what I want him to be someday but I don’t know how to get from point A to point Z (with a million sub-stops in between).  I know this is where lessons and clinics come in (going to a clinic this weekend!).  I just hope I’m not putting too many holes in his training that I’m going to regret later.  #adultamateurprobs

Lesson Recap

     I had a lesson lined up on Mort Saturday morning.  I got out there early and brushed out and washed his tail (because it was about 60 degrees and sunny).  The ponies had been stuck inside again Friday and I had asked BM to leave Mort in for me Saturday morning because I hate dealing with muddy Mort.  Needless to say that Mort was a touch antsy when I was tacking him up.  I decided to do a short lunge before our lesson to set us up for success.  He got a couple of expressive canter departs out of his system and I jumped on. 

     We started with our regular warm-up of walking and moving off of my leg into big, straight trot work.  I am really enjoying playing with him going straight then bending then straight.  I also touch on some “forward and back” of letting the stride lengthen and shorten when I ask.  All of his warm-up trot is done posting and it a longer, lower frame just letting his body move.

     After this, we did a little canter work.  Mort listens fairly well on the long sides to my seat and legs, but when we get to the short sides he thinks he can take over and just falls to the inside through the turns.  To try and combat this BM said to cut off a bit of the end and yield him out as we go on the short side to really illustrate to him that he does have space to do that and listen to my leg.  She also corrected my awful position—as when Mort doesn’t listen to my inside leg my response is to squish up that whole side of my body.  It doesn’t make my leg stronger, it makes my seat ineffective, and it throws him more off-balance.  Naturally it is my go-to in times of trouble—because the human body is the most frustrating when riding horses. 

     The goal Saturday was to try and run through parts of some tests.  Mort and I haven’t ridden a test since our last show (in April), so I really needed to assess where we were in terms of showing this spring.  I looked over some tests and decided that I really liked Training 2 and First 2.  Overall I was very happy with Mort.  He stayed with me mentally throughout the whole ride in spite of not having been ridden in that style for a long time.  I was concerned that the halts, speed of transitions (direction, gait, etc.), and the canters were going to be our problems.  They were the problems, but not as big of problems as I thought they would be (yay). 

     He came into our first halt a touch crooked and he wanted to dance.  I think that me throwing in a few halts every ride should fix this problem easily enough as it totally stemmed from anticipation.  The indoor at the barn is smaller than a small dressage arena, so the transitions really come at you quickly compared to “real life”.  It should really make us feel like we have lots of time when we get to a standard arena.  In the training level test, our biggest problem transition-wise was the medium walk-free walk-medium walk-trot.  By the time I started to get stretch in the walk it was time to collect him up again which definitely threw us off a bit.  The canter went a lot better than I expected!  He maintained a consistent bend in the circles and came down to trot well for me when asked.  I was really proud of him and how much better he is getting at letting me adjust his canter.  The final halt was square and quicker than the first, so I’m happy with that improvement as well. 

     The First 2 test was not easy to accomplish in the small indoor, so we just broke it down into parts to make it work—which definitely still achieves the purpose of being a gauge on where we are for showing.  We need to play with lengthening on the diagonal more as I tend to do it on the long sides.  I also want to play with some quicker transitions out of and back into the canter (canter across diagonal, trot at X, canter again in the corner).  I don’t think we’re quite ready for the canter, trot, canter at X that First 3 has, but I think First 1 and 2 would be manageable—though probably not fantastic in the fancy factor.  The canter work that we ran through in the tests made him not blow through my leg on the short sides for the rest of the ride either, so that was a major win. 

     Essentially, I think if we touch up on our problem areas in the next couple of months we might be ready for a first level test at a local schooling show in the end of March.  If I can get some more exciting lengthenings (perhaps trying them outside in the hay field to get some more space).  If I throw a lot of transitions at him and he can handle them calmly and listen.  If I halt a few times each ride.  If we work more on walk transitions (between medium and free).  If all of these things come together and he feels confident and comfortable in all of them—then we’ll show first.  If not, we’ll go for training.  I’m just excited that we’re finally coming along. 

     Sunday Mort got a bareback easy ride then a massage.  He was much better for it and actually let her work on his hind end this time.  I definitely think he’ll have more in his future.  If they can make him happy and relaxed they’re good in my book. 

     Now I just hope that sometime soon the world outside isn’t a damn puddle.  

My Daily Schedule

My schedule changes more than I like to admit, but I’ve set up a schedule for Mort (when he doesn’t hurt himself and I don’t get sick or get busy).  Now I’ll let you all in on my schedule.  This post went around the blog community back in the fall (when I was not good about blogging at all).  Of course life changes all of the time, but ideally this is what I try to get done on a weekly basis.

