Soft is the name of the game

Immediately happier with his bit in--forward, energetic, soft and round.

Wanted to keep spooking at the corner with the chairs in it because birds were taking a dust bath. Consistently bulged out to fake spook at them despite my spur in his rib.

Walk warm up: Easy peasy leg yields on and off the rail both directions, stayed round and quiet, automatic for him at this point. TOH he just gets now, no cause for tension, he understands the ask. HI was much improved--no weird, wild angle--and he did a great renvers.

Went right in to sitting trot since he was so soft and relaxed. A few chomps here and there but overall quiet in his mouth. Had to get after him a couple times to make his circles the size I wanted them and to keep them circle shaped instead of drifting out. Lots of changes of directions and 10, 15 and 20m circles to keep him from thinking tense thoughts.

He kept his neck long and his poll up with a soft back and forward pace. Let him be done after maybe ten minutes because it was so good. Decided since all the Second movements are in place, they just need spit shine, and since who knows when showing will resume again, we might as well fuck with the changes.

L to R remains easy and clean.

In the past, and the reason I quit with the changes completely, the R to L change was a complete meltdown-inducing shit show. He'd sense it coming, throw a fit, not get the change, throw an even bigger fit, and then that was the end of working on changes because he was too busy rearing and throwing himself around.

Today though! He let me work away at that change. I had to give him a few corrections--no, I'm not asking you to pick the canter back up yet, keep walking; no, you don't need to bolt once we get to the rail--but I made them firm and quick and moved right on and his brain never got stuck on them.

I don't think he ever got one completely clean this direction, but we got to the point where he completely understood the ask, waited patiently for the cue, did his best, and cantered off like a normal sane horse. I had to be very clear in my instruction: ride like I was going to ask him to hold the counter canter--bent to the right, my leg slightly over-exaggerated from where I keep it pressed against his side so he knows I'm asking him to hold the lead--and then when I was ready for the change, I straightened him and switched my exaggerated leg position to the opposite side. He would pop right over in the front no problem, but he didn't have the jump for the clean change like he does going L to R.

I was really, really pleased with him though and I let him finish there with candy shoved down his throat. Maybe not clean yet, but calm and thinking, and for him that was a HUGE step in the right direction.

More bridleless jumping

BM texted me Friday afternoon to tell me she had an open riding spot first thing this morning if I wanted to come out. Obviously I couldn't say no to that!

I dragged Hubby out with me, we washed our hands on arrival, practiced our social distancing, and just generally tried to avoid touching any and everything--minus putting up some jumps in the ring because you've still gotta social media even in these times.

Opie had two days off after his long dressage/sitting trot ride on Wednesday, and he was actually pretty chipper despite the fact that we walked in on his breakfast. However, he was once again unimpressed with the bridleless work. He just cannot find it in himself to give two fucks without a bridle on.

After a quick warm up, we went through the trot poles to X. Boring, barely managed to lift his feet over the X. Moved on to an easy bounce and ran through that a few times until we got it perfected.

After that I had Hubby set the vertical up a stride out again.

Up two holes:

what, you don't crest release with a neck rope?

And up two more holes to 3'9":

A few things:

• Since when did 3'9" become an actual snooze fest for this horse?

yeah, this one. this was almost exactly 1 year ago.

• That said, I'm not too impressed with his jumping style. He looks good in a freeze frame, but he's a bit up and down in his body on landing, and he still twists his hind end out of the way over these bigger jumps. 
• Apparently grids do the opposite of what they say they're supposed to do for rider position for me--mine is definitely worse through them.
• What a good boy tho.

Riding through COVID-19

Things started out innocuously enough:

And then one week later:

A couple of fortunate things though: I am an essential caregiver, and BM and BO agreed to let boarders continue to ride. No more than three people at the barn at a time, only one rider in the ring at a time, and everyone is scheduled.

