Dressage Lesson Diary

I do hope you carry on with the diary it is interesting reading.

Winter causes the nicest horses to turn a little nutty. I had to dig very deep schooling the ginger one the other night due to similar reasons.
 
So nice of you OwnedbyChanter to tell me that even you who are younger and fitter had problems just now. I guess that I and my current RI too just expected my progress to continue the same as learning any normal subject! The uselessness definitely attributed to me and not the pony!
I got really low and fed up and frightened of the spooking and canter too and eventually dragged myself off for a lunge lesson.
Following this there came a still, sunny day with no building work or other distractions and I rode Lady the pony as if in a dream. She did all I asked so softly - back up, transitions, turns and then canter including across the diagonal and down the three quarter line and all so easy. She eventually got the message and flew.
RI thinks it may be that I take three or four lessons to get used to a horse. And I was ever so happy just with the riding and the sunshine and my depression lifted. Which is what riding does for me. Must resolve through thick and thin to ride twice a week.
The next thing on my list for this pony is canter transitions on the long side of the school - She is a lesson horse for beginners and only knows canter at corners - and on circles. I've also decided, since she is so tiny and I got puffed, to ride 20 x 40 tests in a 20 x 40 area, and not enlarge them to 20 x 60 as I did on the larger and speedier horses.
But it could well be another dire day of wind and unsettled pony.
 
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Skib please keep it up, I'm glad you had a lovely ride on Lady and it lifted your spirits. :) I think riding like most things we are learning to do is something that we are always learning no matter how good we are and we all have days when things don't go to plan. Keep on keeping on and even on the days it doesn't go well you will still be learning from it.
 
I do appreciate your interest. And tho I had thought it pointless keeping a diary of lessons, in the old days I used to make lesson notes to remind me what I had learned.
Here then are the lesson notes I would have made anyway - on one of the best riding lessons. I mean best in terms of what I learned.
It is on leg yield.

This was not a normal lesson because of gusty cold weather and because I had been up till 1.00 a.m. the night before, waiting for our computer to finish installing upgrades to Windows, after a malware attack. I dont usually ride after a late night and told my RI that I didnt want to take risks nor canter.

She suggested working on leg yield in trot and this pleased me as it had been preying on my mind. I had been explaining footfall which our classical RI thinks important to someone out on a hack. It is often left out of BHS riding instruction, (I am told) as it tends to muddle people.

It sure muddled me. But that doesnt mean I thought it unimportant in timing cues. I had this distant memory of riding leg yields from side to side of a track always on the correct trotting diagonal. But it was so long ago that it was something I seemed to have lost for ever. So we talked until I became clear about which hind leg one needed to cue for leg yield and which for canter strike off - Then I got the terminology of inside and outside straightened out.

Being now able to apply this, I demonstrated that yes, I could feel which hind foot was lifting as I rode sitting trot. I turned down the three quarter line in rising trot, timing the aid, and leg yielded to the outside fence.
RI said it was perfect. But I had no idea whether a horse I was riding was crossing its hind leg over and leg yielding correctly or not.

So the next thing I learned was how to feel from the angle of the horse's body under me whether it was moving laterally or just following a diagonal line to the edge of the school.
I was taught:
To feel for the straightness needed, one must make sure to have the horse straight before starting to go sideways.
So I learned next to turn up the centre line and get the horse straight again before starting to leg yield.
And then I learned to get that straightness in just a stride or two, and to start the leg yield promptly, so as to have room to leg yield back in the other direction before reaching the other end of the school.

I didnt do every leg yield perfectly, but at least I knew when I was doing it correctly and when I was not.

Plus I learned another great thing. It was a windy day with loose schooled horses monkeying around in some of the other schools. All my NH training teaches me that Lady is a herd animal and is gong to be upset by that and indeed she always does want to join in.

My RI pointed out that at a big competition one has crowds of people watching and stuff going on all round as well as distant horses warming up. That doing a dressage test involves demanding that your pony thinks only of you when you are riding a test.

So though it was sensible in the past to take me off Larry and not to ride too fast when a gale was blowing - it is my time now to pretend to be riding at the Olympics and to ride the horses as if I mean business regardless of what is happening all round.
Will try this with Lady next week. And after that I am back to horses.
 
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Jane&Ziggy said:
What sort of a pony is Lady?
Click to expand...

Dreadful to confess, I cannot say. The RS horses and ponies are bought in, sometimes several at a time from a dealer and one never has breed names to attach to them. The school has many grey ponies, which pretty much match and win the kids prizes in formation riding. I met Lady out hacking and indeed I aspired to ride her when Maisie was off work. Lady seemed then to be light on her feet, lively and needed an experienced rider. Now she is a lesson horse, and hard work in the school, offering as little as she can. I have no ambitions for her because she moves nothing like a dressage pony even when ridden by my RI.

