Spotty dressage lessons

At Breeders' Cup, I was surrounded by sleek Thoroughbreds of many colors but without spots of any kind. However, I managed to squeeze in a dressage lesson and not on a big, bay Thoroughbred or fancy warmblood, no--Sparky has spots. Meanwhile, the spotty horse was at home getting a dressage lesson of her own.

Duck footed dressage on a spotty pony

Lucky for Lena, her rider knows how to not have duck feet. Lucky for me, Sparky forgives duck feet. And doesn't my pretty, spotty mare look lovely? Yes, yes she does.

Lena and Allie listening to Ellen

There is a lot to remember with dressage and it is painfully obvious that I have a ways to go. At my last clinic with Ellen, Calabar was introduced to his hind end. "My what?" he said. Since then, we have worked a lot on that and on circles and bending to teach him to use that big round butt of his. Amelia--who actually knows and has worked with Ellen--had Sparky show me where we were headed and that is helping me connect some dots.

Oh you and your duck feet, says Sparky

Ellen will be back in January and March. I am planning on Calabar and me being enough further along to keep this interesting for us all. Sparky helped a lot and it did actually translate when I introduced what I learned to Calabar. The key with Bar--as with most horses--is to recognize the try and give the release as soon as I felt it. Being able to do so limits the irritation factor and increases the responsiveness factor--equally important when it comes to learning--but it's not always easy.

The other key take away, besides recognizing the try? Slapping my own thigh with the dressage whip makes the end of the dressage whip hit (gently) the horse's hip. My lack of coordination and unfamiliarity with aids made me feel quite bumbling with the dressage whip so that one tiny piece of information made that little piece of anxiety go away. There are many other pieces of anxiety, of course, but that bit no longer keeps me awake at night.

p.s. Spotty horses can make great dressage instructors. Many thanks to Sparky!

Outside the comfort zone

Calabar and Lena, post lesson, enjoying brunch

Getting us out, way out, of our comfort zone was a good thing for both Bar and me. It was not an easy thing, and I don't just mean the whole rigmarole of getting horses in trailers, going to a new place and doing something totally different.

What is hard, what is breaking my heart, is the realization that I have boxed in my horse It hurts--even though I know the whys and the reasons--that I've removed Calabar's "go" instead of finding a way to channel it into productive movement. I have a better sense of that, now, and will eventually stop beating myself up.

There is a silver lining, to this, though. I have to push him because he's doing what he thinks I want, what I've told him time after time after time is the right thing--don't go fast, hesitate when you don't know what I'm asking. He is listening to me, I just have to change what I'm telling him so we both get better.

The other positive note is that we did get out and do this new and somewhat scary thing and--after a bit of a rocky start--we all learned something.

Both horses loaded wonderfully, even Calabar needed little encouragement to climb in on our way to the day's adventure. The drive to the facility was short--10 minutes, tops--and uneventful, and unloading was calmly done.

Things got a little dicey with both horses when they began to notice the activity level around them--a group lesson in one arena, geese and a pond to our right, someone shooting something off nearby, a horse jumping in the arena behind us AND a hot air balloon low on the horizon.

Lena held it together fairly well, but Calabar needed a reminder (read elbow to rib cage) that just because he's freaked out, he can't forget I'm standing there.

He has always reacted with a lot of energy, shall we say, to new situations--particularly new situations with lots of horses doing lots of different things--and yesterday was no different. After Steve and Lena went up to the jump arena to warm up, I climbed on Bar to follow. He was not being good. Dancing, spinning, not listening. So I got off. And we did many circles in the driveway until he could walk next to me without dancing past me, allowing me to reward him by going to where Lena and Steve were.

He still wasn't settled, though, and the sight of many colorful jumps did not help. "WHAT?! You want me to jump? What do you want me to do? Where is Lena? Why is she over there. WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE???" I think that about covers what was going on his fuzzy Thoroughbred brain. I kept him circling around me, away from me, changing directions, whatever speed he needed to go--as long as he didn't run me over--until he was circling me at a walk. I tried to hard to be his oasis, to be calm and steady while he danced around, and when he was calm, he could come in for a head scratch. Luckily, he did manage to stop levitating in time for our session.

There are no pictures of the session, sorry. We rode together and, as it turns out, my camera battery was dead anyway, so my words will have to suffice.

