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Not-So-Speedy Dressage

From Endurance to Dressage

February Lessons Day 1 (Speedy)

2/22/2016

 
Saturday's lesson on Speedy was about three things: sitting trot, canter lengthenings, and trot lengthenings. We also did some interesting changes of bend to get Speedy more even on both reins, but the bulk of the lesson was about me and the lengthenings.
Sitting Trot
If you can sit the trot with ease, screw you and the horse you rode in on. That crap is hard. If you're struggling like me, you're in for a treat as the following video will make you feel GREAT about your own attempts to sit the damn trot.

It is MUCH easier to sit the trot on Izzy since his stride is longer which gives my pelvis more time to come back to neutral. Speedy's trot is so much quicker that the motion is much more difficult to follow. And don't get me wrong, I can't sit sit Izzy's bigger trot yet either. I am just saying it is slightly easier on him.

There are many ways to sit the trot: you can pedal backwards, move the buttons on your coat up and down, and so on. Chemaine's technique for teaching how to sit the trot is more of a front to back motion rather than a side to side one. She had me think about tucking my pelvis and pulling my belly button to my spine.

To feel the movement, perch on the edge of a kitchen chair and suck your belly button toward your spine while also tucking your pelvis. You will feel the back legs of the chair lift off of the ground. This is the motion for the sitting trot. The reason Chemaine prefers this tuck/neutral/tuck/neutral position as opposed to the side to side motion is because tucking your pelvis is a driving aid which enables the rider to shorten and lengthen the horses's stride.

To help me feel the motion, Chemaine had me put Speedy in a canter. By "scooping" my seat more quickly, I could drive him forward into a longer stride. By slowing the scooping motion, I could collect his stride. Once I had a good feel for that motion, we returned to the sitting trot.

The sound isn't great on the video and my videographer and pals were doing a lot of chatting, but if you listen closely, you will hear Chemaine talk me through the exercise. Oh, and please ignore my comments as I am trying to describe to her what what I am feeling.
Trot Lengthening
We've been working on this for a while. This is not Speedy's easiest movement. His shoulder is a little straighter than in some horses and he's a little lazy. He's also not a huge fan of doing stuff that's hard, so lengthening his stride in the trot is something we'll probably always struggle with.

Over the past few months, Chemaine has helped Speedy develop better thrust and impulsion, key ingredients to being successful at First Level. Getting that thrust to appear in the trot lengthening has been tricky for me. Chemaine helped me pull more of the picture together on Saturday.
Picture
Not huge, but at least we can now show a difference.
All along, Chemaine has instructed me to compress Speedy in the corners and along the short side and then think, big, bigger, biggest as we cross the diagonal. This has been working, but we were still missing a piece of the puzzle.

When we were at Expo, something sort of clicked. All of a sudden I was able to instantly feel when Speedy's hind end is not coming under him with the same energy as in the front. In other words, the front end is dragging the hind end along for the ride as opposed to his hind end pushing him forward. 

I am feeling it particularly well at the medium walk. When he tries to root the reins from me, and I resist through my core, I am feeling that I need to add a boatload of leg to keep his butt going. This is a huge new "feel" for me as this is what I've been missing when I compress him before the lengthening.

Essentially, I've been slowing down his front end and losing all of the energy that I've built up so that when I ask for big, bigger, biggest, he's just been clawing his way forward. Doh.

Chemaine had me use my new sense of feel to almost make him feel claustrophobic. I am practically cramming his hind end up to his nose so that when I finally release him into that big, bigger, biggest stride, the thrust and energy are there, ready to shoot him forward.

Of course, this is all seen much more subtly in real life, but that's the feeling I am shooting for. Here's another video. Again, the sound isn't great and my pals are still chatting away, but you'll see some of what I am talking about.
Canter Lengthening
The last thing we schooled was the canter lengthening. I have to say that I was the most proud of this work because for once, Chemaine didn't have to harp at me about increasing the bend. I learned that lesson at Expo.

For so long, I have let Speedy take the bend away, especially at the canter. Now that I know what a good bend feels like, I've been really working on changing the bend at all three gaits. When we worked on lengthening the canter stride, I was actually able to maintain the inside bend down the long side which meant I was able to come back to a working canter without running into the fence.
Picture
There's an inside bend!
By maintaining the inside bend, I was able to keep Speedy firmly on my outside rein which meant that we could return to a working canter with a firm half halt. And finally, I was able to capitalize on the power that Speedy can generate with that generous badonkadonk we've been developing.
Picture
There was a lot to smile about.
The great thing about these mini clinics is that I get to do a follow up lesson the next day. I went home and watched the videos and thought about the adjustments that I need to make. On Sunday, we were able to continue the work.

​To be continued. 
Mia
2/22/2016 06:22:14 am

Sitting trot - best ab workout ever. :)

Bakersfield Dressage link
2/22/2016 05:18:04 pm

Or ... best trainer torture device! :0)

Austen link
2/22/2016 06:26:57 am

Ah! Speedy is looking SO GOOD! What a fancy dude!

Chemaine does such a great job breaking things down for you. How awesome is that? I did better learning to sit the trot by thinking side to side and front to back. I kind of had to feel both of those movements to get it. Of course, after bringing my horse back to work slowly, I'm realizing I'm more out of shape than he is with sitting trot! Ack! Back to the ab mat!