I had my last lesson on her and was quite pleased. Apart from me running out of breath attempting a Prelim test (N.B. "hard work" above.) and my ongoing problems having her transition to canter on a circle.

Achieved several things.

Dredgers and earth moving machines working near the school which in the past have scared horses and me witless. Learned at the previous lesson: I pretended to be Charlotte du J at Olympia and the dredgers were the crowd and I walked Lady right past the scarey end and continued like that right through the lesson. RI said pony went completely regularly throughout my lesson. Possibly because of me asking at the start?

Pretending to be riding Valegro had another result. I have never managed to walk across the diagonal on a long rein and then after reaching the far edge, transition to canter before the next corner. I'd ridden so many transitions to get Lady active that she fair sped across in the walk and I shortened my reins like Charlotte du J on Youtube and I just knew that , if I asked, Lady would lift into canter - And she did!

And then, I got her to transition to canter half way round a left lead circle which is needed for Prelim 13, the test on which I aspire to ride any horse that may be handed me.

My new aim: not to stop out of amazement every time I achieve something.

When you ask what sort of pony she is and know how hard it is to get her moving in the school, it is mind boggling that she, of all the horses, did that canter transition in two steps. But looked at another way, it is her job to teach kids to canter by cantering at the corner. So when she sees a corner coming up and has the power ready, I guess the idea of cantering comes easy to her. I had powered her up at the previous corner for the walk across the diagonal, so the whole of the walk active and over-tracking could be seen as her preparing for canter? And may be that is why she didnt break into trot. And why the credit goes to the pony - all I did was seize the moment.

And may be that is why lessons sometimes go hard. If the teacher asks you to ride something and you dont. RI asked why I had not ridden a transition she had asked for and I simply said it wasnt worth trying as the energy wasnt there. And it is lovely to think that in the past year I have ridden so many canter things I dreamed of - but as yet they were all on a particular horse and seizing a particular moment.
 
I have been awarded a new lesson horse. And she is a dream. There are some horses that when you get on them for the first time, they feel so easy under you - the horse and saddle fit physically and our mind is in tune so that when you think of forward, the horse walks forward with a long swinging walk and you feel her moving under you, and the trot is so soft and easy that you dare to ask for canter and that too is soft and easy and moves from straight line to circle. Even when passing the building work she never frightened me.
Like Maisie she is a retired jumper, fittened through hacking and a better horse than the average student bumps into at their RS lesson. I did not ride her as perfectly as I would like but, like Maisie, I will try to ride her as she deserves.
Lest Jane ask what sort of horse she is - Not a heavy horse. May be about 15.2, and young enough for us to have a future together. With some Iberian in her and a quiet grace. So I will call her Grace.
 
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Grace sounds gorgeous! I remember once years ago when I was taking dressage lessons I was allowed to ride an ex-Olympic dressage horse whose name was Apollo - he was 17hh and grey and getting on. He made me feel like a dressage superstar. I could feel him thinking "What does she want? Is it shoulder-in? I think so..." and away he would go, all sweetness and light. How I envy you!
 
Two lessons now with Grace. She was bred as an eventer, not a dressage horse, Jane so it isnt like the amazing feel of a trained warm blood dressage horse. But she will do exactly what you ask - Is a blank sheet and willing learner. It so happens that what is on everyone's mind at the moment is Prelim 14.
This is the test which caused me such problems before on the slow pony, with a half 20 m circle in walk on a long rein following which one has to gather up the reins and move to trot and then canter almost at once.
I highly recommend the film of Charlotte du Jardin doing this at Olympia. Copying her fixed that for me - but it was a long time since I last did it. All the walk went better on a horse with a natural swinging walk.
I learned that you must keep that full over-tracking walk even on the 10 m. semi circles.
I learned that it is the quality of the trot which sets up the quality of the ensuing walk and canter.
Grace is not the straightest of horses. I learned that if you concentrate too much on straightness coming down the centre line - the impulsion will be lost and once that is lost you are more likely to have the horse bend. So the extra control is self defeating.
Riding this test in a 60 x 20 arena involves a lot of long canters. It is only the second time I have cantered Grace and I didnt even attempt it. I gave myself time. Plus there are still building machines at work.
But over the next few weeks I aspire to ride those canters. It is tempting to do them in a 20 x 40 but at the time I didnt realise I was in 20 x 60 and the target I have is to ride those distances.
Watching local dressage comps I see that the Prelim tests can be much harder to ride - long distances of regular trot and canters - than the more exalted levels at which I unexpectedly shone last summer. If one can ride lead changes very easily, and rein back and halt perfectly you win admiration. But to prove I am no longer afraid of canter in the school, I want to ride the whole of Prelim 14.
The first time I get on a horse, I am nervous. I tighten and also I wait to see what horrid things the horse may spook at - or whether I will lose control. This second lesson I progressed from nervous nellie to creating energy and allowing her to move. And once you are going forward and flying about and feeling happy on the horse, everything in the dressage test becomes possible. Last summer, my RI set me a challenge to trot down the centre line and canter at X - which I did manage on Larry. I came down the centre line at such a belt yesterday that Grace misunderstood and gave canter at X - unsolicited. So I dont think that is going to be a problem on her.
I had a different RI yesterday - our staff ride this test and that is why it keeps cropping up. My choice to work at it, because I find it really enjoyable to figure out problems with teachers who know what they are talking about.
 
