Stardust

The very first horse I ever owned, my parents bought her for fifty dollars. After years of reading The Black Stallion series, Black Beauty, My Friend Flicka and others in the same genre, I had built up a pretty insistent theme of wanting a horse of my own. Our family having recently relocated from town to a small farm in the country, one day early in the school year of my fifth grade I came home to find this exquisite gray mare in one of the stalls of the 100 plus year old cypress barn that stood on the acreage adjacent to my parents' farm house in south central Louisiana. Truly the stuff of dreams come true.

(As an aside my parents still live in the same house but one of their farmer neighbors [my old school bus driver] has since reclaimed the wood from our old barn but made a lovely cypress bench from the wood that made up Stardust's stall which he presented to Chris and me as a wedding gift-- and my parents still have the board on which I painted her name above her stall door.)

The following several years a friendship deepened between me and "Girl" that only those who have had the privilege of calling a horse a comrade will ever understand-- and for those no words of explanation are necessary. After several months my dad finally purchased a western saddle for Girl but even after that I preferred to ride her bareback. The saddle was reserved for the weekends when Dad would saddle up Girl and the three of us would ride out together on the turnrows of the acres of surrounding farms.

Late in my junior year of high school Girl developed a gas colic and we had to take her to our local country vet. She stayed over night and back then my family just wasn't in the position to authorize surgery on a twenty-something fifty dollar horse-- though priceless in my eyes-- and she was humanely euthanized to prevent further suffering. I remember praying for her to recover and even "making deals" with God but He saw fit to take her away. As hard as it was then I've since learned that as we become sensible adults with goals of medals and expensive riding habits and many blue ribbons and lessons later it is still just as hard, just as sad, just as miserable to say goodbye. The years have mellowed the frustration and sadness of that moment into fun and beautiful memories but her loss is still keenly felt.

My heart goes out to each one that has lost an animal friend. They will always be remembered and as hard as it is when we lose their physical bodies we will never lose the love that grows between two friends.

Singing in the Rain

Today it POURED rain at the barn, glory be! At about nine in the morning, however, the rain hadn't started but the sky was overcast and a brisk breeze was blowing from the west. We actually got to ride outdoors today on the the dressage court in 80-something degree weather! It felt like Christmas-- it really did.

In the 20m x 60m space we schooled lots of canter-- simple trans's, counter canter, ten meter circles, trans's through trot. I focused on keeping Delphi's neck lower with her frame rounder over her back. She is definitely learning to maintain it better in canter but I could keep her even that little bit more round/deep/low especially in the medium canter and counter canter.

She is getting more consistent but I need to keep developing the tendency for Delphi to lower and relax her neck when I give toward her withers. She must be as elastic and through in the collected and the extended gaits as she is in the working gaits.

Working on canter in the outdoor arena:

Monkey on My Back

My ride times for Delphi's last show were prior to 7am, which meant in order to have time to feed, clean her stall, lunge, and warm up we had to leave the hotel long before the continental breakfast was served, and the in-room coffee service had everything to make coffee but no actual coffee. Never mind, I thought, I'll just grab a cup at the show concession stand.

Which wasn't open at the hour we got there and by the time it did I was already mounted. So here I am at 5:30 in the morning sucking down a cold, nasty diet coke just for the sake of the caffeine. I looked it up later: a typical cup of coffee has about 200mg of caffeine while a soda has about 80mg. It was enough to keep a headache at bay but only just.

There I was in the 100+ degree heat having to slurp down a coke zero every couple of hours just to stay functional. Ridiculous! I have vowed to kick my caffeine habit so this week I've cut back to a single diet soda per day, and then only when the headache, nausea, and irritability are no longer to be borne.

I want to be free to focus my best effort in all situations, and being caught off guard in an unfamiliar environment really drove home my dependency on caffeine. I'm trying my best to get the monkey off my back.

Braiding with caffeine withdrawal shakes is NOT my idea of efficiency at a show:

Rode four horses today.

Delphi is solidly schooling the third level movements. For now I'm leaving the changes alone due to our upcoming show which will (hopefully) be her last second level tests. Worked on flexions and counter flexions at canter. Continuing to develop throughness and lightness in the hand in all gaits.

