Today was a double dressage lesson day. My trainer schooled Ferra while I warmed up Winnie.I then got on Ferra while he schooled Winnie for a bit. Then, a short lesson on Ferra, followed by handing her off to the groom. I then hopped on Winnie and did a short lesson on her as well. Winnie, as usual, took atleast twice as much effort as Ferra and I was practically sliding off by the time we were done. I really need to get in to shape, as soon I’ll have three horses to ride!
Ferra was extremely well behaved despite the sunny weather having suddenly changed to cold and wet. We worked on maintaining a nice, quiet, adjustable trot with up and down transitions. Today, I actually cantered her in the indoor arena off the lunge line. She was perfect to the right, but a bit more kbouncy to the left. I thought it was because she’s a bit more stiff on the left leads in general, but apparently I forgot to follow her mouth with my hands for a few strides as I was trying to sit up tall and push my shoulders back. Ferra’s pretty sensitive so she just started taking shorter more boucey strides. Being more quiet with my hands is something I’ll certainly have to work on!
Winnie was completely full of her self. Turns out her Ponytude is at least partially my fault. My trainer diagnosed the problem as Winnie being ‘behind my leg.’ what does that mean?
Behind the leg: your horse responds to your leg aids by either ignoring them completely or even slowing down.
In front of the leg: your horse either speeds up or lengthens stride immediately after you give a leg aid.
Apparently, you have to be artful not to overdue this as you don’t want your horse to end up rushing around, falling on the forehand.
To my surprise, once Winnie started moving forward with sufficient energy and she responded to very light rein aids and even came on the bit by herself at the walk. It was a break through moment, as I’ve been pretty firm with the contact in the past.
I also talked to my trainer about Winnie’s periodic crow hopping. (Mini rearing.) he said that it is a result of driving her forward, but using too stong a rein aid so that she couldn’t really move forward as asked. I hope he’s right (and why wouldn’t he be?) as I really want her to get over the problem.
We also talked about my problem of letting the reins get too long. For some weird reason, they also seem to slip through my hands and I’m constantly shortening them. He said that the trick isn’t so much tightening your fingers as making sure your thumb is clamped down tight. That’s a relief as both of my thumbs work great, even if my left ring finger is no better than before the surgery. He also recommended shortening the reins after you’ve made the upwards transition from walk to trot. Otherwise, your horse will begin to anticipate it. He recommended simply letting your hands be more forward in the walk, rather than changing the length manually.
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