DLB November Part 1
Nov. 7th, 2022 07:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickSo we have DLB in November this year. Normally I would have passed on this opportunity, but given that the horse trailer is busy in the temperate seasons doing Ag Drone Work and given that we are Almost Ready For Flying Changes, I figured we might benefit with some tips for independent study over the winter months. Also the economy is in the shitter so toss a coin to your Witcher.
I talked to DLB (who is aware of my shitshow horse lyfe) about winter independent study criteria:
The footing is suspect.
The horse (unblanketed/unclipped) can't be sweated up.
I'd like to focus on Flying Change Readiness work so that we can hit the ground running on that project come spring.
LOL. Because I want a horse that can skip. (Those of you who think that "I want a horse that can skip" is a less-valid reason than "I want to ride tempi changes for my dressage test" for working on this shit are wrong. They are the same reason. One just sounds more official.)
DLB's curriculum is as follows (and I will have a chance to revisit these and possibly others -- sometimes she thinks about stuff and bring back more ideas -- next week at November DLB Part Two to cement them in my mind):
Squares. Walk one side, 90 degree turn, walk one side, 90 degree turn, etc. Mix it up with trot the sides (still 90 degree turns in walk) or leg yield the sides (for a more rhombus affair). Do squares. I hate squares (boring AND hard) but we can do them. This is for abs, also finesse and precision in aids, patience for horse, clarity from rider.
Transitions through movements. For example, establish walking shoulder-in. Pick up trot while not losing shoulder-in. Trot in shoulder-in a bit, then go back to walk also without losing shoulder-in. This is an exercise for better control and isolation of aids, more precision from rider, better attention to precision from horse. I suspect progress in this exercise will also relocate a lot of gait control from legs to seat so that shapes can be better maintained through the transition. I can do transitions though leg yield, we've done that before for DLB, but more complicated shapes are... harder. We tried shoulder-fore-ish efforts from walk to trot for DLB and I have hysterical video of Bird being all "Oh? You want trot? Let me just straighten out for you real quick and then we can trot." Here is that video. All I could do was laugh. There is a lot of meat to chew through for this exercise and I doubt I will get it all eaten before the end of winter. (Surprisingly this one is more fun for me than squares. Ugh, squares. The Swiss Chard of exercises -- good for me but an unpleasant chore to consume.)
Adjustability within gait. Get walk. Make walk bigger/stretchier (but not faster). Make walk smaller/uppier (but not slower). Get trot. Make trot bigger/bolder (think "power" rather than "speed"), horse to stretch down and forward into the rein. Make trot smaller/higher (sit-n-lift with the same amount of energy). These can be worked in canter should the footing/weather cooperate. Think about clear, prompt, definite changes here -- step function, not sine wave. This is a fun-for-me exercise and it'll get worked without having to talk myself into it.
Shoulder-in on a circle. Y'know how gofundme's have, like, stretch goals? This is a stretch goal. It's weird how much fiddly and hard this is. It's super difficult and the balance has to be spot on. We'll work on it at home, but wow, it's hard. This is in walk, also if walk is OK (lol) it can be in trot but that's a good ways off. We can barely manage like 1/4 of a circle in walk. Also kind of looking forward to playing with this. It's... interesting.
For all of these exercises, I'm to spend some time focusing on him taking both reins all the time. He is not 100% in both reins all the time and this is largely a me problem. Anyway, it's a fiddly, nitpicky thing to get settled, best addressed at low speeds, that we can totally pursue during the winter months while trying to get all this other shit done. Better following elbows (me) and longer leg on bulging side (me) and some responsibility for being in both reins (him, but he will only get there by way of gentle and consistent explanations from me which, obvi, I am slacking on).
And again, DLB says I do not give myself enough credit for the hard work I am doing, or something. Yeah, well. "Give self more credit for progress" is not actually one of the winter directives so that's not gonna get worked on a whole lot.
I talked to DLB (who is aware of my shitshow horse lyfe) about winter independent study criteria:
The footing is suspect.
The horse (unblanketed/unclipped) can't be sweated up.
I'd like to focus on Flying Change Readiness work so that we can hit the ground running on that project come spring.
LOL. Because I want a horse that can skip. (Those of you who think that "I want a horse that can skip" is a less-valid reason than "I want to ride tempi changes for my dressage test" for working on this shit are wrong. They are the same reason. One just sounds more official.)
