DefinitelyDressage.com

demi wrote:I commented (with Pics) on the "SHORTEN YOUR REINS!" thing, over in the old folks forum so i wouldn't derail the goals thread anymore...

Good idea. I guess I post the same way I ride: lateedateeda....

kande50 wrote:But then, if one is driven to progress, failing to progress can be frustrating, and there goes the fun.

FWIW, and I continue on this as I feel it's at least somewhat appropriate in a goals thread- progressing and achieving can also suck the fun out of something for a while. Runners tend to call it the Post Race Blues. Lots written about it. http://www.runnersworld.com/runners-sto ... race-blues

http://dallanmanscill.com/tag/post-race-blues/

AmityBee wrote:. The long rein with its unsteady contact is just undermining the trust my horse still has toward connection, therefore I need to work on fixing me....

I feel this way, also. I found it difficult on some horses to keep my position and remain elastic (and "feel" and keep the horse forward, and and and)when the horse wsn't cooperating. I remember "knowing" where I needed to be for the horse, but not being able to get my body there.



...And now I'm going to be brave, just to give you an idea of what I have been working on for the last year or so. ...

I really appreciated your videos. Thanks so much for posting them. I can see a definite improvement in the rein connection even without a saddle! Just think how nice it's going to feel when you finally get a saddle that fits.

Ganas wrote:

kande50 wrote:But then, if one is driven to progress, failing to progress can be frustrating, and there goes the fun.

FWIW, and I continue on this as I feel it's at least somewhat appropriate in a goals thread- progressing and achieving can also suck the fun out of something for a while. Runners tend to call it the Post Race Blues. Lots written about it. http://www.runnersworld.com/runners-sto ... race-blues
http://dallanmanscill.com/tag/post-race-blues/

I never found that true. Maybe that is because I never really progressed or achieved as much as I wanted. When I did achieve or progress, then my spirits were boosted and I wanted to achieve more. For me, it's what Kande said. Failing to progress or achieve can be frustrating, even discouraging to some people.

I don't know if this topic belongs on the Goals Thread where other like to talk about their daily rides and progress.

musical comedy wrote:

Ganas wrote:

kande50 wrote:But then, if one is driven to progress, failing to progress can be frustrating, and there goes the fun.

FWIW, and I continue on this as I feel it's at least somewhat appropriate in a goals thread- progressing and achieving can also suck the fun out of something for a while. Runners tend to call it the Post Race Blues. Lots written about it. http://www.runnersworld.com/runners-sto ... race-blues
http://dallanmanscill.com/tag/post-race-blues/

I never found that true. Maybe that is because I never really progressed or achieved as much as I wanted. When I did achieve or progress, then my spirits were boosted and I wanted to achieve more. For me, it's what Kande said. Failing to progress or achieve can be frustrating, even discouraging to some people.

I don't know if this topic belongs on the Goals Thread where other like to talk about their daily rides and progress.

I think it is probably appropriate to discuss progressing and achieving on the goals thread, I just didn't want too get to deeply into rein length..

I don't think I was ever really goal oriented but I appreciate that some people are. I tried too hard to make progress in dressage at one time, but I think I did it because that's what everyone else was doing. Not a good reason to do something, i know, and I wasn't having fun when I was trying too hard, but live and learn. I still, however, want to progress in training to the highest level that I can achieve with my horse. And setting goals helps me get there. With maturity, I am learning what I am capable of as well as what my limitations are. This helps me to set reasonable goals for myself and my horse.

Well I have some progress to report.

I had a super lesson with my western coach on Friday. She focused on my position which was very much needed. She had me keeping my wrists straight and pushing my tummy out to keep my core more stable. We also worked on opening up Bliss's stride and getting him to reach out more into the contact.

Today I put all that together on my own and despite the fact that Bliss was WILD, he was super off the legs and we had the best lateral work ever. In the leg yields we positively floated across the 10m to the wall in all of about 5 strides and the shoulder ins were also great. Travers was there too. He had power AND suppleness in the trot work so he felt amazing. The canter was powerful but still needs a lot of adjustability so I'll keep working away at that.