Ellen started with me and my stiff self, and gave me a vision. Move with his front feet, feel them, let the rest follow. Oh, and sit up straight, push into my feet. Funny that the "in the feet" bit sounded a lot like Ike. "If you're in your feet, you're ready for what they might do." Right. Ike said that too. Where did I forget it?

Here's where the spotlight hit me. One of the things I needed to do was push Calabar forward, get him to go. Where he used to launch himself into a big, swinging walk I could dance with, he now plods along, waiting for me to stop him from going too fast. In trying to do what I want, he has compromised his own beautiful movement.

As I said earlier, the good bit of that is that he is trying to do what I want. So I need to want different things, or at very least give him an outlet that gives me control and doesn't shut him down.

Ellen gave me a tool. Not the one rein stop, no--the one-rein-move-your-butt-over. This one simple movement accomplishes a couple things. One, it redirects the energy, allowing me more control and more safety; two, it teaches him when I pick up the reins, he needs to do something with his hind end. The latter will be something we can build on.

You could see the wheels turning when I slid my inside hand down and pulled his head out. "Oh, you want my head. Here it is. Um. You're not letting go. Can I bob my head up and down and make you let go? No. Hm. What are you asking me to do??!!"

It occurs to me as I write about it that my horse and I are so very much alike. The first few times we tried it, as Bar struggled to figure out what I wanted, I asked Ellen if I should nudge his butt with my foot. The answer was, "No. Just wait for him." He bobbed his head and played with his bit, I was convinced he needed another cue and was ready to deliver it to help him, fairly humming with restraint.

However, part of the problem was that he had physically blocked himself in with his outside rear and couldn't move onto it to move his hind end over, so all my extra pushing would only have frustrated him more. It took a few tries--and my perpetual personal challenge, patience--but he got it. First, all he had to do was shift his weight and I'd release the rein, but gradually we got to where as soon as I slid that hand down the rein, the hind would move over and I'd release. The goal, the thing I need to work on is a) making sure it's his hind end moving over and not his front and b) if he walks off from there, letting him. We did this over and over and he should have gotten irritated or frustrated. But he didn't. He got looser and softer and more responsive. When  he would start to get fidgety, we'd walk for awhile, Bar teaching me to feel those front legs and move with them.

Ellen said she had a Thoroughbred once that when things would get out of hand and he'd get nervous, she'd go to this exercise. He knew it, he'd relax because he knew it, and things would de-escalate. Bar is like that. If he knows what you're asking, he calms down and does it. Part of our problem is me not knowing how to ask and him not knowing what I'm asking, so having a trick like this--a tool to use to remind him he does know something and I do know how to tell him to do it--is a gift.

We got to use the new trick in real life, even. While Ellen was working with Steve and Lena, Bar and I worked on feeling his front legs up the side of the arena. Then, I don't know, a moth flew by, and he danced. And I reached down and moved his butt over and he stopped.

So next up is telling him it's okay to move forward again, go with him when he does it, and correct him only as needed. I'd like to be able to do this without a Dressage whip or spurs, but I might have to use one or the other until both of us believe me. Ellen offered Ike-like advice, there, too. As long as they know it's there, that's really all you ever need.

As for Steve and Lena Rey, they got to do some more active things and she showed off her athletic side and beautiful sensitive self. They worked on things like lateral movement to get Steve in the right place for Lena to be comfortable and confident in her own movements. Ellen thought Lena was quite lovely and said so. Lena heard her, too, and you could tell. If a horse could bat her eyelashes, Lena did.

Lena likes her rider to be balanced, as do all horses. She's just super sensitive to it and has been known to give her opinion by way of bucking, crow hopping, or doing the shoulder drop and spin that dumped me off last year. Bar, of course, is no saint in that area, but he has gotten to where he will tolerate my lapses most of the time. It would be better if he didn't have to, though.

Katie Dougherty-Kunde and Willoughby

After our session, we got to watch the beauty and grace that Katie Dougherty-Kunde and Willoughby create together. While I was watching, Ellen pointed out that everything Katie was asking Will to do was based on the very simple things Steve and I had done with Lena and Calabar. I had been feeling like I hadn't done all the things I set out to do in the lesson, but that helped me realize that I'd done more than I thought.

Bar and I had traveled way outside our safe little box and we'd done pretty well, all things considered. Steve and Lena had also found new ways to work together that they both enjoyed.