EXCELLENT work from Wizard today. I was able to get fluid, round canter. His trot following the canter work was to die for. The trot lengthening was buoyant and full of impulsion-- and round and through too! Delphi's pas de deux partner, I schooled Wiz with the first level requirements in mind.

Appassia- learning to neutralize her little tensions by saying, "No, really, you must" and staying firm and positive with her. Schooled some nice canter even on her trickier left rein. She tried to pull the "I'm scared of the swimming pool" routine but I didn't buy it and we had a nice ride instead.

Re-visited the changes today on Rajah: he drops to trot for less than one stride then canters off in the new lead rather than flying through. The first time I schooled Rajah I got good changes but his owner told me today that they are difficult for him. For strengthening we schooled shoulder fore in canter. Got some fantastic trot half pass and walk pirouettes.

32 right, 6 left, 17 right

The combination of riding a particular horse oneself, then having the opportunity to watch as someone else rides the same horse, then following up by again schooling the horse has proven extremely beneficial for both me and the horses I ride.

Two examples:
Wizard- Centerline Training's Spanish barb- and I are working toward being soft, through, and round. We achieve this in walk and trot but canter and transitions have proven more difficult. Yesterday I got to watch as Wizard's Aunt Rachel schooled him in the canter. I saw her lighten the aids immediately following the canter up transition. I considered that she gave deliberate and obvious, if big, rein aids with a return to subtle rein aids as often as needed (no knitting upon the reins did she!).
With all this in mind during my ride with Wiz today, I intentionally aided him into a very good trot that was favorable to become a very good up trans to canter. Once in canter I thought about what I had watched Rachel doing the previous day and visualized a collected, through, and soft canter. Much to Wizard's contentment I neither fiddled with the reins or got stronger in them. We were able to canter 'round smoothly with several lovely transitions, and it was repeatable in both directions.

Appassia, my barn buddy's lovely Arabian mare gave a new-to-Centerline student a lesson that I audited. This well schooled and elegant horse has a quirk in the canter up trans that if you're not prepared for can take you by surprise. Having experienced the quirk myself from the saddle, I had formed the opinion that it was rather large and alarming, akin to a buck. Watching the student school through it, however, proved to me that what felt to me strangely appalling from the saddle was actually a much smaller difficulty than I perceived.
Today when I rode Appassia I channeled all that Wiz had taught me with his excellent cantering and Appassia and I skipped through the minor difficulty with ease.

While watching others ride I often ride with them in my imagination: making corrections, adding impulsion, or straightening the horse as I follow along. It's neat to be able to follow up from the saddle on what one has learned visually.

Wizard and Rachel schooling canter:

Another Fat Envelope

Mailed in my entry for the Windy Knoll Farm Fall Dressage Show today. Goal: to earn our final second level qualifying score toward our USDF bronze medal.

Guest Blogger

My barn buddy and fellow adult amateur has agreed to be a guest blogger today. Also working toward her USDF medals, my friend's current projects include rehabbing from injury her eventer/foxhunter/dressage partner and campaigning her current schoolmaster at second, third, and fourth levels.

She shared this breakthrough:
"I had a great lesson on my schoolmaster this morning, which helped my trainer and me to decide that I will send in my entry for the upcoming show.

We did a great exercise for putting jump in the canter: canter half-pass to quarter-line to halt. Then, from halt, strike off into canter IN half-pass to X, etc. across the diagonal. It took some doing (and incidentally got some volunteered trot half-passes to die for; unfortunately for my schoolmaster, it wasn't what I was asking for), some halt to rein-back, but finally did it. Then ended with canter full-pirouettes in each direction that were really uphill and relaxed.

The breakthrough came while riding my injured horse. She was her normal fussy self at the beginning--didn't want to go on the bit, didn't want to walk, didn't want to do haunches-in at the walk, tail-swishing, waaa waaa waaa. I had been determined to keep my hands still (Madame De Farge casts a very long shadow, my dear), and I was getting frustrated at her shenanigans. Suddenly, I thought, 'Just ride her the way you ride the schoolmaster.' So: my half-halts became STRONG, but very clear. I got out of the reins quickly. I asked once, then demanded. And, guess what? She was delightful. hahahhaahhahaha.

