no shoe dressage

 no shoe dressage photos

Comeback #17!

Or whatever number we're on. ;) And... who knows if it'll stick. I always seem to get a little ahead of myself, but... feeling more optimistic this time. But also.... more at peace with whatever happens. Am I thrilled he seems to be making a full comeback? ABSOLUTELY!! BUT... I also... I also will be okay if he's like "you know what mum? Not so much.. let's just hack and snack". Because... he's so much fun to hack about. And we've got fun things planned regardless... We're going for a cow sorting/cutting lesson in a few weeks! We killed it at the obstacle course so we can go to the newton county shows and do some of the ranch classes. Maybe we can find some more legit obstacle classes like they used to do the trail ride/obstacle thing... Maybe we'll try western dressage. Who knows? Maybe we'll just fart around Ashland and other trails bareback and have fun. We may try bridleless riding.. but not on the trails as then he'll just graze. ha ha! Anyways, my point is... I'm okay with whatever happens as long as he's happy. And I'm so grateful to God for answering my prayers... that's what I prayed for... a happy Dan and a bonus if I could at least hack him. And... prayers answered! And even surpassed potentially! Thank you God for blessing me! And thank you for letting him stay with me for further apocolypse horse training. :) 

But also, if he's comfortable and happy to jump... we'll keep jumping. If he's happy to dressage and we can get a flying change, we'll try for our bronze. Because... he's also fun doing those things... not just fun on the trails. 

So back to today... we were supposed to have lessons at Ashland but this rain has been insane. SOOOO much rain. The arena's were all closed and apparently Jacel was coming to the farm to teach Jean's interns since Jean is out of town. Ohhhhh, convenient! So I asked her if she could teach me too. Then I asked if she could give me two lesssons... and maybe even 3. She agreed! Whooo hooo! My arena was wet and soggy but ridable! Although after my three lessons and Jean's two horses, it was a bit of a mess. Someone tore through to the base in two spots, but it'll be easily fixed once I get back out there. I'm so grateful that my arena is that ridable after THAT... MUCH... Rain! Again, soooo much rain! 

I rode Funny first because the weather was still so iffy and I wanted to make sure we didn't get rained out. Then I decided to do Lyric next because Jacel was riding Jean's horses and teaching the interns so I had more time. And since Lyric can sometimes be hard to catch, and I wanted to do her "prehab", I did her second. (even though the fool lost two shoes again!). And side note... while I was lessoning Lyric, Dan was cracking me up and distracting me. He found her fly mask in the pasture and was twirling it around. He whacked himself in the head a few times. Ha ha. I was giggling.  So then after I finished with Lyric, I had to get Dan. Jacel was just catching up on emails and texts while I swapped horses so I was trying to be quick. Dan was neon orange from earlier in the day. Doh! But luckily it hadn't rained more since early this morning and most of the red clay had dried. So I curried him but... he was still a mess. He was an orange pumpkin for our lesson. Ha ha. Oh well. 

We hurried up to the arena and did our walk warm up and our stretchy trot. I told Jacel that he was fully cleared for whatever and it was more just assessing what he was happy doing. I told her I did want to test him jumping because... he felt like he would be okay but with his shoulder atrophy, I wasn't sure. And I definitely wanted to test him out over stadium fences vs cross country solid fences. So... we jumped! But we also did some pole work first. 

Jacel had set up some trot poles and some canter poles. We started out riding the trot poles, then cantering over the canter poles, then back to the trot poles, the canter the canter poles, and carry on. I had a moment and basically.... gave up on him. He was doing that awful throwing his head up in the air canter and flailed over the poles. But I wasn't helping him at all. So Jacel told me to sit up and ride and kick him over them and see what happened. Yes ma'am. You're right... I just... sort of panicked. Again. So once I "held his hand" instead of just throwing him away and kicked and encouraged him to keep the canter, he did. And was fine. He didn't struggle and just... cantered through like a normal horse. Okay.... ha ha... Thank you!

