In the Arena # 139 - When the cat's away, the mouse will play...

The weather has gone to crazy town.

January in a nutshell:
Several days of 70's - perfect, springlike, must ride, followed by some 50 mph winds and temps suddenly dropping into the twenties. Rinse and repeat. Not complaining about the June-uary days, or even January appropriate weather, but the ping-ponging makes for scary horse-keeping.

I've upped Val's salt ration overnight (when I can dole it out into his mash) to keep him drinking. He's been shedding up a storm (no lip gloss, no fleece, no lip gloss, no fleece...) for the last two weeks, so blankets must come out during the cold spells. It's easy to tell when he agrees with the choice to wear his clothing, because he puts his head through the neck hole voluntarily, and even cooperates when his head gets stuck because it's dark and I'm fumbling.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

So - there was this Jane Savoie online clinic a while back. I might have mentioned planning on posting about it.. a few times. I took pages of notes. Full of great suggestions about how to structure your schooling sessions - checking your position, confirming go and whoa, and connecting the training scale to the tests. All info especially helpful when you are without a trainer. Too bad I (apparently) threw away my copious notes in a 70 degree day springlike cleaning frenzy. Even dug through the trash to salvage them - no dice.

Instead I'll share these nuggets from her monthly email -

• Discipline is the bridge between dreams and success.

• It’s always about connection, and it’s never NOT about connection.

• First and foremost the horse must be in front of the aids. Then always analyze the quality of the connection.

• There are no problems. Only training for more understanding, more strength, more connection, more collection, or more suppleness.

• Think of “cooperation” rather than “submission”.

These thoughts dovetail rather handily into this week's ride reports. Both days it was possible to ride this week I rode. Since the boss dad was out of town, I naturally appointed myself the replacement boss. "RP" thought it a fine idea to get the crew started and head back up to the barn. ("RP" rocks)

Ride one:
After a lengthy warmup on the buckle while breathing deeply and rhythmically, the focus was on keeping eyes up and body even. Val started snorting from the beginning of the ride - first time that's ever happened, so I felt I was on the right track.

Once I took up contact, I tried to keep it as light as possible - giving the driving aid when it started to feel heavy. Thumbs on top of the reins. Straight line from the bit to my bent, pointy, heavy, elbows. This must become second nature. My former trainer probably said it to me 175,000 times...

The idea of practicing an actual test has begun to feel possible lately, so there are cones around the perimeter of the arena now. We traveled around doing circles, half circles changing direction or transitions at every cone. By the end of the ride Val gave me turns on the forehand on the buckle, and halts off engaging my core only. Then came the deluge of treats.

Ride two:
Another long warmup. A big shy / duck / scoot over something visible only to non humans got me off center for a bit, but we worked through it pretty quick. I continued asking for things and didn't acknowledge the cause of the incident - easy because it was a mystery.

This ride's focus was a repeat of the previous, but with special attention to getting an immediate response to my leg, backing up with the whip when I didn't. Lots of asking for the trot - wait - no, I changed my mind - got us a bigger, swingier walk and Val paying more attention to me.

We finished off with trotting figure eights and a lengthy cool out as work + unclipped pony = sweatmeister. Two point is definitely on the agenda next ride for sure as my ankles weren't feeling flexible enough for effective posting.

Another something only visible to non-humans moment

Something great has begun to happen over the the past month. My pre-ride anxiety is fading. Or maybe evolving. It seems I'm beginning to navigate the tricky path between fear, caution, anticipation, judgement and accomplishment. Thanks Val!

In the Arena #138 - Whole. 'notha. level.

Ride #1 -

Any thoughts that I'd gone overboard lately in the photo documentation department vanished after Wednesday's ride.

Look at enough pictures of chicken elbows, super long reins broken at the wrist and a horse politely (and not so politely) tolerating inconsistent contact while mincing about, and you're bound to generate a breakthrough. Not to mention double check that your leathers are even, and do your level best to sit in the middle in the saddle... and stay there. Progress through humiliation.

After warming up and taking up contact, I used every ounce of concentration I had to keep my reins shorter and maintain the feel of Val's mouth. And magically everything was easier. Transitions, turning, straightness. Another factor was moving straight to the whip if my leg wasn't answered immediately.

We rode for longer and did more trot work then we have in almost a year. Val was soaked, and so was I. We must improve our fitness as we (both) were sucking wind. Even though Val was tired, he stayed forward, and answered my leg. I posted with a smile glued to my face, and Val breathed deep happy rhythmic snorts.

Ride #2 -

As per usual, a ride full of progress is followed by... not so much. I invited A. over (my horse loving photographer friend) with tentative plans to get some video of the day's ride. The kiss of death.

Our warmup was difficult. I still haven't resolved the problem of Val gravitating to A. (or any visitor) other than persisting in asking him to go forward.

And then there was the end of the arena that Val wouldn't enter, no way no how. To the point of backing and even popping up a bit. I tried not to become irritated while pursuing other strategies. What eventually succeeded was inching our way down the arena with moving circles. Why, before we knew it, we had (safely) entered and exited the zone of death.

A few trot transitions to test the go button further, and we called it a day. Nothing video worthy to share - too bad for you guys! ;D

While cooling Val out I remembered that two nights before, howling winds had sent a large black garbage bag careening through the paddock. It fetched up on the electric fence - guess where - and was the cause of quite a scene the next morning when I came to feed. Mystery solved.

Ride #3 -

Another brief bout of stickiness in the warmup, with Val over-bending to the outside being nosy about some nonsense in the woods. Making sure not to give up my inside rein solved that issue. And again I kept the shorter reins and more contact. The feel of the contact is so much more, heavier, than I ever thought it should be. Val 's response told me what an improvement it was.

There were some cones set up on the perimeter of the arena like dressage letters. As we went round we circled or volte'd at every cone. Lots of transitions and changes of direction. The trot work was the best it's ever been.

If you look back through my blog I've said this same thing countless times. It has always been true, but this ride we sustained the work - the duration, the flow, as well as the energy. We did a fun school figure that was basically a three circle figure eight which took up the entire arena. Val was bending beautifully so the circles were actually circles. Round, while changing rein where the circles touched. Once again I smiled my face off and Val snorted happily all the way round the arena. Sublime.