DLB August Edition
Aug. 31st, 2020 07:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickSo, fall edition of DLB. How did it go?
It went. Truck ran really well and solidly. Yay truck!
I signed up for two days of clinic, Friday and Saturday.
Day 1 was an 11 AM ride (switched from 9 AM because another rider had trailer-pooling schedule issues) which was still before the heat of the day. About twelve or fifteen minutes into our ride, Birb tripped in canter on his left hind and stumbled pretty impressively and then seemed a bit... tight on it. He wasn't limping, but he was... not as free as he usually moves. So we didn't do a whole lot after that out of concern for the horse's well-being. Oh, well.
However, I'd really worked on my notes from last time, which were to be more deliberate about downward transitions and ride through them instead of just quitting riding, to work on leg yield zig-zags (for a reason that was not particularly clear to me at the time), and to go for a buffed trot right off the bat.
Goal 1: More deliberate about downward transitions -- showing progress, but now downwards transitions contain a moment of "hold" wherein it is very clear that I am getting my ducks in a row to transition downward. Perhaps a more liquid and flow-y downward would be better. What I should be going for here is a smooth curve and not a step function.
Goal 2: She didn't even ask for me to demonstrate leg yield zig-zags. I figured she'd forgotten about them. However leg yield zig-zags made a tangential appearance on day 2 so I will set them to the side for the day 1 recap.
Goal 3: buffed trot right off the bat. Some progress. She would like it more buffed, though. Commented that we were making progress but that there's more to do here. I felt like we were going to do more with that during the Friday ride but then horse tripped over nothing in a stone dust ring and meh.
So I put horse in stall and we threw a magic electric blanket thing on him for a while and afterwards fed him some bute and turned him out in a small paddock with a shelter that I guarantee you he did not step one foot in despite the downpour. (It was a suspicious looking shelter floor. He was nonplussed.) The small paddock was to facilitate moving around, which he would not do so much of in a stall.
It poured that afternoon, making me thankful I had selected a morning ride slot. The weather for the following day was projected to be similarly downpour-ish... and DLB was a drowned rat by the end of Friday. She tried, but seriously, it was a monsoon out there. (When I got home to my house, my DSL was shot. Frontier promises to send someone out on Thursday next to look at it. Not that I, y'know, NEED my internet or anything. Sure, I can wait a fucking week to get it fixed. No problem.)
As it was Monsoon Friday with more of the same predicted for Saturday and as one of the Saturday clinic riders had an indoor, some 30 minutes away, she offered it up for the Saturday morning clinic riders as an alternate plan to avoid the predicted Monsoon Saturday.
Instructor jumped on that offer -- it poured all night long up to about 6 AM on Saturday with more predicted for the day until lunch, so we instituted the rain plan at the 6:30 AM decision time. Since I threatened Bird the night before with being beaten to death with his left hind if he was gimping on it by dawn, he made the wise choice and trotted sound in the morning. I tossed him on the trailer and drove 30 minutes west as part of the caravan to the aforementioned indoor.
The indoor was pretty amazing. It had mirrors. It had light. (I have pictures of this.) It had super-fancy cushy polymer-coated sand called Pinnacle from Attwood. ($Lady only mentioned this because someone asked what kind of footing it was and where she got it. She was not bragging.) The footing probably cost more than the indoor. Seriously, it was the best footing I have ever walked on. Footing holds shape a little but doesn't pack down. Horses track well in it. It's cushiony without being TOO cushiony. Has good grip. Zero dust. Not "dry". Not "wet". Just perfect. Two thumbs up. Anyway, the entire facility was Very Nice, a field trip to how the other half lives.
It would be easy to be shitty about $Lady and $Horse because they have shitbuckets of money, but honestly? I saw them ride at a previous DLB clinic. I saw them ride on Saturday at their very nice indoor. $Lady and $Horse (who is a decently made mare, not a $$$$ horse, moves kind of like an ex-western pleasure horse learning a new career and succeeding in that objective) are quite a nice pair. $Lady and $Horse are working on their issues and demonstrated steady and thoughtful progress from last time I saw them to this time. Like, VISIBLE progress. Also, $Lady seems to genuinely like $Horse. $Horse tries hard and is making a Good Effort at changing careers.