Pig also struggles with the trot lengthening. Canter has always been "okay" but trot is sucky. The forward isn't the problem for us, though. It's staying in the contact and maintaining the "push" while going forward. Doesn't look like that's as big of an issue for you guys!

Austen link
2/22/2016 06:43:17 am

Also, it feels like everyone I know is learning to sit the trot so I've been busting out this article a lot recently. Maybe there's something good in there for you, too. http://www.horsecollaborative.com/sitting-horse-balance/

Bakersfield Dressage link
2/22/2016 05:22:34 pm

That was an interesting article, thank you for sharing!

Speedy doesn't have a problem with sucking back, but he does evade the contact by curling. At the canter, when we're working on him and not me, the contact is solid although he does try to be heavy rather than lift his withers. It's interesting to see the photos though because he sits pretty deeply, but he doesn't really come up as much as it feels like he is. I think it's because he's a bit long in the back and built level instead of uphill.

It's a lot more fun to work on him than me. This weekend was mostly about working on me. Lots of reasons to feel sucky!!! :0)

Tracy link
2/22/2016 08:40:02 am

I am AWFUL at the sitting trot. I really should practice it more...

Bakersfield Dressage link
2/22/2016 05:23:30 pm

My new homework is to practice every single ride. I can't move to Second Level until I can sit the trot. I am HIGHLY motivated. :0)

emma link
2/22/2016 11:03:43 am

oooh so much fun stuff!! (except for sitting trot - i would be convinced that it was a tool of the devil if it didn't improve my canter transitions, and ability to actually sit the canter, so much haha)

Bakersfield Dressage link
2/22/2016 05:25:01 pm

That is funny that you mention that because Chemaine had me do a lot of canter work to show me that I already understand the movement, I just need to mimic it at the trot. I wish it were easier to do at the trot because it is CAKE at the canter.

Megan link
2/22/2016 11:33:37 am

You guys look great! I'm definitely dreading sitting TC's trot, Rico's has a lot of movement but it's nothing in comparison to TC's huge one.

I find I sit best when I'm super fit and strong- that was when Rico's trot got downright easy to sit. These days though... I can't really sit even his retired horse trot for very long, which isn't very scope-y. Need to hit the gym before TC comes back!

Bakersfield Dressage link
2/22/2016 05:29:22 pm

Very kind words, Megan, but "great" is probably an overstatement. I am actually quite fit, even though I could lose a few pounds. Chemaine feels that's it's mostly a rhythm and balance issue for me. I am not saying more ab work wouldn't benefit me, but= while I am sitting, I don't lose it because I am tired, I lose it because I lose the rhythm and then get off balance and then I bounce.

If some ab work will fix the issue, I am totally down with adding some more crunches to my routine. :0)

With that said, I am DELIGHTED to hear that even you find it hard at times. I don't feel nearly so pathetic now. :0)

Carol
2/22/2016 02:54:08 pm

Ah ha! Keep the bend! You have no idea what it meant to me, that you "run into the fence to turn from the canter lengthening". I feel like I'm on a freight train during our lengthening's, and while my instructor is saying Good ..good, I'm thinking...yeah, but I gotta turn this baby some how. So keeping the bend is the secret! I really do appreciate reading your blog. You are always...just a few steps ahead of me on the learning curve. Thank-you! And I chuckled when the usual prim Karen ..said Screw you and the horse you rode in on!!!!! So funny!

Bakersfield Dressage link
2/22/2016 05:31:49 pm

Seriously. Bend fixes everything. :0)

I would be thrilled if you zoomed past me and shared what you've learned; please feel free!!!!

Sorry about the language - I do try to keep it clean, but honestly, it pisses me off when I see people sitting the trot with ease. Just shut up and go home already. :0)

Val
2/23/2016 01:42:44 pm

I have relearned how to sit the trot quite a few times. I used to ride a horse that was very heavy in the hand. I inadvertently learned to pull myself into the tack (she didn't seem to mind). That was very difficult to unlearn. Harley would never tolerate that holding on business!

An exercise that really helped me find my balance and rhythm was to trot around standing in the stirrups. Not two-point. Standing as straight as possible without bracing my body. It is very tricky at first, but with practice I could ride around standing endlessly. The same rhythm and fluidness of the hips and pelvis is necessary in sitting trot. My sitting trot became much easier and if I lost the feel, I just stood in my stirrups until my body remembered how to follow the motion. This also cured me of losing my stirrups while sitting the trot.

This is one of my favorite paradoxes in riding: learn to stand in order to learn to sit.

Bakersfield Dressage link
2/26/2016 12:15:52 pm

I rode with Susanne von Dietz a few times, and she worked on that exercise with me as well. Hopefully I'll get the rhythm sooner than later. :0)

Teresa
2/25/2016 08:02:36 am

Nice work. I had to laugh at your comments about the sitting trot. It ain't easy -unless it's a jog. :).

Bakersfield Dressage link
2/26/2016 12:13:26 pm

no, it's not! :0)


Comments are closed.

    About the Writer and Rider

    ​I 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.
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    About Speedy G

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