R.E.S.T. Blog

For a horse that couldn’t canter and had no idea how to use her body effectively Loopy has come to an amazing place.  She has returned to the land of good health, she is a horse that can perform at a level where the work is finally considered dressage.  She understands lateral movement.  She understands being on the aids.  She knows that yielding in the jaw is something that, though it doesn’t come naturally to her, is essential to execution of healthy work.  She tries very hard not to be thwarted by her mind and I’m finding that the more concentrated the effort, the better her brain is.

 This is the opposite of who she came to REST being.  

There are few pieces yet to fall into place, one being her weight.  She still has a tendency to fall just under where I’d like her to be.  I believe that her body is still learning how to really work, thus what she actually uses in work is still being debated internally.  At least that’s what I tell myself when I see ribs.

I would love for the work to be easier for her.  The lateral is understood, it’s execution only mildly disruptive.  The execution of elevation through true collection more difficult.  Obviously it is more difficult, but I am waiting with baited breath for this to come easier through the balance of a ride than it yet is.

Patience I tell myself.  The reason it takes as long as it does is because we are now building new layers over the old layers of muscle.  This is exciting.  This is the root of Loopy’s difficulty with weight.  This is the beginning of a whole new mare.

She loves her work now.  She’s happy to see me when I arrive.  This is a change and I believe it is because of the confidence she feels with her new work.  Every time she has left the arena it has been as a star.  

And now she believes it.

     Today we worked lightly.  In fact I didn’t even canter to the left.  My purpose was to feel all four legs, allow her to travel over her back to the bridle, and to make lateral work as well as more active bending a relaxed part of our session.  

     I found her to be more accepting of  her role as a sideways moving horse and thereby happier (ie less stressed) throughout.  She is understanding conceptually her work and perhaps the art that I am searching for within it’s confines.  She is physically looking well and managing herself mentally as a steadier mare.

Good for her.

     So…I feel like Loopy is conceptually well through the canter imbalance and should be working towards a new level.  However, I also think that Loopy would love to have the opportunity to disagree.  A major piece that she hasn’t been able to connect holistically is that the work we do is purposeful.  She needs to master what we’re learning and take it with us to the next level.  She would love for me to believe that she cannot master it because it is not easy.  Well today she had a lesson that pretty much comprised this is the easy part, it only gets more technical and difficult from here.  

     By way of the canter half pass.

     I had hinted that lateral work existed in the canter earlier in the month, but today I got serious about it.  The nervousness that accompanies the canter for her is purposeless at this point and wasteful of energy that she needs.  She hasn’t understood that, because I hadn’t taken a stand on the idea that she understands the canter work and can execute it with effort. Further, that more work exists after the canter and that the giving of effort itself is not an excuse for wasting energy on stress.  Every horse we school must give effort.  Depending on how the horse is built in relation to what we are asking them to achieve determines how soon and how much effort the horse must be prepared to give. 

     Loopy is a thoroughbred doing dressage something she is not neccessarily bred for.  I say necessarily because I firmly believe that dressage is simply the best way that a horse can move that allows for their bodies to last as long as possible.  It should be the foundation of all english riding no matter the horses discipline.  However the sport of dressage is not easy.  The canter half pass and beyond is probably the most strenuos work you can ask a horse to execute.  So because Loopy’s body is not designed for dressage, she ends up giving more effort than say an Oldenburg bred specifically for that purpose.  The Oldenburg must still give effort certainly, but their bodies are designed to move in a way that is specific to dressage allowing for the work to be easier longer.  Imagine asking an Oldenburg to go saddle seat.  It would have to give tremendous effort right from the beginning, as opposed to the Morgan or Saddlbred that’s designed to move in that way.

     The point of all this being that though this is difficult for Loopy, it only means that she must raise the bar of her own expectations as her trainer I will not lower mine until I believe that she can go no further.

     Loopy can yet go further, she’s just beginning to figure that out.  Now the trick will be keeping her brain on track as the work increases.  We will see how she manages.

Amy

I was away this weekend being a soccer mom, so Loopy was schooled start to finish by another.  I think it shook out to being worked once without me, so my ride today was a bit of an assessment.  

I found her to be happy to move over her back.  Able to move softly to the bridle with minimal interference from her brain, minimal resistance in her body.  She was calm, able to move off the leg and though weak on the right hind, she sustained work nicely until it fatigued.  She was more resistant in her lateral work displaying tension in the jaw translating directly through her top line.  But having said that, she has a much clearer understanding of the work itself and is moving towards true acceptance within it’s confines.  