Exvet - good job on the mediums!!

PaulaEdwina wrote:... I have been able to ride him one handed with my split reins at Western contact so things have been moving along nicely.

I love my split reins! I use them on trails all the time and ride in a Western contact. But I just recently started trail riding Rocky in a bosal and I think I am going to switch to that as my main trail bridle. It's taken several years to get to the point of feeling safe on the trails in a bosal on her.

Your work sounds a bit like what I do. I like the variation from the dressage arena.

Glad to hear your canter transitions are coming along. It's so nice to hear of progress...

Counter canter. I think we cracked it. For us, it is all to do with remaining focused on straightness.

Of course.

We need a bit more finesse, but it has really come together in the past couple of weeks.

So, on to November. We are riding in a Clinic the weekend before Thanksgiving, and the weather is starting to crap out, so the main goal is to get enough riding in to at least maintain the progress we have made, keep the focus on straightness, and work on getting that back elastic enough to be able to sit the trot better.

demi wrote:I don't think I was ever really goal oriented but I appreciate that some people are. [...] I still, however, want to progress in training to the highest level that I can achieve with my horse.

I'm like that, I think. I never cared much about showing and official levels, I care about improvement. Just progressing with my horses well being in mind, getting better. It doesn't even have to be about riding or dressage. There are so many things out there that I can work on, there is in hand work, long lining, long reining, trail riding, jumping, trick training... and all have their own merits.

I like showing, progressing, learning, but I have a pure joy of riding. If I lost that in the process of learning, progressing, and showing I don't know that I'd continue in that way.

Paula

demi wrote:

PaulaEdwina wrote:... I have been able to ride him one handed with my split reins at Western contact so things have been moving along nicely.

I love my split reins! I use them on trails all the time and ride in a Western contact. But I just recently started trail riding Rocky in a bosal and I think I am going to switch to that as my main trail bridle. It's taken several years to get to the point of feeling safe on the trails in a bosal on her.

Your work sounds a bit like what I do. I like the variation from the dressage arena.

Glad to hear your canter transitions are coming along. It's so nice to hear of progress...

When I went Western I was a little bit afraid (okay, rather afraid) that Fella would lose his ability to use his body and carry himself. I was concerned that loose reins would allow him to string himself out. This has not been the case and I found two very cool pictures of Western ridden horses with Western contact with self-carriage!

I love my split reins too BTW. It took me a while to get used to then without knotting them together, but now they're awesome. They've caused me to be a bit biased though. Now I see too many people cocked forward because their reins are too short

So I thought that this last month was rather a bust, goals-wise. It didn't feel that we progressed at all and I was all in the dumps about how pathetic it was...but then I actually looked at my ride yesterday:

1) Rowena now canters up shallow and steep hills on occasion (per my long discussion on a different thread how she was too weak...definitely a strength issue, and now she actually will offer it)
2) As a result of all the hillwork, she now has a hand gallop under saddle and is really enjoying it
3) The last few months, she's been getting more "up" but we've also been losing our steadiness and weight in contact. Now she's regaining the contact but staying "up."
4) I'm having to refit her saddle because she's gotten wider

And for my 2-year-old, I was able to work out through massage a lot of stiffness around her poll, and so now she's flexing very nicely up there and starting to give.

Personally, I've seen some big steps forward health-wise for me (huge with having a chronic illness). So, I guess this last month wasn't so bad!

Goals for Nov/Dec
Me: continue on with core strengthening challenge, ride without stirrups at beginning of each ride at least, return to my riding diary
Rowena: If the ground isn't too hard, spend at least one day on canter work (we often let it get pushed to the end of the ride when we're getting more tired and losing concentration...if we had at least one ride where it was the prominent focus, I think it would make a big difference). We're trying to rebuild some cavalletti...fingers crossed! 2x a week on hills. Lots of transitions (maybe try for the 100 in 30 min challenge).
Cassia: Start introducing rein aids off the cavesson

PaulaEdwina wrote: I found two very cool pictures of Western ridden horses with Western contact with self-carriage!