So, while $Lady is loaded and has the sort of lovely (non-commercial) facilty you can buy if you have better than a hundred grand and some land and want A Horse Facility installed upon same, she also genuinely seems to like her nice (but not spectacular) horse and is working (herself, not A Trainer) on their joint progress. It isn't her fault she has money and if I could afford that stuff, probably I would have it, too. (And in all honesty, having that stuff would still not make me nice like her.) She didn't have to offer her amazingly nice indoor for us to clinic in so that we wouldn't get drowned in the projected Monsoon Saturday. Having offered her facility, she didn't have to be kind and welcoming. She didn't have to set out snacks for us. She didn't have to watch the other riders and be 100% supportive and not-catty about their rides.
So, while $Lady has the sort of money I only dream about, she is also a generous hostess, kind and supportive to other riders, visibly fond of her horse, and developing her own riding instead of buying success (which she totally could afford). Go $Lady. Go $Horse. I sincerely hope they do well in their gorgeous indoor and look forward to seeing their progress next year with DLB.
For our ride, I really liked the mirrors. Did you know that with mirrors at the ends of the long sides, you can SEE THE HORSE DO THE THING?? Omg that is so amazing! I have spent a lifetime in the hayfield with legend in my own mind status going "Is he doing the thing? I think this is the thing. I hope we're doing the thing. This seems like the thing. Trys, is he doing the thing?" and shit if you have mirrors you can just look in them and boom, there's your shoulder-in, three tracks, done. Hunh. I had no idea. You can SEE when it gets too angled or overcorrects to not angled enough.
DLB had us work on walk-trot transitions and having them be more-buffed to start with, start off better in a better walk and pick up the better trot to start with. This was somewhat successful but we do need to hammer away at it some more.
Rider position and posting technique needs to improve, with effort aimed at hip-shoulder alignment and landing softly and lightly toward the pommel of the saddle. (Successful deployment of this posting technique prevents heel grinding because it is impossible to post this way and grind heel. They are mutually exclusive things.) Also in general, I need to get more forwarding from him in ring environments and this is an ongoing issue. Ugh.
Then we worked on other buffing of trot. DLB looks for (thus far) two sorts of buffing of trot. The first, which we have seen before, is quick-quick leg to get horse to organize legs underneath him. The other buffing (new this time, and apparently only introduced when you have a reliable quick-quick buffing going on) is a more steady sort of aid, a bit slower, in rhythm with every other stride, the point being to add more air time to the trot. I cannot feel the difference between these two sorts of trot yet, but I will work on it. There does seem to have been some sort of difference, according to DLB's more-experienced eye, so perhaps it will become more clear to me with further study.
Also we worked on figures. (Rather than hammering the quality of gait, the figure stuff seems like it's more looking at the rider using balanced and coordinated aids to Do Things in an already-existing reasonable working gait. (Trot buffing is more about getting a better quality of gait while working in a non-challenging "on the rail" or "on quarterline, leg yielding to the rail" sort of framework. If we're buffing trot, the figures are easier so that one may focus on trot buffing while undistracted by the challenge of steering.) So, this starts off with big circles and stuff but then moves on to like "On next quarterline, shoulder-fore and then at B leg-yield to the side" or "make a 10 meter circle at E and then establish shoulder-fore when you rejoin the rail". It's not like a test worth of movements, but it is totally stringing together two or three things.
During figures, I got some compliments on the timing of my aids (as in "The timing and precision of your aids has improved so much!") and my positioning of self through the figures and transitions. Apparently I do not lean nor do I yank the horse around to make him bend into new shapes. (He gets shitty if you try that stuff.) I also apparently have some understanding of what I'm supposed to be making the horse do in terms of the various shapes and stuff. So that's kind of validating. Also we're getting to do shoulder-fore things on quarterlines which suggests we do not need training wheels for this exercise.