A Typical Week Day

5:45 Wake-up

6:35 Leave for work

7:00-3:00 Work

3:00-3:30 Drive Home

3:45 Run (Anywhere from 15 minutes to a little over an hour depending on the day)

4:30-45 Drive to barn

5:15 Brush and tack Mort

5:30-6:30 Ride (not all days are a full hour, but many are close)

6:30-7:00 Brush/feed/clean tack/socialize

7:25 Make dinner (shower while it’s cooking)

7:45-8:00 Eat dinner and relax on couch for the evening

9:15 Go to bed (sometimes read until 9:45)

On Tuesdays I don’t run, so barn time is earlier and I try to make it a major cleaning day as far as Mort and tack go.  Wednesdays I get up at 3:15 and from 4:00-6:30 I feed and turnout all of the horses then clean all of the stalls, water, and rake the aisle.  Wednesday evenings I don’t go to the barn, but I do my long run (anything over 5 miles).  I usually have more time at home, so it’s a house cleaning day and a more complicated and/or longer dinner cooking day.  By the time Friday gets around I may cut out either running or riding depending on how the week has gone, but sometimes I still do both (or lunge). 

A Typical Weekend Day

7:30-8:30 Wake-up (we don’t set alarms, so it just happens when it happens)

8:30-9:45 Breakfast and TV (we usually do a big breakfast and watch something on Netflix)

10:00 Get ready to go to barn

10:20 Brush/tack

10:45-11:45 Ride

11:45-12:30 Brush/clean tack/socialize

12:50-1:30 Lunch/relax

Afternoons may be spent being lazy, hiking/walking with the pup and Steven, or hanging with friends.  It all depends on the weather and what we may need to accomplish.  One of the days we clean the house.  During half marathon training season I use Sunday mornings as my long run day so I lose a couple hours to that in the morning (but I also earn two breakfasts!).  Some days are slower to start (especially in the winter). 

I am very lucky to have a work day that ends at 3:00.  There are regularly days where I feel like I don’t have enough time to do everything that I want, but overall I feel pretty well-off on my schedule.  I am not jealous of the other bloggers out there who have over an hour drive to their barn, or those who don’t get off work until 5:00pm.  This is my schedule for now, when we move further away in April it’ll definitely adjust, but I still hope to run 3-5 days/week and get to the barn 5-6 days/week.  

Ride Recaps

     On Tuesday Mort had just jumped over/through the fence in his turnout when I got there.  I started to clean up the couple of scrapes that he got on his hind legs and noticed that his left front fetlock had some minor swelling and heat starting.  Since he’s Mort with broken front legs I was worried.  I walked him on the lunge and he was totally sound (a bit stiff but that’s fair considering scrapes and the jumping struggle).  We gave him some Bute and wrapped his legs.  Wednesday the swelling was still there, but not worse, and he was still sound.  I decided not to Bute and to turnout (alone).  Thursday evening when I went out the swelling was gone completely.  I decided to hop on him and rode him lightly w/t/c both directions; he was sound.  I’m thinking that it was just a very minor strain that if I had pushed him or not noticed could have turned into something worse.  Luckily I’m paranoid and check his legs over like a crazy person. 

     We had a serious ice storm predicted so the weather kept me away on Friday and Saturday.  More time off isn’t great for his attitude but it probably didn’t hurt his leg. 

     Mr. Mort was full of spitfire Sunday when I went out to ride.  He’d not only had two days off but the horses had been stuck inside a lot more due to the ice storm.   Even asking him to trot got me serious ears back and tail swishing.  Interestingly enough he still moved off of my legs decently (mainly wanted to take the lazy route and just fall out, but still moved off at least). 

     I knew the attitude was due to time off, so I let him move out in a big trot for a while, mainly focusing on getting his shoulders.  Lately I have been trying to get a really straight trot in our warm-up.  I find that it helps him not want to just fall out through the shoulders during the rest of the ride.  I let him have a training level frame during this with moments of stretch—easy work for his brain while we burned some energy and got any kinks out.  A lot of times when he’s had time off that’s about all that I would do during the ride.  However, today I decided that I would push him and see if he stepped up to the challenge mentally. 

     I went for a canter transition out of the walk because it’s easier for me to maintain control of his body when he’s really stiff/bracing.  The first several were very dramatic—even for Mort.  There were bucks and kicks and angry faces.  The first canter each direction I just let him go around on the rail at a decent clip (burn some of that fun energy).  We did a lot of transitions—canter a couple circles then back to trot, back to walk, canter again.  I did them until he gave me a fairly quiet one each way.  We took a walk break. 

     After the break I picked him up for some trot work—I wanted to make sure that he would still be quiet and move off of my leg if we had lost any of that in the canter (which we sometimes do).  He was a bit anticipatory at first (fair enough), but after we did some changes of direction and tempo he really started listening.  I was able to really feel that I could manipulate him in all sorts of ways.  He was really uphill and carrying himself well.  I played with some lengthenings and he didn’t lose his haunches out behind him.  He quietly listened to my leg and seat when we’d change directions and bend.  Very fun trot work.  Just to make sure he’d stick with me giving him a good canter transition from the trot.  The first one (tracking left) was fair.  He picked up the wrong lead on the right.  I went back to trot for a bit and tried again—this time with success.  We did stretchy trot and walked and called it a day.  