I love that picture of Buck Branaman. I am going to stare at it a while before I go out and ride today because it is a visual I need to carry over into my riding.

I have gotten too intense in the last couple of weeks. Yesterday, while not a disaster, was not nearly as good as what Rocky has been giving me lately. I have been continually mindful of keeping the shorter rein length, as a necessity to getting better collection, as a prerequisite to counter-canter...and I have wound myself up too tight. Anyway, yesterday she just said no to getting her butt-high butt underneath to accommodate the short reins. I didn't force it but am thinking maybe I should have pushed her through it. I think the biggest reason I didn't push was because I dislike how she dumps on the forehand and gets heavy in my hands. It makes me feel that I am hand riding. I lost the nice half-halts that she started giving my last week, and without those, I don't know how to get her hind end under and keep her off the bit at the same time.

So what I did, was, go into canter which gave me the momentum I needed to get her off my hands and off her forehand. Once we both got comfortable, I did some 3 loop serpentines with c-w-c transitions on crossing the centerline. I did this several times and the transitions were pretty good so I quit.

Not sure what I'll do today besides stare at Buck's picture...maybe trail ride. Trail riding is an evasion for me though. I let her go on a longer rein and don't worry about where her hind end is.

Also have been reading the tempo thread and thinking about it.

I don't know what happened but there is now an embarrased face emogee in front of the thread caption, only on my response.

This is why I havent been able to get selfie vids of my riding posted. I am technically challenged.

demi wrote:
Also have been reading the tempo thread and thinking about it.

Do you think you might be over or under?

demi wrote:

PaulaEdwina wrote: I found two very cool pictures of Western ridden horses with Western contact with self-carriage!

I love that picture of Buck Branaman. I am going to stare at it a while before I go out and ride today because it is a visual I need to carry over into my riding.

That is not self carriage imo. It's a head set.

musical comedy wrote:

demi wrote:

PaulaEdwina wrote: I found two very cool pictures of Western ridden horses with Western contact with self-carriage!

I love that picture of Buck Branaman. I am going to stare at it a while before I go out and ride today because it is a visual I need to carry over into my riding.

That is not self carriage imo. It's a head set.

Oh I completely disagree. That is self carriage. That is a quarter horse using himself back to front. But that's JMO too.

Paula

PaulaEdwina wrote:

Oh I completely disagree. That is self carriage. That is a quarter horse using himself back to front. But that's JMO too.

I think it's probably self carriage, but just not the kind of self carriage we're looking for in dressage? What I like about it is that it doesn't look like the hindquarters are trailing so the horse looks balanced, his poll is up, and he's ifv. So a nice outline, but just perhaps without much impulsion?

I don't know that you can tell impulsion from a still photo so I won't speak to that. It is definitely self carriage. I've seen worse in dressage. Like you say; he's using his body, he is balanced, his hind quarters are not trailing, he's not BTV or compressed. A very very nice thing for me to see. I find it encouraging since Fella and I are under Western tack now.

Paula

PaulaEdwina wrote:I don't know that you can tell impulsion from a still photo so I won't speak to that.

If there was more impulsion the steps would either be higher, longer, or both.

kande50 wrote:I think it's probably self carriage, but just not the kind of self carriage we're looking for in dressage? What I like about it is that it doesn't look like the hindquarters are trailing so the horse looks balanced, his poll is up, and he's ifv. So a nice outline, but just perhaps without much impulsion?

Ok, I'll concede that it is self carriage if we look at the definition of that term. If a horse is in balance for the task at hand and not getting support from the reins, then he would be in self carriage. Whatever, I don't think that BB or any of those western riders that ride like him are ones whose techniques and style would benefit the serious dressage rider. I agree that, while we don't know for sure, his trot work is not something that would be wanted in dressage. There are very few videos of BB riding, specifically trot.