But, this is where the zig-zag leg yields come in. We didn't DO leg yield zig-zags for DLB, but I mentioned at last DLB clinic notes that the leg yield zig-zags were VERY DISAPPOINTING unless the rider asks for Initial Step Over when the front leg towards where the leg yield is headed is coming off the ground. If rider wants to go left, rider should ask when the left front leg is coming off the ground.
I have previously mentioned the somewhat Miyagi (Karate Kid, "Wax On, Wax Off") nature of exercises from DLB. And I found the leg yield zig-zags a Miyagi exercise, too. DLB said to go home and drill leg yield zig-zags WITHOUT EVER MENTIONING THAT THEY DO A HELL OF A LOT BETTER IF YOU GET THE RHYTHM AND TIMING STRAIGHTENED OUT. Like, she didn't make explicit that point.
*sigh*
When the point of the exercise is not made clear to the rider (me), then the frustration level skyrockets. When I don't know WHY we are doing leg yield zig-zags, then I have to go home and notice that they suck dog shit and then figure out WHY they suck and try various things to make them NOT-SUCK-SO-MUCH. But, if instructor, at the front end, could maybe say "The timing of your lateral aids is not as good as I think it should be. An exercise that will really help with this is leg yield zig-zags. Pay attention to when you cue for the step over and try to coordinate it with the front leg on that side stepping forward. Once you lock in the timing, the exercise will ride much better and you will know that your aid timing has improved." then I could skip the fuming and figuring-out part and just move to achieving the objective.
Leg yield zig-zags are a shitshow if the rider doesn't get the timing and rhythm straightened out. I put some serious effort into making them less shitshow and experimented. The solution I found for a better zig-zag was to ask when the leg on the side where I wanted to go was coming off the ground. (As mentioned previously, in trot horses only have two legs and exhibit a very clear rhythm. I find trot a lot easier to organize than walk, so I worked it mostly in trot.) But given that DLB likely already knew the WHY of the exercise, she could have just fucking said. It is not better or more valid or more useful for me to fume impotently at home and discover this on my own than it is to be told the why. You could just tell me the why.
My efforts at Wax On, Wax Off did improve the timing of aids for all manner of figures and apparently this was immediately visible even though we didn't get to display our leg yield zig-zags for DLB.
Also, a running theme for this session of DLB (with many riders, not just me) is "do not be blocking" and largely this is evidenced by holding stiff one's elbows or sitting towards the back of the saddle. Sit more towards pommel, always. Keep hips in line with shoulders. If it doesn't hurt in hip flexors you are not doing it right. If you are not sweating, you are not doing it right. Sit LIGHTLY LIGHTLY. Allegedly this helps with the better trot at the outset. It sure as hell takes away the ability to grind one's heel.
I think I need to be more fit for this shit. Ugh. I am commencing a fitness initiative because like five minutes of better posting and I was sweating like a pig.
Corners could be better but of course we do not have corners in the hayfield. Inside leg on turns should resemble shoulder-fore instead of sliding back to no purpose. This, I can fix.
Also we should work on canter circles with leg yield out a bit on the circle. Not like all at once, but a step or two, then a break, then try again. She would like progress on the canter leg yield thing and we have largely ignored it for a while.
Finally we had the box thing. Walk straight. At the corner of your imaginary box, keeping horse straight, halt square and pretty. Then pivot him, deliberately and with a straight body, to the new direction. Rider doesn't lean. Horse doesn't llama or lean or bow out ribcage or anything. (We can do ONE STEP. But the idea is to pivot in quarter turns to the new direction for a square. We are to work on this and build it.)
I do not like the box thing. It's fussy as fuck. It's a finesse thing, with precision in the aids. I think we'll be able to do it, eventually, but it is inherently the sort of thing that is going to frustrate me in the practice of it.
