DefinitelyDressage.com

mari

My broken-record goal is as usual just MORE of everything. Except for power in the canter. We need LESS of that :lol: It is monstrously hot here at the moment, it was just over 30C when I tried to ride yesterday morning, and Odin was like a zombie horse. Just no go whatsoever. This morning's lesson ...

mari

Such great updates! Straightforward - What a stunning photo, magazine-worthy. Tanga - The ones were AWESOME! Well done! Exvet - It's a pity about the scores but it sounds like the overall result is worth it. You should definitely be able to increase engagement without resorting to a tight frame, it'...

mari

Odin and I are carrying on as normal. The sheath is still swollen every day, but looks a lot better after trot/canter work. So we are taking it day by day. He is feeling very full of himself and keen to work, so that is what we are going with. Today we went back to counter canter after months of pla...

mari

Very happy with Joplin yesterday and our first foray into 3 rd level. Could not ask for her to be any better at dealing with hauling and show atmosphere. Wouldn’t mind just a bit of an energy bump from showing but that is just not Joplin. I just need to ride a bit better for better score. 60% with ...

mari

Loving all the updates and videos! Odin is home. Third course of antibiotics are finished, and he's on anti-inflammatories until the end of October. Yesterday the sheath was hot and swollen again, but went right down after working him. I guess the test is going to be what happens when the pills run ...

mari

Mari, wow, I'm sorry. I don't think I've heard of anything like that. One of the horses in the pasture (the woman who was the director of Hoof Dreams) got a little wound on his shoulder that made him very sore, then got cellulitis, and then ended up at Davis with a rare infection that she could hav...

mari

It is terrifying to read about your hurricane experiences, such huge weather just boggles my mind. Odin is still in hospital, and still on antibiotics, but the swelling is down and because of that and the pain meds he's acting like a happy loon, tearing around the enormous vet paddock. I'm going to ...

mari

Odin is in hospital with a very bad sheath infection. Getting litres of antibiotics and painkillers and anti-inflammatories. Being walked and cold-hosed 5 times a day, and is wearing a sling of pressure bandages. I wish I could magic him better.

mari

Have you considered partly covering your existing big arena? I've seen some lovely examples of really large jumping arenas that are covered at one end only.

mari

which school of thought do you belong to, A don't ask until everything is great, the basics are there, et al. Or B, nothing us ever perfect, ask and persist. When Kea was obnoxious about fitting in the flying changes on a diagonal, I took her out on a half mile track and just kept asking until she ...

mari

Woohoo well done Exvet! Great results! I've given my instructor instructions to really drill us in the trot lateral work. Lots of it, lots of sideways, and lots of prompt response to my leg. I just don't have the capacity to do this strict work much by myself at the moment. Today we had a good day, ...

mari

One of my challenges is the trot lateral work, too, Mari. I know he can do it, so it's me. I'm pretty sure the answer lies in greater impulsion, but I'm blocking him somewhere. I'm not so sure Odin can do it very well :D He's got a pretty upright pony trot, and moving him around in trot is just so ...

mari

I don't have clear goals. Everything we're doing is new to me and I guess my goal is just "ride better" :lol: Trot lateral work is such hard work for me when Odin is not fully on board. I don't really know how to make that better without REALLY getting after him. I'd like to work on a much...

mari

Chisamba wrote:https://youtube.com/shorts/q4y72_KyR4s?si=aKBteadeW5n6WDsw

What a lovely panther walk!

mari

For fun, here is a pas de deux Denny and I did 27 years ago! I talked him into doing it with me, did the music and choreography, and went over it the day before, and I was telling him what to do through the whole test. Yeah, I know my Appy's neck, but he was happy and sound and doing the work to 31...

mari

Oh wow Tanga, jingles for you that you can find some sort of normalcy soon. That must be very difficult to deal with, especially if you're used to being active and outside.

