Heading for the Hills

So, last post I mentioned some big news I'd have to share. I've been crazy busy recently, and to make a long story short, I've recently accepted a new job working on something near and dear to my heart: video games.

What does that mean?  It means Oliver and I will very shortly be packing our bags and heading to beautiful Austin, Texas!

The good part of Texas, from what people tell me

While I'm sad to leave my friends and family, I'm super excited for the move. I've long hated the extensive, cold and wet winters here and so Austin - with its average high of 60 in January and average of 300 days of sunshine a year-  seems a perfect fit for me.  And as a bonus, Oliver is always way mellower when it's warm so hopefully winter riding will be much more fun. Plus, board should be cheaper which means more money for lessons!

So, things will be quiet(er?) around here for a bit as we move, get sorted in Austin, find a new home for Oliver, a new trainer, etc. If any of you know of any good dressage trainers/facilities /vets/farriers in the Austin area (or places/people to avoid), please let me know!

Oliver the Brave

So, it's been a whirlwind few weeks, and I have some really exciting news I'll be sharing with you soon. What have we been up to? Well, quite a few things: On the dressage front, we've started lunging Oliver in side reins for a few minutes every schooling ride or lesson. This is for a few reasons:

1. To teach him limits. He must learn he is not allowed to lean on the bit and charge forward like a freight train when he is tired

2. To strengthen his body. Working over his back is hard for him, and he does not want to stretch his muscles so this helps him to do that without the added weight of a rider. Already he is finding it easier to raise his back and use himself in the trot and canter.

3. To allow him to stay light. When he has "fought" the side reins and lost, he is far more willing to listen to light aids which makes a much more pleasant ride for both of us. The last few rides alone have been really nice as a result. He has been listening really well, very relaxed and trying very hard to do what is asked. I've been very pleased.

I was hoping to take Oliver on a first show outing on the 18th as our riding center is hosting a mini-event, and I was planning to just do the dressage portion. Unfortunately, you have to register for all 3 phases and I didn't want to pay a lot of extra fees to only do one.

But, as the weather has been absolutely lovely lately, I have made it my mission to get Oliver out and about as much as I can now that it is a joy to be outside.

In the past 2 weeks, I've taken him up on the polo field twice (and on one outing we sang quite a lot of Disney songs to calm our nerves) and a bit around the farm.  He was super every time! A bit looky and alert, but totally well-behaved!

This past weekend for my lesson, after I lunged Oliver, we decided to take Oliver to the riding center for the rest of the lesson! Jess and our friend S who wanted to come watch would walk on foot, and I would ride.  While he was again, alert and nervous, Oliver was really great and well behaved as we walked across the street, through the woods and made it to the riding center.


He took everything in stride, and only spooked twice.  I had Jess get on him when we got to the riding center to put him through his paces and see if he was going to be wild or not before I got back on. He was nervous and unsure of himself, but he was really good!

I hopped back on (and hey, I can mount my 16.1hh horse from the ground without help, yay!) and we did some walk/trot work before calling it a day.  He was nervous and super jiggy on the way back (understandable as we'd walked over without any horses he knew) so I hopped off and we led him on foot back to make it easier (plus when you're dealing with asphalt, you don't want piaffe/passage the whole way - which he did).  He was showered with carrots and cookies and put out to play.

But, I was super proud of how he handled all these new things (people playing polo, XC schooling, minis, trailers, flags, etc). He was unsure and nervous, but behaved and I really think he'll do even better next time. It's taken a lot of baby steps to get there, but hey, we did it!

Going Sideways

So, the big focus of our last few lessons and rides has been lateral work, emphasizing leg yields and shoulder-in at the walk and trot. It's really coming along though, as Jessica said our shoulder-in down the wall was the best she's seen from us yet. The best part was it was really easy! I didn't have to nag with my leg or get handsy to keep his shoulders in, he just crossed his legs like a good boy and kept on going, even in self-carriage! It was great because I could just let him figure out how to balance himself with minimal input from me.

Leg yield centerline to wall was also much easier in walk, and definitely getting better in the trot. Moving left, Oliver likes to bust out through his outside shoulder, so a good exercise to stop that is to leg yield a few steps, straighten him out, and then leg yield some more. It certainly seems to be working though, and I now know how it feels to leg yield or shoulder-in correctly, instead of always asking, "Are we doing it right?".... Not to mention, having all the huge mirrors really helps too.