It went. Truck ran really well and solidly. Yay truck!
I signed up for two days of clinic, Friday and Saturday.
Day 1 was an 11 AM ride (switched from 9 AM because another rider had trailer-pooling schedule issues) which was still before the heat of the day. About twelve or fifteen minutes into our ride, Birb tripped in canter on his left hind and stumbled pretty impressively and then seemed a bit... tight on it. He wasn't limping, but he was... not as free as he usually moves. So we didn't do a whole lot after that out of concern for the horse's well-being. Oh, well.
However, I'd really worked on my notes from last time, which were to be more deliberate about downward transitions and ride through them instead of just quitting riding, to work on leg yield zig-zags (for a reason that was not particularly clear to me at the time), and to go for a buffed trot right off the bat.
Goal 1: More deliberate about downward transitions -- showing progress, but now downwards transitions contain a moment of "hold" wherein it is very clear that I am getting my ducks in a row to transition downward. Perhaps a more liquid and flow-y downward would be better. What I should be going for here is a smooth curve and not a step function.
Goal 2: She didn't even ask for me to demonstrate leg yield zig-zags. I figured she'd forgotten about them. However leg yield zig-zags made a tangential appearance on day 2 so I will set them to the side for the day 1 recap.
Goal 3: buffed trot right off the bat. Some progress. She would like it more buffed, though. Commented that we were making progress but that there's more to do here. I felt like we were going to do more with that during the Friday ride but then horse tripped over nothing in a stone dust ring and meh.
So I put horse in stall and we threw a magic electric blanket thing on him for a while and afterwards fed him some bute and turned him out in a small paddock with a shelter that I guarantee you he did not step one foot in despite the downpour. (It was a suspicious looking shelter floor. He was nonplussed.) The small paddock was to facilitate moving around, which he would not do so much of in a stall.
It poured that afternoon, making me thankful I had selected a morning ride slot. The weather for the following day was projected to be similarly downpour-ish... and DLB was a drowned rat by the end of Friday. She tried, but seriously, it was a monsoon out there. (When I got home to my house, my DSL was shot. Frontier promises to send someone out on Thursday next to look at it. Not that I, y'know, NEED my internet or anything. Sure, I can wait a fucking week to get it fixed. No problem.)
As it was Monsoon Friday with more of the same predicted for Saturday and as one of the Saturday clinic riders had an indoor, some 30 minutes away, she offered it up for the Saturday morning clinic riders as an alternate plan to avoid the predicted Monsoon Saturday.
Instructor jumped on that offer -- it poured all night long up to about 6 AM on Saturday with more predicted for the day until lunch, so we instituted the rain plan at the 6:30 AM decision time. Since I threatened Bird the night before with being beaten to death with his left hind if he was gimping on it by dawn, he made the wise choice and trotted sound in the morning. I tossed him on the trailer and drove 30 minutes west as part of the caravan to the aforementioned indoor.
The indoor was pretty amazing. It had mirrors. It had light. (I have pictures of this.) It had super-fancy cushy polymer-coated sand called Pinnacle from Attwood. ($Lady only mentioned this because someone asked what kind of footing it was and where she got it. She was not bragging.) The footing probably cost more than the indoor. Seriously, it was the best footing I have ever walked on. Footing holds shape a little but doesn't pack down. Horses track well in it. It's cushiony without being TOO cushiony. Has good grip. Zero dust. Not "dry". Not "wet". Just perfect. Two thumbs up. Anyway, the entire facility was Very Nice, a field trip to how the other half lives.
It would be easy to be shitty about $Lady and $Horse because they have shitbuckets of money, but honestly? I saw them ride at a previous DLB clinic. I saw them ride on Saturday at their very nice indoor. $Lady and $Horse (who is a decently made mare, not a $$$$ horse, moves kind of like an ex-western pleasure horse learning a new career and succeeding in that objective) are quite a nice pair. $Lady and $Horse are working on their issues and demonstrated steady and thoughtful progress from last time I saw them to this time. Like, VISIBLE progress. Also, $Lady seems to genuinely like $Horse. $Horse tries hard and is making a Good Effort at changing careers.