Her canter has come forward by leaps and bounds.  The three beat scramble hasn’t raised it’s ugly little head in a while now.  I did find a bit more tension here, though she was able to be more organized through her turns, more in control of her body start to finish in the canter.  This is wonderful progress.  All in all it was a great test of her true level through not being worked by a trainer daily and I was happy with the outcome.  

Loopy is ready to begin her search for a new partner. 

Today both student and horse were tired, fatigued in muscle and ethic.  The lesson from the day before weighing on them both.  The mare had her fill of patterns coming straight and honestly forward, chose to try instead staying tense in the jaw as to avoid the throughness. Let’s be clear this is the cost of athleticism not from pressing forward in a manner that can be physically unfair to the animal.  As with human athletes preparing oneself for the discipline of their sport is not a pain free process.  Nor is the competition itself.  So while both parties were not at the top of their game the lesson moved on. 

Today it took probably twenty minutes where the rider rode consistently to help Loopy find her sea legs.  Note that this is a very different twenty minutes than if the student were to try and force the mount onto the bit.  Yesterday she had only to soften.  Today she had to remain soft using her patterns from the previous lesson to help Loopy find her back, then use it.  It is key to remember that this is the time that the mare needs to be able to do the work softly.  Were we to rush her through this process we would lose the quality of the journey itself, our promise of patience, her decision to trust.  Each of us are faced with this question at some point how we answer is imperative.  

After they achieved a measure of soft connectedness, we moved onto transitions concentrating on why the classical seat works, where the leg should be, and why.  It is wonderful to watch the horse teach the lesson as the rider changes the position of the seat, manipulates their leg.  This has very little to do with the hand and everything to do with the application of correct or incorrectly placed leg.  

With the conclusion of their work I decided to hop on Loopy and see if I could help her work through the using  two fluid legs in the hind end.  It was nice to be able to get on with the express purpose of working through something difficult.  She had been well warmed up and thus she and I were able to highlight, and eradicate the imbalance in the back end.  

It was not pretty, this process of elimination.  

It is difficult, tedious, mildly painful, concentrated work.  If you were to stumble upon us you would swear I did nothing but yank on a bit that couldn’t have been more set had it been in cement.  But the truth, as ridden, is that it was the mare that rode heavy into my hand until she could lift her back, unlock the joints in the hind end and carry her own self.  Which in the end she did.  Again allowing her the opportunity to learn by staying the training course simply with no personalization at all.  

Training should be clean. It should, from start to finish, remain free from the imbalance of the coaches emotions.  As soon as we tap into our negativity as trainers, we compromise the liberty of learning for everyone. 

I try to leave the arena every day successful.  Today that little red mare, her student and I pulled it off.

Today Loopy played lesson horse, tomorrow she will do the same.  It is worthy of mentioning for a couple of reasons.  1) She has never been worked, in a lesson format start to finish, by another rider since she’s been in the RD (rescue donation) program.  This is significant as it’s one thing if someone else rides her on their own primarily that purpose is to enjoy the ride staying well within the confines of their collective comfort zone.  It’s another when she is in training being pressed from beginning to end to meet the challenging expectation.

She has come far.  2) It was rewarding to see her as the lesson horse be able to teach the student through her own understanding and expectation.  I as coach could pontificate all day and still never be as clear as a soft back when they are correct, or tension in the hand with no relaxation at all when incorrect.  It was clear from the ground when the student softened in arm and hand because Loopy traveled over her back softly to the bridle.  When the rider tensed, lost the balance of her true seat, the step shortened her jaw braced and all activity in her back shuttered to a stand still.  

It was a wonderful opportunity to introduce the theory behind pattern work and thus broaden the students comprehension of the school of dressage.  Many of the legitimate training issues Loopy faces have to do with strength.  Or lack thereof.  Thus rather than make the discomfort translate to a conversation that will boil down to rider verses mount we introduce patterns where to execute correctly, the horse must be engaged, soft in the top line, stepping underneath and straight.  The revelation of this to the student is invaluable.  Thus the student learns to focus on the execution of the pattern and not micromanage and frustrate their mount. Sometimes only time and repetition bring the result we are looking for.