Not sure what test you are riding but it isn't any prelim I have ever come across, there are very few prelims done in a 60m arena, and none that include circling in free walk only straight lines? P14 is a nice test with transitions to and from trot to walk of 2-5 steps and is designed to be ridden in a 20x40.
 
My mistake - I am so muddled these days. It is Prelim 12.
Sorry eml. This Prelim 12 seems to be the one set at all our loacel dressage competitions at the moment.
Yes, it is for 40x20 but my lessons are in a 20 x 60 arena and a lot of the time I have been riding 20x40 tests in the longer area - The reason for my doing this is not clear but I think it was because I picked tests to ride at random and the RI was happy for me to ride anything I brought along. The object at that time was to overcome my fear of canter in the school and having the larger arena can be a help.
 
Well, I never. My second flying change. Tho unrequested.
It isnt just me being out of shape. Grace too was stiff this week and found it hard to bend right. So three firsts for me.
My first ever wrong lead - which fed back to me only that the horse was unsteerable. The discovery too that a horse who takes the outside lead on a corner may swerve to the inside away from the fence.
I decided it might be easier to get her difficult lead on a circle away from the building work. So we sped round in trot and I let her canter and she let out a neigh and we seemed to fly and land still in canter.
Her neighing was another first for me. Was she in pain? So I didnt go on round the circle in canter. RI told me Grace neighing was not in pain, but in joy, she had taken the wrong lead again but after one step had realised it was wrong and given me a flying change to correct it.

If anyone reads this what do you think when a horse neighs - when you are riding it.
And am I right to think that her being able to execute a flying change (rather than drop back to trot) meant I had her quite well together and set up to canter?

Did the circle and going large this week from Prelim 12, but didnt add in the canter across the Diagonal, let alone repeat in the other direction. Because of lead problems above. There's been a hitch to my hacking - We have agreed that I will build up my stamina for continuous canter. With lots of transitions to get the correct lead next week.
 
I think the only reason horses neigh is to communicate with other horses, or to find out if there are other horses nearby. This also extends to greeting people who arrive with hay or carrots, also to neighing when they're worried or anxious. I remember my old Tristan on our first ever cross-country - as soon as we got round a corner and were out of sight of the other horses, he started neighing his head off (I nearly fell off laughing). I've never known a horse in pain to make any sound at all. Still, if your RI said it was joy, then I think you should believe her.
 
What with the bad weather, building work and changing to ride Grace, I have made no progress whatsoever in the last few weeks and the list of my failures began to out weigh hope - I was even nervous to canter and went along today to say goodbye. I had decided to send a happy summer hacking again.
Things did not go to plan. RI obliged me to canter, first large, then diagonals, then on circles which I hate.
I unexpectedly did so much canter on Grace, that my reluctance turned to absolute ease. The list of things I previously did wrong, was replaced by those same things going right. Canter on both reins with the correct lead first on a corner, then on a circle away from the fence and then walk to canter. Walk Canter transitions was as far as I got with the original happy pony last summer, and I am suddenly back to riding them again. The difference being I am now on a full size, fluid and powerful horse capable of 10 m.circles in canter which the pony was not.
My problem with her has been I was scared by that energy on offer, and I tried to hold her in - whereas today I felt safe enough to allow her forward She cantered on the thought of it. We even had a bit of an argument RI and me as to which of us had cued the canter, her or me? Mark Rashid says that ideally a horse should have all the gaits available on offer to respond to the rider's request and that was how she was today. Would go from halt to trot and then canter within so few floaty steps you would think it impossible. Within 40 minutes I had gone from a useless dunce to magic.
So it wasnt my last dressage lesson after all. I cant resist going back and riding a full Elem test next week and then Novice tests and counter canter again.

Grace reminded me today of my beloved share who was a schoolmistress and whose transition to canter was so beautiful under me that it led to my being offered the share. I can offer no explanation. Sometimes a horse will do a beautiful thing for me and the owner exclaims. After my share died, it wasnt something I expected to have happen to me again.
 
That sounds so wonderful Skib. And I have always loved MR's description of a soft willing horse, ready and able to offer any gait. Can you continue with Grace? Sounds like you have a wonderful partnership.
 
