Transition Epiphany

If you had told me four years ago that I would start loving dressage so much that I would want to take lessons several times a week (I'm not, since I am not that well heeled) I would have laughed my ass off. Plus, I do need time to practice the stuff we are learning. However, I am really enjoying myself. And Ashke seems to be happy about it too.

We were in the outdoor last night, working on the stuff we've been working on. Ashke was in a very relaxed mood and tried very hard for me. We started with some simple trotting serpentines, to get him moving around my leg with changes of bend at the mid point. Then we started the canter to walk serpentine, followed by shoulder in and haunches in.

Amanda had me do a half circle to center line, leg yield to the rail, half circle at the far end, and then a half-pass across the arena (20m) almost to the rail, where I was to remain in haunches out until we reached the end of our riding arena, where I was supposed to switch to a shoulder in and then ride the pattern the other direction. It was a great exercise. Hard at times, but still very good practice for us to move his shoulders and hips where I want them at will in the arena.

Next was some canter leg yields and then I worked canter walk transitions down the center line. He was still falling on the forehand with each transition. We stopped and I asked Amanda why it was happening. She said it was a timing thing and that I needed to time my half-halt to a different place in his canter. She said I was asking when he is going into the high point of his canter (two feet on the ground) and that I needed to ask when he was in his low point in the canter (one foot on the ground). My response was "how the hell am I supposed to figure that out?"

She laughed. Told me to close my eyes. Feel the canter. Be one with the force.

So, I get why my transitions are the way the are. I am asking him to go to the walk when he is up, and him being the obedient horse he is starting to be, does it with alacrity. Which dumps us on the forehand and makes him feel like he just plowed to a stop. Instead, if I can change my timing, he is already down in the gait, which means that he comes UP into the walk. Years ago, N told me you had to ride the horse up into its transition, but I had no idea what that meant. Last night, it finally became clear to me. At least, I can wrap my head around the idea. Implementing it consistently will take time, however, I was at least aware and making the attempt last night. The transitions got better and he wasn't dumping as bad, so at least that is a good thing. I will practice it going forward.

One of the things that Amanda said was much better was the straightness we've achieved in the canter. He is holding himself so much straighter. Cantering down the centerline in a slight shoulder fore is helping. Although, we still have an issue with transitioning to the canter in that body position. It will come. I also am trying to be so much more subtle with my spur when asking for the canter. He really moves his hip away when he feels the spur, so I am using my calf and inside heel to ask, which is also helping him remain straight through his body so much better.

He is awesome at picking up the canter lead from my leg on the straightaway. I don't worry any more at all that he will pick up the wrong lead.

We worked on bending at the trot in our ten meter circle, trying to ride the outside rein without falling in on the circle and getting our change of bend in the straightness between the two circles. We included some medium trot with me really remaining focused on keeping my hands where they are supposed to be so he remains in his house.

During a break after the trot work, we realized we still had half the lesson left, so Amanda had us do square corners at the canter. Ashke is really good at that. Then Amanda had me shorten the strides between the corners. So we started out straight stride, turn stride, straight stride, three canter strides and then the corner again. After one round, we went to two strides between the straight strides, then one stride after that. That was the smallest we could get thus far. It will be an exercise we work on in our practice rides. Amanda said it is a great training tool and will continue to strengthen his back and core as prep for the canter pirouettes.

We worked on our medium canter which was quite hilarious. Amanda told me to keep my hands where they were and let him figure out how to meet me there. During my first attempt, Amanda started laughing and said "when I told you to keep your hands where they were I did not mean for you to straighten your elbows! Keep them bent." I had to laugh. This is the biggest issue for me right now. The muscle memory is awful and retraining it is really hard.

I asked Amanda if she could help me with our sidepass since he really stalled out on me at the last show. He sidepasses so nice, I want to maximize our points on that obstacle. Amanda had me go through the first time and then coached me to change our angle. We need to be more straight in the cross, instead of being angled too much in the direction of the pole.

We even have video of the last two attempts.

Better transition and nice crossing both front and back

The other direction

We ended the lesson with the setting sun. Ashke just gets better and better and seems to really like the intricacy of the stuff we are working on.