I told BM to lock me in for a 9-10 ride time Monday through Wednesday so I could continue my usual habit of riding as soon as I'm done with chores. While she's allowing us to continue riding, and in doing so has made strict rules about sanitizing, I still want to lessen my risk of exposure. I'm planning on a three day on, four day off schedule with the possibility of another quick ride during the weekend if I feel it's needed. 

stopped in on saturday to put in bulbs (finally!) over bobby's
grave and handed out candy and smooches while we were there

Our three rides this week looked like this:

Monday

• He was quite fresh and yet somehow also quite tight and tense. I wasn't impressed with much of anything, although the forward in the lateral work is fucking FINALLY getting somewhere.
• Worked hard on medium trot with mild success. Not as good as he has been the past few times, but better than last year. 
• Still working away at the sitting trot for both of us. I'm doing a lot of just going around and around in it, trying to make it a nonevent for us. 

Tuesday

• I didn't want to do three days in a row of dressage drilling, so I ditched the bridle again.
• Set up an X after trot poles which I ended up having to kick him over to get him to actually half assed jump it and canter away instead of just trotting the whole thing like a slug.

boooooring

• I tried to amuse us both with some canter to walk transitions, but that was too easy and even more boring than our fake grid. So I set up a small vertical a stride out. Dopie was one hundred percent meh about that turn of events as well, although he at least cantered the distance and cantered off. 
• So I got off again and raised it three holes to 2'9ish. Did that excite him? Nah. He loped in, loped over it, and loped off before halting for his candy. Well, sorryyy, sir, for you being too good for bridleless work. Sorry you're such a #childgenius and such activities bore you.

"this game is stupid"

Wednesday

• I wanted a good ass sitting trot ride, and I was not going to fight for two hours to get it. I dug my moldy draw reins out of the bottom of my trunk and put them on from the outset. 
• We spent a lot of time to start working on halts. They should be forward, prompt, square, and on the bit. No popping our head up to stare around, not dragging our feet into them for three strides. 
• Posting trot and canter warm up were fine. A lot of canter-walk transitions. At the posting trot, I've finally told myself to roll my right knee in because my thigh wants to come off the saddle when I'm in the up phase. That's secured everything about my body, and I'm actually pretty happy with my posture for once in my riding life.
• Then the sitting trot.
• The first round was not so great. He wanted to lock his neck underneath at the base. This is where I picked up my draw reins for the first time. I wanted to almost over-flex him and get him really short and round so I could spool him out. He--as always--started off by being tight everywhere, chomping the bit with tension. I want this phase to not take forever to get over so I'm not wasting all his energy in warm up at a show unlocking his angry brain. 
• Lots of SI, HI, some half pass, changes of direction, circles, yada yada--he finally settled somewhat and I let him have a long stretch break. I probably would have quit there if I was planning on riding again tomorrow or Friday. But I'm not, so I put him back into it again.
• He was starting to get a little tired by this point which helped erase some of the tension. But again, I don't want relaxed and tired to go hand in hand. I want a relaxed horse with energy to get through two Second level tests. 
• I kept pushing him forward forward forward into my hand with constant quiet half halts from my seat to get him to make his tiny neck longer. Ten thousand circles and changes of direction later, he had a beautiful shape, a beautiful rhythm and pace, and was quiet as could be in his mouth. But that took an hour to get there. 

how opie feels about the sitting trot

With no one knowing what show season is going to look like at this point, the sitting trot is my number one (and only) goal. I want him to be relaxed and confident in it, and I don't want that to take an entire ride to grind out. Everything else he's set at for this level. The lateral work is staying forward, the medium trot is there enough--although we will always strive to make it better!--the canter is a breeze. 

I guess the positive from this shut down is that when we do make it out in public again, he should be more prepared for it than he was going to be before.

