Do you still even HAVE a horse?
Feb. 23rd, 2020 03:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickYes. Yes, I do. His name is Bird and I've been riding him off and on during the winter when the weather has been fit, which has been most of it, to be honest.
Last time I discussed dressage it was following the Fall DLB clinic wherein I whined a lot and resolved to work on my issues over the winter. That was, like, October. I have been working on my issues (and whining) over the winter.
Skunk cabbages are up. Regular lesson barn's insane crocuses are *flowering*. Many people have two inches of daffs above the ground. It's kind of like spring here. There is red budding on the trees along the river. I think all of this is a bit premature but whatever.
Has there been any progress? OF COURSE. (I am a legend in my own mind.) Footing has been muddy and stuff off and on. I haven't been steadily trudging my way along but I have been working on my shit.
How is the cantering coming? Bird can do about ten strides of lovely, light, uphill, balanced canter, twice, in each direction. Then he falls apart and no matter how many more times you ask, he ain't got it. Some of this is fitness. Okay, fine. MOST of this is fitness. He knows WHAT to do but he doesn't have the strength to do it for very long. Beating him more, obviously, will not help. Fitness exercises will help.
How do you improve a horse's fitness for dressage-style cantering?
1. Dressage-style canter, in gradually increasing amounts. This is great when there is footing that can support cantering. (I work in a hayfield. Sometimes it is muddy/slippery and we don't want to tear it up to shreds because WE NEED HAY FROM IT IN THE SUMMER. There is not a "ring" option unless I throw the horse on a trailer.) I am working on this when I can, and it's going OK. We are definitely better on our left lead than our right so I try to do more work on the right lead than the left.
2. Lateral work, specifically haunches-in. Mostly I just like going sideways and I do not care if I do it perfectly or not. BUT, and this is the main thing, Ye Old Dead Mare Nicknick put on an amount of beefiness that was absolutely insane in the space of three months. Like, she got four inches wider and rounder all over until she looked like a little carousel horse. And what we did for the bulk (get it?) of those three months was trot back and forth on the road track through the hayfield doing our best effort at haunches-in.
I have video of this, shitty video showing us being shitty. It's here. I KNOW WE SUCK. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO TELL ME THAT. I do not encourage commentary if you're going to be all "OMG you were horrible to your (now dead) mare and you deserve to be shamed". Like, don't do that. Mare's dead now and I miss her dearly so don't shit all over my memories.
Anyway. Haunches-in, ideally, is a movement wherein your horse proceeds in a straight line (not in a shitty, wavy line like the dead mare and I are doing) at a CONSISTENT amount of bend (not over bent and then under bent and then ok for a bit and then over bent again, like the dead mare and I are doing) with the hindquarters of the horse towards the "inside" of the track. You're gonna do this WITH rhythm and WITH all the qualities that you'd hope to have in decent working gait, only also now adding this shape. Good luck, soldier.
Here's a much better video showing NOT SHITTY haunches-in by an actual dressage person. Look at this to see it done better and also done wrong. It's a dynamic thing. You have to troubleshoot as you go along... to help your horse hold the shape and move it along. When you and your horse get better at it, you don't have the huge over-corrections and stuff that you can see with me and the dead mare.
Haunches-in is a second-level movement. There is no earthly reason I should even be attempting this with my horse except (a) the ground is too muddy to canter on sometimes and (b) he's aware of WHAT to do, just doesn't have enough strength to do it all day and (c) he needs to build ab muscles and buff up the HQ for better loading so that he can canter better. Haunches-in will build ab muscles and buff up the HQ.
The problem with using haunches-in as a tool to get to "better canter" mostly is that it is not an accessible, easy-to-use tool for a lot of folks who need "better canter". Most of the people who need basic "better canter" are not going to be able to approximate haunches-in in a manner likely to be useful and build the needed muscles. And maybe I am one of those people. It's possible.
However, when I line Birb up at a line of cones (to have a visual straight line and help me keep him tracking straight forward) and cant his butt away from the cones so that he's on three tracks... he stays mostly in three tracks with very little wobble and his trot does not die or speed up or grind to dust. He doesn't throw his shoulder out. He doesn't slide into a leg yield or fade his haunch-over. He pretty much trucks along, in trot, butt curved away from the cones, in a reasonably consistent manner.
I will try to get some video of this next weekend, weather permitting.
I can tell it's working for Bird because he blows hard, pink-nosed breathing, after one go in each direction. Haunches-in is HARD WORK for a horse who isn't super dressage fit. He gets tired quickly and loses all spring in his gait. And, once he's flab-o-licious, I go do something else. It's not useful to keep grinding on him when he's tired. He will get the most out of the work when he's able to do a Good Effort at it so when he's too tired to try anymore, we put it away and do something easy for him (like "Jog politely while I try to post without stirrups"). Also I can tell it's working because if I do haunches-in first, there's nothing left for canter work. His canter work is flat and not up and floaty because he's exhausted from the haunches-in work.
