Maybe one day I'll fill you in on the backstory to the interim between last post and now. Meanwhile, something really cool happened to me in June, when I won something very special, and then redeemed my prize this week. The delay occurred because I broke a finger whilst surfing some crappy conditions the Friday of the long weekend in June, and I had to follow doctor's orders for the bone to heal. Read all about it below (not the finger break, that's another post!):
It took a few 20m circles for me to
find a nice level of contact and I think he was about to give up on me when we
hit our stride and he submitted to my hands that were afraid of asking for too
much – the last thing I wanted was for an educated horse to roll his eyes at me
and wonder how I got through the gates. Loes got me to rotate my pelvis back
further than I had really ever done and it felt so much more connected. As she
explained, it helped me feel which hind leg was coming up; something I’d never
really worked on sensing until then. The other main point worked on in the 20m
walk and trot circles was to insist on MY rhythm from us and not settling for
Tambo’s decision on what that rhythm should be, and this was done through seat
and the timing of my rise in rising trot.
Once we got this pattern of
cooperative submission established it was time to transpose that into the
trot-canter transition. I can be a bit of a dragon with my transitions on
Dante, so I didn’t have to be told twice to pull Tambo back into trot to ask
for a more willing canter transition the next time – I DO know what a nice one
is supposed to feel like and I tried it again to get it right and, voila! Loes
helped me understand that I could ask with my leg for the same rhythm whilst
half-halting before the canter aids and if I needed to, to wait an extra stride
to make sure I did have his submission in the transition to canter. After a few
attempts we got there without him resisting me.
Once in canter I played with
Tambo’s lengthening and recollection and that was lovely, because of the ground
he covers in one stride and the softness of his stride that my choppy little QH
takes heaps of work to achieve a fraction of.
For the shoulder in Loes gave me a
quick revision on what we were aiming for – hind feet on one track moving
straight and front feet on another track moving forward with straightness. Once
I stopped confusing ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ rein (which I thought was a
confusion of the distant past!), scaled back to a walk and I set my focus on
the corner at the end of the track I had some good results. How refreshing to
be able to achieve a shoulder in with leg, seat and a steady contact, and no
whip in sight! I moved up to a trot and repeated on both sides of the arena, and
whilst I lost my focus at times I had some gorgeous moments of connection and
rhythm.
The last movement for the lesson
was the walk to canter transition. This is something I managed to teach my own
horse. I loved listening to Loes description of what my pelvis is to do in this
transition. Prior to this lesson I had worked it to a point where I would
‘think’ canter from walk and it would happen much more consistently and
willingly than our trot to canter transitions and I couldn’t figure out why.
Loes explained about lifting my inside hip and ‘popping’ it forward, and this
made perfect sense – I do this much more subtly when I think ‘canter’ from a
walk, than activate a canter aid from a trot (which just flags another area to
work on!). These were the loveliest transitions of the lesson and I was able to
maintain a soft contact into the canter most of the time that I asked for the
transition. The work for me was in keeping my leg on to ask for impulsion, keep
my outside rein steady and half-halt so that we didn’t break into trot.
During the lesson Loes asked me at
regular intervals if I had any questions. I elected not to think of any and to
just take her instruction and direction, knowing I’d come up with something to
discuss at the end. I didn’t go out of my way to try anything fancy I’d picked
up in my travels and I wanted to make an honest and working connection with
Tambo using the same sensitivity for his attention to me as I can with my horse
on my better riding days. I was aiming for mindfulness with him, rather than
seeing how many of his ‘go’ buttons I could find to bluff my way into a piaffe
or one time changes. As much fun as that might have been to try, it wouldn’t
have helped me with my horse back home, even if I managed to get anything like
that out of Tambo. It sounds age-old, and we concluded with the truism that
when all else fails, and even when nothing else is failing, working the basics
of rhythm and contact will get me everywhere; it’s all there in ‘the basics’.
The Carrock Tambo at Ebony Park
A dream of mine was fulfilled on
the 29th of August, 2012. I finally had a ride on a schoolmaster at
Ebony Park; The Carrock Tambo is a special horse – doesn’t get too much more
educated than Grand Prix level! I had Sarah J with me for emotional support and
chief photography, as witness to what was to unfold.
Going from my faithful Stormy
Rivers (aka Dante), a cute 15yo QHxTB, to a half-Friesian FEI Grand Prix
beastie was going to require extra attention to detail and taking in every bit
of expertise Loes could throw my way to help me ride him. By way of background,
I found my boy at rising 4yo and due to uni, work, family, more uni and then a
big move away from the city, we haven’t managed to get out of HRCAV Level 4 as
a result, though we always placed in dressage outings. For this reason, when I
work him now I sometimes feel like I’m still training a young horse. His
movement, bless his cotton socks, will always ultimately be limited by his
breeding, and I also believe that I can get some lovely work out of him despite
his disadvantaged lineage, if I work at it to compensate for that. Approaching
this lesson I had to really think about what I wanted to take back to my boy,
and how it should feel when we’re doing it right. Another day, another time I
will come back and work on movements I am only still dreaming about. This day
was going to be about more tangible goals to kick.
Loes began by asking me about my
work with Dante and what I wanted to do with him that Tambo and she could help
me with. I explained the above to her and her brain formulated a lesson plan in
zero seconds flat. I swear it was that quick! Loes verbally mirrored my
ramblings back to me as I mounted and adjusted my stirrups and warmed Tambo up.
For a horse who quietly plodded along beside me to the arena, his walk was
swinging and active without much driving work from me.
