Nine Months

On December 2, I did a clinic with a woman named Nicole Harrington. She was there to help the competitive dressage riders with various items and Amanda suggested I ride with her one time. I was struggling with cueing Ashke properly for our flying changes and we were really struggling. This was before I realized how much his hocks were impacting his ability to collect. At this point, I was just looking to be able to ask for the change and have him understand what I wanted.

Our very first clean changes

Since that break through, we have been working on our changes every ride. Even with my sporadic riding schedule of maybe three days a week, and sometimes it’s only my lesson day, he has still progressed. I am getting better at recognizing tension and stopping to reassure him that he is okay. That kind of helps reset his brain. Sometimes I tell him what I am wanting him to do, so that the picture in my mind is really clear. That also seems to help keep him from getting muddled.

Today, working on our half-pass to flying change work.

As you can see he has a harder time going from right to left, but I think that’s because I biomechanically sit harder on the left, due to an injury that damaged the muscle in my torso in 2006. It has been pretty obvious I sit harder to the left than to the right. I am working to improve that, but its still an issue. He is getting much better at listening and waiting for me to let him know when it is I want the change. We do transition work after the changes, because other wise he just gets more and more amped.

And here is some running video of him out with Kat a week ago, stretching their legs.