Mort is sometimes stepping up to put on his big boy panties, so I need to step up as a rider/trainer/hopeless adult amateur and ask him to be a big boy consistently. I have to consistently ask him for good work if I want him to consistently give it to me. It seems to be especially important to Mort since he's really into anticipating. Not only does he anticipate, but he gets offended when I tell him something he doesn't think should come next. It's a hard horse life.
Barn manager/trainer/instructor gave me the idea to come up with a schedule of what we will do each day so that I can't use the excuse of Mort seeming tense/nervous/upset/whatever and step down our work to meet him. He's darn well trained enough by now that sometimes he's going to have to step up his work to meet me. We're not talking crazy stuff here, just relax in the lateral work and carry his own damn self.
Obviously not every day can be demanding and educational or both of our brains will crack, so some of these days are easier on him. However, I will always make sure that he moves off of my leg and carries himself properly for whatever we're working on. Below I have outlined our schedule and what those different items mean to our training.
Mondays: Hard work day
This means that Mort and I come out to play. I'm talking transitions boot camp (both within and between the gaits). He's got to move off my leg without complaint and sometimes with more sideways and/or bend than he may think he can handle. Hard work days should be filled with changes of speed and direction to make him really think about listening to me and waiting for me to tell him what I want next.
We've done a couple of these days and they've actually gone really well. They sometimes start off tense, but with all of the activity he can't help but think and listen sometimes which means that the rides turn out fairly well. They are both physically and mentally hard so once he's really with me I only play a little longer before I let him be done. Hopefully someday the time it takes for him to be with me will be shorter and the playing can be longer.
Tuesdays: Pole day
My least favorite. He's bad at them, and I'm never going to jump him so my motivation is low. I know poles are wonderful for so many dressage things, I'm just a lazy turd. I honestly didn't want this to be a part of our winter, but BM (Barn Manager) made a good point that he needs to be angry about something other than my leg/seat. He finds so many things offensive that sometimes it'll be good for our relationship to have it be a dumb stick on the ground while I sit up top quietly just asking for forward tempo. It's important and I know once he's better at poles it'll actually be fun to be able to play with them in our future.
Wednesdays: Off
He always gets Wednesdays off. They're the mornings I wake up at 3:15am to feed and turnout the ponies. It's also my LSD (long slow distance) day for running. He gets a day off and I get in better shape. Win-win.
Thursdays: Long & Low/Fitness
This is sorta a mix between a happy relationship building day and muscles. The hardest part is making sure he still is using himself properly and not just bombing around on his forehand. Being a dressage horse is rough stuff. He's usually a very happy with long and low and stays fairly relaxed for me.
I can also see these days being phased out over the next several months. I do long and low at the beginning and end of every ride and fitness comes from regular hard rides as well. I'm thinking someday Thursdays will be a ride where we work on things which we are good at doing and he's happy doing for me. That's sort of what long & low is right now, someday soon I think it'll easily be more than that. Thursdays: Reinforce good stuff
Fridays: Lunge
Honestly sometimes Fridays are a second day off, but most of the time I do get out there. Lunging can be a lot of things for Mort. Sometimes I let him do long and low and work on that topline. Sometimes I slap a bit in his mouth and make him work on a million transitions. Sometimes I play with small circles and big circles. Ideally we do all of these items. Since I have a long & low day scheduled in for riding I do tend to go more with difficult items on the lunge--especially canter transitions!
We also long lined for the first time last month. I should work on playing with that more in our future because it gives me better feel of him than just lunging but he still doesn't have my body getting in his way at all. So many things I want us to accomplish.
Saturdays: Hard Ride
Same as Mondays--a little bit of everything and a lot of something that seems particularly difficult that day. Want to scoot into the canter transitions? We'll work on that. Whatever we're struggling with, we'll do.
Sundays: Trail/Fitness
I still think that a lot of his canter woes come from a weak hind end. Strong hind ends come from lots of things and trotting hills is one of my favorites. It gets him strong and forward and swing-y to be outside. We both also get some mental breaks from the arena.
Obviously I ride a horse and not a machine. He's never going to be perfect (lord knows I'm never going to be perfect), so one still does have to take into account if it's a off day. But overall I should probably hold his hand less--he's going to be eight soon and I've had him almost a year and a half now. We need to step up if I want him showing first level next year (or ever).
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