Ride Notes: Leaning Tower of Dopie

Tuesday

• Kept a constant check on his right lean. Now that I'm making a point to police it so I don't have to keep shelling out money for the chiro every few weeks for a problem I can do a lot towards fixing/preventing through my riding, it's been much easier to notice. Fortunately it's pretty easy to keep a lid on, too, once you're aware of what's going on. 
• Did lots of serpentines and circles in the sitting trot. Working a lot on just going around in that for both of us with show season for everyone on hold. He's getting more and more comfortable with it quicker and quicker.
• Ended with some walk lateral work which was really good--no crazy angle in that HI!

Wednesday

• Wanted to run through 2-2 in the outdoor but the footing was still frozen. Stuck in the indoor again. 
• The first canter we did in warm up was just plain gross. Stiff and locked up and crooked and gross. Then he started pulling on my right rein so we had a brief CTJ about that. I decided to say Fuck It and just go into the test.
• I should have looked at this test closer last year for a move up. It's a stupid test, but the double coefficients are in his strong suit (the walk, counter canter, and travers) and the things he finds hard (the fucking medium trot for one) are scored normally. But really. Who puts a medium trot up the center line??
• The run-through--the first one we've ever done in this test--was surprisingly quite alright. He had a couple jiggy spots in the walk where he anticipated a transition, but he did all the movements no fuss at all. 

Thursday

• Wanted to put in another dressage school, but Opie was distracted from the get-go. Gave up on the walk warm up because he wasn't really paying attention, but the trot was even worse. Again, just gross feeling. I've raised the bar to wanting round and forward and steady in my hand always. Anything less, even only a little less, is just not doing it for me. 
• Getting nowhere in the walk or trot, we picked up the canter and started circling on the right lead over a single vertical canted at a small angle just off the rail. The game was to maintain the canter I put him in all the way up to and over the jump. Any running or flinging his head and he got sat on his ass.
• He was all for this game, and only got a couple of quick, sharp corrections before he was metronome popping over it.
• Same to the left.
• The canter restored some of his dressage brain cells, and we finished with another round of just going around in sitting trot for the sake of both of us getting more comfortable with it.
• He wanted to test his new medium trot, so I let him power out into it whenever he wanted, but he got brought back as soon as he lost his balance. Never going fast, Dopie Horse. Only forward. 
• His shape was good and his back stayed soft despite there still being some teeth gnashing.

mostly quiet in the mouth lately, but still some chomping

Bridleless Dopie

I rode Dopie bridleless--in a neck rope--for the first time the first spring he came off the track. We did a couple of loops around the parking lot, attempted to ride in the indoor, had zero steering capabilities, and ended there.

I got caught in up in training the horse to do horse things--use his body properly, don't fall down, pretend to be a civilized show animal--that trying him bridleless again never really crept in to my thinking. He was so bad at steering the first time I did it, it wasn't as fun as it always was with Bobby.

And obviously there were ten million other things to do with him to hold my attention.

Who knows what shows are going to run coming up in short order here because of the coronavirus. My truck is in theory fixed enough to haul again, but there's still the little matter of being broke as a joke with a mile long list of things that need to be paid for. Plus sometimes Opie is still #childsatan, let us not forget.

A barn mate wanted me to ride with her on Saturday, but then ended up getting extra lessons tacked on to her day, so I sat around for over an hour waiting for her to finish teaching. My motivation had started at about a one and by the time she was ready had dropped to a negative seven. I dug out ye olde neck rope, threw on a jump saddle and my dressage bridle, and decided to have fun.

very pleased with himself

I started with the bridle on, obviously, but kept the reins on the buckle while I halted him a few times off the neck rope. Whoa is Opie's favorite gait so that wasn't an issue. We serpentined through some cones along the long side, changed directions, and called it good. I reached up and pulled his bridle off and away we went.

We did w/t/c, changes of directions, big circles, little circles, serpentines, avoided running in to two other horses, and even popped over a tiny jump:

Everything was easy peasy. He steered as well as he did in a bridle, and every down transition was just me sinking into my seat.

