Maybe I am not completely lame afterall; I did remember to bring my ipad home last night and even remembered to upload some video clips of my lesson with Chemaine Hurtado. 

PSA - Chemaine is continuing to broaden her coverage area meaning she's willing to travel as a clinician. Did you know she rode with Robert Dover a few weeks ago? She happily works with all levels of riders from lntro Level to those in the international ranks, and she can do it all in the same day. If you are at all interested in putting together a clinic, contact her. You won't be disappointed.

None of the video clips are particularly fascinating. The audio is terrible and you might feel nauseous at times as the camera woman readjusts her position or simply forgets what she's doing. Even so, I thought you might like to see Izzy in action. Most of the time I write about what a jerk he is, but he is actually a lovely mover with a ton of talent. See for yourself.

First up, some baby leg yields. Watch it on YouTube here.

Left lead canter ... Watch it on YouTube here.

The right lead canter video is the most interesting. Chemaine asked me to canter the whole arena, but Izzy had other plans. He doesn't care for that far end, so as we approached it, he gave a hard spook, unseating me pretty good. I regrouped and sent him forward again. It took three tries to get through that spot, and even when he did agree to canter through, you can see his haunches swinging wildly. Watch it on YouTube here.

You can see why Chemaine's homework for me involved slowing him down, working on leg yielding to supple his body, and getting control of his haunches and shoulders. I've had very productive rides on him this week and have been able to finally school him rather than fight over the throttle. Having Speedy parked in the arena has reduced a great deal of tension and changing out the bit to something a bit tougher has given me some brakes.

I have the entire next week off, and I'm putting it to good use! Have a great weekend.

I've finally finished digging through the video clips from last weekend's lesson with Chemaine Hurtado, owner and trainer at Symphony Dressage Stables. You've already seen the lovely screen shots that I was able to pick out, now you get to see the footage, raw and uncut!

While watching me bumble along is no doubt quite entertaining, the best part of the videos is listening to Chemaine's feedback; she is one heck of a trainer. If you've been following Izzy's journey, you already know that it was just one month ago that after a huge struggle we finally got a right lead canter. Just a few short weeks later, Izzy can now canter on the right lead and hold it!

For most of the videos, we're working to the left. Izzy is much stiffer to the left and doesn't want to stretch the right side of his body to take the right rein. Most of our work during this lesson was about keeping him between my aids and while maybe not on the outside rein yet, you can see that he's getting there.

Our next lesson is scheduled for the end of April. I cannot wait to go back to show Chemaine what he's already learned just this week. When I rode on Thursday afternoon, he picked up a left lead canter correctly without blasting through my aids. And while it was a bit stuttery, he also got the right lead on the very first try!

Chemaine has tried to convince me all along that when he finally "gets it," he's going to be amazing. I am fast becoming a believer!

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

For me, one of the very best things about a two-day clinic is that I get a chance to think about what happened on the first day and ask follow up questions on the next day.

Speedy threw a big fit about the leg yields on Saturday. I started questioning whether I was causing the problem by asking for way too much cross over. I suspected that he was getting frustrated with me if he was crossing that hind leg as far as he could. Was I asking for more than he could give?

I warmed Speedy up, but then I asked Chemaine to school him through the leg yields before I had a chance to irritate him. When I saw how he behaved with her, I realized it wasn't me after all. The leg yield was just hard for him, and he was expressing his opinion about it. I got a quick screen shot with Chemaine asking for the leg yield left, the same one we struggled with the day before.

Chemaine rode him for a while, first at the walk and then at the trot. In the first video clip (00:32 seconds), she is showing him what she wants at the walk. 

Then she moved on to the leg yield at the trot (1:01seconds).

​As an adult amateur who doesn't have her horse in full training, I might be responsible for some lapses in my horse's training. Regular trainer rides would be awesome.

One of the things I am guilty of is not asking for enough forward. It's not because I don't want more forward, but it's more difficult to balance and be effective in my aids with a bigger, more powerful stride. As such, Speedy just gets pokier and pokier, and I just tootle around oblivious to the power of which he is capable.

After working on the leg yields for a few minutes, Chemaine worked on Speedy's go forward button. When I got back on him, he practically lost me when he shot forward into a much more powerful trot. All I can say is give me more of that please! Everything was so much easier with a horse who was truly in front of my leg!

