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October's Casual Clinic with Chemaine Hurtado - Part 1

10/19/2015

8 Comments

 
We enjoyed another weekend of dressage lessons with Chemaine Hurtado. Everyone who rode thanked me for bringing her here. It wasn't that they were thanking me for any special action on my part. Instead, they were expressing their gratitude at having the opportunity to ride with a trainer who is so enthusiastic, encouraging, and knowledgeable.
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Chemaine coaching Laurel.
Chemaine helps you bring out the very best in your horse, and she does it in a way that you can replicate once you're on your own. She makes sure that you leave the ring feeling confident about at least one thing. Not all trainers do that, and since we live in the Great Dressage Desert, finding one who can give you those tools is truly like stumbling upon a refreshing spring in an oasis.
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Chemaine is quite an excellent rider - Speedy kept saying NO to her leg. Notice the whip? That always gets a prompt response. (photo by Edyta)
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That's a little more like it! - Photo by Edyta
I wanted to leave the day feeling confident about two things, the leg yields and the trot lengthenings. While neither of the movements are going to be getting us 8s anytime soon, the quality of the movements is improving.

When I saw Chemaine last month, we started building the foundation for a better leg yield. Speedy's issue is that he wants to lead with the outside shoulder, particularly to the left, and brace his head, neck, and shoulders while trailing his haunches. The first step to fixing this was to get that shoulder under control. So last month, we started doing the leg yield with Speedy being slightly counter bent rather than having a slight inside bend
That worked pretty well. Being counter bent helped me slow down his outside shoulder so that his haunches could keep up with his front end. You can see an example in the video below. We lost it at the end, but at least we got the legs crossing over, and the shoulder wasn't leading.
Now that I have a bit more control of Speedy's shoulders, Chemaine wants us to add another layer on our foundation. Instead of counter bending him, I am now going to "lock down" my outside hand while playing with the inside rein. He'll be straight, but this will serve to keep his shoulder from leading while asking for a little softness. This is really important to the left, the side we struggle with the most. To the right, he'll give me a lot more inside bend. While still not perfect, you can see how much better he got in the next video.
After a lot of time working the leg yield, we played around with lengthening the canter and then did those changes of bend at the canter in preparation for the change of lead through trot. The only suggestion that Chemaine made was that I needed much stronger half halts. When Speedy wasn't listening, she wanted a half halt strong enough to get him to walk.
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Photo by Edyta
She was right of course, when I use the half halt more consistently, his canter gets more collected and straighter because he quits falling out on the outside shoulder. 

Here's a short clip that combines a small amount of canter lengthening, stronger half halts, and the change of bend that comes before the change of lead through trot.
We have a lot to work on, but I don't let it discourage me. I like focusing on just one or two things at a time. I recognize that at some point we need to help Speedy raise his poll, he gets too round, and Chemaine sees it too. There are times when she'll help me focus on that part of our work, but to try and fix everything all at once would overwhelm and discourage me and irritate the heck out of my horse.

For now, I am happy to finish my rides having had one or two really good moments. And if my horse feels good about what he did, it's even better. Morgan caught Speedy's face as we walked out of the ring. He looks pretty satisfied with the work that he did!
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Done for the day!
More tomorrow!
8 Comments
jenj
10/19/2015 06:36:37 am

WOW, those leg yields are looking great! Love the cross-over, and keeping them straight is SO HARD. Also, daaaaaaamn on that change of lead through trot. Looking so balanced and obedient! So exciting that you are making such great progress!

Reply
Bakersfield Dressage link
10/23/2015 09:16:17 am

Thanks, Jen. The change of lead though trot is definitely going well - at home anyway. Now that I know so much of the leg yield's success comes from the shoulder placement, we should start getting them better and better. When I rode him the next day, they already had improved.

Reply
Tracy link
10/19/2015 07:09:39 am

Those leg yields are looking AWESOME!

Reply
Bakersfield Dressage link
10/23/2015 09:17:14 am

Thanks, but we still have a ways to go. I am looking forward to the day we can actually move forward and not be doing them in slow motion. :0)

Reply
emma link
10/20/2015 07:55:07 am

aww i love that last pic!

Reply
Bakersfield Dressage link
10/23/2015 09:17:42 am

Me too. :0)

Reply
JG
12/8/2017 07:21:23 pm

One of the other things I love about Chemaine is she never needs to use stupid gadgets, I've never even seen her lunge in a side rein. It's really great, she's a very special trainer

Reply
Bakersfield Dressage link
12/27/2017 07:41:59 am

Agreed! Her list of students here in Bakersfield grows each month. Everyone loves her.

Reply



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    About the 
    Writer & Rider

    I am a lifetime 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.

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    About Speedy G

    Speedy went from endurance horse to dressage horse. We're currently schooling Third Level in preparation for the 2019 show season. Speedy is a 2004, 15'1 hand, purebred Arabian gelding. His Arabian Horse Registry name is G Ima Starr FA.

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    August 2018

    About Izzy

    Izzy 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 schooling the dressage basics. He is a 2008, 16'3 hand warmblood gelding. His Rheinland Pfalz-saar International (RPSI) name is Imperioso.
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