Dressage from the ground

Over the weekend, we had a mini clinic at the barn that we all participated in, and that we all were humbled by. One of the boarders has approximately one million world champion titles to her name in showmanship and is an active judge, and she offered to teach us all some in-hand skills.

Obviously I was all aboard. My horse might not be able to trot around under saddle soundly (more on that later), but surely we were going to nail standing still! I am also--not to brag--quite qualified at trotting my horse out for people as he sees the vet about once a week lolol.

Spolier alert: we knew nothing.

trying to hide alllll the conformation flaws

The biggest takeaway I got was how similar it was our under-saddle work. It was basically in-hand dressage. Horse is gumby in the neck and you don't have him pointed in a straight line? When he halts his haunches swing out and he's crooked AF. Don't come into your halt with enough impulsion? No chance of halting square. Transitions jerky because your horse isn't paying attention/on the aids? Judges are going to mark down for that. 

Gah it was so interesting! Every flaw she pointed out, I was like, "Yes! He does that u/s too!"

just like in dressage there are 100 ways to eliminate yourself without
even realizing you've done it

There's a breed show at the end of July where they have Amateur Handler classes that we're trying to manifest our attendance at, so we covered both how to mask Opie looking like a crooked wiener dog and how to show him off on the triangle.

• He's cow hocked so the wider I could get him to stand behind the straighter he looked. However, we had to work within his comfort level because that's not a normal/natural position for him. I do think this will help strengthen him though. And she suggested working on him straddling two poles laid side by side since he's already mastered the single pole.
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  a good boi for trying to be a wide boi
  
  

  
  
• In showmanship, you work off squaring them up off of wherever the RH lands because that's the leg you'll pivot off of. Opie's RH likes to land well underneath him (tying into whatever the fuck is going on back there), so that already wasn't going to work. Fortunately we're not aiming for showmanship rules so we had more leniency in standing him up.
• Don't hug the cones--the cones are lava! Even a sound horse is going to take a "lame" looking step or two if you whip them around the cones. Opie has no wiggle room there so big, sweeping turns with the cones as a general guide. 
• The right hand is always the leading hand up by the bit.
• Once the judge passes the girth line, then you can move around to follow them. Don't block their line of sight.
• Position yourself so you're facing the point of your horse's shoulder. Give them room, don't crowd into them. 
• To get smoother forward transitions, push the right hand forward and the horse should immediately move off. No tugging them forward! The downward from trot to walk should be a FORWARD transition, don't just quit. Into the halt, plant your right foot and stop. The horse stops with you. If they don't, they come back to where you've stopped, don't get dragged forward with them. 

getting him stood up correctly made it look like we shortened his
back by about 4 vertebrae which was needed when you're a limo

I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting, and honestly I could have been out there for another hour gobbling up everything she was saying. 10/10 recommended cross training experience, especially with someone who is so educated.

"hello, standing normal is hard plz give candies"

In other news, Riding Opie has continued to be consistent in his inconsistencies. Wednesday the LH was a little sticky right off the bat, but some lateral work at the walk loosened everything up and he was sound at the trot afterwards. Thursday we had a full lesson that he felt great in the whole ride. Friday my friend rode him and he was lame-ish LF. Saturday he was lame LF. Today he was lame LH.

No idea what the trigger is or the cause. Hopefully Friday's vet appointment brings something new to the table.