​We also reviewed some of the work from the day before by repeating the 10-meter circle to shoulder in exercise as well as some work on how to use the short side more strategically. I tend to let Speedy lose all of his impulsion on the short side as I prepare for the next corner.

Chemaine pointed out that judges really respect riders who can maintain that energy even along the short side, so she had me ride laps around the arena. I half halted in all four corners, but I tried to push Speedy into a more energetic trot on the short sides as well as the long sides.

Before we finished for the day, I wanted to show Chemaine some of the walk to canter work that I've been doing with Speedy. While none of it was perfect, Chemaine was pretty pleased with where we are. I know we were both remembering how just a year ago Speedy would kick out and buck at the canter transitions. Now, I can canter to trot to canter wherever and whenever I'd like with a very willing partner.

​In this video (01:15 seconds), we're working on some canter transitions.

And in this one (1:01) we're focusing on lifting his withers and doing a walk to canter transition.

I am eagerly awaiting our next lesson!

Tomorrow, my second lesson with Izzy.

It's been a long hard week for me, so I need to just finish it up with a smile and a feel good minute. With that, here's your smile for the day,

This was not my intended post for today, but this video is so funny that I just had to share it. I thought I was the last one to see it, but apparently there are a few people out there who missed it. Enjoy!

Yesterday I posted a list of can you do this? items. It was a list of things that I want all of my horses to do. Trailer loading with no questions (just get in without hesitation) is really, really high on my list.

A horse that will just load right up is demonstrating complete and total faith in his handler's leadership (in my opinion anyway). And since I do so many things with my horses - trail rides, shows, clinics, vet visits ... loading without issue is really important to me.  

I also trailer alone 99.9% of the time which means that I don't have someone who can do a bit of hazing with a dressage whip when one of my horses decides to hesitate or balk a bit. I need to be totally confident that my horse is going to walk onto that trailer no matter what the circumstance.

I could load Speedy in the middle of a we're-not-in-Kansas-anymore type of tornado; he's the very definition of reliable. Izzy is not quite there ... yet. He will be soon, but he needs a few more lessons.

Last weekend when I did a trailer loading session, he decided to put his weight into it and said NO. I brought out a dressage whip to tap him on the hip, but that didn't get his attention. I dragged out my handy stick, but that was a fail as well. 

My trailer has a pretty narrow opening (the tack room is behind the other door), so it can be tricky to get a horse to load when you're alone. My preferred method of getting a horse to load takes two people: one person to direct and a second person to apply pressure behind with a dressage or lunging whip.

As mentioned before, I don't usually have a second person, so I went to method number two. I converted by cotton-rope lunge line into a "butt" rope. It doesn't work with every horse, but fortunately, Izzy was quite responsive.

It took a a couple of tugs on the "butt" rope line before he realized that I could get him from behind when he didn't want to move forward. After that, he was all about the when and where. This video is from yesterday afternoon, which was only our second trailer loading session. I hadn't worked with him at all on trailer loading since last weekend.

I was pretty pleased with his progress. I cut out the most boring parts, but the whole practice session lasted less than three minutes. Enjoy!

I am so excited to finally get to see a little video of Speedy working. There is never anyone around to hold a camera for me, so imagine my surprise when pal, JS, actually volunteered!!!

I really hate watching myself ride, but it was really good for me to get to see how we're doing. There were some really funny bloopers, including me calling out, what the hell? as Speedy tried to change the subject, but I've left out most of those parts. This video is mostly our work at fixing some issues with our leg yield to the left.

The biggest problem I am having is that Speedy is twisting his head to the right. I have been so focused on keeping control of his shoulder that I wasn't paying much attention to the rest of him. JL had me keep his outside shoulder from running off, but then she had me work on keeping his nose straight as well.

The second he gets his nose cock-eyed, he quits stepping under and over. You can see it in the video during one of the zig zags. The other thing she had me do was change something when I felt him lose the sideways. I either need to stop him and do a cowboy side pass or change the bend and leg yield the other way. He doesn't get to keep going, doing it incorrectly.

Posting video is horribly humbling because every one of my riding "issues," to put it kindly, is out there for the world to judge. I never claim to be anything other than a lower level rider, but to see it in action makes me want to close one eye and squint with the other. 

We're making progress, but it's pretty darn slow!

I have plenty of other stuff to talk about, but I realized I haven't shown much of Izzy's body apart from his leg. While we were hand walking the other day, I shot a minute of video proving that he is actually sound despite having such an ugly wound.

