which_chick (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
which_chick) wrote2019-08-03 08:33 pm
which_chick) wrote2019-08-03 08:33 pm
Dressage Lady Barb, Fall 2019 edition.
When last we DLB'd, I brought Lala along to explain to DLB how to speak which_chick-ese. That was actually kind of useful. I did not bring Lala along this time.
It went fine. Bird was slightly gimpy on his left front (stone bruise) so I easybooted his fronts so that he would not limp on the stone dust ring (worked great) and he put in a solid damn effort with nary a limp. Go Bird.
DLB remembered the talk with Lala and did a pretty solid job of adaptive communication (WITH WORDS) for me and that was good.
Truck ran well and didn't have any trouble there or back aside from three misses on the way up that I kind of think are moisture related. (It's only on warming up, then it quits doing it. Doesn't even light any engine info lights.)
Last time our homework was Moar Fancier Trotting and also See About Fancy Canter and Better Deliberate Leg Yielding Of Straighterness In Walk and Trot.
So, I demo'd Bird's Moar Fancier Trotting, which is better than it was but also about as good as it CAN be until I get better at being a Good Fancy Trot Passenger. Because he's a 14.3hh arab and somewhat willowy and I am 5'7" and 170 lbs and not real willowy, I need to be a VERY good passenger for him. If he were a 16.2hh warmblood cross of bay sofa-osity, I could faff about up there and not really throw the horse off stride so badly but Birb is dainty and I am about at the upper limit of what he should be carrying. Therefore, it MATTERS A WHOLE LOT that I be a good passenger for him or he can't do this shit. I don't think he's topped out at fancy trot yet. I think there is room for improvement at fancy trot but for the moment I am the low-hanging-fruit and the weak link, so that's where we will devote our efforts at improvement.
(Yes, yes. Get a bigger horse. Lose weight. I hear you, oh internets. Fuck off. Your opinions along those lines are not of interest to me.)
I talked to DLB about this and she was "Exactly. Just so!" (I do not know what her other people bring her, but I guess she doesn't get a lot of "I think this is as good as fancy trot can be until I up my game at riding fancy trot. Plz help." Doesn't matter, it's the thing we are working on for right now.)
So DLB helped shape me into a Better Fancy Trot Passenger. And whoa, that's a fuckload of work but I think I can replicate it at home. Pretty sure I can replicate it at home. Gotta build the muscle, improve the lightness and balance, etc. (Me, not the horse.) And when I am an Improved Fancy Trot Passenger, he will be a better fancy trotter. Go Birb.
Possibly Fancy Canter did not go anywhere at all because I tried that a little at home since our prior DLB effort and it did not go well. In troubleshooting our failures at Fancy Canter, I figured out that there was not going to be any fancy canter as long as I was in a fetal ball of death* curled up over the horse's shoulders. So, I decided to fix my cantering position because until I have a better canter position, there isn't gonna be any fancy canter.
*Fetal ball of death is an exaggeration for comedic effect. My shoulders were tipped slightly forward over his shoulders and Birb is not going to throw weight onto his HQ and lift his shoulders if I'm overtop of them. He's going to swish his tail offended-ly and be like EFF OFF, LADY. And lo, that is what led me to troubleshoot our failures at Fancy Canter.
DLB was "Okay, so show me some canter position" and I did. And she was "But that looks fine, very balanced." Yes, but it is not automatic yet. I have to checklist it to make it happen. So she's like, "So now ride like that and try Fancy Canter by way of attempting some leg yield in canter" and I am "I cannot ride like that and do anything else much because I am so busy RIDING LIKE THAT that I don't have any room left to Do Things." So she's like "Just try" and so I try and fail a couple of times (leg glued to horse's side, aid not operating in time with stride, insufficient support with head/hips/shoulders), but that's OK. I don't really have enough brain to do a good job asking for leg yield because I am so busy right now riding in Better Canter Position. I can tell what she's going for and I can plug away at it harder once I'm more confirmed in Better Cantering Position. It does not have to happen today and I think she wanted me to try it to see what it might be like.