Last time I discussed dressage it was following the Fall DLB clinic wherein I whined a lot and resolved to work on my issues over the winter. That was, like, October. I have been working on my issues (and whining) over the winter.
Skunk cabbages are up. Regular lesson barn's insane crocuses are *flowering*. Many people have two inches of daffs above the ground. It's kind of like spring here. There is red budding on the trees along the river. I think all of this is a bit premature but whatever.
Has there been any progress? OF COURSE. (I am a legend in my own mind.) Footing has been muddy and stuff off and on. I haven't been steadily trudging my way along but I have been working on my shit.
How is the cantering coming? Bird can do about ten strides of lovely, light, uphill, balanced canter, twice, in each direction. Then he falls apart and no matter how many more times you ask, he ain't got it. Some of this is fitness. Okay, fine. MOST of this is fitness. He knows WHAT to do but he doesn't have the strength to do it for very long. Beating him more, obviously, will not help. Fitness exercises will help.
How do you improve a horse's fitness for dressage-style cantering?
1. Dressage-style canter, in gradually increasing amounts. This is great when there is footing that can support cantering. (I work in a hayfield. Sometimes it is muddy/slippery and we don't want to tear it up to shreds because WE NEED HAY FROM IT IN THE SUMMER. There is not a "ring" option unless I throw the horse on a trailer.) I am working on this when I can, and it's going OK. We are definitely better on our left lead than our right so I try to do more work on the right lead than the left.
2. Lateral work, specifically haunches-in. Mostly I just like going sideways and I do not care if I do it perfectly or not. BUT, and this is the main thing, Ye Old Dead Mare Nicknick put on an amount of beefiness that was absolutely insane in the space of three months. Like, she got four inches wider and rounder all over until she looked like a little carousel horse. And what we did for the bulk (get it?) of those three months was trot back and forth on the road track through the hayfield doing our best effort at haunches-in.
I have video of this, shitty video showing us being shitty. It's here. I KNOW WE SUCK. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO TELL ME THAT. I do not encourage commentary if you're going to be all "OMG you were horrible to your (now dead) mare and you deserve to be shamed". Like, don't do that. Mare's dead now and I miss her dearly so don't shit all over my memories.
Anyway. Haunches-in, ideally, is a movement wherein your horse proceeds in a straight line (not in a shitty, wavy line like the dead mare and I are doing) at a CONSISTENT amount of bend (not over bent and then under bent and then ok for a bit and then over bent again, like the dead mare and I are doing) with the hindquarters of the horse towards the "inside" of the track. You're gonna do this WITH rhythm and WITH all the qualities that you'd hope to have in decent working gait, only also now adding this shape. Good luck, soldier.
Here's a much better video showing NOT SHITTY haunches-in by an actual dressage person. Look at this to see it done better and also done wrong. It's a dynamic thing. You have to troubleshoot as you go along... to help your horse hold the shape and move it along. When you and your horse get better at it, you don't have the huge over-corrections and stuff that you can see with me and the dead mare.
Haunches-in is a second-level movement. There is no earthly reason I should even be attempting this with my horse except (a) the ground is too muddy to canter on sometimes and (b) he's aware of WHAT to do, just doesn't have enough strength to do it all day and (c) he needs to build ab muscles and buff up the HQ for better loading so that he can canter better. Haunches-in will build ab muscles and buff up the HQ.
The problem with using haunches-in as a tool to get to "better canter" mostly is that it is not an accessible, easy-to-use tool for a lot of folks who need "better canter". Most of the people who need basic "better canter" are not going to be able to approximate haunches-in in a manner likely to be useful and build the needed muscles. And maybe I am one of those people. It's possible.
However, when I line Birb up at a line of cones (to have a visual straight line and help me keep him tracking straight forward) and cant his butt away from the cones so that he's on three tracks... he stays mostly in three tracks with very little wobble and his trot does not die or speed up or grind to dust. He doesn't throw his shoulder out. He doesn't slide into a leg yield or fade his haunch-over. He pretty much trucks along, in trot, butt curved away from the cones, in a reasonably consistent manner.
I will try to get some video of this next weekend, weather permitting.
I can tell it's working for Bird because he blows hard, pink-nosed breathing, after one go in each direction. Haunches-in is HARD WORK for a horse who isn't super dressage fit. He gets tired quickly and loses all spring in his gait. And, once he's flab-o-licious, I go do something else. It's not useful to keep grinding on him when he's tired. He will get the most out of the work when he's able to do a Good Effort at it so when he's too tired to try anymore, we put it away and do something easy for him (like "Jog politely while I try to post without stirrups"). Also I can tell it's working because if I do haunches-in first, there's nothing left for canter work. His canter work is flat and not up and floaty because he's exhausted from the haunches-in work.