So then Jacel had set up a small oxer. She had us jump it in a figure 8. From the trot. She told me not to touch his face... don't hold his head/neck in a position... just let him do his own thing. Except, try to make him trot it. Ha ha. The goal today wasn't "training" ... it was assessing. She wanted to see how he felt and what he was doing with his body. Which was perfect because it's exactly what I was thinking! So of course, he popped into the canter. But he jumped it fine multiple times. Okay cool! He was even landing on the correct alternating leads!! And before, he's tended to always land on a particular lead (left I think) no matter which direction we were going. So then she put a placing pole down and put the jump up a tiny bit. We cantered to it and ha ha... he launched me! He surprised himself and jumped so uphill! I almost fell off. Ha ha! But he actually jumped it well! Like... he pushed off with his hind end and jumped up and over vs just flinging himself flat over the top. Oooooh!!! So then Jacel had me do it another time or two correctly and then we added the canter cavalettis.  We cantered the jump, then we cantered a line of placing pole, cavaletti, placing pole, cavaletti. And he just popped through them like they were no big deal. Happy as a clam. He even set himself up a bit for them. GOOD BOY!!

So then, as another test... she had me jump the oxer badly. On purpose badly. She had me essentially run him at it... then come back around and pick at it. She wanted to see if he was able to recover if we came into a fence poorly. And good call because it's one thing if he can jump well if everything is perfect, but it's not going to be perfect. I'm going to mess us up, so if he can't get his shoulder up and out of the way if it's not perfect, then that's not good enough. So I ran him at it... he jumped it fine. Then I picked... he jumped it fine. Okay then!!!

 

We were going to be done with that and then Jacel looked at us and said "Do you want to jump one 3' fence... just for fun?". YES!!!! Oh very much YES!! I laughed and told her I was so grateful for her and that she "got" us. Like... she understands Dan and how to teach him, but she also gets me... and how to teach me. And as my friend, she was like... let's jump a big jump! You two have earned it! So she set it up to a 3' oxer and... we came up to it and he was brilliant! He didn't even fuss... react.... stress. Just... boink! She had me come a second time and he boinged on over it a second time. Ohhhh that was fun! I think he had a blast too! And... he looked pretty darn good! I mean... as good as he ever has I think! YAY. Thank you God!! Oh how grateful am I!

We chatted briefly with Jacel and... he was cracking us up. He was practically molesting her. He was licking her boobs, rubbing his head on her, grabbing her shirt with his teeth. Daniel!! ha ha.. I know you missed her but... simmer down boy. It makes both of our hearts happy that he loves her so much. She mentioned again that I had to put in my will that she gets him. Of course! And the others too! Except for Fleck... Karen gets Fleck. 

ALL CLEAR!!!

 Today I had a doctors appointment and then Dan had his hopefully final vet visit after his suspensory surgery. So I opted to ride him at Ashland before our vet visit because I didn't have time to take anyone else, and I figured it was good timing. I suppose I could have ridden one before hand and done him at Ashland after, but... then Tasida and I decided to do our virtual saddle fitting after his visit, so.. it worked out well. Oh, and the arena's at Ashland were all closed at 3 to prep for the show, so.. it just worked out nicely to do him before. 

 

So... I got home and grabbed a quick brunch (leftover BBQ sammie) and we headed to Ashland. Sadly I only had about 51 minutes to ride, so I opted to go bareback. My thought was that I wanted to do dressage so... I figured I would hack out to the XC field to warm up and then trot in the water complex for therapy and then hack back to the arena and spend the rest of the time in there. So that's what we did. Except, Caroline had already flagged the XC course so I used Dan as my golfcart and "rode" the course so I would know where to go Saturday with Lyric. It looks like a fun course and perfect for her. Starter isn't tiny... and probably some of those BN fences would have backed us both off at this point, so... wise decision to listen to Jacel. Anyways... I let Dan pop over one or two the amoeba jumps while we were out there and then we did our water treadmill therapy. 

