Not-So-Speedy Dressage
From Endurance to Dressage
With quality in mind, I saddled Speedy for our Sunday ride. Now that school has resumed and I have to go to work every weekday morning, my weekend rides have to really count. This sometimes sets me up for failure as I often put a lot of pressure on those two rides. Other times I revel in the luxury of having two days to ride both horses; this was one of those weekends. Speedy tried all of his usual things; fussing to the right, serious head tilt, stiff when tracking left, and so on. Rather than get upset, I just narrowed my focus and tried to get the very best I could from each stride. Tracking left is becoming a bit of an issue. He is just so dang stiff that direction. (I am wondering if he needs another adjustment by the chiropractor; I need to think about that.) In an effort to get some softness on that left rein, we did more counter canter. I was pretty happy with the result, bone jarring as it was. We did a 20-meter circle on the left lead, crossed the diagonal, and did a full 20-meter counter canter circle at the other end of the arena without losing the canter. And we did it more than once. It wasn't perfect, but I've only been able to do that exercise ... never. I did manage some counter canter half circles with Christian Schacht in June, but we did a full circle this weekend. And I could feel Speedy's relief when we were back on the correct bend. It helped him see that some bend is a good thing. I had much better luck with our right lead canter. I decided to just work on adjusting his trot work to the right by shortening and lengthening his stride with my seat. He shortened his stride quite easily; when I asked for a bigger stride, he kept breaking into the canter. I decided that I needed to be much quieter with my legs as I asked for the longer stride, but it also gave me some information about getting a better canter transition.
Once his trot work was pretty adjustable, I went ahead and asked for the right lead canter. Usually, I sit and then ask with an inside leg at the girth and the outside leg just behind the girth. This time, I simply sat lightly and thought canter ... and was rewarded with a much softer transition. We made a few circles and did a few trot to canter transitions. Focusing on quality makes it easy to be pleased with the ride!
lytha
10/1/2013 12:00:35 am
Hi, I wanted to ask your opinion on sidedness in horses. I need to blog about this but since you brought it up I thought I'd ask you in particular. My horse seems to be an OTTB in a grade pony body, because she's curved to the left. And I have a preference for posting on the right diagonal, which seems to concur with this coincidentaly. (I think I can say coincidentally because I haven't done much trotting at all yet.) I watched her break into a canter three times in the field yesterday, and each time, left lead. Since I have a tendency to worry whether things are worth worry or not, I think I need to do something about this. What have you done to work on sidedness in your horses? My first instinct is to work the horse twice as much on the difficult side, as well as working myself more on that side. You're at the stage where you're doing counter canter, so I hope you have some tips for me.
Bakersfield Dressage
10/3/2013 11:46:35 am
I am not an expert on "sidedness," Lytha, but I can share what I've learned.
Bakersfield Dressage
10/3/2013 11:34:20 am
Focusing on quality, my newest goal, is helping me narrow my focus so I am not overwhelmed by all that we don't know and can't do right! Comments are closed.
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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. 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.
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.
National Rider AwardsState Rider Awards
State Horse Awards
Working Towards:
CDS Sapphire Rider Award Third Level: 63.514% Third Level: 62.105% Fourth Level: Fourth Level: 2023 Show Season
Show Rating (***) CDS/USDF/USEF (*) CDS (s) Schooling (c) Clinic (r) Ride-a-Test Clinic 2023 Show Schedule
TBD 2023 Completed … Pending 2023 Qualifying Scores
Regional Adult Amateur Competition (RAAC) Qualifying Training Level 3 Scores/2 Judges/60%: Score 1: Score 2: Score 3: Archives
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