Trust the Process

I set up cones last night to work on accurate serpentines and circles. I figured if we were going to do a lot of figures that they might as well not be all over the place.

We warmed up on a loose rein walk. I slowly started to encourage contact and bend with just the inside rein. He didn't protest too much because that also meant he could fall out on that outside shoulder some. We did some loose rein trot around the edge and some large figure eights. He was happy and forward and listening to my legs and seat to turn but wanting to fall on that inside shoulder.

I picked him up for the cones. He was really messy and upside-down but we did get a little better as I stuck with it. I wish that I had placed the cones further apart because I think it was maybe a 15-meter circle instead of a 20-meter. I didn't account for how short my stride was when I walked it out. Good thing I'm not a h/j rider who places jumps regularly. I had some decent connection to the right but wasn't really getting what I wanted to the left.

I did some canter. His canter is really nice. I've been trying to play a bit with adjustability again and he's doing well. I'm trying to really be aware of my seat and hands. He still wants to overbend on the right lead but we're getting better about counter bend and counter canter that direction which is helping tremendously. The counter bend really helps rock him back on his hind-end as well.

In between some of the canter work I threw in more trot. It was messy and above the bit and tense. It was also on the bit and relaxed and forward. Our walk wanted to be tense and behind the bit and sticky, but not for too terribly long. We ended with some really nice forward, straight, bending, reaching trot both directions. I also ended with some relaxed, reaching straight, bending walk both directions. It was a longer ride and Mort was sweaty but I don't think he was struggling at the end physically or mentally.

I am (yet again) finding it hard to "trust the process" because whenever anything is less than ideal I assume that I'm doing something wrong. Basically, I don't know when to trust the process and when to readjust my training because this is my first time trying to bring a horse up the levels. For right now, I'm just trying to be consistent and patient and trust it. Mort understands and is capable of moving off my leg, bending, accepting contact, and all of the things that I'm currently asking of him. So for now, I'm trying to trust it.

I'm just quietly sitting up there when he wants to avoid contact. I'm trying to keep it consistent and soft and not cross my inside rein over his neck. I'm making sure he keeps trotting or walking and asking for more when it feels good. So far, he's better at the end of each ride so I'm hoping that means we're on the right track. I'm also planning for a lesson this weekend if the weather holds out to make sure I can trust myself to trust the process.

Spring is in the Air

Guys, I think spring is finally and actually here in Missouri. The grass is starting to show signs of growth, flowers are starting to pop out of the ground, and the redbuds are blooming. It's been sunny and (relatively) warm. Most importantly, both Mort and Emma are starting their spring shedding. I think we're all ready for this never-ending winter to be over.

Friday was a bit windy, but I was definitely going to deal with it and ride. Mort started out a bit 'up' but settled quickly. I can tell that he's not used to riding with other horses anymore. He behaves fine, but has a magnetic shoulder toward his friends and wants to speed up or slow down depending on which direction we're heading. I'm glad that I'm riding with the other barn folks so that we can work on this at home instead of a show. (It's also fun to get social hour at the barn for me.)

Both Friday's and Saturday's rides had similar themes. If I let Mort go around on a long rein he was happy and decently forward. If I wanted to work on contact or pick him up beyond long-and-low he'd get fussy in his mouth and start to lean into my leg and fall on his inside shoulder. I, of course, then got picky with my hands and stiffer in my hips which caused him to get sticky and slow. If I stuck us on a figure eight or circled I could get his body where I wanted and wrangle his outside shoulder, but as soon as I went off along the edge or to straighten we'd struggle again.

The rides weren't as bad as they probably were in my mind and I should have just focused on the figure eights and serpentines and circles and worked on the things that we were successful in, but I'm the worst so I did some of that and then got frustrated when he wasn't perfect. Meanwhile, I was crooked and tense because of that which further caused him to be unable to do what I was asking. My poor horse. But, while I may be the worst I'm not a total idiot so I went out with a different plan on Sunday. I was going to do figures and ride bareback. I find that riding bareback prevents me from being able to get stiff and uneven with my seat. 

We started off in a really lovely and loose walk, but we had the same issues that we'd been having the last couple rides. If I let him trot around on the buckle he was happy and relaxed and listening to my legs and seat. If I went to pick him up he'd get upside-down or sticky or fall into my leg. I basically ignored the fact that he was getting upside-down and putting his head in the air. I worked on him getting sticky by throwing in a handful of canter transitions to get him more in front of my leg. Then we settled in for figure eight boot camp to get him moving off of my leg.

At first we stayed in the trot and I'd just barely touch the inside rein to soften that jaw. I was moving his body with my legs and seat (so these figure eights were decidedly not perfectly shaped). After he was really listening well to that and yielding off my inside leg when I asked I started throwing in trot/walk/trot transitions. I'd walk in the middle for a couple strides, ask for trot and turn into the new circle at the same time. He started off a bit wobbly and with his head in the air, but got better quickly. Eventually I got to a point where he was really moving off my legs and he was OK with contact again. We moved on to serpentines with even quicker success.

After a walk break, we hopped back into working. I tried some bigger leg yield squares. I'd ask him for a leg yield tail-to-the-rail then do a trotting turn-on-the-forehand around the corner into another leg yield tail-to-the-rail. He hated it at first because it was hard, but he did get better and better at it. Until I finally had a decent connection (especially to the right) and he was moving off of my legs as I asked, turning as I asked, and keeping a steady trot. I'd have liked the trot to be bigger and more powerful, but it wasn't sticky so I was OK with it.

