Wrap It Up

Rehab is boring, especially when things are going well. 

(That's not a challenge, universe!)

thicc boi

We've been up to the same old, same old: lots and lots of walking, tacking on time to our trot work, AND we've just started cantering. One lap each direction. Kind of a big deal. 

I've been letting Opie dictate the work we do each ride. If he comes out a little creaky or uninterested--which isn't alarming with the shitty weather we've had lately--we stick to slow stretchy work and mostly walking. But really he's been coming out feeling ready to work and finishing wanting to do more. 

MB rode him for our lesson two weeks ago because this month has fucking drained me, and she was all compliments on how strong, straight, and light he's feeling. In our lesson this morning, she helped us clean up the work we've been doing on our own. 

came down with whatever flu/virus is going around
on xmas eve and i'm still not recovered. opie's been
getting more candies than riding lately

We've been working hard on our downward transitions, using the lesson from LB at the beginning of the month. Basically not letting him finish the transition unless he's carrying himself behind and not braced in the front. This is hard work for one Dopie Horse as bracing is basically his answer to all things. But we've had access to so much good education in the past year, and one the biggest takeaways from all the UL trainers is "think piaffe". Which like, obviously this horse is not piaffing, but think collect collect collect shorten the stride weight the hind end lighten the front end aaaaand tada you're in the walk. 

MB further refined this by telling me to help get him off my leg with a little SI while thinking piaffe and he finished by stepping softly into the walk. Good boy, this is going to clean up so many things in our test work. 

small boi next to his large boi friend

We've also been working on our flying changes...from the walk. And today we moved into the trot. He has no problem cleanly changing the bend of his body L-R which is why his L-R change has always been easier for him, but good grief. Even at the walk he finds suppling from the R-L so difficult. 

We've been doing changes of direction through serpentines, sometimes having to enter the right turn out of the SI to kickstart suppleness. I have to really hold his squirrely ass body together with my legs which I feel like is going to muddle the aid for the change, so I've given up on having my legs available for the cue and really making sure to use my seat to enforce when I would be asking if he was cantering. 

He's gotten much more confident and comfortable with these at the walk, so MB had us try them in the trot. They were a little sloppier--although the L-R was still good--but not as bad as I thought they were going to be. So much homework, I'm fucking stoked!

exhausting work being opie

As far as this year's goals and what I have planned for next year? Who fucking knows. Opie spent most of the year lame so we didn't accomplish much of anything. And honestly, for as good as he's feeling now and how well he's rehabbing, I don't know what level he'll be able to return to this upcoming year. Ideally he comes back even stronger and with all the holes filled in, and we carry on trying to move up to Fourth. Less ideally, he doesn't hold up to the level of work I want to do, and he finds himself a more suitable situation. After dealing with the insane buyers of the world trying to sell him previously for this exact reason, I'd rather not have to do so again. So keep your shit together, Opie. 

Capable But Crazy: A Brain Lesson

For once, I'm not referring to Opie with that title!

It's me. Hi, I'm the crazy one. Called out in a very frank way by one of my trainer's trainers. 

happy to accept my candies but has been nothing
but a good boi lately tbh

Firstly, thank you guys for the supportive comments on my last post. I think it ended up being a little bit of a good thing to have a minor menty b because it made me focus more on my position and body control. MB even told me unsolicited in our lesson on Thursday that I was doing way less bouncing with my arms and hands. 

Also in our lesson Thursday, we cantered one whole lap to the right under saddle! It took us like three laps to pick it up. MB was like, "What is happening, I would have asked five times by now." (The canter felt fine, just weak AF.) This is important because it ties in to our lesson on Saturday.

Opie is feeling really good w/t and I finally sold my jump saddle so I had a teensy amount of cash sitting in my pocket, so I signed up for a lesson with LB who you might remember from a couple of information-packed lessons at the beginning of the year. I knew she'd be okay teaching mid-rehab, and she would still be able to pile on enough homework to sustain us for months. I told her I specifically wanted to work on our downward transitions that are jumbled and braced, and she totalllly delivered.

• In our warm up trot, I've been doing leg yields and then LY to SI. She told me to get my hips swinging in a big motion, but keep a quiet leg and a quiet hand so the increased momentum didn't fly out the front. 
• "This horse knows how to do a leg yield. You know how to do a leg yield. Just do a leg yield."
• She called me out for setting him up like I was teaching a LY instead of just riding it. It's five strides of setting him up and anticipating and then creeping into it. 
• Just like MB calling me out for taking way too long setting up the canter transition instead of just cueing the canter.
• I need to ride more instinctually because "you have a very capable seat" (Sorry, I died a little. Her praise is few and....sometimes nonexistent lol.)
• Get out of my brain and just ride. She said she does all her warmup work while listening to audio books so she's not interfering unnecessarily. 
• Especially in the walk, where the muscles may be moving but there's no real impulsion, I can't be fussing with shit and taking away because there isn't anything to take away. 
• Never more than a 2 contact on the reins in the walk.
• That brought us to a long white-to-pink discussion which ended up being our downward breakthrough. 
• Basically, the gum turns white when there's pressure from the bit. Relieve the pressure, and the gum returns to pink. So I wasn't allowed to hold my pressure for more than two seconds before I had to release it for another two seconds. (Listen, y'all, if there's one thing I've learned coming up the levels of dressage you LIT ER ALLY ride from half halt to half halt, they are not kidding when they say that, holy guacamole.)
• Sometimes though, because she described Opie as a "latcher" which is so true, I only get to hold that white for half a second before two seconds of release.
• This visual gave me something to hyper-fixate on which allowed the rest of my body to just ride the horse without my brain interfering, and shocker, Opie turned to putty and was clocking around like a dream. 
• Also for the downwards, she compared TBs to a horizontal line and WBs to rainbows, and said that TBs really need a little bit of lateral flexion to break up that straight line so they unlock in the transitions. We did a couple steps of LY-out on a circle. 
• She said especially since he's still quite weak, he might not even be strong enough to come down in a full correct transition. Instead, find the spot that he stops feeling good and starts to fall apart and get out of the transition. 
• For instance, coming into the walk from the trot, the second the hind leg drags instead of continuing to push, back up into the trot we go. 
• Do lots of shortening and lengthening the hind end while keeping the front end the same. 
• Works the hamstrings and the core.

full zen after our lesson, marinating under his red light pad

We ended after half an hour because Opie hasn't worked up to a full forty five minutes yet (even though we spent a ton of time in the walk, and then some time parked to chat better), but I got exactly what I wanted--so much homework!

AND. She said nice things about Opie as well. She said right off the bat his hind end looks looser and his topline looks better, and that the SI injections--from what she was seeing this lesson from last winter--were definitely the right call. So that was nice to get more confirmation that I'm on the right track with him. I need constant positive affirmations, I can't help it. 

I'm excited to work on all our new things, and hopefully paying attention to them instead of how to ride actually makes me ride better. Because this brain do be crazy.