One of the things that I think we as a community fail to recognize the most is the trial and error time that it takes for a horse to work through to being able to correctly execute a movement, a pattern.  They need time to practice.  Time to fail, to succeed, to try it again, to develop the muscle memory for it to become second nature.  This is the job of the pattern work, but they need to be allowed to work without us breathing down their necks.  Thus we as riders, shift our focus elsewhere (i.e on the pattern) and reduce our roll to supplemental only.  We can be the hired help only when they need us.  In this manner, we are training the horse that we are its champion, its greatest advocate and can be trusted to be patient, kind and come through in the clutch.

This is the purpose of the pattern.

And so the student learns the theory, and the mare learns that the world is full of humans that afford her the opportunity to learn.

And we remind ourselves that we build trust one lesson at a time.

So we had about twenty minutes of true elevated work today.  I won’t put a level on it, this is schooling after all, but I was pleased and so was she.  At about the twenty minute mark, we lost the right hind and couldn’t retrieve it.  While we had flashes of throughness after that it was not consistent. I should note here that I began a different way today with the lateral work right from the beginning.  It is helping her understand the purpose and place for elevation.  It’s difficult to move laterally behind from the shoulders (ha).  With the advent of elevation, comes of course, the introduction to  more weight being carried on the hind end which is why we lost the right hind.  It is by far the weaker leg.  So we worked exercises that would allow her to move softly to the bridle while reminding that lazy leg it needs to be working, working, working.  And if it can’t pull off true work, it needs to at least be moving in that direction.  

It is also imperative that she understand that I know it is her body that is weak and not her commitment.  It is not her fault, rather this is the purpose to our work, to make her sounder, stronger, happy.

We were pleased today if not perfect.  Her ethic was sound, uninhibited by her mind.  She is beginning to understand happiness in work, which is impossible without a measure of success.

So today she left the arena successful.  

Amy

     Another day, another canter.  The most exciting thing is how easy it’s coming for her now.  We’ve moved up to being able to have a bit of technique through the transitions both up and down.  Whereas a month ago we had no real flluidity within the execution of the canter transitions, now I am able to have some inside leg and encourage her to remain light in the bridle.  To take more weight on her hind end.  To have a more elevated connected transition and this is all because she isn’t as worried within the canter itself.  

     We start the same slowly, long in the neck and quite low.  I remind her right from the beginning that she will have leg and she will be expected to listen to it and then respond appropriately.  I do this on a long rein careful to in no way imply that I am keep reminding her to be sane, to not scramble, that the expectation is that she begin where we’ve left off and we move forward from there.  After she tries to rush and worry, she gets down to the business of working.  

     It’s hard for her in the long frame because she likes to be more connected than this rides.  Rather like a child who wants to hold your hand all the time.  It is important for me to allow her to feel this unease because the very nature of it springboards her happily to connectedness and I don’t have to do a thing but ride.  The reward is the connection (there is something positively brilliant in this) and she is happy to be there.  Once we’ve set the stage for solid production, we have about twenty minutes before I have to address the lazy right hind, then another ten minutes where she tries to convince me I’ve crossed the line.  After that, we can work the canter.  Only after because in the conversation about the right hind we use leg and very directed movements shoulder in, haunches out, half pass etc. to find strength, balance and throughness.  All things that we also need to find a balanced three beat canter.  

     Not a coincidence. 

     She finds success, I am thrilled, she is thrilled and she grows more confident each time we work it.  This is purposeful work.

    Do work that prepares our horses for what comes next.  Then find ways to do it even better, where you do less and have the same result or find ways to let your horses personality work for your process.  It takes away from the us over them mentality and makes it feel like real team work.  Which surely it should be.

Amy

     So we managed to pull out the Everything Equine shoeless and all.  The event itself was a great opportunity to see old friends and to make some new ones. I should have known it was going to be fine when I stood Loopy in front of the trailer and after years of issues (and training on my end), she walked on all by herself (*sigh* sometimes it is so nice when they’re trained!).  I was happy for her, another limitation blown to smithereens!   Upon arrival the night before our demonstration with Dr.  Beaupre, Loopy and I meandered around the grounds in a halter and lead rope (riding).  We played a bit in the arena, had a look at the barns, trailers and whatever else she found interesting.  