 

Then we headed back to the arena and did our dressage work. I had already "warmed up" so we did some lateral work at the walk but mostly went straight into the trot and did our lateral work there. We played with leg yields and those are definitely better. I wanted to play with the half passes with taking my leg off like in the leg yield, but... I confused my brain. Because... which leg do I take off? The inside? But then he isn't bent around that inside leg... and.. .then he gets to where his shoulders lead too much. So... darn. But I did play with my seat bones and that helped dramatically. Except now I'm not 100% sure which is was. Ha ha. I think I needed to sit on the inside and swoop to the outside (of the bend), but.. maybe it was needing to sit and swing to the outside. Dangit.. I'll have to play with it again. We also did some turn on the haunches at the walk. We did a reinback. We did some lengthens. I played a little bit with shortening his stride without using the reins and using my thighs and core. Then we cantered and played with walk to canter to walks. We did a few simple changes of leads, trying to minimize the walk steps. My thought is that... I think if I get him snappy enough that he'll anticipate and just do a flying change. But.. ha. We'll see. It may backfire. We also played with the counter canter serpentine. He definitely has a harder time cantering when he's "round" vs a little hollow. But I tried to get him to stay mostly round-ish... well, just not hollow, but he almost goes from one extreme to the other. No dude... you don't have to rolkur.. just... lift your back. I don't care about your head but you can lift your back without putting your nose on your chest. We did manage to do some good steps without him falling out of it, so then we got out quick before he fatigued. But I did do multiple transitions. Overall, it was a good ride and we got some good work, despite not being very disciplined. 

He got a nice hose off and we made it to our vet appointment perfect timing! While we waited for the vet, Dan figured out how to push the big button on the wall that automatically opened the doors. Ha ha! I really should buy him the button that talks. Anyways... he had a good vet visit despite being a turd ball and not cooperating by wiggling like crazy for his ultrasound. His tendons look great and he's cleared to do "whatever". But obviously, slowly build him up. We did talk about jumping and I told him I would definitely be smart about it but I didn't want to see how he did with it. And I also admitted to cheating a tiny bit. But now we can start testing him a little more. 

Whoo hoo!! Then when we got home we had our saddle fitting zoom meeting. We did him last and... Tasida likes the panamera on him, though she suspects I should shim it up front. So I'll try that and see if I like that better or shimming it behind better. Then we put the loxley on him and... it works. It's a little "weak" in the middle so she wants me to try a half pad with front shims to see if it'll help fill out that middle part I guess. It's not ideal, but... it'll work until I figure out what path we're going to take. I don't want to buy him another dressage and/or jump saddle if he's not going to want to dressage and/or jump. In that case, I'll just go bareback or buy him a western saddle and we can try our hand at western dressage or just do trail stuff. But at least we have something that works. And bless him because... he really doesn't seem to care. I'm sure he would say NO if it was awful.. and I will keep an eye on his topline to make sure I'm not causing issues, but... I think if it's "close" he's okay with it. He's not a picky one. 

We're still playing with "smile" too. Ha ha... 

Groundpole lesson with Jacel

 Lesson with Jacel: Ride with my thighs. Use my thighs to guide the shoulder, use my legs/calves to guide the hind limbs, and no hands. was able to steer with my body, slow his trot with my core and thighs, and get him nice and bouncy. Had to cheat and use my hands to get him to not canter the small jump but was able to get in and get out. 

talked about how it's better to ride him "His way" so that he is comfortable and do things than end up making him uncomfortable again in an effort to win. so... if he wants to be on a looser connection and have a long neck, so be it. Also.. flexibility first... flexibility can build strong muscles... building muscles without flexibility creates tension. 

started with square turns and then rode the trot circle thinking square turn the entire time. Ride the haunches out. Oh.... and lo and behold, he connects himself to the outside rein! He wasn't as "short/collected/small" as when I did shorten the reins, but... he also still wasn't flingy. And he felt more powerful and like it was almost as collected but more powerful. But mostly.. happier!! He didn't feel like he wanted to hollow or brace and no tongue. SO..... that might just be our happy place and so be it. 

cantering still felt a hair like he needed to stay very open because if he got round at all, he shut down, but... he didn't feel inverted or hollow or like he had to throw his head up to keep the canter after the very initial part. 