It's a fairly crappy video, but enjoy ...

I finally got to see Izzy being worked! When I went up to see him on Monday, he had just whacked himself and was lame. Fortunately, he was sound by Wednesday and got worked pretty hard. When I arrived on Friday, his leg was clean and tight, and he looked sound as ever.  

Although I am really happy with this trainer arrangement, I do wish Izzy was at least an hour closer. I like that he is being worked by a professional while I get a chance to know him better. I've never bought a horse and done it this way before, but it would just be easier if it wasn't such a long drive.

And being totally honest with myself, I don't have a good enough skill set to start this horse by myself, at least not correctly. I have started other horses, including several Arabs, but our end goal was very different. They needed excellent ground manners (I can do that with Izzy with no problem) and to be able to stop and go. The trail teaches them to bend, watch their feet, and rate themselves. It doesn't take too many wet saddle blankets before they realize that listening and stopping are good things.

Izzy needs more than just a stop and go button, and I don't have the luxury of letting the trail teach him about bending and being balanced. I just don't know enough myself to help him through these first few weeks and months. Once he knows his job a little better, I won't confuse him so much as I fumble around on his back. For now, having a trainer work with him (and me) will make things much clearer to Izzy, but there are things that I can do in the meantime. 

On Friday when I went to see him, I had a chance to do more on the ground stuff with him. I pulled his blanket; he's still a bit shy as it crosses his bum. He is learning to lower his head so haltering him is getting quite easy. I washed his tail, brushed it, and gave it a quick bang. He behaved very well. I also groomed and saddled him. The only sticky part right now is getting him to lower his head for the bridle and reins.

Debbie and her assistant are working on it, but he still has some learning to do. He's not nearly as bad as Speedy was, so I am not really concerned about it. But since I am paying for his training, I might as well get as many holes filled in as possible. 

When Speedy was a youngster, he refused to take the bit, fought lowering his head, and hated the reins tossed over his ears. But when he fussed, it involved a lot of rearing, jerking away, and wild head swinging. Izzy will happily take the bridle and allows the reins to go over his head, but only with his head high.

If I use a mounting block to bridle him, he stands quietly and has no problem being bridled. That's not acceptable though. He's simply too tall to work that way. And leaving that little habit untouched would no doubt lead to other issues: difficulties with worming, trouble making tack adjustments, tricky to exam his mouth, and so on.

He's learning to lower his head nicely though, so I imagine that in a few more weeks it'll be mostly a non-issue. And even if he isn't totally "broke" to lowering his head by the end of January, I can continue the work as that's something I have lots of experience doing.

Here is the video of the trainer working with him. An explanation and my own time on him coming tomorrow.

While it might seem that Speedy has had all of my attention lately, rest assured that Sydney has been hard at work as well.

Over the last few weeks, we've been working on some suppling exercises to help him let go through his poll and the base of his neck. This is one heavy horse. Each time I am able to shorten my reins even just a little, we have to go through the same trust exercises. He is certain that I am going to plant my hands and lock him into position. Sigh …

Things have been going pretty well in spite of the frequent discussions. Sydney is accepting the shorter rein length, and he's learning to let go through his neck. It probably helps that I am also learning how much heavy I am happy with, which I have discovered is not very much. In fact, I have quit worrying about the canter departures and have been focusing on getting him lighter in my hand instead.

The fear has also completely vanished. I don't know how long ago that happened, but it's no longer part of my riding experience with Sydney. When he gets tense and "up," I know how to diffuse the bomb. Helping him before it gets to that point has solved most of the explosions.

Being rid of the fear and wanting a horse that is lighter in my hand hasn't miraculously changed my big, brown OTTB into a show-ready pony though. He has miles and miles to go. Riding Speedy at the championship show pointed that out pretty clearly. Sydney may be a nice mover, but when it comes to changes of direction in public, the pace just gets too fast for him and he panics. We're working on it though.

I set up my camera on Sunday to see just where we are. It was in the mid-90s, and Sydney's winter coat is making an appearance so he was very much behind my leg. No excuses though … it is what it is. I edited out the boring parts (21 minutes of trotting and cantering in circles) and left you with only 55 seconds of boring. You're welcome.

Things I notice: he is definitely behind my leg, my reins could be a bit shorter, and I am letting him blow through the outside shoulder. No biggie, we have all the time in the world to work on it!