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which_chickWe have Fall DLB tomorrow AM. I feel like it's been a shit summer with the endless ninety degree temps and no rain for, like, July. I didn't get as much done with the Birb as I'd hoped to this year.
Flying changes? Lolnope.
Walk-canter-walk? Hah. Not in these parts... pardner.
Not exactly. There are flickers of improvement. I have made some strides in my understanding of the building blocks necessary to get to these goals. It's always, always, always go back to your fundamentals and fix your shit. Like, that's the only fucking thing that ever works. It's a lesson I apparently need to learn anew every fucking time, too. 'Cause of course this time will be different and special and not like every other time I ever tried to learn to do something with the horse. You'd think I would eventually start to see the pattern? But no.
I don't know how dressage coaches can be so upbeat and cheerleader-y when this is the single useful piece of advice they can offer, an advice that must be repackaged and re-presented in endless ways until the hapless student finally tries a bite. It's like feeding a toddler lima beans or something.
So how 'bout them flickers? (Do recall that I'm over here finding my way without a schoolmaster horse or a trainer to do the hard parts behind the scenes for me. I don't really know what I am doing, which should be obvious to all by now, and that's part of why it's taking so damn long.)
To do walk-canter-walk, you need to have a pretty organized, tidy small canter. It can't be a shuffling trope thing, it has to be a canter but smaller and not super fast. You need a canter that can be walked from. So, I've been trying to find out what kind of canter that might be and how to get it.
Can there be a smaller, more organized, tidier canter WITH LOFT? (Our previous smaller, more organized, tidier canter efforts killed the canter and generated a shitshow shuffle of forehanded fail. That was not ideal. Even I know that was not ideal.) Yes! At this point, I can ask for MORE LOFT and not get WHEEE MOAR SPEED. Like, same speed but more loftier. Nice. In a Blinding Flash Of The Obvious over here, I suddenly realized that to get a smol loft cantr, you have to ask for it. You can't just sit up there like a fuck knuckle hoping it will materialize. (Hope is shockingly useless as a method of getting your horse to do things. Riding the horse with a plan works a lot better.)
Pro tip: When you start asking for smol loft cantr, there will maybe at first be some *whee* efforts where your horse misunderstands your ask. That's OK. He is not being bad or trying to kill you. Slow him down, gently, go back to start, try again. Nobody ever died from exhuberant whee canter.
Can I get from larger, slightly freer and more expansive canter to smol loft cantr? Yes. And it's not a shitshow!!! (Having things not-be-a-shitshow here is definitely 3 exclamation point territory.) It's not instant but in about four strides, I can compress and organize and fluff the everyday canter to acceptable smol loft cantr status. I can also expand the smol loft cantr back to everyday canter, also not a shitshow.
Pro tip: The first couple of times you try asking for everyday canter to turn into smol loft cantr, your horse may break to trot because he doesn't understand what you want. It might even be a decent trot. But, important, he's not trying to be bad. He literally does not know what you're doing up there what with all Trying Not To Be A Fuck Knuckle, this is new for him too. He does not get what you are going for. Keep trying in a "Nah, buddy, that's not it, let's give it another go" sort of way. Keep it low pressure -- you want him to keep trying and you don't want him stressed or upset.
Wait a minute, your whole flickers of improvement thing is... a greater understanding of available canter flavors and how to switch between them?
Yes.
...
...
That's it?
Yes. And like 10m canter circles that are not complete fail. They help with shaping and maintaining a smol loft cantr. They are a great way to check and see if you have a smol loft cantr or not because if you can 10M canter circle, you are doing OK on smol loft cantr.
Did you visit counter canter AT ALL?
Nope. Still terrifies me. I'm working on my fear issues though and I think smol loft cantr will help on that front. It's way more organized and controlled. Better balanced, too. Less terror is a possibility.
We'll see what DLB has to offer. Maybe she will have some thoughts on useful wintertime homework.