mari

We had a first attempt at Third (test 1). It was very workmanlike, and we ended with a score of 61.3. The canter work was better than the trot work. The walk work was great, but he had a jog step at the end of the extended walk which dinged us badly. We can do a pretty halt, but the decorum and subm...

mari

Mari for medium canter I'd say don't write a check with your seat that your hands can't cash. So if that's a smaller difference then so be it. An exercise we've been doing is actually asking for smaller collected canter at K then going forward and coming back, it's helping us figure out that the lo...

mari

Mari, I don't remember the exact exercise, but there was an Emile Fauri video I can no longer find, in which he would do medium down centerline out of CC. I think it can be helpful for getting control of the power. You can always bring it back after a few strides and then either do a half circle ba...

mari

Exvet good luck! People are asshats... Flight - loved your video. Norsey has such a lovely floaty canter. Guys, these medium canters in 3-1 are going to be the death of me. Wrestling my dragon back under control in preparation for 10m circles and FCs is not happening. Medium on a circle? Super okay ...

mari

I haven't watched even a minute yet, tried via VPN a few days ago and it was just a mess (I'm in South Africa). So I gave up. I've been reading the play-by-play type threads on COTH, and following on Fb. I'm hoping at least some of the videos will be available on youtube in the next few days.

mari

Congratulations Aleuronx you are a star!

Exvet, congrats on your new prospect! It is so exciting. If I could, I would get another in a heartbeat.

mari

Sending lots of healing jingles for all the humans and horses who need it. Seems like a medically fraught Jul/Aug for our group. To add a gross note, Odin's penis is swollen on and off every few days, and super gunky. Another sedation-cleaning combo is looming. We have entered our first show of the ...

mari

Khall I'm so glad you got better news at a second look. Good heavens, what a scare.

mari

Mari, hoe gaan dit daar ? Jy laat my glimlag <3 The horrors persist, but yet, so do I :lol: I've had a very quiet time lately with riding. Part of it is work things, part of it is feeling a bit lacklustre and grey. A part is also due to the fact that my very very close friend isn't really riding an...

mari

Moutaineer ouch! Jingles for healing. The vet was out again on Wednesday for a penis check-up. To my nearly teary relief everything looked so much better. So much better that she decided not to biopsy. But this was an expensive month. Saturday we had a lovely play-around ride, and he felt so good th...

mari

Such great updates and videos, you guys are all awesome.

mari

Exvet, glad you survived the wildlife :lol: There are some plots near us with emus, and some others with alpacas. The horses are just like HELL NO. Odin is not normally a nervous horse, but emus... :lol: :lol: :lol: No predators near us, thankfully, unless you count jakkals (South African version of...

mari

Chisamba wrote: And oh, on a happy note, I'm at my goal weight/ health. Now I just have to maintain.

You snuck this one in there very stealthily. Congrats!!!

mari

Odin has had a very swollen and hot sheath since yesterday. The vet was out, he was sedated and cleaned (AGAIN, last cleaning was only about 7 weeks ago). There are new plaque-like areas that the vet doesn't like at all. I am very worried and I wish these things were happening in a more accessible a...

mari

My Fitbit died so I replaced with a much more highly featured Garmin watch. Decided since PSG seems more and more attainable in the next 12-18 months I need to buckle down and track my own fitness. It has a coaching program so I'm starting small with a 5k, I'd like to run a sub-30 minute. My husban...

mari

GPfs First time out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu20JWV3-ZU 67% Looking at both tests, she was a little nervous and I didn't push her, so know her p/p can be much better, but am super happy. Got a generous 6 on the ones where I missed one, but she stayed calm, so all good. Comments are similar...

mari

Mari Your changes looks great. That's a nice start. He's nice and through behind. The timing and understanding will come through. My leasor who is riding Quilla to get her bronze (only one more 3rd level score needed) is on a fast track learning changes. Quilla is happy to do what she wants. If she...

mari

Loving all the updates! We are working on multiple changes. I can't call them sequence changes yet, because I'm not doing any counting. We're just trying for a few in a row with no flinging ourselves around. If we use the long side, it is better :D Relatively straight, not so much throwing our bodie...