It took a few 20m circles for me to
find a nice level of contact and I think he was about to give up on me when we
hit our stride and he submitted to my hands that were afraid of asking for too
much – the last thing I wanted was for an educated horse to roll his eyes at me
and wonder how I got through the gates. Loes got me to rotate my pelvis back
further than I had really ever done and it felt so much more connected. As she
explained, it helped me feel which hind leg was coming up; something I’d never
really worked on sensing until then. The other main point worked on in the 20m
walk and trot circles was to insist on MY rhythm from us and not settling for
Tambo’s decision on what that rhythm should be, and this was done through seat
and the timing of my rise in rising trot.
Once we got this pattern of
cooperative submission established it was time to transpose that into the
trot-canter transition. I can be a bit of a dragon with my transitions on
Dante, so I didn’t have to be told twice to pull Tambo back into trot to ask
for a more willing canter transition the next time – I DO know what a nice one
is supposed to feel like and I tried it again to get it right and, voila! Loes
helped me understand that I could ask with my leg for the same rhythm whilst
half-halting before the canter aids and if I needed to, to wait an extra stride
to make sure I did have his submission in the transition to canter. After a few
attempts we got there without him resisting me.
Once in canter I played with
Tambo’s lengthening and recollection and that was lovely, because of the ground
he covers in one stride and the softness of his stride that my choppy little QH
takes heaps of work to achieve a fraction of.
From here Loes helped me get a leg
yield and it was a rocky start with me not asking enough with my outside leg
for Tambo to push his quarters over. Once I stopped being afraid of that, and
when I steadied my inside contact whilst half-halting for softness I was able to
sink into a nice position with shoulders back and pushing with the core
strength in my abdomen. When leg yield was consistent we moved on.
For the shoulder in Loes gave me a
quick revision on what we were aiming for – hind feet on one track moving
straight and front feet on another track moving forward with straightness. Once
I stopped confusing ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ rein (which I thought was a
confusion of the distant past!), scaled back to a walk and I set my focus on
the corner at the end of the track I had some good results. How refreshing to
be able to achieve a shoulder in with leg, seat and a steady contact, and no
whip in sight! I moved up to a trot and repeated on both sides of the arena, and
whilst I lost my focus at times I had some gorgeous moments of connection and
rhythm.
The last movement for the lesson
was the walk to canter transition. This is something I managed to teach my own
horse. I loved listening to Loes description of what my pelvis is to do in this
transition. Prior to this lesson I had worked it to a point where I would
‘think’ canter from walk and it would happen much more consistently and
willingly than our trot to canter transitions and I couldn’t figure out why.
Loes explained about lifting my inside hip and ‘popping’ it forward, and this
made perfect sense – I do this much more subtly when I think ‘canter’ from a
walk, than activate a canter aid from a trot (which just flags another area to
work on!). These were the loveliest transitions of the lesson and I was able to
maintain a soft contact into the canter most of the time that I asked for the
transition. The work for me was in keeping my leg on to ask for impulsion, keep
my outside rein steady and half-halt so that we didn’t break into trot.
The things I found challenging were
getting a soft enough trot for a nice sitting trot, and my feet kept betraying
me. My heel was bunching up, or toes pointing outwards, which, as Loes
explained, was unbalancing my top half in those instances and that’s when my
shoulders would come forward. Pushing my heels down on every second footfall of
the trot in the sit was her advice to me and I will be working on that at home.
It didn’t help that, in hindsight (and with the benefit of Sarah’s observations
of the same thing), my stirrups were a bit long and it’s a bad habit of mine
not to recognise that. In trying to be a ‘proper’ dressage rider I tend to
deceive myself into thinking that I can lengthen my leg by riding longer. I
just need to accept that I’m a shorter rider and remember to pull up one or two
more holes just when I think it’s high enough. It’s that or, next time I have a
lesson here I’ll just cross my stirrups over and be really tough on myself! The
other take-home lesson that Dante will appreciate is that I didn’t realise how
tough I can be with my outside hand and that I need to release a lot sooner
than I have been after establishing the contact.
During the lesson Loes asked me at
regular intervals if I had any questions. I elected not to think of any and to
just take her instruction and direction, knowing I’d come up with something to
discuss at the end. I didn’t go out of my way to try anything fancy I’d picked
up in my travels and I wanted to make an honest and working connection with
Tambo using the same sensitivity for his attention to me as I can with my horse
on my better riding days. I was aiming for mindfulness with him, rather than
seeing how many of his ‘go’ buttons I could find to bluff my way into a piaffe
or one time changes. As much fun as that might have been to try, it wouldn’t
have helped me with my horse back home, even if I managed to get anything like
that out of Tambo. It sounds age-old, and we concluded with the truism that
when all else fails, and even when nothing else is failing, working the basics
of rhythm and contact will get me everywhere; it’s all there in ‘the basics’.
My lesson on Tambo was a dream come
true, as I had told all and sundry that I was going to ride a horse at Ebony
Park, come hell or high water. In the end it was a simple Facebook competition
to promote the Ebony Park page that got me there – not a hard task at all,
being that I have loved the EP ethos (and the horseflesh) since I first became
a subscriber a few years ago and I only lived a short drive away. I will book
myself in for a lesson again when I’ve done some more work with my fella and
need to set my sights higher again for us as a combination. One day I’ll have a
Friesian cross, or even a full Friesian because I still believe it is the breed
for me in terms of work ethic and general temperament. Meanwhile, I’ve got a
fun and willing horse who has heaps yet to learn and to teach me and after a
very constructive and fun lesson with Loes I’ve got some extra tools in my
utility belt.
Thank you so much, Ebony Park, for
a wonderful afternoon and sharing some of your magic with me! I don’t plan for
it to be the last time.
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