Many cookies were earned, and hopefully these past couple have rides have put some Good Boy brain cells back into action.

Quick Jumpies

It's hard to get excited about chipping away at the dressage work day in and day out when show season seems like it's not going to happen more and more every day. Which I still haven't even been able to bring myself to get too upset about.

2020 is going to be the worst. It may only be March, but I'm content to be resigned to that fact already.

While I still love dressage of course, we've been getting our jumping on with much more frequency than before. Now that Dopie's mostly figured out the use of his body, jumping him is easy and fun. I don't have to worry about him falling face first into the dirt upon landing and all that.

still gets a face full of dirt regardless. he lost the race to the
gate and was covered in kickback.

BM and I rode together yesterday. I wanted to jump, but I had zero inspiration when it came time to set a course. I threw up a few things scattered across the ring and called it good.

snooze fest

We made the most of it regardless. I hadn't set the bounce to single vertical (2'9) as a line, but we ended up riding it as one both directions. We did both jumps of the two stride individually by cutting in from the middle. I did the single vertical both ways, including on a circle off the left lead for a super short approach.

The two stride was set at 33' as we tried to meet in the middle between Opie's pony stride and Mo's giant 14' stride, but Opie still had to get in and go to reach it. Poor kid, he did a good job though with the exception of one time. We came in from the (swedish) oxer side for the first time and he got in from an awkward distance because he was rude and ran through my hands. He landed crooked, tried to bulge out of the line, and I got him back in and made him jump out on sort of a three. Better the second time though.

He was much more relaxed than the last time he jumped--after game night when he was bombing around like a maniac over everything. I was also proud of myself for picking up the canter and jumping over and over and over. A lot of times I do a few jumps, don't die, and sit on that for a good long while before building myself back up to doing it again.

Opie is so easy to jump though. The worst he does is jump a little flat and over his shoulder, but he doesn't hit anything, it's just not as nice of a feeling in the air. 2'9" is nothing to him anymore, he jumps it the same as anything else.

Much needed redemption

I really wanted to check and see if Opie's brain was anywhere near the vicinity of his head for another dressage school this morning, but I also really didn't want to waste the money I just paid the chiro on the chance that it wasn't. I decided to go ahead and get on to at least see what I was working with.

Despite most of the horses being in due to the weather which meant everyone was screaming their fool heads off, steady 30mph winds rattling the arena, and his BFF calling for him from outside, he was surprisingly chill.

said obnoxious bff

Did a long walk warm up, being soft, being straight, not falling over because you don't want to be straight. Some posting trot with a couple leg yields to get the juices flowing, a quick stretchy walk break, and then pick up the reins and see if we could do any lateral work.

He was willing to work with me today so while things weren't perfect, my goodness were they so much better. There was even significantly less chomping on the bit because while he was a little tense trying to figure things out, he was also--FOR ONCE--listening to what I was asking.

hates listening! hates being patient! hates sharing candy!

At the shoulder-in, he wants to cheat and bend his neck instead of move his shoulders over as much as he needs to. We worked on pretending like I was about to send him across the diagonal to get his shoulders on the right track while keeping his neck straighter.

At the haunches-in to the right, I finally figured out what the giant cluster fuck was. This direction he needs to be stepping the troubled LH under. To try to get out of doing that, he swings his entire hind end almost perpendicular to the wall. While he's trying to cheat, he's actually making things a hundred times harder for himself. He also twists his head because he's not even remotely straight in the connection with his back half in a different zip code.

We spent a looooong time at the walk bringing the haunches in towards the rail instead of off of it. Once I got him on the correct angle, gently stepping that LH under, the head tilt went away as well. I oozed him into the trot, patiently oozed him into the HI, and when he got it correct I dropped the reins, got into half seat, and heaped the praise on him for an entire long side.