We all survived, we all learned and we all enjoyed the experience. More than that, I see a pathway to helping Bar be the horse he is meant to be and still have me as his rider. Peter used to tell me to "liven" Bar up, and now I see not only what he meant but why and how to move us along.

That sounds like a win to me.

Clinic day

Steve is cooking breakfast and I'm trying to slow down and relax a little bit so I can actually eat it.

I'm excited, but still a little nervous. Okay, a lot nervous. I even had a dream we got there, and then Steve and the horses disappeared and left me there!

The weather looks like it will be nice, though we'll be inside as far as I know.

I'll have the camera, but not sure how much photography I'll be able to manage.

I'm babbling, aren't I?

So, a little about the clinic and the clinician.

The clinic is being taught by Ellen Eckstein, who primarily works with Dressage, but really works with anyone who wants to ride better. She has been my friend Katie Dougherty's coach for many years and worked with Tom Dorrance for over 30 years combining classical Dressage principals with his natural horsemanship teachings.

My initial goals are to work on my position so I can start to work on Bar's position and gaits. We will, however, see what we end up doing once we get there.

Steve says he and Lena have nothing specific, which is not surprising to me. I'm sure they will find something to work on with the big, spotty mare, and in fact, I think she could very easily learn to do some Dressage.

I don't really care what I'm doing as long as we're learning. The balance and correct collection principals of Dressage (as it is meant to be taught) are so good for any horse, but I think for Bar it could improve his movement and flexibility tremendously.

Even if we do it a western saddle. (Or in a weird endurance saddle as the case may be.)

Off we go!

Porter the Dressage Mule

I can't help but get a kick out of this video, and not just because I really want my own mule. Porter just looks so very happy and relaxed doing what he's doing. Thanks to Stacey at Behind the Bit for posting!

When winning is the only goal

I am not a dressage person (yet), but follow a couple sites for training purposes and because the dressage folks in my life are starting to rub off on me. (Karen...)

One of the posts that popped up in my blog roll was this one from Behind the Bit and it hits on a theme near and dear to the heart of this OTTB owner--harsh, even abusive, training methods with the only goal being the blue ribbon or prestige or whatever high it is that rider/trainer/owner needs.

We hear a lot about the Thoroughbred racing industry because it is very public and very flashy, but it's not the only offender out there. Nor is Dressage the next worse on the list.

Whenever a horse breaks down on the track, the cries of horror are loud and sometimes uninformed. I've had several people tell me how horrible it was to watch a horse being euthanized "right there on the track," not realizing it is the safest and most humane thing for that horse. No, the racing industry is not perfect. Yes, looking at why horses break down is absolutely necessary. But racing is not the only offender out there and not every trainer is the devil incarnate. In fact, I personally know some very caring trainers who didn't toss a particular TB in the trash just because he had a bowed tendon. They found him a pretty nice home, as a matter of fact.

But, yes, there are bad things that happen in the racing industry. I don't know if the Dressage industry is more public now, or if I'm just noticing it more, but Stacey Kimmel-Smith's comment in response to the furor over this one particular incident compares it to another high level Dressage competition, perhaps to widen the focus for the rest of us:

"I was at Devon today and saw some moments of riding that, if caught in a still shot, would look pretty abusive. Nope, not rollkur, but still unpleasant to see, and surely uncomfortable for the horse."

If we look at the human element involved in any competition, it becomes easier to see how these things could happen. Not acceptable, no, but if we understand it, maybe we can start to come up with better strategies to fix it.

Some human athletes are competitive enough--so focused on the win versus the journey--that they damage their own bodies with steroids, etc., just for that moment of victory. For someone that driven in any discipline, the win is the only thing that matters. Not the process, not the learning and improving that comes along the way. Just the winning.

That it translates into showing and competition on horses is not surprising, it just means those personalities now have to do whatever they think it takes to get cooperation from 1,200 pounds. Actually, probably not cooperation as much as capitulation. They don't want a relationship--even if they say they do--they want the horse to carry them obligingly onto the next victory without giving the horse any reason besides, "Because I said so." Being a parent, I can tell you how well that line works with other sentient beings. Not so well most of the time.

