Of course you can't, but know it is there - toothy and full of out loud laughter. Speedy has just been so much fun to ride this past couple of weeks. After our lesson on Sunday, a couple more things fell into place.

When I rode him this week, we played around with the counter bent, figure eight circles and the Mickey Mouse exercise. Both went really well. We were able to keep our circles the same size in the figure eight, and in the counter canter, we actually did the exercise on the right lead which is much harder for him to do.

I also played around with a third exercise that I forgot to share: the zig zag leg yield. Sounds fun, right? It is! When we did it with Christian, we crashed and burned, but once I was able to try it on my own, Speedy responded really well.

To do the exercise, turn up centerline and leg yield a few steps to the right. Come back to centerline and leg yield a few steps to the left. Repeat the exercise all the way up the court. Our first attempt was a little wonky, but after that, it truly felt as though we were dancing! Speedy got the rhythm and fairly strutted back and forth over the centerline.   

Since I am only riding one horse right now, the rain hasn't messed up our schedule too badly. It rains one day, and I ride the next. It was pretty wet most of this week, but the forecast is calling for ten days of pretty pleasant weather which just happens to coincide with winter break.

Thank you, rain gods, for the Christmas gift. I plan to use those days wisely!

Special note: we are heading to the cabin for the weekend, so you won't hear from me for a few days. 

I love my Ariat Volants; they are super comfortable and wear more like running shoes than tall boots. Except… 

I've been wearing them for almost a year, and I still get rubs at the top of my heels. I've dealt with the problem by layering mole foam inside the boots. I have to use two layers of the foam or else it becomes painful to walk. And even with the foam, I can't wear them all day. This isn't really a problem for me as I only wear them for a few hours at a time anyway.

The mole foam strategy works well, but I do have to replace the worn out foam every couple of months. I was content to keep using this plan until my trainer gave a pair of Equifit Gel Bands as her gift for our barn party's gift exchange.

I like to think that I know every product from Smartpak; I am a long time customer, but I had never heard of these. They come in either a tall band (one per package) or as a pair in a shorter length. The short bands are five inches long. Both sizes run $25.95. I ordered the shorter pair.

The outside material, "a unique stretchable fabric," feels and looks like an ace bandage. They're pretty stretchy with a compression feel. The inside of the band is "lined with a polymer gel." The packaging claims that "these supportive wraps gradually release a soothing mineral oil into the skin." The bands are washable and reusable. The package doesn't say for how many uses/hours the gel will release its "soothing mineral oil," but it certainly can't be forever. 

The gel band was fairly easy to put on, but it doesn't slide like a sock. I had to stretch it open and place it where I needed it. The package instructs the user to wear them next to skin, but at least one reviewer wrote that she wears them over her socks. The gel bands can be cut to size as well.

I've worn the gel bands several times, placing them differently on my foot each time. For the initial trial, I wore them over my heel as seen in the photo. They were super comfortable, but when I took them off, they were worn thin at the heel and a bit stretched out. After sitting on my dresser for a day though, the shape did return.

The next few times that I wore them, I placed them at the very bottom of my heel so that I wasn't stretching them out or stepping on them. They were comfortable in that position, and my boots didn't rub, but I only wore my boots for an hour with little walking around. I don't know how effective they'll be with longer wear, say at a show.

The gel didn't both me at all, and once I was walking around and riding, I completely forgot the bands were even on my feet. When I took them off, the gel bands were pretty warm, but my ankles were cool. There was no residue from the mineral oil, and I didn't have any kind of a reaction.

Overall, I hope these work, but I suspect that I will simply wear them out too quickly. At $25.00 a pop, I wouldn't want to replace them more than once a year. Mole foam is cheap, works well, and doesn't need to be put on each day. Since I ride five to seven days a week, I don't know if the gel bands can stand up to that kind of wear. I'll let you know how they look in a month.

There's a lot to be said for sandy soil and California sunshine. Even though we had torrential rains leading into the weekend, our arena was firm enough for a lesson on Sunday afternoon.

I hadn't seen my trainer since returning from the Christian Schacht clinic, so we spent a few minutes going over what I had taken away from the clinic, including a couple of exercises that I wanted to try. She thought all of the exercises sounded helpful and put me to work doing the figure eight on the counter bend at the trot.