He got it two times with mucho praise both times, and we finished by nailing another soft, light, bouncing medium trot across the long diagonal at sitting trot. I got off right there and shoved all the candies down his throat.

Getting it done

My three day plan worked out pretty much exactly the way I had it laid out which, given how rarely that happens, is a victory in and of itself.

Saturday

I had originally planned on longeing first and then getting on for an easy w/t/c no expectations asked ride. Lessons were still going on when I arrived though so I nixed the longe and pulled out the double bridle. I bought a crank chin pad for it even though the rubs on the underside of his face are definitely from his feed tub. It's just that time of year where everything is rubbing from nothing. But my real idea with the double was that I knew I wouldn't be tempted to ask for any real work from him in it.

A lot of w/t with the snaffle engaged, asking him to be round and stay straight in his body. Some good, forward canter in half seat, occasionally circling over some of the ground poles laid out in the lesson going on. Finished with some solid stretching. Zero shenanigans and exactly the ride I was looking for.

he was happy with it, too, i promise.

Sunday

BM and I made it out to the park with my truck and trailer finally back to hauling like the dream team again. Then I came home, the check engine light came on, and the truck started having engine problems. Also again. That put a bit of a damper on things, but at this point I still haven't gotten my hopes up for a show season this year. It seems like everything is conspiring against me.

The park was nice however. The weather was slightly chillier than we had planned on, but the sun was out and the trails weren't muddy messes. Dopie and Mo both started out by taking great offense to every human being in existence but eventually got over themselves.

completely at ease in the double. not at ease of the army rotc
training taking place across the road.

Despite half of the main pond being frozen over still, we found a couple of good spots for splash parties, and even got to do two long canters.

"are there people behind me??"

Monday

Sun's out, buns out! 65* meant everyone gets to be naked, and Opie gets to enjoy the best weather of the week with a day off. The chiro actually got there in relatively good time so I managed to get his tail washed and conditioned without him throwing too much of a tantrum about having to stay in while his besties were outside.

His was much more out in his back this time than the last adjustment which didn't surprise me at all given the epic tantrum he threw on Thursday. Still crooked in his hips--specifically the left--but Chiro said it gets better each time. He's such a naturally crooked-going horse that it's going to be a constant thing. Even while we were trail riding yesterday, I could feel him dropping me off the right side of his back. Hopefully this brings a little more cooperation into future rides. We'll see tomorrow.

The dentist is next on the list. Then spring shots. Then we'll see where we're at with the truck and the attitude and the budget. Boo, having to have money!

Tension

It's going to make or break our show season.

And at this point it's going to determine if we have a show season or not.

Dopie got so wound up yesterday during our ride that I couldn't take that horse anywhere near a show ring. I wasn't able to ask him anything without him slamming on the brakes, rearing, and spinning away. Forget any of the actual movements from 2-2 that I was trying to run through for the first time.

Turn left? REAR.

Cross the diagonal? REAR.

Pick up the reins walking down the long side? REAR.

Even when he wasn't actively throwing himself around the ring, nearly dumping me on several occasions, the tension shows up with his horrible mouth chomping. I could learn to live with that being his only outward sign of tension, but all the rest just won't do. He's making himself back sore from getting so wound up, which I'm sure then lends itself to getting more tense, but how do you explain to a horse that if they would just CALM THE FUCK DOWN the back pain wouldn't keep resurfacing?

BM tried to reassure me that all the horses have reached peak Spring Stupids behavior--after free jumping the whole barn, even the horses that had to do repeat lessons directly after were giant assholes.

I have an immediate plan of action laid out, but that's about it. Today he gets off. Tomorrow, longe before I get on and give him a super forward, posting trot/half seat canter ride. No expectations, just go be an obedient horse without being a dramatic fuck wit. Sunday BM and I are meeting Farrier at the park for a ride. Monday he sees the chiro again.

From there, I don't know. At this point, I'm just glad I haven't shelled out any money for USEF memberships.