Also I don't think she understands that sometimes I can look sorta-OK doing a thing but not yet be able to build on it. Like, $NewSkill is not automatic. I am doing it by way of a mental checklist. ("Eyes up, shoulders back, weight in heels, allow hips to follow, eyes up, shoulders back, weight in heels, allow hips to follow") This takes so much attention from me that I am not in a position to build on the $NewSkill yet. I am not sure DLB can tell the difference between me checklisting my way through a skill and me having automated competence of a skill -- and that's OK. It was not terrible that we failed at beginner-efforts-towards-fancy-canter (canter leg yields, kinda) and I know where to go with it once Better Cantering Position is solid. We'll be ready to revisit this fancy canter business in a month or two. :)
And then she wanted to see Better Leg Yielding of Straighterness in Walk and Trot, which we demonstrated and that was absolutely lovely. High praise from DLB on his granular adjustability in bend and the degree of control we have on that front. My boy is good. He can bend as much as I ask and only that much and stay that bent for me going forward. Also we are better at not letting the rhythm in walk and trot die if we add lateralness. Much practice has really helped with that.
Other things that we got encouraging comments about:
Canter departures from trot. We have been working on better trot-canter departures and she is pleased with them.
Horse appears reasonably happy about his job. (Apparently this is a thing. Look. He's an Arab. He is not particularly stoic and he's also very expressive. If he is unhappy, you can totally 100% see it. You gotta pay some attention to his relative happiness or he looks fucking miserable. This is just basic Playing Arabs.)
Horse's muscular development is going nicely. When you ride your horse right, he looks better. Years of riding correctly make a horse look WAY THE HELL BETTER than they look without that.
Riding correctly when horse is going sideways and staring at the loudspeaker box. (He's a Scare-ab. LOL.) Apparently my aids are fair and effective-ish and I stay balanced even when horse is dumb.
Being centered and balanced over the horse.
Homework for next time!
1. Being A Better Passenger For Fancy Trot
2. Please to be working on Fancy Canter Via Canter Leg Yields (test with 3 loop serpentine was mentioned, which is Training 3)
3. Drill Some 20 Meter Circles In Canter For Strength, More Vertical, Less Motorcycle. He doesn't full on Motorcycle (leaning into the turns) but he could be more vertical than he is. Strength, here.
4. On 20M circles, Keep Outside Hand Forward A Bit for More Sweepy Stride On Outside Leg, Trot And Canter
I kinda got the feeling that she felt we should be aiming at Training tests, but we're going to do Intro B and Intro C this year so that I can fucking learn to breathe in the damn sandbox. I KNOW that these tests are not particularly challenging for us. But we are doing them so that I can practice MY shit.
NEXT YEAR we will start with Intro C and Training 1. There is no point pushing it until I can fucking breathe and Ride My Horse during the tests.
It went fine. Bird was slightly gimpy on his left front (stone bruise) so I easybooted his fronts so that he would not limp on the stone dust ring (worked great) and he put in a solid damn effort with nary a limp. Go Bird.
DLB remembered the talk with Lala and did a pretty solid job of adaptive communication (WITH WORDS) for me and that was good.
Truck ran well and didn't have any trouble there or back aside from three misses on the way up that I kind of think are moisture related. (It's only on warming up, then it quits doing it. Doesn't even light any engine info lights.)
Last time our homework was Moar Fancier Trotting and also See About Fancy Canter and Better Deliberate Leg Yielding Of Straighterness In Walk and Trot.
So, I demo'd Bird's Moar Fancier Trotting, which is better than it was but also about as good as it CAN be until I get better at being a Good Fancy Trot Passenger. Because he's a 14.3hh arab and somewhat willowy and I am 5'7" and 170 lbs and not real willowy, I need to be a VERY good passenger for him. If he were a 16.2hh warmblood cross of bay sofa-osity, I could faff about up there and not really throw the horse off stride so badly but Birb is dainty and I am about at the upper limit of what he should be carrying. Therefore, it MATTERS A WHOLE LOT that I be a good passenger for him or he can't do this shit. I don't think he's topped out at fancy trot yet. I think there is room for improvement at fancy trot but for the moment I am the low-hanging-fruit and the weak link, so that's where we will devote our efforts at improvement.
(Yes, yes. Get a bigger horse. Lose weight. I hear you, oh internets. Fuck off. Your opinions along those lines are not of interest to me.)
I talked to DLB about this and she was "Exactly. Just so!" (I do not know what her other people bring her, but I guess she doesn't get a lot of "I think this is as good as fancy trot can be until I up my game at riding fancy trot. Plz help." Doesn't matter, it's the thing we are working on for right now.)
So DLB helped shape me into a Better Fancy Trot Passenger. And whoa, that's a fuckload of work but I think I can replicate it at home. Pretty sure I can replicate it at home. Gotta build the muscle, improve the lightness and balance, etc. (Me, not the horse.) And when I am an Improved Fancy Trot Passenger, he will be a better fancy trotter. Go Birb.