DLB's curriculum is as follows (and I will have a chance to revisit these and possibly others -- sometimes she thinks about stuff and bring back more ideas -- next week at November DLB Part Two to cement them in my mind):
Squares. Walk one side, 90 degree turn, walk one side, 90 degree turn, etc. Mix it up with trot the sides (still 90 degree turns in walk) or leg yield the sides (for a more rhombus affair). Do squares. I hate squares (boring AND hard) but we can do them. This is for abs, also finesse and precision in aids, patience for horse, clarity from rider.
Transitions through movements. For example, establish walking shoulder-in. Pick up trot while not losing shoulder-in. Trot in shoulder-in a bit, then go back to walk also without losing shoulder-in. This is an exercise for better control and isolation of aids, more precision from rider, better attention to precision from horse. I suspect progress in this exercise will also relocate a lot of gait control from legs to seat so that shapes can be better maintained through the transition. I can do transitions though leg yield, we've done that before for DLB, but more complicated shapes are... harder. We tried shoulder-fore-ish efforts from walk to trot for DLB and I have hysterical video of Bird being all "Oh? You want trot? Let me just straighten out for you real quick and then we can trot." Here is that video. All I could do was laugh. There is a lot of meat to chew through for this exercise and I doubt I will get it all eaten before the end of winter. (Surprisingly this one is more fun for me than squares. Ugh, squares. The Swiss Chard of exercises -- good for me but an unpleasant chore to consume.)
Adjustability within gait. Get walk. Make walk bigger/stretchier (but not faster). Make walk smaller/uppier (but not slower). Get trot. Make trot bigger/bolder (think "power" rather than "speed"), horse to stretch down and forward into the rein. Make trot smaller/higher (sit-n-lift with the same amount of energy). These can be worked in canter should the footing/weather cooperate. Think about clear, prompt, definite changes here -- step function, not sine wave. This is a fun-for-me exercise and it'll get worked without having to talk myself into it.
Shoulder-in on a circle. Y'know how gofundme's have, like, stretch goals? This is a stretch goal. It's weird how much fiddly and hard this is. It's super difficult and the balance has to be spot on. We'll work on it at home, but wow, it's hard. This is in walk, also if walk is OK (lol) it can be in trot but that's a good ways off. We can barely manage like 1/4 of a circle in walk. Also kind of looking forward to playing with this. It's... interesting.
For all of these exercises, I'm to spend some time focusing on him taking both reins all the time. He is not 100% in both reins all the time and this is largely a me problem. Anyway, it's a fiddly, nitpicky thing to get settled, best addressed at low speeds, that we can totally pursue during the winter months while trying to get all this other shit done. Better following elbows (me) and longer leg on bulging side (me) and some responsibility for being in both reins (him, but he will only get there by way of gentle and consistent explanations from me which, obvi, I am slacking on).
And again, DLB says I do not give myself enough credit for the hard work I am doing, or something. Yeah, well. "Give self more credit for progress" is not actually one of the winter directives so that's not gonna get worked on a whole lot.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-09 02:47 am (UTC)Yeah, well. "Give self more credit for progress" is not actually one of the winter directives so that's not gonna get worked on a whole lot.
{{{hugs}}}
no subject
Date: 2022-11-10 12:43 am (UTC)Honestly, not sure that instructing dressage is the right field for people who want to have happy, proud learners. It truly seems to attract type A women of a certain age, which is not... not where I'd go for happy, proud learners.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-12 02:56 pm (UTC)Yeah, we are of a sort.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-20 11:17 am (UTC)Be happy and proud as learners! You are brilliant, and you shouldn't let the fact that you've seen a year or two in the world diminish you. It only means you are clearly made of good enough stuff to still be setting yourself goals and working towards them. That's something to be damn well proud of. It's easy to just think "well, this has worked for me so far, lets stick with it".
You are choosing to place yourself upon the back of a creature many times your own mass, and speed capacity, and you are choosing to motivate this creature to learn and do things they find tricky and challenging, all through a communication method that's not native to either party. You are attempting to teach as you learn. Of course there are going to be hickups along the way. That does not reflect poorly upon you at all. It just means it is a tricky task, and you can have pride in the fact you are attempting it anyway.
That said, saccharine communication is difficult to endure.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-13 03:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-11-20 11:02 am (UTC)But wanting a horse that skips is far more noble a goal than wanting what amounts to approval from an external source. Not that there is anything wrong with wanting the approval. But wanting fun results for oneself at the end of a long journey of effort is even better.
"Oh? You want trot? Let me just straighten out for you real quick and then we can trot." Oh! So relatable! With horses for sure, but also with self. Why do the difficult but good for you thing when you can just go the simple path? Did a thing, will now do a different thing! Not both things... that's just madness.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-13 03:30 am (UTC)