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Chisamba, you know that I respect what you have to say! I'm just struggling to explain how I ask for the changes, my guess is that I'm explaining it nqr and that I am using more leg than I think that I am. TLK, no bucking strap - could probably grab the front of the saddle. And I only ride the mare ...

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This is also what I mean by using my seat when I ask for changes - a kind of back and forth slide like nordic skis. The problem is my hands decide to do other things and help out.

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SF, that is really crappy news. I am glad that you have a diagnosis though, that helps IMO. Just goes to show you. Horses suck. Sigh.
(I'm totally saying that sarcastically

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That's a very good point. I will say that she's difficult because she can get stuck. And she's VERY gifted in bringing her hind legs under so I have to be very vigilant about that.

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Ponichiwa, that is something interesting for me to ponder. I do seem to have the canter quality - because I can get the changes as long as I don't do something stupid :lol: :lol: My guess is that this is the last vestige of my hunter jumper roots. I'm ashamed to admit that I learned changes the way ...

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I think next time, I'll try to bridge the reins to stop myself from pulling one way or another - if that gets me somewhere, I'll try one handed. I'm encouraged by the exercise on the circle - now I just have to figure out how to stop pulling her around. After she did so much showing with me, she too...

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Chisamba, it's funny that you mention hands. I'm undergoing a bit of a shift in my riding and am actively trying to keep my hands a bit lower overall. I had a tendency to keep raising my hands higher and higher, which contracts the neck. I haven't practiced it enough that it's second nature yet, but...

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This is half musings, half exercise ideas. Maybe someone has been where I'm at now and has some sage advice. If anyone has followed my story throughout the years, I struggle with the canter. A lot of that is experience - up until I started riding for Andrea, I had not experienced many canters, and c...

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It is fun to hear updates! Especially as my riding time is severely reduced right now :( For the trot/halts, it’s normal to have horse in your hand at first- this is where you need to be like side reins. If you give in the moment of transition, they learn they can pull through you. If you pull back,...

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Trot/halts are the best remedy (imo) for a lot of this stuff. Both for fitness and for not leaning on the hand. To paraphrase the Duke of Newcastle, “the whole object of the dressage horse is to get the horse upon the haunches, and let me tell you the best exercise I know: that is to trot and stop, ...

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Just an update. Miro is still down for the count. I had a second opinion and while nothing is fractured, and nothing changes on flexion - meaning his joints (stifle, hips etc.) are good - he palpates very sore across his pelvis and he definitely has scar tissue built up around the wound. Vet feels s...

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This seems to be a bit of a catch 22, because in order to ask for more, sometimes you are asking before the horse is capable of sustaining or holding it themselves, the horse naturally goes a bit into the hand. So, what I try to do, and what I've been taught to do is to add a bit at a time and then ...

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Ah! In that case, make the set up be part of the cue for changes. At first, the horse is not on the aids and the change happens when it happens. If you keep the set up the same, collect, then change, the horse starts to understand that the collection is part of the set up and they will start to anti...

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I'm sure you've heard it before, but when the horse gets so comfortable with CC, it can be an ordeal to convince them that you want something else. You almost want them to be uncomfortable on the wrong lead as you head into changes, so that when you collect on the "wrong" lead, they want t...

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It's tough, because it is horse dependent. You don't actually want too much power in the canter, because then you risk it all going into your hands. For the first changes - the hind legs should be quick and almost together, you almost never do your first changes out of a regular canter. But then eve...

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Personally, what I've been taught, and what I've experienced has shown me to not do too much counter canter if you're going to start working on changes. What you need is for the hind legs to jump closer together so that the horse doesn't need to make a huge movement behind to switch it's hips. I'm f...

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Can good bending be accomplished without having a horse connected over the back and into the outside rein? MC, I go back and forth on that. I'm trying to envision what I do on green horses, so this is a bit stream of consciousness. I think that true, good bending the horse has to be connected, but ...

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But there is a limit to how much of anything we can get without losing something else we want, too. I'm not sure I agree with that in the end. Maybe in a particular phase of training. But I think that this ends up being very rider/trainer dependent. You're either good enough, or not. And if you're ...

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That’s totally horse dependent. I’ve ridden some WBs that were stiff as boards and some that were noodles. But if you have a stiff horse, you definitely need to work on bending and suppling. Starting with leg yields and circles and gradually increasing the difficulty of the exercises and the amount ...

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I did indeed! Thank you, I'll edit!

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its not crazy stuff. It is why if you have too much forward motion in one direction with no balancing force they can't collect. It has nothing to do with overflexing the neck. Of course it does, because as soon as the horse is ridden with his neck over flexed then he's unable to collect. As much as...

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Just to add that while inside leg 'reach' is nice, too many people confuse it with engagement which is shown in the 'stance' phase, as you say. I can't tell you how many times I've read comments (in various places) using engagement when they mean reach. It's clearly stated in the USDF Glossary. I'v...

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Here are some photos to illustrate. charm1.jpg So, Charm has a decent front end mechanic. His problem, he wants to dwell a bit, and he'd love to stay flat. So, I move him out quite forward and do lifting hh that I release quite quickly so that the canter doesn't get too big and so that he can't lean...