A few things became obvious right away. Speedy wanted to rush on the outside shoulder (the shoulder closest to the circle) so it was really important to not sacrifice the bend for speed. I had to slow him way down so that we maintained the bend.

The second thing we saw was that my circle to the right (blue) was nice and round while my circle to the left (yellow) was tiny. Oops! Tracking right while bent to the left takes a lot of inside leg (left leg). When we made the turn and started to track left, Speedy made the circle much easier because he can bend easily this direction. After noticing that this circle was much smaller, I had to use a lot less inside leg, and in fact, I had to use just as much left leg to keep him out on the larger circle.

After just a few minutes at this exercise, Speedy felt much freer through the neck and withers.

We next worked on the canter departure. During my last lesson with JL, we had worked on finding that perfect spot where Speedy is truly using his hind end at the trot so that there is enough impulsion to lift him up and over into the canter. With too little impulsion, he simply goes up and then stalls out. I saw an excellent example of this at the clinic which helped clarify what JL had meant.

If Speedy is not truly in front of my leg, the canter departure goes up and then he scrambles forward for a few strides before he can really get the canter. To solve this, JL had me really kick him forward, disregarding any kind of frame. The point was to get him reacting to my leg. It only took one or two of those and suddenly, I had an energized horse.

The other thing we needed to work on was teaching Speedy that my leg means to move the hind end, not for the front end to go faster. To achieve this, we used the corners to almost leg yield Speedy sideways while sliding the reins to say no faster to the front end. I also had to be super vigilant about the outside rein. Within a short time, the canter departures got quite nice with the added benefit that Speedy was lighter and lighter in the front end.

When all of that was going nicely, JL instructed me to pick up a counter canter and show her the Mickey Mouse exercise that I described the other day. It took us a few tries to hold the counter canter through the circle, but once we got that sorted out, the exercise was FUN! We only did a few voltes, but Speedy seemed to really enjoy the work, and it definitely helped to lighten him up in the front end. I can't wait to work on more of those.

Here in drought plagued California, we sure hope so. We've had more rain in the past week than we did all of last year (almost, anyway). After three years of severe drought, we are so very ready for a wet winter.

It rained nearly an inch on Friday (through 5:00 p.m.), and then rained off and on throughout the evening giving us another quarter of an inch. When I showed up at the barn on Saturday, things were a bit wet, but the barn weathered the storm well.

It was a big storm, the biggest we've had since 2008, but in the scheme of things, even we Californians know it was more like this ...

Our barn was really well designed, so the horses always have a dry place to wait out bad weather.

The barn is located in a river bottom so our footing is pretty sandy which means it drains well. Speedy's stall was wet, but not to the point that he needed floaties. 

And somehow, I was blessed with the cleanest white horse on the planet. Speedy hates to be dirty. This is what he looked like straight out of his stall with no grooming ...

Even though I hadn't ridden since last weekend's clinic and was dying to try out some of Christian's exercises, the arena was still too wet to get in a really good schooling ride. I opted for a trail ride instead.

I hadn't ridden on a cold, winter day in a long time. I zipped up my jacket (a pretty light one), and mounted up. As soon as I hit the saddle, a big grin spread across my face. There is nothing finer than the view from between two furry ears. 

I rode in my dressage saddle, tall boots, and spurs, but I knew that Speedy would appreciate going bitless. So even though he's been standing around most of the week trying to stay out of the wind and rain, I felt confident heading out on the trail in just a rope halter.

We putzed around our regular neighborhood trail, but I added the bit down along the river which was pretty brown and muddy. As soon as Speedy got a look at it, he tried to high tail it back home. Funny boy. 

Dressage on the trail is fun since it serves a purpose. I encouraged him to let go through his neck and withers and leg yielded him into the water. We trekked along the shoreline, plodding through the brown water. The beach was far emptier than I had seen it a while, so I took a bit of chance by going farther down river than I usually go.

Suddenly, Speedy sank to his belly in mud. My first thought was, "Oh crap!" as I considered leaping off. I have a pretty smart horse though so I gave him a squeeze and encouraged him to step back onto the firmer beach. It took him several heave hos, but within a moment, he was back on solid ground. He had mud splattered on his face, and he looked a bit pissed, but we were both fine.