We ended the ride with some walk alternating between loose rein and quietly picking him up. He wanted to be tense a time or two, but the majority of the end walk work was good.

Neither of us are 100% focused or fit right now with so much time off and it's really showing. I, as the human, need to continue to slowly bring him back. I'm planning for a lot of long-and-low, a lot of figures, and a little bit of work on a higher contact. I've just got to be patient and hold myself accountable in spite of being overly excited that it's spring and I can ride again.

2019 Goals

You know the weather was bad in January and February when I'm starting to think about my 2019 goals in March.

Riding-Related:

• Show 2nd Level
• This could go either way but I'm putting it out there for the universe to know about it
• Establish half-pass in trot and canter
• Within this is haunches-in in trot and canter as well
• Be able to pick Mort up from a loose rein walk and have him "there" for me
• Develop Mort's medium/extended trot and canter
• Develop a more relaxed "back-up"
• Establish a walking turn-on-haunches

• Develop a more even seat
• Have more control over which seat bone carries more weight
• AKA:  don't allow Mort's body to dictate my seat as much
• Develop more consistent hands
• AKA:  an even feel of his mouth on both sides, not allowing one hand to become lazy
• Get better about the release of aids so that Mort can become lighter off of them
• Don't allow myself to get frustrated
• Have my instructor out for 6 (or more) lessons
• Attend 2 clinics
• Ideally as a rider, but auditor will also be acceptable
• Attend 2 shows

Horse-Related:

• Get Mort consistent about loading with a ramp
• I want Mort to calmly walk onto all three trailers that I have access to
• Several of my other goals will rely upon this one
• Get our property horse ready

Non Horse-Related:

• Run 2 half-marathons
• Run 6-8 miles/day 3-4 times/week
• Lose 5lbs
• And learn how to maintain that weight
• Work hard on getting our house built and working on our property
• Plant a small vegetable garden

Some of these seem pretty reasonable and some seem like I'm trying to jam too much into what is going to be a very busy year. We'll see what happens. The whole point of this journal/blog is so that I can track our progress--even if that means I don't progress as much as I want.

Winter Updates

Well folks, it's been quite a winter here in Missouri. It's basically either been wet or frozen since early January, so Mort and I haven't had quite the progress that I was hoping for but I thought I'd update you all on where we are right now and what we've been working on. I went back and read my last blog post from the end of November and I'm happy to report that we're at a better place in our training and relationship than we were then.

From our schooling show in November

I'd been struggling with Mort connecting to his outside shoulder while tracking left. This issue is LOADS better. I can consistently get him to connect both in a long-and-low frame and a higher frame with just an easy half-halt on that outside rein. A lot of this comes down to a lesson that I had in early January where she addressed that I need to sit a hair more on my inside seat bone so that I'm not leaning to the outside. It was like magic.

Unfortunately, in getting better tracking left I'm noticing that we don't have a truly good connection tracking right. I don't think it's gotten worse; I just think the major improvements tracking left have left tracking right behind. We spent a lot of December and January doing a bunch of changes of direction. These really help me gather his hind-end and shoulders where I need them to be and keep him thinking that we might change direction at any time so that he's more willing to listen to my half-halts. In our lesson in early January, my instructor commented that he was looking more even than she'd ever seen him and that we were certainly on the right track.

We haven't done a ton of work in the canter. We work on transitions and we've been working on bend and counter-bend to help with the straightness--especially on the right lead. As spring (hopefully) comes I plan to work more on transitions, developing more jump in the canter, and continue to develop a better counter-canter. I also want to focus on my seat to make sure I'm weighting the correct seat-bone. I want to make sure my outside leg is helping him turn and that I don't hold too tight with either leg. And I finally want to make sure that my hands are following and encouraging an even connection, even as they go higher with more collection.

On the days where the footing has been questionable we've been playing with a ton of lateral work at the walk. This is really important to us as it's where he likes to get tense and we stuck not going forward. He's getting better about coming back to me when I pick him up from a loose rein and he's certainly really starting to understand lateral work. We've done everything from side-pass and leg yield to shoulder-in and half-pass. He allows me to manipulate his body into haunches-in and half-pass regularly now. He can't hold either for too long yet, but he understands it.

Mort and I had been riding 4-6 days/week as the weather permitted. He has held his weight and fitness well. As the weather got worse, so did Mort's spookiness and behavior issues. The lack of real turnout has been a problem since we moved last winter, but until the bad weather this winter I had been able to somewhat combat it with regular riding. Unfortunately, the less I rode and he got turned out the worse he got. This isn't surprising, but there are simply not a lot of boarding options near me.

In late January, a semi-local dressage rider reached out to me asking if I knew anyone looking for a boarding barn. She has a small, private facility and was looking for a gelding to fit into her turnout situation. After a lot of back-and-forth I started to become pretty optimistic that it would be a good fit for Mort. So, I moved Mort on Valentine's Day and he's been so happy ever since.

Mort and his new bff, Milo

He immediately got along with his new turnout buddy and I think he's really happy to have a friend again. He gets to go out in a big pasture with him every other day--rotating with a gravel dry lot and shed. Even though the dry lot is small, because it's gravel he still gets to wander around and play if he'd like. I've only been able to ride him three times since our move (darn weather), but he's been calm and well-behaved in spite of that. He's getting a lot more hay and an alf-mix so I don't have to supplement him with alf cubes anymore. I think we're both really happy with the move. The only drawback is that I'm back to driving 35-40 minutes each way, but I still wish I had moved him months ago. The things we do for our horse's happiness and well-being.