Possibly Fancy Canter did not go anywhere at all because I tried that a little at home since our prior DLB effort and it did not go well. In troubleshooting our failures at Fancy Canter, I figured out that there was not going to be any fancy canter as long as I was in a fetal ball of death* curled up over the horse's shoulders. So, I decided to fix my cantering position because until I have a better canter position, there isn't gonna be any fancy canter.
*Fetal ball of death is an exaggeration for comedic effect. My shoulders were tipped slightly forward over his shoulders and Birb is not going to throw weight onto his HQ and lift his shoulders if I'm overtop of them. He's going to swish his tail offended-ly and be like EFF OFF, LADY. And lo, that is what led me to troubleshoot our failures at Fancy Canter.
DLB was "Okay, so show me some canter position" and I did. And she was "But that looks fine, very balanced." Yes, but it is not automatic yet. I have to checklist it to make it happen. So she's like, "So now ride like that and try Fancy Canter by way of attempting some leg yield in canter" and I am "I cannot ride like that and do anything else much because I am so busy RIDING LIKE THAT that I don't have any room left to Do Things." So she's like "Just try" and so I try and fail a couple of times (leg glued to horse's side, aid not operating in time with stride, insufficient support with head/hips/shoulders), but that's OK. I don't really have enough brain to do a good job asking for leg yield because I am so busy right now riding in Better Canter Position. I can tell what she's going for and I can plug away at it harder once I'm more confirmed in Better Cantering Position. It does not have to happen today and I think she wanted me to try it to see what it might be like.
Also I don't think she understands that sometimes I can look sorta-OK doing a thing but not yet be able to build on it. Like, $NewSkill is not automatic. I am doing it by way of a mental checklist. ("Eyes up, shoulders back, weight in heels, allow hips to follow, eyes up, shoulders back, weight in heels, allow hips to follow") This takes so much attention from me that I am not in a position to build on the $NewSkill yet. I am not sure DLB can tell the difference between me checklisting my way through a skill and me having automated competence of a skill -- and that's OK. It was not terrible that we failed at beginner-efforts-towards-fancy-canter (canter leg yields, kinda) and I know where to go with it once Better Cantering Position is solid. We'll be ready to revisit this fancy canter business in a month or two. :)
And then she wanted to see Better Leg Yielding of Straighterness in Walk and Trot, which we demonstrated and that was absolutely lovely. High praise from DLB on his granular adjustability in bend and the degree of control we have on that front. My boy is good. He can bend as much as I ask and only that much and stay that bent for me going forward. Also we are better at not letting the rhythm in walk and trot die if we add lateralness. Much practice has really helped with that.
Other things that we got encouraging comments about:
Canter departures from trot. We have been working on better trot-canter departures and she is pleased with them.
Horse appears reasonably happy about his job. (Apparently this is a thing. Look. He's an Arab. He is not particularly stoic and he's also very expressive. If he is unhappy, you can totally 100% see it. You gotta pay some attention to his relative happiness or he looks fucking miserable. This is just basic Playing Arabs.)
Horse's muscular development is going nicely. When you ride your horse right, he looks better. Years of riding correctly make a horse look WAY THE HELL BETTER than they look without that.
Riding correctly when horse is going sideways and staring at the loudspeaker box. (He's a Scare-ab. LOL.) Apparently my aids are fair and effective-ish and I stay balanced even when horse is dumb.
Being centered and balanced over the horse.
Homework for next time!
1. Being A Better Passenger For Fancy Trot
2. Please to be working on Fancy Canter Via Canter Leg Yields (test with 3 loop serpentine was mentioned, which is Training 3)
3. Drill Some 20 Meter Circles In Canter For Strength, More Vertical, Less Motorcycle. He doesn't full on Motorcycle (leaning into the turns) but he could be more vertical than he is. Strength, here.
4. On 20M circles, Keep Outside Hand Forward A Bit for More Sweepy Stride On Outside Leg, Trot And Canter
I kinda got the feeling that she felt we should be aiming at Training tests, but we're going to do Intro B and Intro C this year so that I can fucking learn to breathe in the damn sandbox. I KNOW that these tests are not particularly challenging for us. But we are doing them so that I can practice MY shit.
NEXT YEAR we will start with Intro C and Training 1. There is no point pushing it until I can fucking breathe and Ride My Horse during the tests.