Not that he had a lot of faith left in me, but I encouraged him to get back in the water a back upstream to rinse the mud off his legs. As we continued along the trail toward home, his irritation got the best of him. There was a good sandy spot in which to work, so I let him work out the tension with my inside hand planted on my knee while I asked him to move out onto my outside rein.

Shortly after, we came out onto the old golf course, and I could feel that Speedy had a bunch of built up energy. I didn't want to waste that forward energy, so I took advantage of a great opportunity.

It's just one hole, but there is a ton of room with several little rolling hills that keep things interesting. Since Speedy was nicely in front of my leg, we worked on canter departures. It was the most fun ever. Riding in just a halter gives you a different kind of connection, but with his hind end totally engaged, the departures were enthusiastic and fun.

He wasn't super round, but galloping around that big field in a halter was a total blast. We soared up those little hills and scooted back down the other side laughing all the way. We worked on both leads several times until Speedy started to get a bit sweaty.

By the time we got back to the barn, Speedy was a happy boy. I bought him in December seven years ago. It's hard to believe that he's become the "good one." He was the back up horse to my mare, and even after I lost her to colic, he was still just what I had until something better came along.

Now that Sydney is gone and Izzy is being prepped to take his place, I am starting to see that Speedy is a heck of a good horse. I have so much fun riding him, and he is always game for whatever I throw his way. On Saturday, it occurred to me that he hasn't been a back up ride or a just for now ride in a long time. Speedy G is definitely a keeper. 

I blogged about renewing my 2015 Dressage memberships last month. I finally chose which associations to join, but my decision was largely influenced by the new guy, Izzy Zweibrücker.

Getting him on my team roster added a bit more to my membership costs than I was expecting, so Speedy won't be getting any Arabian Horse registry recognition this year.

So what was the final cost you ask? A hefty $210. Bucks. Dollars. Smackaroos. Here is the break down …

•  California Dressage Society - $70.00 (annual membership)
  

We're all show eligible, but we're not all quite ready to enter the show ring. Speedy thinks he's a rock star (and I think he's a rock star), but another month or so of work should have the judges thinking so as well. Izzy Zweibrücker still has a long way to go. Hopefully I'll have update sometime this week. Thank goodness the show season is a month or two away!

I had something else to share today, but with the biggest winter storm to hit California since 2008 (according to last night's news) raging outside this morning. I wanted to share that news instead.

The wind blew pretty fiercely most of the night, which always heralds a weather change.  Rain walloped the northern half of our state yesterday, but there was fear that the rain would miss us here in the south valley, which happens more often then not.

I woke up in the middle of the night to hear the rain pounding on our roof. I let out a deep breath of relief. I may not be able to ride for a day or two, but it is so worth it. We have been in such a severe drought for the past three years (or more) that even the sound of rain has been sorely missed.

Related to the rain, if only marginally, is this ...

My trainer's barn party was on Sunday. We did a gift swap and steal thing that is always fun with this group of ladies. I saw these mugs get opened by my barn owner, and I knew I had to have them (there are two different ones). My trainer "stole" them from her, and as luck would have it, my turn to pick came soon after.

I love mugs, but I am really picky about the shape, texture, and image. These two mugs are absolutely perfect for a cup of tea. They're big, thick, and simply beautiful. 

So as I sit here this morning and think about my day, I am serenaded by the rain while enjoying my tea from a beautiful piece of art. Life is pretty good. Have a great Friday!

Post Publish edit: heading to the cabin this weekend (I think), so I'll see you all on Monday.

Day 1
Day 2

Christian does a lot of really cool exercises with his students, and even though I've ridden with him at more than ten clinics, he keeps bringing new ones.

I tried this first exercise on Sunday morning while I was warming up alone. It was a little difficult but something even most lower level riders should be able to get through without much help. It was a simple figure eight done with circles less than 20-meters. I tried for 15-meter circles, but some of them ended up being closer to 10.

Just like in a regular figure eight, there is a stride or two of straightness where the two circles meet, but on the actual circle, you ride with a counter bend. During the stride of straightness, return the horse's neck to straight. As you make the turn for the next circle, change to the other counter bend. Straighten the neck where the circles meet, and counter bend the other way.