Will have to play with things and see if I'm overthinking... and if I can find the balance between all the things I want... balance, self carriage, soft connection but not strung out, inverted or holding in his neck.

did alternating trot poles... then added canter poles... then back to trot for the vertical (Or tried... dan hates trotting poles) and then canter a ground pole. while he didnt' always trot it.. (well, he only trotted it officially once), he was sitting behind and pushing and lifting the front end! yay! 

Weight training! Conditioning. Strengthening... And it was so hot. Hard work!

Then had time (i thought!) so hacked to the lake. Boy was tired and dragging. Splashed a bit in the lake. Saw two goslings still. then had to rush back to get home before patrick arrived to replace Lyrics shoe so cantered the XC field back home. Sorry tired boy!

Acupunctured at home. did balance method - 12 magicals - and then electro. getting some movement again, so maybe it's not entirely dead. had to yell at him for being silly but then he was perfect. 

Shake Rag Obstacle Course

1.  bigfoot and walk the "road".
2. flags and pinwheels
3. pulling the fox on a sled
4. pushing the ball out of the square
5. hoisting the tree limb
6. triple down bank
7. cemetary and the mirror
8. recycle the water bottle
9. black pipes and walk the tarp
10. umbrella poles

Cavaletti clinic day

Today was cavaletti clinic day with Beth. We rode with Jamie and Kelli. It was fun. It wasn't as complicated as it was last month. But it was still helpful and educational. And Dan and I both had fun. Although, currently... I'm all in my head about it. 

 

I rode bareback because I got kicked Friday morning in the knee and it hurts to lift and bend my knee. I think it's mostly muscular because it doesn't hurt when my knee is bent, just the action of bending it. And it's stiff. So I rode bareback. And that way, Kelli could have tried my saddle too if she wanted. Dan was filthy, but oh well. It rained this morning as we were getting ready to leave and then tacking up but it was only a light rain/drizzle and then it quit. Yay! 

She had set up 3 poles in a fan on a serpentine with another 3 poles in a fan, and then between them set perpendicular were two canter poles. So we started with walking the left bend fan poles, then doing a right bend to the right bend fan poles.. then around and over the two single poles, then back through. After we did that once or twice we went to the trot in the same pattern. Then we added canter over the two single poles, then back to trot for the fan poles. My takeaways were 

• Keep him short in his stride, but connected, so keep my reins slightly shorter so that I can adjust as needed NOT so that I can shorten his neck. He can have a long neck but needs to be connected. 
• Keep his nose centered between his shoulder blades. He likes to throw that right shoulder around, so especially in the canter, almost counter flex when tracking left, and ride that right shoulder around in a square turn. 
• Keep even rein pressure... he likes to evade the right rein no matter which direction we are traveling in, so.. hold it steady and keep his head on straight. 
• ignore the tongue. It is basically him saying "this is hard". 
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 And it did feel better when I had a slightly shorter rein. But he also felt like he wanted to invert and hollow some. Beth told me to use my reins and legs to correct that. I also got a little panicky because it felt like when he was "round" he couldn't hold the canter. And it almost felt like he had to lift his head and neck in the air, to help lift his right front up in the canter. But Beth said (and I think Jacel too on Thursday) that it's more the hind end engagement that is lacking. And... sure enough, when I insisted he stay round but kept my leg on, he could do it. Of course he also seemed to stick his tongue out then... and anytime I held the right rein. So... Beth reminded me that it's because it's hard and he doesn't want to work hard. And it's a habit. I told her she was going to have to remind me another 60 times.. but also, I'm still worried that it's not just that it's hard but that he's broken. She made the comment that *IF* he was hurting bad enough at a training level frame in the canter that his tongue came out... I shouldn't be riding him at all. But she was quick to add on... but I don't think it's pain as much as difficulty. And there is a difference. So... ride through it and see if it gets better. And it did, even that particular pass through the exercise. Once he settled into it... his tongue went back in. BUT... it still stresses me out. And I'm still a little worried. And.. maybe it's his stifle. I probably need to make an appointment to have him looked at by Dr. Barrow because it's coming up on a year for his neck surgery, which means he hasn't had any "maintenance" injections done in at least that long. And he's also not on previcox, so... he has a right to be uncomfortable. I just don't want to keep pushing and pushing if he's more than just uncomfortable. Especially since I (in theory) have the two girls to play with and do the hard stuff with. But he knows all the aids and tricks, so ... if I can keep him comfortable, I'd like to keep trying. So... now I'm all up in my head. And then, while I was feeling good about the lesson while I was in it... and immediately after... now all I'm hearing is the comment about how he's going around in a training level frame at best and... my brain is twisting that into... "I suck... he's barely going in a training frame and I felt like he was sitting and pushing and so much more collected". Sigh... I'm so delusional. 