My goal this month is to ride. Just ride. I've had three lessons on a lovely, kind school horse this past month, three months after my accident. I cannot believe how well my body has responded to getting back in the saddle. My leg is assuming the correct position pretty much on its own with very little discomfort, and the instructors have said that I don't seem to be compensating for the muscle atrophy by doing anything wonky with other parts of my body. I spent most of the last ride trotting figures and over poles in two-point position to help lengthen both legs, which was interesting in my dressage saddle and long stirrups. But it felt glorious. So, more of that feeling is the goal this month.

musical comedy wrote:

kande50 wrote:I think it's probably self carriage, but just not the kind of self carriage we're looking for in dressage? What I like about it is that it doesn't look like the hindquarters are trailing so the horse looks balanced, his poll is up, and he's ifv. So a nice outline, but just perhaps without much impulsion?

Ok, I'll concede that it is self carriage if we look at the definition of that term. If a horse is in balance for the task at hand and not getting support from the reins, then he would be in self carriage. Whatever, I don't think that BB or any of those western riders that ride like him are ones whose techniques and style would benefit the serious dressage rider. I agree that, while we don't know for sure, his trot work is not something that would be wanted in dressage. There are very few videos of BB riding, specifically trot.

He was my contribution because Fella and I went Western about 6 months ago because he goes better in Western tack. So we are pursuing Western dressage (and Ranch Pleasure). I was very happy to find images of self-carriage with Western contact.


Paula

onetrickpony wrote:....I spent most of the last ride trotting figures and over poles in two-point position to help lengthen both legs, which was interesting in my dressage saddle and long stirrups. But it felt glorious. So, more of that feeling is the goal this month.

I like to hear that it "felt glorious". That brought a smile to my face.

Yesterday's ride on Rocky was good. I had thought she needed a trail ride but I really wanted to ride in the arena after having thought about the ride from the day before. So I rode in the arena and am glad I did.

What I liked (and this affected my ride yesterdya) about the picture Paulaedwina posted of Buck B. was that while he looked very focused, he also looked very relaxed. Not relaxed like ''casual", but relaxed like tension free. I often get so focused on what I am trying to do that I tense up. Just a week or less ago, Rocky started to give my the best responses to my half-halts that she ever has. They were fun and she was proud of herself.But then I "suddenly" lost them. When I looked a the picture (of Buck)I realized the reason my half-halts stopped going through was because I was blocking them with my tension. Tension in my arms mainly, from misdirected brain signals to "keep those reins short".

So Monday I worked out with my personal trainer and my core was tuned! I kept that tuned core feeling in my head, and also the picture of Buck's controlled relaxation, and when I got on Rocky yesterday, it all came together. I was able to keep short reins. My half-halts felt really nice again, consistently throughout the ride. She was responsive and came under herself, high-butt and all, quite easily. No bracing or dumping on the forehand. I did all that we have been working on and it had all improved. At one point I accidentally got a wrong lead but immediately changed my position to "go with it", and continued all the way around the arena in a balanced counter-canter. A big deal for both of us. I kept the cc and just crossed the diagonal to true canter.

Today I am taking her for a nice trail ride. on a long rein.

demi wrote:When I looked a the picture (of Buck)I realized the reason my half-halts stopped going through was because I was blocking them with my tension. Tension in my arms mainly, from misdirected brain signals to "keep those reins short".

It's such a dilemma, isn't it? Keeping the reins shorter sometimes means more tension, but just a little bit too much tension and the horse braces against the bit.

Glad to hear that today's ride was much better.

I dont think it's just a head set either..

I have a lesson today.. hoping it's the first changes lesson!!!! There is more rain coming so fingers crossed it's still on and I can video it.

Good luck today Flight, let us know how it goes! I've got a 3 day clinic Fri/Sat/Sun with my trainers trainer and I am hoping we get to have a first look at the changes too

That will be a good weekend klark_kent !! Do you have any way to video any of your rides??