It sounds easier than it is. Doing this will really reveal how much your horse is on the forehand and how tight he might be through the withers and neck. I could feel Speedy's neck begin to soften, and he definitely started picking up his shoulders.

Here's another one ... 

The second exercise was a four-eared Mickey Mouse: two ears on top of the circle, and two ears on the bottom of the circle. The "head" (large circle) is ridden on the counter canter. Each ear is a volte ridden on the correct canter lead. So, if you're in left lead canter circling right, you leave the larger circle for a volte (an ear) tracking left on the left lead. Come back to the circle for a stride or two, and leave the circle for a second volte, again tracking left on the left lead.

Return to the larger circle on the left lead but tracking right (counter canter). On the bottom of the circle repeat the two voltes (the other two ears) on the left lead, tracking left.

I watched several riders do this exercise. I don't think it's as physically challenging as it is mentally taxing. It looked a lot like rubbing your belly and patting your head at the same time. While it might be challenging for the horse, I think that the coordination of aids might be what makes this so hard to put together.

I am not sure that Speedy and I are balanced enough to do this at canter, but I am definitely going to try it at the trot.

Christian showed many other exercises, but the ones that I've shared over the last few days are the ones that I took away.  Of course, the exercises that I found most interesting were those related to what Speedy and I are working on right now. Next time Christian comes, it will seem as though he is introducing brand new exercises, but it will only be because I hadn't paid attention before.  I can't wait for his return!

Day 1

For day two, I was the first rider to go, so I had plenty of time to warm up in the early morning peace and quite. Surprisingly, Speedy was pretty hot to trot and as a consequence was being a bit of a stinker at C. At that end of the arena, there is a farm down below with a flock of guinea fowl. On this morning they were being fed so there was a lot of activity that he could sense and hear but couldn't really see.

Not that any of that has anything to do with the clinic, but I did spend some time getting Speedy's attention back on me. Christian likes to tell riders who have a horse who is distracted (screaming at a barn mate, being a looky loo, etc.) to make whatever the rider is doing more interesting than what the horse is trying to look at. So I worked Speedy's butt, sending him sideways (at a walk) without letting his shoulders leave the party.

When Christian made it down to the arena, he noted that Speedy was in a bit of a fake frame. While I totally agreed with him, I didn't want to explain that I wasn't trying to get him forward and round. I was really just trying to keep him from bolting sideways in the corner at C which is what he wanted to do to avoid hearing the birds.

That wouldn't have flown with Christian. He's all about big and forward. He also loves to make things the rider's idea, so when Speedy was being really reactive in that same corner later in the lesson, he had me use the corner for voltes and teardrops as we came down the long side. When Speedy didn't want to stay on the outside rein, we did a volte. When he was willing to stay on the outside rein, we did a teardrop back to B.

But all of that came later.

To begin, Christian asked for a 20-mete circle at B/E. This is how he starts most lessons. And like always, getting the horse forward and stepping deeply under with the inside hind leg is always the goal. Christian is all about using the inside leg to push the horse into the outside rein. 

While asking that inside leg to step under, Christian had me ask for more and more inside flexion without pulling back on the rein. Instead, he wanted me to open the inside rein to get that flexion while keeping my hands low. After so many lessons with Christian, I have learned to love planting my hands on my thighs to steady the contact or to maintain a bend.

After a few minutes of this exercise, Christian gleefully explained that THIS was a proper warm up! 

Once Speedy was working over his back and using his body well, Christian had me do lots of adjusting by shortening the reins and thinking about lifting Speedy's withers. Christian tries to teach riders that it isn't where the head is that matters. It's all about lifting the withers and getting that hind leg to step deeper.

So we went from lifting the withers with a shorter rein and slower trot to working long and low with a longer rein and bigger trot, and then back again. I've worked with Speedy a lot this past six weeks on listening more to my seat, so this exercise was pretty easy for both of us, and Christian seemed to like our work as well. We then moved on to canter transitions, up and down. The work there was fairly solid as well.

Lastly, we worked on getting quality halts, another thing we've been working on diligently at home. For all of these exercises,  the thing that Christian stressed was for me to really prepare before asking. Speedy's halts got more and more square the more I prepared. Keeping my seat bones in contact with the saddle also improved everything.