Flying changes? Lolnope.
Walk-canter-walk? Hah. Not in these parts... pardner.
Not exactly. There are flickers of improvement. I have made some strides in my understanding of the building blocks necessary to get to these goals. It's always, always, always go back to your fundamentals and fix your shit. Like, that's the only fucking thing that ever works. It's a lesson I apparently need to learn anew every fucking time, too. 'Cause of course this time will be different and special and not like every other time I ever tried to learn to do something with the horse. You'd think I would eventually start to see the pattern? But no.
I don't know how dressage coaches can be so upbeat and cheerleader-y when this is the single useful piece of advice they can offer, an advice that must be repackaged and re-presented in endless ways until the hapless student finally tries a bite. It's like feeding a toddler lima beans or something.
So how 'bout them flickers? (Do recall that I'm over here finding my way without a schoolmaster horse or a trainer to do the hard parts behind the scenes for me. I don't really know what I am doing, which should be obvious to all by now, and that's part of why it's taking so damn long.)
To do walk-canter-walk, you need to have a pretty organized, tidy small canter. It can't be a shuffling trope thing, it has to be a canter but smaller and not super fast. You need a canter that can be walked from. So, I've been trying to find out what kind of canter that might be and how to get it.
Can there be a smaller, more organized, tidier canter WITH LOFT? (Our previous smaller, more organized, tidier canter efforts killed the canter and generated a shitshow shuffle of forehanded fail. That was not ideal. Even I know that was not ideal.) Yes! At this point, I can ask for MORE LOFT and not get WHEEE MOAR SPEED. Like, same speed but more loftier. Nice. In a Blinding Flash Of The Obvious over here, I suddenly realized that to get a smol loft cantr, you have to ask for it. You can't just sit up there like a fuck knuckle hoping it will materialize. (Hope is shockingly useless as a method of getting your horse to do things. Riding the horse with a plan works a lot better.)
Pro tip: When you start asking for smol loft cantr, there will maybe at first be some *whee* efforts where your horse misunderstands your ask. That's OK. He is not being bad or trying to kill you. Slow him down, gently, go back to start, try again. Nobody ever died from exhuberant whee canter.
Can I get from larger, slightly freer and more expansive canter to smol loft cantr? Yes. And it's not a shitshow!!! (Having things not-be-a-shitshow here is definitely 3 exclamation point territory.) It's not instant but in about four strides, I can compress and organize and fluff the everyday canter to acceptable smol loft cantr status. I can also expand the smol loft cantr back to everyday canter, also not a shitshow.
Pro tip: The first couple of times you try asking for everyday canter to turn into smol loft cantr, your horse may break to trot because he doesn't understand what you want. It might even be a decent trot. But, important, he's not trying to be bad. He literally does not know what you're doing up there what with all Trying Not To Be A Fuck Knuckle, this is new for him too. He does not get what you are going for. Keep trying in a "Nah, buddy, that's not it, let's give it another go" sort of way. Keep it low pressure -- you want him to keep trying and you don't want him stressed or upset.
Wait a minute, your whole flickers of improvement thing is... a greater understanding of available canter flavors and how to switch between them?
Yes.
...
...
That's it?
Yes. And like 10m canter circles that are not complete fail. They help with shaping and maintaining a smol loft cantr. They are a great way to check and see if you have a smol loft cantr or not because if you can 10M canter circle, you are doing OK on smol loft cantr.
Did you visit counter canter AT ALL?
Nope. Still terrifies me. I'm working on my fear issues though and I think smol loft cantr will help on that front. It's way more organized and controlled. Better balanced, too. Less terror is a possibility.
We'll see what DLB has to offer. Maybe she will have some thoughts on useful wintertime homework.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-07 02:38 am (UTC)yep. Also, I have no idea how clinicians keep from beating us over the head.
Sounds like some good progress, though.
The problem with the whee!canter is that I also go whee! and get distracted. lol