So, while $Lady is loaded and has the sort of lovely (non-commercial) facilty you can buy if you have better than a hundred grand and some land and want A Horse Facility installed upon same, she also genuinely seems to like her nice (but not spectacular) horse and is working (herself, not A Trainer) on their joint progress. It isn't her fault she has money and if I could afford that stuff, probably I would have it, too. (And in all honesty, having that stuff would still not make me nice like her.) She didn't have to offer her amazingly nice indoor for us to clinic in so that we wouldn't get drowned in the projected Monsoon Saturday. Having offered her facility, she didn't have to be kind and welcoming. She didn't have to set out snacks for us. She didn't have to watch the other riders and be 100% supportive and not-catty about their rides.
So, while $Lady has the sort of money I only dream about, she is also a generous hostess, kind and supportive to other riders, visibly fond of her horse, and developing her own riding instead of buying success (which she totally could afford). Go $Lady. Go $Horse. I sincerely hope they do well in their gorgeous indoor and look forward to seeing their progress next year with DLB.
For our ride, I really liked the mirrors. Did you know that with mirrors at the ends of the long sides, you can SEE THE HORSE DO THE THING?? Omg that is so amazing! I have spent a lifetime in the hayfield with legend in my own mind status going "Is he doing the thing? I think this is the thing. I hope we're doing the thing. This seems like the thing. Trys, is he doing the thing?" and shit if you have mirrors you can just look in them and boom, there's your shoulder-in, three tracks, done. Hunh. I had no idea. You can SEE when it gets too angled or overcorrects to not angled enough.
DLB had us work on walk-trot transitions and having them be more-buffed to start with, start off better in a better walk and pick up the better trot to start with. This was somewhat successful but we do need to hammer away at it some more.
Rider position and posting technique needs to improve, with effort aimed at hip-shoulder alignment and landing softly and lightly toward the pommel of the saddle. (Successful deployment of this posting technique prevents heel grinding because it is impossible to post this way and grind heel. They are mutually exclusive things.) Also in general, I need to get more forwarding from him in ring environments and this is an ongoing issue. Ugh.
Then we worked on other buffing of trot. DLB looks for (thus far) two sorts of buffing of trot. The first, which we have seen before, is quick-quick leg to get horse to organize legs underneath him. The other buffing (new this time, and apparently only introduced when you have a reliable quick-quick buffing going on) is a more steady sort of aid, a bit slower, in rhythm with every other stride, the point being to add more air time to the trot. I cannot feel the difference between these two sorts of trot yet, but I will work on it. There does seem to have been some sort of difference, according to DLB's more-experienced eye, so perhaps it will become more clear to me with further study.
Also we worked on figures. (Rather than hammering the quality of gait, the figure stuff seems like it's more looking at the rider using balanced and coordinated aids to Do Things in an already-existing reasonable working gait. (Trot buffing is more about getting a better quality of gait while working in a non-challenging "on the rail" or "on quarterline, leg yielding to the rail" sort of framework. If we're buffing trot, the figures are easier so that one may focus on trot buffing while undistracted by the challenge of steering.) So, this starts off with big circles and stuff but then moves on to like "On next quarterline, shoulder-fore and then at B leg-yield to the side" or "make a 10 meter circle at E and then establish shoulder-fore when you rejoin the rail". It's not like a test worth of movements, but it is totally stringing together two or three things.
During figures, I got some compliments on the timing of my aids (as in "The timing and precision of your aids has improved so much!") and my positioning of self through the figures and transitions. Apparently I do not lean nor do I yank the horse around to make him bend into new shapes. (He gets shitty if you try that stuff.) I also apparently have some understanding of what I'm supposed to be making the horse do in terms of the various shapes and stuff. So that's kind of validating. Also we're getting to do shoulder-fore things on quarterlines which suggests we do not need training wheels for this exercise.