There are people who have to win no matter what. It's not about anything else, certainly not the relationship with and welfare of the horse. Dressage and racing are more public, but I have heard the same basic stories from friends in the cutting and even Western Pleasure disciplines, too.

As I said in my comment on Kimmel-Smith's post, this is an important conversation to have. We won't be able to eliminate it completely, but shedding a little light on the dark and ugly can go a long way.

Magic Naps

I've just returned from the Pebble Beach Dressage Show, my favorite horse show and favorite event of the summer! This was Willoughby's second show with me and I'm proud to say that it was quite an improvement over our last show in May.
I went down to the show last Wednesday so I could have two days of schooling with Ellen. We competed on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. All of our tests went well. We had some baby bobbles in each test, except one, and areas that needed work, but overall the tests were consistently good. We had one fabulous test - one of the best tests I've ever ridden. It was our first level test 4 ride on Friday evening and the whole test was perfect in my book! We rode every single stride together and we're in each other's heads. It was the feeling of being one!! When we finished the trot portion of the test, I thought to myself that I would be so happy with just the trot work if the rest of the test didn't go well. But it kept on going well and by the time we did the last movement and went down centerline, I had a huge smile on my face! And we got a 68% on the test, our highest score yet!

I was also quite proud of the way that he handled himself. It was windy, cold, and foggy, and the arenas were very spooky. He got a little tense at times but he held it together and was very honest! It doesn't get spookier than Pebble Beach!

Pictured is Willoughby taking a magic nap. He took a nap everyday at the show, sometimes two naps! And he would lay all the way down with his head in the shavings, snoring and twitching like a dog sleeping. At first I was worried that he might have a tummy ache but with all the eating, drinking, and defecating, I put that worry to rest and learned that these magic naps were key to his success in the show ring!

Everyone else at the show did really well. Katey A. and Andy placed #1 in the first level stakes class, Katy P. and Wrivet kicked butt as usual, and unfortunately Odie got the flu and ended up scratching her rides. I'm sad that it's over but I'm glad to be out of the cold and foggy weather!

Miscellaneous horse news

Things are settling back into routine now that we're home. Lena got new shoes and both horses got nice long rides yesterday. Steve noticed that Bar responds pretty well to the two-handed trick we learned at Slide Mountain. I'll have to try that next time I ride my big brown monster. I rode Lena and felt like my position and balance were both in the right place and consistent, too. I had her paying attention to my cues pretty well, as well as responding to what I asked her to do easily and (mostly) smoothly.

Steve and I have both settled back into work, but notice that it's a lot more tiring to try to ride during the week when you're not on vacation.

Katie D. is at the Pebble Beach Dressage Show with Willoughby, but sadly, there are no pictures of her up on the site just yet. :) I hope they have a good time and learn a lot.

Nothing much new at the barn, except of course that board has gone up some to cover the increase in hay prices. Cheri says they had to raise their prices, too, just to cover costs. It looks like prices are not quite doubled from last year, but even so, that's a big difference.

It is nice to be home and to settle back into our normal routine, but Steve and I thought it would also be nice to wander around the Sierras on horseback for a few more weeks.

Trot/Halt Transitions

This video clip from the clinic shows us working on trot/half transitions. By the end of the clip, you can see how he's clearly "on my aids".

Cool Dressage Video

I admit it, I have never really seen Dressage in action. I had seen still shots of Katie D. and Fenway working and heard the passion in her voice when she talked about the way Fenway could move, but mostly the skill and beauty of the sport eluded me.

I also admit to a certain amount of bias based on our earlier experiences at the Dressage-focused barn.

Then my daughter Katie sent me this video.

Wow.

This horse is not only graceful and athletic, she is having fun - as is her rider.

Katie D. is working really hard to get Fenway healthy and also thinking about another horse. I confess to not really understanding the competitive drive she felt, but watching this video, I start to see. I know the joy I feel when Lena and I manage to not only communicate with one another, but actually do something we both enjoy. I see now what Katie misses about riding Fenway, about competing, about working with that level of precision with your friend the horse.

I wish for Fenway to be healthy and happy, and I wish for Katie to find that joy in riding again.

I have a lot of joy riding Lena, though not much precision. :-) My daughter wants to know if Lena could learn some of those moves. I'm sure she could, I'm even sure she would enjoy learning them. I'm just not sure we're the ones to teach them to her - we'd need a lot more training ourselves, first!