Just ride the frickin' horse!! What a concept. No, my injured horse and I did no canter pirouettes. But we did a 20-m stretchy circle (at the rising trot, a first) in both directions, and a trot serpentine with real bend. On the bit. Calm. I don't know why I'm so dumb-founded, but thought I ought to share. I'll bet if you ride Delphi the way you're riding Wizard/Gryphon/Fee, etc., you'll have a similar breakthrough."

Thank you my friend for that. Point taken!

It takes a village. These folks are a few of the villagers.

Madame Defarge

The thing about riding a variety of horses is that it exposes a rider's faults that can sometimes be hidden when one rides the same horse all the time. The habit that is currently driving me nuts is the tendency to fidget the reins in a most un-dressage-like way (Jeff Moore once said of me "you have very supple wrists").

Help has come in the form of my trainer Karen's Spanish barb Wizard. My fidgety-ness drives him as crazy as it does me-- more so. He will absolutely not put up with it and exposed my less than perfect hands instantly.

With all this in mind during my ride on Wiz today I disconnected my inclination to fidget, channeled my inner Edward Gal, and quietly but deliberately and independently controlled the movements of my hands with elbows down and half halts coming from the shoulders.

Wizard unlocked something in me today: when we finally communicated it was suddenly Zen: Wizard happily went forward from a through and supple connection, and I was able to maintain it by continuing with my deliberate and independent rein aids, working with yet independent from my leg and seat aids.

Wizard just may make a dressage rider out of me yet!

Wizard the wonder pony,
and Zen master.

Canter Quarter Pirouettes-- say THAT three times fast

Karen said of Delphi today that she is now consistent enough that Karen is able to simply add to Delphi's daily training things like canter and trot half pass, single flying changes, and canter quarter pirouettes. It is very satisfying to be schooling all of these as well as watching Karen get half steps and teaching Delphi to be very tall, uphill, and maintain more consistent self carriage.

Karen and me busy at work

This Just In

Horses never cease to amaze me. Today I witnessed a job swap: the first time my trainer Karen's Trakehner filly Lola jumped under a rider, and the first dressage lesson Blue Fox Farms owner and hunter/jumper trainer Teri's Oldenburg stallion Jeepers experienced in a dressage saddle. At first glance all this doesn't seem so spectacular; Lola has free jumped and has been lunged over cavaletti and is a sensible, willing girl; Jeepers has been in consistent work and is a kind, mannerly boy.

But Lola was so relaxed and workmanlike over her fences: she didn't get strong before the jump or rush after it; she basculed nicely over the jump and tucked up her knees-- "very photogenic jumper-- she hangs her body over the jump" as pro jumper trainer Teri Bludworth put it from the saddle.

Then Jeepers displayed amazing suspension and gaits; he happily moved from shoulder in to leg yield to lengthening, and his canter is simply beautiful. As pro dressage trainer Karen Brown said, "If I didn't know better I'd think I was just riding a very pleasant gelding."

The very fact that these two youngsters took so easily to their earliest lessons in a whole new (to them) discipline and that their respective owners so completely confide in them is what I find amazing and inspiring. Wonders, even the expected ones, never cease.

Pas de Deux Plus Two

A cute sixpack from our Pas de Deux lesson: Prissy, Rachel, Wizard, Carrie, Delphi, and Nephyn. It takes a village. Photo by Karen Brown.

"How many horses did you ride today?"

...my barn buddy Marlene asked of me. "Only three" I replied.

It's official: I have left a career in ophthalmology to embrace my destiny of riding full time. The first few lesson horses I've been riding are as varied as they are awesome: a powerful if compact Haflinger that teaches me the meaning of correct tempo, two noble Quarterhorse schoolmasters that are as eager to do upper level dressage movements as a southern gentleman is to hold the door for a lady, a pretty Arabian mare that teaches me I can ride one tempis, a Rhinelander mare that has earned several riders their bronze and silver medals and who considers the third and fourth level movements I'm learning as the easy stuff, and of course the challenging but rewarding world of the Trakehner.

While I may not take three riding lessons every day, it will be more common than not. I am excited and humbled at the opportunity afforded to immerse myself in the teachings and daily enterprises of my remarkable trainer-cum-mentor Karen Brown.