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When I rode on Sunday, I finally dragged out my Pivo as has been my custom over the past year. The past few weeks had been so hot that recording my Sunday rides wasn't a priority, and it didn't seem like I would get worthwhile video under those conditions anyway what with horse and rider melting. As it so happens, I didn't get great video under better conditions either. I am still recovering mentally from the heat wave. At least that's my excuse.  Making sure Pivo had us in his sights. I set my Pivo Pod up as usual, but things just didn't want to work right. With all of the new accessories, it is getting harder and harder to keep Pivo level.  When I went back to watch the recorded video, I was disgusted to see that for 90% of the video, Pivo had chopped off my head.  The only time that I was in the frame was when I rode this exact line. When I rode any further away, Pivo captured Izzy, but cropped me out of the frame. So today, you gets lot of photos of us riding back and forth.  I have to take the blame for this one. For the first time ever, I had Pivo pointed too low. Like most Pivo mistakes, this one was completely user error.  That's okay. There wasn't anything interesting to see anyway. The ride was just about reconnecting with Izzy and reminding him that I was there for him no matter what happened.
There was one blooper moment I wish I had been able to watch though ... Coming from an endurance/trail riding background, my idea of how much weight I want in my hand is zero. Endurance horses aren't ever on the bit. Instead, they carry themselves in a long and level frame. They need to use their heads and necks for balance, often at speed over rough terrain. When I made the jump from endurance to dressage, two of the hardest things for me to learn were to put weight on my seat bones and maintain contact with my horse's mouth. Those were two things I never did as an endurance rider.  Fire Mountain 50 miler - January 2000 During Saturday's lesson, I had a very surprising epiphany that I instantly shared with Sean Cunningham, owner and trainer at STC Dressage. One of the things we had been discussing during the lesson was how to convince Izzy to let go of his under neck muscle so that he could reach for the bit as opposed to pushing back against it. Izzy's getting much softer in the trot work, but in the canter, what I feel is that he'll soften for a moment, and then immediately hollow his back and throw his head back up. During one of those moments of lovely softness that turned to shite the very next stride, it occurred to me that Izzy had reached for the bit, but when he didn't find it, he hollowed his back and threw his head up for balance. It was as though a massively huge bell went off in my head. I think Izzy sought the bit much like you do when you take a step down but don't find the step. If the step isn't where you expect it to be, you lose your balance and scramble for the handrail before you tumble ass over tea kettle.  I think that Izzy is putting his metaphorical toe out there looking for the step. If he doesn't find it quickly enough, he jerks his foot back and continues on braced and hollow. Sean and I discussed the idea that some horses, especially insecure ones like Izzy, actually need a heavier contact to feel safe and supported. I don't like that much weight in my hand, but I am beginning to wonder if Izzy needs that support from me. I played around with the idea a few different times this week. I am trying to ask Izzy to let go a little bit with the promise that I won't let him fall. When I felt the desire to get him really light in my hand, I resisted and instead settled for lighter.  Long ago I realized there is no one thing that will make Izzy an easy ride, but I am slowly learning what makes him tick. Each time I figure something out, our relationship benefits. This idea that Izzy needs a heavier contact is one I am going to play around with for a while. And maybe, if he feels like I am providing a shorter step down, he'll begin to better trust that the step will be there.
And hey, if nothing else, my biceps will get a bit of a workout. I know I am a yoyo - up one day, down the next. But lately, let me tell you about lately. We're not ready to throw down a 70% test, but we're definitely getting a lot closer to that goal than we've ever been before. The last couple of lessons that I've taken with Sean Cunningham, owner and trainer at STC Dressage, have shifted some pretty heft pieces of the puzzle into place.  There have been three major shifts in my thinking. In a nutshell:
That brings me to point number two. What is it that I want? Well, frankly, I am just two Fourth Level scores away from a CDS Sapphire Gem Award. That's what's next on my list of goals. Speedy and I were on track to get there when he was diagnosed with arthritis in his hock back in 2020. I could have tried some pain management strategies or more hock injections to see if I could get just a little bit further, but that wouldn't have been fair to Speedy.  Earning a USDF Bronze Medal on this horse was a dream come true. Speedy was so forgiving that even though I didn't - and maybe still don't, ride like a Third Level rider, he winked at the world and said, "I gotcha!" Without him to pick up my slack, I am finding that I am not as educated as I thought I was. Between Sean's coaching and Izzy's feedback, the two of them are doing their best to help me get where I want to go. Over the past year, and I can't believe it's been that long since I started working with Sean, he has slowly reshaped how I ride. He has a lot of work left to do, but suddenly I am seeing my riding through a whole new lens. I had all of last week off, so I was able to ride each day without feeling rushed to get home to cook dinner or stressed out from a day of trying to answer five bazillion questions. As I rode, I took my time. I spent as much time as it took to get Izzy supple through his neck and back. I moved him around in his neck and body until I felt that he was truly ready to start working. Throughout every ride, I kept two things in the forefront of my thinking. One, I couldn't let him brace his neck; I had to keep moving him. And two, I needed to feel him evenly on both reins. The right lead canter has been such a struggle lately because he wants to fall in on his inside shoulder. Understanding how to ask him to fill out the left rein has been such a struggle for me. Over the past few weeks though, Sean has coached me to a much better understanding of how to accomplish that.  On Friday, I actually laughed out loud from the sheer joy of having accomplished what I've struggled so long to figure out. Izzy was balanced between both reins, and he was truly trying to work with me instead of fighting against me. We'll have more frustrating days ahead of us, I am sure, but now that I am learning how to better communicate with him, I can actually see our progress.