Houston, we have a medium trot!

Opie ended up sitting for four days that kicked off with a gram of bute. After having a colossal meltdown when being asked to hold the counter canter last Tuesday, he'd made himself tight in that one spot in his back again (hence the bute). I'd planned on giving him a nice stretchy ride Wednesday to try to help loosen things up, but I was so beat up after that ride and by a barn full of awful stir-crazy horses that I opted out. And then it got really fucking cold so I only went out one more day that week to drop off my board check and feed him carrots.

which he clearly needed. look at the size of his tiny ass to see how much he's starving.
i did cut his boost out of his pm feed today so i'll see if he holds his weight without it.

I dragged Hubby out with me Sunday afternoon to get more video. Unfortunately BM was in the midst of teaching make up lessons and we got stuck in the ring with six other riders. It turned out probably for the best though. Opie looked like he was being a good boy--and he was trying his hardest to be so--but I felt like I was sitting on a powder keg.

a really ridiculously good looking powder keg

I kept it to a pretty short w/t/c with the highlight being the canter. I know, what? The sitting trot was quite tight which made the connection all over the place, although he was pretty good warming up in the posting trot--but you can see the unsteadiness in the connection there, too, from the tension that wasn't showing up outwardly anywhere else.

The canter was just there yesterday, I don't know how or why.

But I'll take it regardless.

Today I wanted to touch on a few things, as always: the counter canter, the medium trot, and making sure the shoulder-in was a little more angled/straight and a little less faking/bending his neck.

Before I even got to the canter, I did a super quick sitting trot. He was SO SOFT. I kept praising the shit out of him, hoping that eventually sinks into his tiny enormous head. Of course we hadn't touched the lateral work yet and that's usually where things start to lock up, but a good start.

The canter was still on point. I don't know how it goes from a complete fucking shit show to his best gait all on its own, but here we are. After a few big circles in a giant, lofty, dreamy canter, I reeled him back in and did the counter canter serpentine from 2-2 with the simple change across the center line. Nailed it and stopped for a candy afterwards. Round two was holding the lead for the counter canter serpentine from 2-3. He did start to get snorty the second I asked him to hold the lead, but no dramatics so another big praise and another candy break.

trying to be ultra aggressive the praise lately

We finished with the sitting trot.... in kind of a mix of working with the medium trot and the shoulder-in integrity. It started as a hot fucking mess and ended amazing. Thankfully.

Sitting trot, ask for the SI, brush his butt with the dressage whip because I needed more, keep the shoulders straight while maintaining the angle, don't tilt your head, I'm sorry this is so much but it's time you stepped up and did it correctly each and every try. When he got it, he got praised. When he didn't I just kept insisting on the steps to make it correct. It eventually led to a brain explosion.

He gets so wound up about something--almost always when he thinks he knows what he's doing and I tell him "That's not it" and "Focus on what I'm asking instead" (the nerve of me, I know)--that the head comes up, the tongue comes flying all the way out, and the front end gets light. Just full on toddler it's hard I don't wanna Daffy Fucking Duck impression. He's done it from his very first tantrum.

I finally got him halted and made him stand there, on contact, not chomping on the bit, until he took a breath and was able to walk a lap.

Then we went right back to it because tantrums don't get you out of work!

neither does fake spooking at the tractor

He gave me what I was looking for, got a scratch, and off to the medium trot races we went. He was still a little wound, but it ended up working in my favor. He was coiled underneath himself and the first couple times I sent him across the diagonal he totally got what I was asking for. So well, in fact, that I stayed in the sitting trot coming out off the short side--using my trick to put him in a shoulder-fore in the corner--and he went bounding across in his VERY FIRST FULL DIAGONAL MEDIUM TROT EVERRRRRR.

I immediately gave him HUGE praise, dropped the reins, and let him do a couple victory laps before shoving candy in his face.

Now if only we can accomplish that without having to have a timeout first!