Ok, so yes we did changes!! It was pretty funny. So, I've been playing with them at home a bit and can get a good R to L, but a wonky L to R. I told my instructor and she said let's fix some stuff first, so we spent a month or two doing other stuff.
At home he could occasionally anticipate, but today he went mental LOL!! Once he got wind of what we were doing, he was flicking them in all over the place, and his little face was so excited when we stopped. After we stopped in this video, we went back to doing 'normal' canter stuff and this lesson really showed me the holes in my own riding. I need to be much more stronger in my seat and core, and in my canter position, have a more steady leg on so it doesn't bump him so unexpectedly as he's really getting much more responsive now (he used to be quite sluggish to my leg).
I was thinking it was a bit of a disaster, my instructor was very encouraging and said it was great he was so eager and now I just have to work on getting and keeping him on my aids. The kicky up leg - just to ignore it
Anyway, here's some footage - feel free to have a laugh! Hopefully one day - my long term goal- we can show some perfect changes.

https://youtu.be/P9BY1xHw0a8

Flight wrote:Anyway, here's some footage - feel free to have a laugh! Hopefully one day - my long term goal- we can show some perfect changes.

I did laugh a bit! But mostly just enjoyed your efforts. Thanks for sharing. You're both looking good. I will be watching for your progress.

Flight - thanks for sharing, I think he is adorable!

We were supposed to have a clinic this weekend but this is what our arena looked like yesterday and we've had more rain over night so was cancelled



I finally sent my soloshot's camera controller to get repaired (got sent back a brand new one yay). Just got it back last week, so new goal is to video every weekend ride

Brydie, I'm trying to decide whether to go to a horse trials just south of Sydney, but I know they've copped a fair bit of rain too! They haven't cancelled though...

Oh Flight, I love him! He's so eager haha. I loved the last change that you got at 0.42.
I will have someone to video Saturday and Sunday but most likely not tonight as my ride is at 6.30pm and will be under lights- so video won't be brilliant anyway. If I get some decent video I'll share it after the weekend

That canter is getting better! The depart is still a bit tense, but I can relax and follow the action. I schooled in a corn field today for a few reasons;
1. A friend observed that she's more comfortable cantering outside than in the confines of a ring, so I tried that today. Yes, in fact having the entire cornfield was very helpful. We cantered the long sides and walked the short sides -so fair walk/canter transitions with only a couple of steps of trot. AND get this: Fella has a flying change! I didn't install it and I didn't ask for it. What I asked for was a half ass canter and ended up on the wrong lead and at some point I felt a bit of a hiccup and everything smoothed out. So cool; Fella was all, "Bless your heart, let me fix that for you".

2. The corn stubble made Fella pick up his feet and the rows of stubble helped me be straight. As a result we had nice impulsion. His warm up walk is usually about a 21 minute mile and today it was a 19 minute mile with lots of back action!

Paula

My goal for November is to put a canter on Maddie. She's a draft cross so her idea of a canter is to trot fast until she breaks into a canter which I know is a strength issue (besides never being taught the canter cue). So, for the past few months I've been working on building her strength and now she can canter on the lunge line pretty well and stay in balance so I figure it's time to start trying under saddle.

Silverpoet wrote:My goal for November is to put a canter on Maddie. She's a draft cross so her idea of a canter is to trot fast until she breaks into a canter which I know is a strength issue (besides never being taught the canter cue). So, for the past few months I've been working on building her strength and now she can canter on the lunge line pretty well and stay in balance so I figure it's time to start trying under saddle.

I have a draft cross too so I feel your pain. It's a process!

Paula

As alluded to on the tempo thread, Kiwi and I are undergoing a restructuring of the basics. And as usual, that means things aren't looking great all the time while we're really getting to the bottom of some issues.

Upside: yesterday, all my changes were clean AND on the aids, and I'm finally getting her through on the left side instead of hollow. Success!

Well, I finally got to ride yesterday! Between hunting and bad weather and stupid meetings, I had not ridden I essentially 1 month!