We're still a good ways from Fourth Level. In fact, we're still a good way from showing at Second Level. I trust Sean when he says that once I get control of Izzy and show him that he can trust me to make good decisions, we won't have any trouble moving up through the levels. Sean is confident that Izzy can already do the movements. I just need to get myself caught up to where my horse is. Seeing real progress is so motivating! The more I learn from Sean Cunningham, owner and trainer at STC Dressage, the more I recognize that Izzy will never do this on his own willingly. I don't know if it is because of his body type or his personality, but moving well is hard for him. Speedy on the other hand uses his body so much better. While Speedy was turned out in the yard the other day, I had to shoo him out of Izzy's paddock. As I waved my fingers at him, I saw him lift his back and stretch his neck from tail to poll as he picked up an elastic trot that rolled nicely into a sassy canter. It was effortless; Izzy just can't do that.  Santa Barbara, 2012 Intro C or Training Level test 1 I don't mean to pick on Izzy by comparing him to Speedy. Speedy has his own faults, and Izzy has an entirely different type of athleticism that Speedy never had. I point it out only because I have ridden Izzy much the way that I always rode Speedy, but I am learning that I can't do that. They are two very different horses with very different needs from their rider. As I watched my weekly Sunday video, I noticed a few things that I need to figure out. The first is that Izzy is still very braced in his neck, particularly at the canter. The second is that I am not always able to fix those off balance moments, and I need to be addressing them. As much as I hate those weekly videos, they do help me see where I am being effective and where I am not.  I have definitely helped develop a more swinging walk. When I started my ride on Monday, my plan was to do a bunch of short canter transitions. But as it was said, the best laid schemes of mice and men go often awry. As it turned out, we didn't do a moment of canter. Instead, I spent the 40 minute ride working on getting Izzy to let go through his neck at the trot. There was no point in working on the canter when he was already so braced. Sean has shown me many different ways to get inside Izzy's brain. I used every single one of those tools. I don't think I ever got Izzy moving as loosely as Speedy did on a bad day, but in the end, I felt like I made some good riding decisions. I wish I knew why Izzy feels the need to brace so religiously before and after each transition. It's not comfortable to ride so it can't be a comfortable way of moving. To encourage him to stop pushing back against me, I did millions of little halt halts, and I over exaggerated the flexion to the inside on a 10-meter circle. When he let his under neck muscle relax, I let him go forward while pushing my hands forward. As soon as he braced, I over flexed him again to the inside and did another 10-meter circle.  Besides doing a lot of bending lines, I also slowed the trot down to baby steps. When Izzy would let go, I allowed him to go forward, but as soon he pushed against me, I again over exaggerated the inside flexion as I wrapped him around my inside leg in a 10-meter circle. Sometimes all it took was a half circle. Little by little, I did feel an improvement. Besides feeling him let out big deep breaths, the other clues that let me know that I was being effective was that there was no spooking and Izzy's ears were flipped back towards me listening. As we worked, he became more and more focused. He quit looking for things to jump at and instead he kept asking me questions in the form of little challenges. It was as though he were trying to find the holes in my plan. Would I be consistent, or was there somewhere that I would let him brace and lean? As challenging as it was for me to ride with such careful deliberation, I stuck to my newly adapted plan and just kept asking for him to relax his neck.  I am definitely ready for another lesson. I need to talk to Sean about some of these ideas and find out from him what he thinks the best strategy is to get that suppleness from Izzy that I know is missing. For such a big, athletic horse, he moves a lot more like a tank than a danseur.