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It facilitates strength. As you position the hind to further under the body mass of the horse, it bears more weight. Shoulder in and other lateral work isolates one hind leg or another - think of it as weight lifting for horses (in addition to the suppling aspects). Eventually, as the horse gets str...

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Flight, here's some advice to take or leave... If it was me, or if Andrea was telling me what to do, she would say go back to larger working piris and make sure that you keep the haunches well in and keep the rhythm. You should, in those larger working piris, be able to push it closer to a medium an...

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I'm so sorry SF... that sucks.

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As would I!

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Yes, and to achieve that, you need more impulsion and a better response to your aids. That's all

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I can imagine that containing a little impulsion would feel like "against the bit" when you usually ride on slack reins. I think it probably depends what one thinks is a pleasant ride, and I want to ride a horse who is between the hand and the leg rather than against the hand. Others seem...

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It sounds like you are thinking that collection is an either/or state. Collection is the act of carrying more weight behind. There are many degrees of this, and you *should always be working towards more collection. But if you send a horse forward, and give a hh, the horse carries more weight behind...

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The force plate studies - unless you know of others- were from piaffe to levade, and what that proved was that the hind started to carry more weight, which lightened the front - not that the front punched off of the ground. How do you get the hind to carry more weight, by putting the hind legs close...

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Yes, he's an OTTB. I forget how old. 5-6? I'll ask his owner what his JC name is. Funny thing is, when he's going well, he actually feels really amazing. If he gets his act together, I could see him easily doing 3rd level. Edited to add: Shemps Boy is his name. A 2011 model. https://www.pedigreequer...

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Rye - for the first time, this horse IS fun to ride, and even more importantly, he's enjoying himself. A year ago, my student and I were discussing selling him because he was angry, and in my view, borderline dangerous, and she's by and large a beginner. I advised her to go hunting with the vet befo...

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]Greenholmes, so glad you are having fun with your horse! Blob, that's scary - I hope you get to the bottom of that soon, and without getting hurt. I have zero trust in horses that screw around after or during mounting, that's when the rider is most vulnerable. SF, hoping for good news from the vet ...

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Kande, about your note on trying to straighten him - more power and thrust will straighten him for you. If I have a horse that is particularly crooked or wiggly - I go more forward and it straightens out all on it's own. Not 100% of the time obviously, but, it's something to think about!

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MC, I agree, that's frustrating. But, while frustrating, doesn't sound like it's dangerous so it's something that if you don't intend to show, is something that could be lived with if you decided to. I'm type A, so I'd want to solve it and figure it out. I had two horses like that in the walk, and t...

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Ah, I see. So, I think that given enough time, most problems can be improved upon. Not necessarily solved, but improved upon. It also depends on goals. If your goal is to show - then that crappy extended trot may never get more than a 5 or 5.5. My theory, collect the 5.5 and move on. Find something ...

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I will never jump a fence over 5 feet. Could I, maybe? But I don't have the guts or the horse to do it with.... and to think at one point I wanted to be a GP jumper! A problem that I will never be able to solve? Hmmm... I will never be as good as I want to be. Is that a bad thing? Maybe, maybe not. ...

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Same. He comes up and waits, and then walks on all by himself.

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I'm of course now in full panic mode now because it was a puncture that I missed, and now was not treated for 2 weeks. I'm having nightmares of a deep infection spreading up to the hip joint etc. etc. sigh. :( sometimes even with trt you still can't get the infection out. My horse Rye had surgery f...

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Ryeissa wrote:is anyone healthy around here
Knock on wood, riot is fine but my dog is having some issues.

Doesn’t seem like it, I’m even down and out with a plague.

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I'm of course now in full panic mode now because it was a puncture that I missed, and now was not treated for 2 weeks. I'm having nightmares of a deep infection spreading up to the hip joint etc. etc. sigh.

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I put in a call to the vet. I want the peace of mind. Horses suck.

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I've completed mine today. I had no problems on Chrome. Not everything was intuitive as far as what to click on, but overall, I think they did a nice job.

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Well, I came home from Austin to find that Miro is still not 100%. The wound on his hip was actually a puncture, and while it isn't infected, he is still slightly sore on it even after two weeks off. I'm torn between just giving him more time vs calling the vet out. He has no temp, is not flinchy wh...

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I'm sorry Khall, jingles for a quick and uneventful recovery.

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Waterfords are used because the horse cannot lean on the bit because of the amount of movement in the balls. That also means that it won't be very suitable for flexions - because in good contact, the horse should make contact with the bit. Usually, horses that are "strong" are horses that ...

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That's why I was wondering if he might be stepping under too much, as it looks like his left hind may actually be stepping past his mid line at times. But maybe that's what he needs to do to compensate for his right front club, so I'm going to ignore that and concentrate on transitions and HH's for...

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SI is the cornerstone of collection because it is like weight lifting. The horse must be strong to be able to bear more weight behind and take shorter, more articulated steps. In SI, it’s not just stepping more under, it’s stepping more under center mass of the horse. And, because each lateral movem...

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I’m not sure if it was only under saddle or not. All I know is that they never found anything, and he wasn’t given a huge chunk of time off to resolve it if it was a physical reason. I do know that it was off and on at first, then always lame under saddle. They did all their tests, found nothing, an...

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