Now with the more wintery weather, the boys are feeling quite full of themselves as evidenced by their constant galloping around the pasture bucking and playing. Rudy decided yesterday would be a great day to fly back when I undid his halter to bridle him, which resulted in him charging off with the bridle hanging off his neck. Lucky for him, he did not break the bridle but the crown piece is torn up some. To my credit, I did not beat him to a bloody pulp when I caught up to him, but quietly bridled him and put him to work. With his mind set, all I could really work on was tempo, tempo, tempo in the trot and walk. In the end, he did regain his sanity and worked quite nicely, even managing to do nice canter to sitting trot without back or base of neck tension. Goofy horse.

Tio is so much more fun in the cool weather because he is more energetic. This day he volunteered to trot instead of having to be urged to trot on, and would have cantered if the neighbor hadn't decided to unload a semi of lambs right then. I wound up hopping off before distraction turned into explosion. Hopefully I get more rides in this month than last month.

I had a lovely, if rather electric, ride yesterday (after a week off due to stormy weather, vet work and life intervening...)

We came out of the ring, he stopped for a pee, horse in paddock next to driveway ambled over and bit him on the bum, he kicked out at the fence panel and now has a 3" long cut right across the point of his hock. Big Owie. He was sound, not swollen or hot when I finally left the barn yesterday, but I'll bet that's sore today. Idjit. He never does that kind of stuff. (I know, he's a horse, no such thing as never.)

I haven't heard from the BO--no news is undoubtedly good news, but I will of course be going out to check on him after work. Sigh.

Horses, I tell ya. He must have heard the words "clinic in 10 days time."

Oooh Jeff Sanders is doing a clinic here next month - i am hoping to fence sit but i expect our house move will happen that week knowing my luck.

I had a rather impromptu jump lesson last night - which i was lucky enough to have a friend take pics of. First lesson off property in over a year i think and first proper courses and all around 65-75cm.

We had a ball and Bess didn't put a foot wrong. For a horse so big and heavy shes really starting to draw to the jumps and at no stage did i feel any hesitation let alone like she was going to stop

Looking good Niki!

Well I almost chickened out of a show at Clarendon on the 5th of December, but just sent in my entry! Call me crazy because I have an exam on the Wednesday and working over time the rest of the week so probably won't be able to ride the few days beforehand. But Red is so laid back I don't think it will matter too much.

I think our canter is starting to come along now. Whenever I'm cantering now all I think is 'more energy!' Been working on walk to canter and canter loops which I think is helping him start to step under himself more.

KathyS wrote:Work more on our canter to the left. Our right lead is so much easier, so I need to force myself to canter left more. We've been cross training and doing some jumping. Did a schooling hunter show, and Breeze did really well. We're going to do another mini-trial in November, and there is a Dressage schooling show late November. That will probably be the end of showing for the year.

Quick update on our last set of goals, although we're already halfway thru November! Canter is definitely coming along. I haven't been able to ride much between mom being sick and my husband's recent hospital stay, but the rides we've had have been good. I decided I must be overthinking things with the canter. In our dressage lessons, our canter transitions tend to be somewhat tense/rushed, but when we jump it is pretty good. I don't really think about the transition when we jump, I just ask for it. So, in my last couple of lessons, I've been trying to do just that. Don't think about it, just sit and ask. What a difference! I had my trainer hop on for a bit the other night, and afterwards, I think we had some of the best canter to the left we've ever had. I got off at the end of the lesson grinning ear to ear. It was so much fun!!

We optted to skip the mini-trial, but I think we are going to try the Dressage Show on the 21st. Just trying to figure out which tests to ride. I'm thinking maybe Intro B and maybe Training 1.

by way of a small update, i have managed to ride a few times with other horses and the first couple times were not pleasant but Goof is now chilling his beans and is pretty reliable with his *friends* around him so next step is to introduce strange horses he doesnt know, and then go off and do an arena hire.