Maybe he needs a ballet barre and some tights. A few pliés before we begin might also get him more supple. Izzy loves to work midmorning under a bright blue sky. Sunday was that kind of day. After some big shifts in my thinking from the lesson the day before with Sean Cunningham, owner and trainer at STC Dressage, I was ready for a fantastic ride, and overall, that's what Izzy gave me.  Keeping everything in mind that Sean and I had discussed the day before, I thought about control as a conversation between Izzy and me. Rather than flipping the control switch, I just asked him questions, something Sean has been saying for six months. Finally though, I understood what he meant. The way Izzy answers those questions will let me know how much control he is willing to let me have. Understanding those words and feeling those words are two totally different things. I finally felt what Sean meant.  The true test came at about twenty-six minutes into the ride. We had just finished some great canter work to the right, and I was hoping to wrap things up with a bit of canter to the left. At the C end of my arena is a tall stand of trees, and on the other side of the trees lies the neighborhood. There is always some movement in that direction, and Izzy long ago decided that the C end of the arena is often times a no fly zone. Using the corner at C-H can be very tricky.  C-H like a pro. As soon as I started putting him back together for a left lead canter, Izzy decided that there was something behind those trees, and he wanted to look. I knew a fight was brewing. I didn't even need to see one of Izzy's tells to know, I could feel it. I realized I was being given the perfect opportunity to show Izzy that I wasn't going to fight with him nor was I going to force him to give me control. I was going to be patient. In the video below, you can see him flip me off at about 20 seconds. The whole conversation lasted six long minutes; I only showed you thirty-two seconds. Since I was using my Pivo to record, I was able to watch the entire thing later that day. For six minutes, I sat there quietly and kept asking him to bring his attention back to me. At about five minutes, he took a deep breath, and much of the tension left his body. Thirty seconds later, he took another deep breath, and we got back to work.  As we were finishing with the left lead canter, I reached down to pat him and praise him. I am not sure if he spooked or just lost his balance, but Pivo caught a great video of both of us nearly hitting the ground.    As I watched the video of the ride, I found myself smiling despite the blooper moments. Nothing about the ride was prefect, but I was able to see glimpses of the proactive rider that Sean is teaching me to be. By being a thinking rider, I am definitively cracking through Izzy's shell of resistance and anxiety. Throughout most of the ride we were checking in with each other. How's that? Are you good with this? Depending on the response he gave me, I took more control or took a step back as he worked things out.
It was as though the rough moments were passing in slow motion allowing me to adjust the amount of control I was taking to suit that moment in time. I never lost control; I just never forced it on him. By giving him time to cope with his urge to check things out, the tension de-escalated without much effort on my part other than sitting their patiently; that's really hard for me to do. Sean insists that little by little Izzy will begin to understand that I am not going to force him which will teach him to trust me. For the first time, I think I really can do this. |
About the Writer and RiderI am a lifelong rider.
I began endurance riding in 1996 where I ultimately completed five, one-day 100 mile races, the 200-mile Death Valley Encounter, and numerous other 50, 65, and 75 mile races. I began showing dressage in 2010. Welcome to my dressage journey. 
Photo by Lori Ovanessian
About Speedy GSpeedy went from endurance horse to dressage horse. After helping me earn a USDF Bronze medal in the summer of 2020, he is now semi-retired. Speedy is a 2004, 15'1 hand, purebred Arabian gelding. His Arabian Horse Registry name is G Ima Starr FA.
July 2020 (PC AJSK Photography)
About IzzyIzzy was started as a four-year old and then spent the next 18 months in pasture growing up. I bought him as a six-year old, and together, we are showing at the lower levels. He is a 2008, 16'3 hand warmblood gelding. His Rheinland Pfalz-saar International (RPSI) name is Imperioso.
March 2021 (PC Tess Michelle Photography)
Bakersfield Dressage approved!
My favorite breeches!
FOR THE SMALLER EQUINE ATHLETE
I love her stuff!
Watercolor Artist and Friend
National Rider Awards
USDF Bronze Medal - 2020
USDF Second Level Rider Performance Award - 2018
USDF First Level Rider Performance Award - 2015
USDF Training Level Rider Performance Award - 2013
State Rider Awards
CDS Ruby Rider Award - 2018
State Horse Awards
Speedy G - 3rd Level Horse Performance Award - 2020
Speedy G - 2nd Level Horse Performance Award - 2018
Working Towards:
CDS Sapphire Rider Award Third Level: 63.514% Third Level: 62.105% Fourth Level: Fourth Level: 2022 Show Season
Show Rating (***) CDS/USDF/USEF (*) CDS (s) Schooling (c) Clinic (r) Ride-a-Test Clinic (Q) Qualifier 2022 Show Schedule
pending ... 2022 Completed … (*) Tehachapi 5/22/22 (*) Tehachapi 7/24/22 (***) Tehachapi 8/28/22 2023 Qualifying Scores
Regional Adult Amateur Competition (RAAC) Qualifying 3 Scores/2 Judges/60%: Score 1: 62.115% Score 2: Archives
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