mari

I think it's also reasonable to believe that horses are moderately intelligent creatures and that many of them are natural athletes, that like to move and do things with their bodies. So, if we are fair in our asks, they can actually find pleasure in performing the movements that we are asking them...

mari

And in all honesty, the best riders in the world, you, me, kelo, exvet, Mari, StraightForward, khall, aleurinux, flight and each and every one if us they every day to find the ethical balance between riding our horses, caring for them, and being ok with expecting them to do a flying change, a leg y...

mari

Anyways, here's the vid we grabbed just so I could see what things looked like - https://youtu.be/12k7gm3_3ew?si=kAvKAjUqIeUOiJth I do a couple trot leg yields on there, and then I'm just messing around with (wildly sloppy, lol) shoulder in and imitation half pass. Just kinda asking him for stuff. ...

mari

Have you watched the Charlotte Dujardin master class where she talks about talking to her horses? Here's the link to part 1. Thee are two other parts that follow on: https://youtu.be/IETdllCijWA I've seen this, it's lovely. I chatter away to him when I'm tacking up and fussing over him, but not whe...

mari

Tanga - I love your verbal cues! My instructor is also trying to get me to use them more. We tried kissing for "go", but my mouth is too dry :lol: So yesterday we tried a loud "sssshhhhh" and he's weirdly terrified of it. But he definitely got more go! I just need a lot of prompt...

mari

Tanga - So sorry for you stressful situation, that kind of anxiety is so draining. About the 2-point position - we do a lot of warmup like that for jumping, but my instructor prefers us sitting down for patterns and courses. I get a pass if my back is sore though, especially since I'm used to doing ...

mari

A cavaletti exercise in my jumping lesson this week. I kept a half-seat for most of my rounds, to give my back a break.

https://youtu.be/YrmwNSUbh-M

mari

Still the same mission of more and more and more. Gone a bit backwards, because I'm having back issues again and I haven't sat the trot in about a month. Which has also nixed the planned competing and progression and I'm just disappointed and grumpy about it. If I have to find a silver lining, it's ...

mari

Chisamba wrote:I haven't shown Kimba much lately, here is an exercise exvet might like.

https://youtu.be/vT1UOYTEw_0?si=iEpq5ZNBRcQJFS1r

Travers in walk to 3 strides canter to walk.

Dankie! I want to try too

mari

Loved reading the updates over the last few day! Chisamba - welcome back and glad your trip was good! Your pictures on Saiph are lovely. Kelo - what a cutie! I dream of having a palomino <3 I've had some hard rides on Odin last week, he has just gone into monster mode and was pulling me around like ...

mari

Blob your pink coat is so pretty!

mari

Congrats Khall! Had a semi-productive lesson this morning. My jumping instructor (who is also a dressage rider and coach) said that the single changes were good enough to start practicing tempis, and that specifically I need to focus on getting my count right and my aids on at the right moment. So t...

mari

Good luck with your foal Khall! Pics mandatory :D Had such a nice jumping lesson on Tuesday, where I was actually more effective than a frightened sack of potatoes :lol: This morning with my dressage instructor, we focused so much on mobility of Odin's left hind. We've been working it more in a ther...

mari

Jan and Feb were not very productive for us. I was on holiday halfway through Jan, then sporadic riding, then a broken car for a few weeks and I couldn't ride, then sporadic riding, now away again and returning home this weekend. So March will just be a fight for consistent saddle time and focus on ...

mari

Chisamba, sorry about your saddle-fitting woes. It can be so frustrating. Every fitter that comes out also has a different take on things oftentimes, just makes you realise that, while there are certainly some principles to take note of, it's definitely not an exact science and there is a lot of roo...

mari

We've had a lot of snow requiring that the horses remain inside their stalls. Three horses pent up with energy to burn, not good. We closed work early today due to the road conditions. I came home and tended to the dogs and then the horses. I let each one out in between snow squalls to roll and bla...

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