Back In the Saddle

     On Sunday Mort got to be ridden under saddle for the first time in about 2.5 weeks!  Right after that I dropped off my saddle with a local repair-woman to get my billets replaced.  He was understandably a bit rusty with the ‘regular’ work that we tried to accomplish on Sunday, just a bit behind my leg and more reactive to my adjusting him than what he had been doing before.  I was just happy that we got to canter again. 

     I also fully admit that I am not as good of a rider when it’s cold outside.  With so many layers and my muscles being cold and/or numb I know that I am definitely not riding as effectively—it was 15 degrees when I got to the barn Sunday so it was for sure cold.  Mort’s slobber that drips down onto his front legs/chest froze after we stopped working.  I think the future really cold rides may have more focus on stretch, bend, straightness, and being really through himself more than technical work and lateral movements (since I’m a potato up on top of him).   

  

     Yesterday I brought out my cross country saddle and decided to just ride a bunch of canter transitions.  I don’t feel as effective in my seat and I know my sitting trot isn’t correct with that saddle so I didn’t want to spend a lot of time on lateral work beyond simply moving off of my leg.  We had a drastic rise in temperatures that led to it being in the forties and very windy.  Mort was full of himself but I am not the type of person to fault that (I like the thoroughbreds after all).  He was a little spooky at the beginning of our ride so our warm-up included a lot of ‘distracting’ arena figures and changes of direction to get him to focus on me.  After we accomplished that I went straight into the canter transitions.  There was sass, but it doesn’t last as long as it used to.  His prompt transitions are so much better than when he tries to trot faster and scoot into it.  I need to remember that and make sure I don’t accept a few trot steps after I ask. 

     I think my immediate goals for canter are different for each lead.  His right lead canter is really coming along as far as listening and me having control of his outside shoulder.  I want to start actually play with it—lengthen and shorten, teeny counter canter loops, square turns, etc.  Essentially I can really start to develop the actual canter.  The left lead is a lot harder for us.  He wants to land so hard on that inside shoulder that controlling the shoulders is my main goal.  I let him be somewhat on his forehand as long as he’s moving off of my leg and maintaining proper bend while not leaning on that shoulder (and also avoiding just falling out on the other shoulder).  If that seems like a lot to keep track of it’s because dressage is probably easy, right? 

     My plan tonight is to try to get him out in the hay field for a break from inside.  It’s warm, but also very windy so I’m sure he’s going to be feeling good and full of himself.  I want to see if I can play more with his lengthenings in the larger space—and getting him back of course.   

Ride Recaps and Massage

     Well, I have stuck to the weekly schedule exactly 0%.  I blame holidays and Mort being unable to wear a girth right now.  Trying to make a schedule and goals = immediate horse injury.  Luckily he’s completely sound and it doesn’t seem to be bothering him at all.  But the small scab that remains is right in the girth area so for now we bareback. 

     He got a full week off while the swelling went down and I went home for the holidays.  Last week I lunged him twice then hopped on him bareback on Friday.  We had a fun and easy ride reminding him how to carry himself and move off of my leg. 

     Saturday was really nice so I took him out to the big hay field.  It was a ton of fun.  Mort had a lot of energy while still listening enough to work on some transitions within the gaits and lateral work.  It was a super fun ride that helped remind me that Mort is actually learning things.  He also gets bonus points for me being able to take him outside, bareback, and alone because a year ago that would have been a hard no.

     Sunday we did an easy arena ride focusing on working up into the bridle and trying to lift those shoulders (especially his troublesome left shoulder).  After that ride I spent some time grooming him (his mane was long overdue for being pulled).  After that he had his massage appointment.  

     Overall I’m calling it a success (he was a bit kick-y to her working on his hind end).  She plans on coming back out in two weeks and doing him again.  He responded really well to the red light and we’re going to keep him on that over the next two weeks.  She thinks most of Mort’s problems stem from tension.  His left shoulder was definitely a problem area (no surprise from me) and it was connected to the left stifle.  I wasn’t sure which was the chicken and which was the egg, but she thinks that it’s the shoulder causing the stifle issues.  She left us homework exercises and stretching so the next two weeks will be full of that.  Hopefully we can get him lifting more with that left shoulder and using himself properly. 

     Monday he was very tough to move off of my left leg.  I chalked it up to sore muscles and let him take it easy with stretching (while still making him move off of my leg).  Today I hope to work on the poles (part of the exercise she left was working over poles).  Hopefully by the end of the week his scratch will have healed enough that I can actually ride him again.  No saddle = no canter work because his withers would probably make me want to die with a sassy transition.