Best of all, he seems to be getting much lighter on my aids, requiring less of the spur and more of the press of the leg to respond. I'm not sure if maybe he's a bit sensitive or sore in his body with the changing weather or the work he is doing (I know the lateral work is hard work), but I'll take it. It also helps that I've been trying to focus on keeping my feet parallel to his body and less of my leg on than if I point my toes out.

The last video we took got corrupted (yay for me messing with the settings!), so I'm going to try to get and edit some video of my fancy boy to put up since we've greatly improved since the last clip I made and didn't post. But it's really cool to see us finally looking like a real dressage duo! Jessica started asking me about showing recently, so we're finally going to get out and strut our stuff!

Just Right

So recently I've been trying to do some experimentation with the connection between Oliver and I via the aids. In my lessons, we've been emphasizing soft, round and light. Soft in the jaw and the body, round in the body and back, and light in the hand and leg. In my experience, if you don't have one, you won't really have the others either.

As he has been the sole horse on which I have learned everything I know about contact, Oliver has experienced a lot of mixed signals in our lives together. I have struggled to learn how much is too much, how much is too little, and how much is just right, and after 3 years I am starting to really grasp and execute what is "just right" for both of us.

Last night, with the exception of a really stupid spook over a cat sneaking in through the back door, we had a really lovely ride. At the end of my lesson Sunday, we were working on keeping the tempo constant, staying round, soft and light at the trot. I can't describe it exactly, but I was trying to figure out exactly the right amount of weight both of us needed to have on the reins to keep us both happy. And as I experimented, I felt glimmers of the answer, and even approval from Oliver.

So the goal of last night was to explore that further. While he felt really forward, Oliver also felt really agreeable. Right from the start, I had a soft, connected and light horse marching in a nice forward walk. And I tried to memorize the feel of the reins in my hands because he was happy but working in that contact. He wasn't evading or leaning, he was just on the bit and relaxed. When I think about it now, the feeling on the reins between us was light, but substantial, as if we were only holding on to each other by our fingertips (like in an S shape). A way to communicate easily, but comfortably for both of us.

In the same vein, he was very light on the leg aids as well. I was able to use only my calves to ask for forward and lateral movement, rather than the spur or whip (which I've stopped carrying for now while I try to concentrate on my hands). I tried to tell him I would be soft and light as long as he stayed the same, and I think he understood. My timing and finesse wasn't as good in the trot, but we had more really nice moments, and it will come with time.

What made my ride last night doubly exciting was the fact that I was riding with Jessica who got to see the whole thing. She told me how good it looked and how happy she was for us, and I was just relieved that she got to see it first hand instead of "It was great the other day, but it's all falling apart now" like what usually happens in lessons (who hasn't been there?). I have a very different horse than I did 6 months ago, and I really love the changes I see in both of us.

So I'll keep working at it in the trot, and once it's good there, we'll start moving on softness in the canter!

A Visible Difference

I had a really great lesson today and last week. I still need to watch my videos from today and try to cut some clips to share (it takes a while), so in the meantime, here's something else we did this weekend!

So as Oliver has grown and changed in his body, I felt it was time to call the saddle fitter out again to check our dressage saddle (and our close-contact saddle) to make sure it was still a great fit for him. It's been a year and 2 months since we last saw her, and when we spoke on the phone I mentioned how she had seen him before, so lucky for us she brought his original wither/back tracing chart!

Red is from 2013, green is from 2012

So as you can see, Oliver has really become way more symmetrical in his body.  When she did the tracing in 2012, the muscles on the right side of his body had atrophied a bit and he was far more built up on the left.  Now, he's sporting a more rounded, symmetrical shape and feels so much more even in his body.

The neatest bit though for me, is the last line set, which is the shape of his withers and spine as viewed from the side.  In the last year he has built up muscle and height in his back and actually shifted his center of gravity backward, carrying himself higher in front.

So, the verdict from the master saddler was that the saddle still fits like a glove, which is great because I love my saddle, and I love how I ride in it and how Oliver goes in it.  She also told me to keep doing what I'm doing because it's really working for him. It's always awesome to see visible, measured improvements to let you know your hard work is paying off.