But, this is where the zig-zag leg yields come in. We didn't DO leg yield zig-zags for DLB, but I mentioned at last DLB clinic notes that the leg yield zig-zags were VERY DISAPPOINTING unless the rider asks for Initial Step Over when the front leg towards where the leg yield is headed is coming off the ground. If rider wants to go left, rider should ask when the left front leg is coming off the ground.
I have previously mentioned the somewhat Miyagi (Karate Kid, "Wax On, Wax Off") nature of exercises from DLB. And I found the leg yield zig-zags a Miyagi exercise, too. DLB said to go home and drill leg yield zig-zags WITHOUT EVER MENTIONING THAT THEY DO A HELL OF A LOT BETTER IF YOU GET THE RHYTHM AND TIMING STRAIGHTENED OUT. Like, she didn't make explicit that point.
*sigh*
When the point of the exercise is not made clear to the rider (me), then the frustration level skyrockets. When I don't know WHY we are doing leg yield zig-zags, then I have to go home and notice that they suck dog shit and then figure out WHY they suck and try various things to make them NOT-SUCK-SO-MUCH. But, if instructor, at the front end, could maybe say "The timing of your lateral aids is not as good as I think it should be. An exercise that will really help with this is leg yield zig-zags. Pay attention to when you cue for the step over and try to coordinate it with the front leg on that side stepping forward. Once you lock in the timing, the exercise will ride much better and you will know that your aid timing has improved." then I could skip the fuming and figuring-out part and just move to achieving the objective.
Leg yield zig-zags are a shitshow if the rider doesn't get the timing and rhythm straightened out. I put some serious effort into making them less shitshow and experimented. The solution I found for a better zig-zag was to ask when the leg on the side where I wanted to go was coming off the ground. (As mentioned previously, in trot horses only have two legs and exhibit a very clear rhythm. I find trot a lot easier to organize than walk, so I worked it mostly in trot.) But given that DLB likely already knew the WHY of the exercise, she could have just fucking said. It is not better or more valid or more useful for me to fume impotently at home and discover this on my own than it is to be told the why. You could just tell me the why.
My efforts at Wax On, Wax Off did improve the timing of aids for all manner of figures and apparently this was immediately visible even though we didn't get to display our leg yield zig-zags for DLB.
Also, a running theme for this session of DLB (with many riders, not just me) is "do not be blocking" and largely this is evidenced by holding stiff one's elbows or sitting towards the back of the saddle. Sit more towards pommel, always. Keep hips in line with shoulders. If it doesn't hurt in hip flexors you are not doing it right. If you are not sweating, you are not doing it right. Sit LIGHTLY LIGHTLY. Allegedly this helps with the better trot at the outset. It sure as hell takes away the ability to grind one's heel.
I think I need to be more fit for this shit. Ugh. I am commencing a fitness initiative because like five minutes of better posting and I was sweating like a pig.
Corners could be better but of course we do not have corners in the hayfield. Inside leg on turns should resemble shoulder-fore instead of sliding back to no purpose. This, I can fix.
Also we should work on canter circles with leg yield out a bit on the circle. Not like all at once, but a step or two, then a break, then try again. She would like progress on the canter leg yield thing and we have largely ignored it for a while.
Finally we had the box thing. Walk straight. At the corner of your imaginary box, keeping horse straight, halt square and pretty. Then pivot him, deliberately and with a straight body, to the new direction. Rider doesn't lean. Horse doesn't llama or lean or bow out ribcage or anything. (We can do ONE STEP. But the idea is to pivot in quarter turns to the new direction for a square. We are to work on this and build it.)
I do not like the box thing. It's fussy as fuck. It's a finesse thing, with precision in the aids. I think we'll be able to do it, eventually, but it is inherently the sort of thing that is going to frustrate me in the practice of it.