     The next morning bright and early, she was subjected to another day chock full of painting and chalking all over her body.  It couldn’t be helped, we were there to help demonstrate the musculature as well as the skeleton of a horse.  By way of having the whole thing painted on her body.  By the time we actually got to the lecture part, it was a lot of standing around something she was quite finished with, but at the end of the day, she did a good job.  In her defense, it must have felt rather odd to be in the small square pen inside a building, on top of standing around all day, but she handled it relatively well.  After her lecture Loopy and I rode in the huge outdoor arena and found a pleasant surprise for both of us.  

     I was amazed at the quality of her work.  She was far worse in hand at the actual lecture than she was under saddle.    When we schooled, I focused on softness, being fluidly over her back and stepping through on each side.  Her canter was an absolute non issue.  Three beats, longer, shorter, whatever I asked for.  In fact, for the few that were interested, we demonstrated a falsely collected (from the hand) canter versus a soft over the back through canter (ridden forward from the leg to the bridle).  I was very impressed with what she was able to execute without even a blip in the brain.      

     Contrasting the bad means mentally being able to bounce back from something that she knows is incorrect.  From something that flusters her enough to p0tentially have us conversing for hours.  Her brain was phenomenal over the course of the day and night that we spent there.  

     Bravo Loopy.

     Today I followed up with a less than half hour ride.  We were waiting for the farrier and so we walked, trotted, cantered, worked the half pass and transitions loosely.  I found today that the smaller arena had her a bit claustrophobic through her canter, really all of her work but specifically with the canter.  Even with that we didn’t loose it.  Three beats, soft physically and mentally, amazing on the aids.  

     The thing to remember is how important it is to work outside of our arenas.  The reason that Loopy found her most gorgeous canter was because she was in effect in a wide open space.  If you don’t have one of those gargantuan arenas with superb footing to work in remember that it’s helpful to school in a field.  Utilize hills, straight lines and trails.  This leads me to my rant on biomechanics I’ll try to keep it short:

     We use our knowledge of  biomechanics of the horse like they are new to us, but in fact they’ve been around for ages.  Since horses were around for a reason and needed to be sustained to last a lifetime.  Since before the classical principals of Dressage were classic.  Trainers should be using basic knowledge of equine biomechanics everyday in order to properly develop their young horses.  Trainers worth their salt do.  They know that they must, in order to have them last longer than ten years.  

     It’s about the skeleton and the muscles and tendons, but it’s about how they work for different disciplines too.  It’s about studying it and feeling it for years and years on every kind of horse you can imagine.  It’s about trying different things until you find what works for the horse that you’re on.  And then answering the question why is this the right answer so that you understand?   It’s about understanding your discipline and being able to feel what your asking for under saddle.  It’s about questioning and finding answers to why your horse moves a certain way, then getting down to the business of helping them fix it.  It is not a science.  There is no perfect formula that will work for every horse.  It is feel, it is time, it is education and comprehension.

     This is the trainers work.  It’s what we do, what we have done, and will continue to do far after it’s out of style.

     Training as an art sustains the horse.  

     Are you?

Amy

In a random fit of thoroughbred, Loopy pulled both of her front shoes in the pasture.  

Both.  

Just before we have to go to Everything Equine. We leave tomorrow.  So today I dragged my still to pleased with herself, barefoot little beast, to the outdoor in the rain and rode her in a halter, lead rope and rain sheet.  Walk, trot, canter both directions.  

A couple of things: 1) We would do well as riders to simplify every now and again.  Loopy felt like a rock star today and maybe it was mostly in her brain, but to be able to get on a spirited horse, all but naked, is something that can be appreciated by both parties.  2) Trust is imperative.  Trusting this mare to remember her truest job, which is to keep herself between me and the ground, is the process creating the horse that I want to be on as opposed to me training it.  In it’s most brilliant form, training is simply allowing a horse to learn, that’s all.  It wasn’t fancy work, but it was a brilliant result for both of us.

Today reminded me to be in every moment of this process with her.  Perhaps in it’s way, this is our greatest achievement Loopy and I.  For a mare that you could barely sit on a few years ago, to understanding her job well enough to be trustworthy, comfortable and confident in the rain without a bridle or saddle or shoes is something that she can be proud of and take with her wherever she eventually goes.  

If I had been driven off course by the rain, the loss of the shoes, her high as a kite attitude I would have been the reason that she missed this moment.  Missed the shining beauty of her own little achievement.  

Instead, today I get to be the reason that she found it.

Everything Equine then without front shoes.  

Farrier Monday.

Amy