Sadly, the close-contact, while being comfortable and balanced for me (and wow does it feel weird to sit in a CC after so long in a dressage), doesn't provide enough clearance for the withers/spine.  Even with my fleece pad, there was not enough, so she recommended we find a new saddle if we want to start jumping. At this rate, I think I'll just jump in my dressage saddle!

#Winning

(Holy wall of text, Batman!)

So, everyone always talks about how riding is "about the partnership" or is all about "harmony" or various other feel good things.  Nobody ever makes pictures about "Riding is about telling your horse he will go where he is told whether he likes it or not."  But, that is what my weekend has been about: Telling Oliver where he will put his body according to what I say.

A week or so ago I'd heard about groundwork lessons from our awesome barn manager, Meredith. They were mostly on this young horse who is still learning about lunging, groundwork, etc, but I was interested. I'd never really had any groundwork instruction before and wanted to learn more.  Sure, I could lunge Oliver safely and get him to run in a circle to check soundness or this or that, but I was curious to learn how to ask him to move his booty one way, or how to block his motion with my energy, etc.

So, yesterday was my first groundwork lesson!  It was going to be interesting because in addition to having several large mirrors recently installed, the barn also acquired some horse-eating barrels of death that are now in one corner. After slipping on a rope halter, we got to work.  Meredith showed me some ways to move his body around, and ways to control his motion on the lunge line with my own body. We showed Oliver the mirrors (my old barn had one small mirror in one corner which was never a problem) which were a non-issue it seemed, so we moved on to the barrels.

The barrels were definitely an issue. Oliver was like "WTF," snorted, and immediately sucked back.  Meredith kept up though, and within 10-15 minutes I could throw one of the barrels on the ground in front of him and he could not care less.  We lunged him both ways right next to the barrels, and he was fine, so we moved onto the other scary corner: the corner with the poop bucket!

This also proved to be a non-issue, and he was walking and trotting just fine near the formerly scary object.  He proved to be a quick study, and I think with more practice (especially on my part) our communication will become even better.

During the groundwork lesson, I mentioned to Meredith how I could usually get Oliver to deal with scary stuff on the ground, but it was way different under saddle.  Luckily, she had time to work with me on it this afternoon.

We were lucky there was only a max of 1 other horse with us this time (yesterday we had about 6 horses riding in the arena, including a jumping lesson or two).  I mounted up (rather awkwardly as the mounting block had moved into a weird spot), and started up the long side toward the corner with the barrels.

Except I kind of didn't.  As I passed B, we veered off the rail and sort of away from the barrels.  Meredith wasn't about to let us get away with that though, and said we'd just stay down there the whole time and deal with it.  OK, I thought, that'll be good because I want to be able to ride down here anyway. 

We walked toward the barrels, keeping the front door open (to allow him to go forward however he wants, but he must go forward!) and asking him to soften on either side of his jaw.  As he turned his head to look at the scary object, it was my instinct to bend him away from it has I had been taught, but Meredith insisted I keep him looking at it (something I've heard from the eventers I follow, and not so much from the dressage people...hmm).  It was his job to deal with the fact that he had to pass something scary, and deal with it. 

We went past the barrels walking, and after a few minutes, trotting.  I was pretty excited.  As we kept on, she moved one of the barrels out (we have 3) so we would have to pass between them.  We were able to walk and trot through those, too. And then she laid the inside barrel on its side.

And that's where we had problems.  Apparently barrels on their sides were home to dragons, cougars and other horse-eating nasties, or so Oliver wanted me to believe.  He snorted, and he wiggled, and I made him look at it. I asked him to move forward, but he would back up and back up.

All the while, Meredith encouraged me that I could do it, to lean back and send him forward. He would try to spin, but I wouldn't let him. He'd move closer, and then back further away.  I'll admit, I was scared, but Meredith said she knew I could do it.  We were making progress, and it was slow, but we were moving toward the barrel. As I got more assertive and demanding (and annoying to him), Oliver gave in more and more.  We were getting closer!

The turning point came when he tried so hard to spin away from it, but I wouldn't stop urging him forward and I wouldn't let him turn away, that he kicked out in frustration.  He was starting to realize I was not going to let him win this. And soon after, we stopped with the epic backing away and could stand, and move forward a little, and eventually we walked right past it, between the other barrels.  He didn't even trot or jig as we passed, he just gave it a look and walked on. 