 

After the lesson, Jamie wanted to hack Handsome to the XC field and to the water complex and since we finished early, I went with them. Dan was happy to lead the pack, and snack... and was a good Uncle and helped encourage Handsome to go into the water. Then we did a few laps in the treadmill. And then I popped him over one small log because... I could. Good pony. 

 

So... it was a fun day and we were enjoying ourselves (minus the tongue moments). And Kelli said he looked so good and Beth did too. So... hopefully I'm just pms-ing and that's why I'm extra emotional about it. 

 

Lesson and Snuggles

 Oooh happy day! We got to lesson with Jacel! Daniel missed her! He snuggled with her. Traitor! Ha ha. It does make me happy that he loves her too. (And to be honest, Lyric and Funny do too! It's nice when your horses approve of your trainers!). 

We did a dressage lesson and it was super helpful! I really do love how she teaches. She really is so correct and truly classical! I told her that we had been cleared for cantering and lateral work and that I felt like his canter felt a little weak some days and that he felt good but not quite fully bending through his barrel. We were trying to work on "collecting and sitting" in the work vs flinging. And I told her that I was really trying to keep his neck long and open. 

 

We started at the walk and she had me do square turns. At first I tried to just bend him through it, like two 90 degree turns. She stopped me and told me to ride them like turn on the forehands. Oh.. whoops. So I did actually halt him and then move his hindquarters.. then walk on. Then after a few times of that I was able to half halt him and slow the walk and get the turn. And it was cool because as we did multiple turns, he got looser and swingier... his tail lifted and relaxed, and he felt more powerful and purposeful vs just running. And, he started to go more correctly and reach for the contact, although he did lose it in the actual turns. But the more we did, the better it got! Whoo hooo. We did that both directions. 

 

Then we did leg yields. And magic!! She noticed that I was holding with my outside leg. When I took my leg "off"... like, literally sort of pulled it off his side... he was able to swing! DUH! I think I might do this with Funny and that's why she gets swingy. But with him... I've just... kept my leg on and it's blocking him. I resorted to using my leg instead of guiding him with my seat. And when my seat swings, and my outside leg is loose and fluffy instead of "on" him, he really starts to swing through his barrel. AHHHHH!! Magic! He started to bend in his ribcage and his inside hind was coming up and under and crossing over. And he stayed loose and swingy and lifted in his back. Ahhh. This is awesome. Duh! I imagine this will help immensely in the half pass too. Duh. After we got it swingy, we started doing walk zig zags... leg yield in, leg yield out. And then we picked up the trot. We did the leg yield but then she had me "collect" it. Without touching the reins (other than a half halt... I wasn't shortening the reins), I used my core and squeezed softly with my upper thighs, to effectively shorten his stride. And slow his tempo. And he got bouncy!! If I asked too much, he would walk, so sometimes we lost it. But we got some really nice bouncy work! Then we did some lengthens on the diagonals, then back to collected trot ("collected"... just a smaller stride with slower tempo but kept the power), then back to lengthen on the diagonal, then back to smaller trot and then leg yield in the smaller trot and then back to lengthen. Then we did some walk breaks because this is hard work! Leg day at the gym bro! He felt great though. His back was lifting, his neck was soft and happy and long and he was reaching for the contact. It was the lightest of connections too, which I enjoy. And sure, sometimes we lost it and the reins bounced a little, but... so did his stride! Self-carriage! Wheee!

