Forward And In Balance: A Lesson Recap

 

Y'all, Day 2 was INTENSE. I went in to this lesson hoping to dig into the canter work a bit more, but as I asked Dino for a TOF to get his left hind leg more under him to prepare for whatever was next, Ashley stopped me there. 

Dino had popped off the contact during the movement, which is honestly pretty typical. I've been so laser-focused on him just MOVING that inside hind leg over crisply that I really haven't been concerned at all with where his head and neck are, or if he's round or on the bit, or what the posture of the rest of his body is like, or any of those things that are kind of important to dressage. 

So, we spent quite a bit of time focusing here! 

Ashley had me halt Dino and ask him to come more round in the halt. He interpreted this as a misguided request for rein-back, so we spent a lot of time going backwards as we attempted this exercise. Eventually, I got him to drop his head down onto the vertical and lift his back a bit more via lots of gentle massaging of the snaffle rein, a touch on the curb now and then, and keeping my own core engaged and upper calf squeeze-releasing, but without putting my seat into "drive" mode. Once we had roundness and engagement in the halt, Ashley asked me to ask for the TOF again, but keeping him in that round posture. It was HARD. What was EVEN HARDER however, was when the exercise increased in difficulty to halt, attain roundness if lost, walk exactly two steps forward, and then halt again with Dino staying on the bit and keeping his chest up. 

Even though it was just walking and halting, it was seriously one of the most difficult things I've ever tried! When we did get it right, however, I could feel a dramatic change in Dino's posture. Getting his chest up in this exercise made him so much more uphill and better-balanced, ready for whatever I asked him next. His hind legs were engaged and he was so light in the front of his body; I could tell that practicing this will help us make great improvements in every gait and movement.

You can see here his posture is getting more upright in front, with his chest up instead of pointed down! He is still a little braced in his underneck here, but really making progress in his posture.

When we got pretty consistent in adjusting Dino's posture with the halt/walk exercise, we took it right into canter, keeping the good posture all the way up into the transition. 

Well, once Dino got un-stuck from thinking all he had to do was walk and halt, that is. Actually getting the canter was a little challenging after so much slow, detailed work! He also really objected to being asked to go truly forward in the more upright posture that we'd established in the halt. It is HARD work for him, and there was a lot of sass and revolt and head-tossing until we established a good, forward, collected canter with his chest up. That, I think, is going to be a big theme in our work going forward. We touched again on the 15m canter circles and lengthenings (which were improved from Day 1, happily!) and then moved on to work on the canter-walk. 

It was the fewest number of times I've EVER had to practice canter-walk in a lesson! I messed up the first one or two in each direction, but after that, with the influence of the better balance we'd achieved earlier in the lesson, we NAILED THE CANTER-WALK on both leads! I was super, super pleased with that, and really excited about how much easier the better balance made this movement. Having Dino in a good balance allowed me to be softer in my hand and seat, and just allow him to sit down in the walk vs. pulling him down. It was exciting to have gotten it right after so few tries, finally! 

After we were done working in canter, I wanted Ashley to have a look at our medium trot once before we ended the lesson - I'd been having some trouble keeping Dino really through his withers in it, and just wanted her opinion on how I could be riding it differently. However, we ended up working in collected trot for a few minutes before we even got around to the medium, so by the time we started work on it my body was getting tired! It was worth it, though, with a big focus on straightness. Ashley encouraged me to think renvers when tracking left (our more difficult direction) to help Dino go straighter, and it felt like a less-invasive way to achieve better alignment than picking individually at his shoulder and haunches. 

So after a few minutes of that, we finally got to the medium trot! I was BEAT by that point, so it wasn't great, but Dino did have a few nice moments of lift through his withers and the base of his neck before my abs completely crapped out and I was unable to ride another step. We ended there - the Wonder Pony had done a super job, and we now had a lot to practice before our next lesson!

Day 2 Homework and Big Ideas were not as numerous as Day 1, but perhaps require even more intense focus: 

• Keep working at maintaining roundness in the halt and TOF. This, along with the lateral response problems revealed on Day 1, is probably one of our biggest training holes. Dino found it really tough, as did I, but being able to keep him in a good posture is an essential key to our progress at this point. 
• Practice the halt/walk two steps/halt exercise! This will be a great one for hot summer days, and again something that reinforces the posture we need in all gaits. Within this exercise, I need to be sure that the "rounder, please" aids are different than the "reinback" aids. (neutral seat with legs hanging vs. closed hip angle & legs back to allow backwards movement)
• I've gotten a bit lax in demanding that Dino move forward in balance and in a good connection over the last few months as I worked him back up from his time off due to lameness. Now that he's sound and comfortable, I need to really be stern about asking him to move forward into a solid contact with good posture! 
• The canter-walk is better when the balance is better. Full stop. 
• Think renvers when tracking left to encourage straightness. 

This lesson was both mentally and physically challenging for us, and it revealed so many gaps in our training that need to be filled! Despite that, I'm excited about moving forward in the work we began this weekend. I was able to see glimpses of how we can improve if I can incorporate these skills and concepts, and I can't wait to see where we go next on our dressage journey!