In all other ways he is a total cool dude, except if theres a reason for sillyness (horses galloping in the fields, heavy machinery nearby etc)i am getting on without lunging first and he is being 100% reliable.......we got attacked by a swirling leaf tornado (chest height) last night and he was foot perfect!

schooling wise the trot has improved 500%, impulsion and swing are good to go, and the canter transitions are flowing forward over the back better.

if Carlsberg made 3yo stallions.....this is him!!!!!!!!!

http://youtu.be/str0M7CqKzE

Couple of minutes of video from the clinic last weekend. We were making sure everything was in place to start the changes and my trainer thinks he's ready- just have to wait for my regular trainer to hop on and ask. I've never ridden a change in my life and Kent hadn't started them so we asked and got nothing but very impressed with my ponies attitude towards it all!

Finally had another lesson. While my arms and hands have gone feral again with the lack of supervision , we are making progress. The weather was terrible for my lesson and Matt was rather tense, but she was pleased with our progress despite that. We continue to work on foundational stuff and got some good exercises (mostly transitions....lots of transitions)....and I'm supposed to hold a whip between my hands to try to get them civilized again and get them to stop waving around.

Also I signed up for a jump lesson We haven't been able to work cattle lately, and I need to do something other than drill dressage. There is a nice gal in town and she's willing to help me, so....well.... Hopefully Matt doesn't mind me freezing, clutching and flailing around. Jumping has never been a strong point in my riding career, but I'm hoping it will be fun.

Some good and not so good updates. Had 4 day clinic with my trainer and my big guy was AWESOME!! He is really showing his progression and trainer was thrilled. Was getting diagnolizing in the inhand piaffe prep work, very cool to see. Worked on getting my guy to raise up from the base of the neck in hand and we nailed it (now I just have to be able to repeat it on my own) All other in hand work was smooth and easy, big moose has come a LONG way.

My mare was not as good, only had one lesson with her and am having to rethink some things with her. Not sure what exactly is up.

As for future goals: get the horses that are having health issues well! viewtopic.php?f=3&t=362 They have started the immunotherapy, will be rescoped Wed before thanksgiving to see if there is any positive progress. So being in such a funk right now I have not worked a single horse since the clinic, so over a week. We are supposed to leave on vacation Sat so they may get a little bit of lunging/in hand work and that is it. Horses are sure good at keeping you on pins and needles.

Klark_Kent07 - cool video!! "keep weight in the stirrup of leading leg when you change flexion" I'm going to find that helpful for me.
He's so close!! Really nice horse/riding

I agree, that was a fun and helpful video Klark_Kent.

Nice to hear your big guy is doing so well khall. Jingles for the herd.

Emi just had a (mild) PSSM episode this past weekend. That explains why something has felt slightly off with her over the last two weeks (off as in our left canter just went backwards 6 months in time, and she has been somewhat sluggy). So, I am back to riding with adjusted expectations, trying to maintain standards (straightness) even as I lessen some demands. Changes feel a ways off again now, even though two months ago they were coming along. This is a tricky condition to work with!

Thanks Flight and piedmontfields
It's exciting that he is so ready to do the changes but also frustrating as things keep getting in the way of my coach starting them for me! A few extra weeks isn't going to hurt though, and will only help in the long run I guess.
This clinician is my coach's coach and we see her 3 or 4 times a year. She has a way of making everything so positive and rewarding for both the rider and the horse and I always leave her lessons feeling like we have taken a leap forward.
I've watched her teach little kids learning to sit the trot right through to GP riders and she treats everyone with the same respect and takes as much time as needed.

Flight, I can't wait for an updated video on your changes progress!
And piedmontfields I'm sorry Emi has had some problems, we don't seem to have many horses with PSSM down here but it sounds very frustrating

I am in the same spot as you Klark_Kent, but it's winter now, so I guess I will have to wait until spring for those changes. In the mean time, my plan is to continue working on developing "jump" in the canter so that the changes will have spring and forward, instead of flattening or ducking. This way, I will improve his medium canters as well and maybe bump my "7"s to "8"s at 2nd level. That stuff is fun to do in the snow and out in the field anyways.