I had won.  We walked through it more, then trotted through it, and it was no big deal. I was so thrilled, I was ready to cry with joy.  I hadn't let him intimidate me, and had accomplished my goal, even if he didn't want to do it.  He also learned that I will not give up when he wants to pick a fight, either. Giving him a big pat and fuss, I told Meredith that tracking right would be harder, because he is always stupider about things to the right, so we switched directions to go right, with the barrel still on its side.

He fussed, and backed up a bit, and didn't want to go, but in a fraction of the time it took to go left, we were walking through it, and trotting through it. We had successfully conquered the barrels, both directions! Meredith wanted us to go to the other scary corner, which he would usually try to balk at, but while he looked a bit, he didn't make to move any way but where I said.

"Oh, I guess it wasn't scary today." I said to Meredith, but she said, "No, it's easy because you won over there, and he knows it."  It had been 45 minutes, I was sweaty, but beaming, and felt great.  We made some large strides today, and I know it very likely may be the same battle next ride, but the first time is the hardest, and now I know I can do it.  And HE knows it too.

But I definitely owe a lot to Meredith for her help today.  She wouldn't let me quit, she wouldn't let me let up on him, and she wouldn't accept anything but getting it done.  She was also super encouraging, and supportive and I feel really happy to have had this lesson today.  I'm so glad I moved to this barn, and even though we've only been there a short time, I think I've learned more since I moved than in my whole riding career before. Yay!

Lightbulb Moments

So due to me being really busy lately, I've been bad and haven't ridden in over a week. I had a crappy ride on Oliver on the 6th where was just being ridiculous (spooking at my whip moving, spooking at this and that), so that plus all the other stuff I had going on kind of drained me of my patience to deal with any of his silliness.

Today's lesson was really exciting.  It was a lot of bending in true flexion and counter-flexion at the walk and trot to try to supple Oliver in the neck and jaw. I know that doesn't sound exciting, but the things I learned were exciting to me.  Granted, they are obvious things that "everyone knows" but some things you don't really absorb until you're doing it.  A lot of riding is based on feel, and if you don't know what you're trying to feel for, you kind of grope around for a while hoping you happen upon it. 

I noticed I have a really bad habit of pulling back on my reins which tends to shut down Oliver's forward movement. Today we really picked at that, and instead of when he slows down and his head comes up trying to pull him back down into roundness, I really felt the effects of keeping my hands forward and really driving him forward back into roundness. Today, once I had this lightbulb moment, the quality of what we were doing really seemed to improve.

Second thing was that Oliver definitely tries to bully me into letting him have his way, be it slowing down when I ask him to become round, locking his jaws and next when I ask him to flex left or right, or even spooking to get out of doing work.  He was actually very good today as far as the spooking, but about halfway through the lesson, when he was just about to earn a walk break, he threw in a pretty big one (at nothing as far as I can tell from the video).

Well, this earned him some bending on very small circles and making him work really, really hard instead of getting a break like we'd planned. But we'd been through that area several times, so it was just a ploy to change the subject.  As soon as he spooked, Jess didn't let him get away with it and we made sure he knew he was not allowed to mess around like that anymore.  I'm really hoping some consistency in this area will lessen his winter stupidity as it is the most annoying thing about riding him (and on certain days, makes me not even want to bother with him at all).

Third, if I want him to flex in a certain direction, I have to give him a place to go with my secondary rein.  As part of the exercises we did today, we did a volte at A in flexion and then counter-flexion.  Tracking left it was easy-peasy, but to the right, counter-flexing left was ridiculously hard.  Then, all of a sudden I had this "What if I do this" moment where I made my right rein soft (left was asking for him to flex his head left), and then I was able to counter-flex tracking right like it was no big thing.

So it was a good lesson, and I think I learned a lot. We were both tired, sweaty messes at the end, but I definitely think we worked hard.  I DO have some really nice-quality video to share, but it's in huge chunks at the moment so I'll need to edit it down so it's not 100s of MBs of data. Depending on what I have going on tomorrow night, maybe I'll post some of that tomorrow!

In the meantime, here are some previews (that look kind of wonky as VLC doesn't seem to like my videos):