That sounds like a wonderful lesson, Skib. I am so glad that you are refinding with Grace some of the pleasure and achievement that you had with your old share horse.
 
Well it has taken me a long time to get used to cantering Grace - 4 months I see till I really felt enough in charge of her to do the exciting things I did on that reckless Larry - whom we need to remember was removed from lessons because when the RI tried him he was deemed too strong. None the less I did ride many things on Larry which pleased me greatly and boosted my self esteem.
Of course I did not realise he was too strong and he did have advantages. He was straight for a start. Grace is not a straight horse and finds right lead hard, so with her I wavered. There was always a chance the canter lead would be wrong or she would throw in an unsolicited change to get back to her preferred lead.

We worked for weeks on transitions on a circle - 5 canter, 5 trot and then the same in walk canter.We went through all the steps I went with the little pony - Next I cantered her across the diagonal, keeping her straight. On the right rein her canter is so rough, it almost feels wrong.

So it was a major advance last week to canter her in shallow loops - 5m and 10 m with her counter canter as regular as clockwork. Even on the right rein. I felt like a real rider again.

Today this continued. I cantered her down the three quarter line - keeping her totally straight, using poles to guide but to show her straightness too. Not so simple on a horse that may turn her nose to the side or swing her haunches in. When she is away from the rail, she really needs riding along her whole length, nose to tail.
No, I wont do inter dressage - Partly because, unlike many of you, I have an eagle eyed and very constructive RI to comment and my riding money is spent on that. There is a limit to what one can learn about cantering if one only rides 20m circles or goes large. For years I rode prelim 13 striving for perfection. I am now convinced that was wrong and wrong of me to recommend people like Ale to ride in the school and play it safe.
Most RIs particularly want to keep me safe because I am old. This is self defeating. If you have a fright out hacking, it is more useful to tackle the riding that comes as close as possible to being run away with. I now believe that my canter transitions in the school and the canter movements from higher tests have given me more effective control. And there's still a way to go - some simple lead changes with Grace and my ultimate safety aim of course was to improve my chances of staying on in a spin - I want to canter a 10 m. circle which comes into the next set of tests but which I havent yet done.

When you start learning to ride, you expect a linear progression. I seem to have been on hold since last autumn. Disheartening for my RI . But things are looking more hopeful. I have learned to learn to canter in the school - on two ponies and now on two horses.
 
Two more lessons
In the first I tried out the Buck Brannaman turning exercises - including particularly the miniature serpentines round the outer edge of the school which may help with Grace's crookedness. I rode the lesson mainly in walk with just two short canters at the end to demonstrate I was not avoiding canter.
In the second lesson I learned at last how to deal with her anticipating the canter transition - I always slowed her so much that I killed canter altogether. RI told me how to control the trot while keeping it forward: half halt with both hands and use leg and my active rising to keep the trot active and ready for the transition to canter at the exact moment I want to canter.
After that, I rode walk canter transitions round the outside of the school. Very please as havent done walk canter much on Grace - and am myself out of practice. Plus she isnt used to transitioning to canter part way down a long side with no corner to support her. Correct leads and nothing disunited. My upward transitions were better than downward. Need to practise canter to walk. Finished off by doing linked semi circles in canter with change of lead at x through trot on both reins.
Grace had been resisting right bend and drifting right so gave her a right talking to (i.e. Brannaman yield of haunches both ways.) After which she complied and went straight.

But now I am home, I do worry, may be if she resisted a bend even when ridden by the RI it may be something hurting her.

RI very keen I should do things like transition and change leads in the middle of the school. And I am pleased because at last I am getting back to the standard I was last summer. And if I can tidy up the walk canter transitions, I have gone further than before.
 
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This diary came to an end when my dream horse Grace was removed from lessons. Other clients didnt like her. I lost my inspired RI too.

As a RS rider, I accept whatever horse I am given. Lady was busy competing with the Pony Club team - so no one thought to offer her to me again till two weeks ago when my usual pony was busy with kids on holiday. It has been almost a year and till I read this diary today, I had forgotten how much dressage I had done with her in the past.
The RI in charge suggested I compete on line dressage - I told her that would lure me into riding only the easy eager pony and she replied that she expected me to ride the tests on any horse I was given. I dont know if that is what happens when staff take BHS stages?- But it is very different from those of you who own horses. This diary shows I worked my way up on four different horses. Which I found totally frustrating.
I've been waiting all this time to get the hang of simple canter transitions through trot and/or walk coming across the diagonal at x . When I say "get the hang" I mean not as a one off, but get it secure and certain both for me and the horse.
It is easy when one is an elderly rider and with changes of instructor to lose the drive and enjoyment, to give up hacking and settle back for safe lessons, as if it is an accomplishment to be sitting on a horse at all.
 
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