There were a couple of other exercises that I wanted to share, but those will have to wait a day or so. More to come ...

I could kick myself for not bringing a piece of note paper and a pencil with me on Saturday morning while I watched the earlier riders being coached by Dr. Christian Schacht. That man continues to amaze me. I do remember a few things from the day however that really resonated with me.

There isn't usually a theme to his visits; he just works with each rider as he sees fit, but this weekend, several items seemed to crop up again and again. One was the rider's seat and pelvis, especially in the sitting trot.

Christian said two things about the sitting trot that really stuck with me. The first was this: "the sitting trot is a three-dimensional movement, not a two-dimensional movement, which is how many riders try to perform it." He explained that it is a back and forth movement that also goes up and down. I immediately pictured a red rubber ball where my pelvis is.

The second thing he said was to imagine watching the back of a rider as she trots in a show coat. There are two buttons on the back of the jacket. As the rider is sitting the trot, the buttons on the coat should move up down. As we rode, he instructed many of us to "move the buttons on your coat up and down."

As he was coaching me through the sitting trot, he asked me to close my eyes and feel the movement in all directions, not just the back and forth. The sitting trot is not so much about your seat bones, but more about releasing through your back allowing the horse to lift and rock you. He also had me stretch tall so that each vertebrae could move and absorb the motion. 

For several riders, he pulled over a plastic garden chair, a demonstration I've seen him do many times. He turned the chair backwards and leaned/sat on the chair's back illustrating how if the your back is hollowed your seat bones can't rotate around. When your pelvis is tucked beneath you, you can rock around on your seat bones, weighting each side independently. I don't have the problem of a hollow back. If anything, I slouch a bit and roll my shoulders in. 

Which brings me to the next interesting part of the clinic. Christian nearly always uses my body like a puppeteer might to ride Speedy through me. When he's finished with you, your horse is moving brilliantly while you feel as though every muscle in your body has been stretched and pulled in ways that you didn't know it could bend.

This time however, Christian used most of my first lesson time to work on me. While this was great, the side effect was that I finished the ride feeling as though I had ridden like crap. I simply couldn't fix Speedy and myself at the same time.

I needn't have worried. Christian always has a plan. When I later looked at the many photos that my pal Jen had taken, the majority showed a pair working through some some stiffness, both equine and human, but none of the pictures showed the wild tasmanian devil that I felt like I had been trying to wrangle. 

Ultimately, Christian had me wrap my stirrups over the front of my saddle's pommel.  From there we worked on lengthening my leg, stretching my spine, and keeping my seat bones in contact with the saddle.

While I don't get to work with Christian weekly, or even monthly for that matter, we have developed enough of a relationship over the past few years that he knows he can work me pretty hard. I did the sitting trot with no stirrups for what seemed like a really. Long. Time. It probably wasn't that long, but for however long it was, my body was on fire. I almost asked for a break, but them decided that if Christian thought I could sit the trot all damn day, then that is what I was going to do. In that moment, I let my body go. I just quit trying to sit the trot. The moment that I quit trying, it became easy.

In between sitting the trot, Christian had me work on canter to trot transitions. The canter work with no stirrups is easy for me, maybe it is for everyone. I am a very balanced rider, and since I already tuck my pelvis, Christian just had to remind me to keep my inside hip positioned forward. What was most challenging was the canter to trot downward transition. That was a bit rough. He reminded me to think about beginning the trot rather than ending the canter.  

While I don't have any photos from Sunday's ride, I still want to share the exercises we did as well as a few others that I saw that looked really interesting. Stay tuned for more tomorrow ...

Well, maybe not a PEOPLE eater, but definitely purple.  

Grimace purple ...

Barney purple ...

Fruit of the Loom Grape Guy purple ...

Hubba Bubba Grape purple ...

My current pedicure purple ...

I didn't think my new Mudruckers would be quite this shade of grape, but I still love 'em. And as luck would have it, we got our first really wet day in a long, long time on Tuesday. I wore my cozy, purple boots to work, and then ran errands afterward. I was a little disappointed that no one commented on their odd color. Maybe purple shoes aren't as unusual as I thought. :0)