 

We took a walk break and chatted for a bit and then picked up the canter. We started on the left and it was okay. He wanted to fall in and I was hanging on the left rein. Unfortunately when I quit hanging on it, Dan would fall out of the canter. We decided it was a little bit of both of us holding and Dan sort of relying on it. So I tried to be softer with it and when I did use it, go out to the side vs back. And that helped. We went the other way and he was much straighter in his body tracking right. BUT.. he felt a bit more labored... like he was having to use his head and neck to lift rather than lifting with his front right. Jacel thought it was more stemming from the hind end. Oh... that makes sense. We picked it up again and got a few circles before he wanted to fall out. I was able to keep him going and got another few strides and then pulled him back down. We quit with that because... he was clearly fatigued and as Jacel pointed out... he had worked really hard already. She thought that it might just be weakness in the hind end and then fatigue too. I did mention that he also wasn't on any anti-inflammatory... and had not had any injections in well over a year. I think! I mean... it's been right at a year since his neck surgery, and we've been rehabbing from that and then the suspensory surgery, so I don't think we've done anything. So he probably is a bit weak and maybe even a bit sore. I may end up taking him to Barrow to see if he needs any maintenance. 

 

We chatted for a bit and then I took Dan on a hack to lake to splash. He was so distracted and kept stopping so it took forever to get to the lake. Come on dude, we all want dinner! ha ha. He didn't really splash much. Poor guy is tired! We walked back via racoon loop and up the hill for some hill work. And then a rinse and we headed home for dinner. 

So... yay! The plan is to continue to strengthen that sit and then the lift will come. We'll do our homework and do lots of hills too. 

Ahhh... it's good to be "working" with him again. I do adore him!

Soggy arena ride

 

We rode at home today. And... while it was a good ride, he wasn't quite right feeling. I couldn't tell if he was lame... it was super subtle. He was just struggling a little bit in the right lead canter. He felt disunited and not as willing. I had to keep after him. And his tongue came out once. And in the trot, he felt a little bit like he wasn't wanting to lift his back. But... he was good and trying. And we got some butt foam. So.... I don't know. It wasn't bad enough to stop or pinpoint where, but... I just felt like he was struggling a little bit today.

 

We did see a turtle in the culdesac on our way to the arena. :) He didn't care. The turtle... and Dan. Neither of them cared. 

 

And... he's a goober. He was distracting me while I was riding Lyric. Hee hee1

 

Finally!

Finally!! It's been a week since I've ridden Danny. And I think he missed me! He's been a bit more willing to hang out and a bit more "hovery". :) I love you too bubs! 

  

We headed to Ashland after I got back from the vet with Lyric. And we had a lovely ride! We took a nice long hack in the woods and fields. We saw some deer... and saw the goslings! Still 6 babies! Yay. Then we went to the XC field and did the water treadmill. It was deep with the rain!

  

Then we headed to the arena to do a little bit of our "collected" work and our canters. He was good! His canters are feeling better and better. And I'm getting better at my aids. We got the "wrong lead" on purpose both times on the rail and then he held the shallow (but not quite as shallow) serpentine and even held the right lead around the short side tracking left. Our walk to canters are nice but the canter to walks are struggling a little. It's better when it's more of a single step to change leads, although we're still strung out. But progress!! We played with the trot half passes too. 

 

Then we headed up to the jump arena to cool off. I couldn't help myself... there was one green vertical that was low... maybe 2'. Maybe 2'3". So we trotted it. And then we cantered it. Wheee. He felt good and wasn't panicking. Then we explored the woods above the stadium arena because Dan wanted to go straight up the hill! Okay dude! 

 

He was a very good boy and we had fun!