Canter Work

Delphi's canter continues to develop. The counter-canter work definitely improves her true canter:

With special cameo appearance by Prissy the Border Collie.

Centerline Sweep

The Centerline Training group was a hit at this weekend's All Heart Horse Farm Houston Dressage Society show. We took champion, first, and second places in all levels entered: third, first and training; with Rajah and Tiffany champion training level (and overall show highpoint training level and above) and Allie and Lisa champion first level.
Amazing what solid coaching, supportive atmosphere, and excellent training at home produces! With thanks to our wonderful trainer Karen Brown who empowers us- horses and riders alike- with solid principles of classical dressage, plus that extra something that is empathy, respect, and love for our equine partners and each other.

Long time buddies Allie and Wizard arriving:

The Centerline group from left to right Marlene, Tiffany, Lisa, Karen, Rachel and Carrie, with a Wizard nostril in the foreground (with thanks to helper/photographer Amy, Rajah's owner!):

Having a blast; Wizard/Rachel, Rajah/Tiffany, Allie/Lisa and Delphi/Carrie:

Perspective

Having chosen the slow, intentional path to learning the art of dressage, one expects good days and poor but with an overall progression toward harmony and influence over one's horses.

At least that's how I'm trying to keep perspective after two unsatisfactory scores at our most recent one day show. At 59.4 I was just shy of getting my final second level bronze qualifying score, and when I received a 47 from a different judge at the same show I couldn't help but feel disappointment.

To gain further perspective I began thinking about disappointment versus perseverance. While it's true my goals include an element of prize riding, that is not the ultimate objective. I contemplated my personal dressage odyssey that has serendipitously overlapped with some pretty awesome and amazing people and horses, and realized that a couple of bad scores shall not deter.

My trainer Karen Brown, to whom I owe a debt of gratitude and whose experience and knowledge I benefit from on an almost daily basis, just celebrated her tenth year anniversary of being cancer free. Beautiful Windy Knoll Farm, where Delphi and I spent this past Saturday in idyllic surroundings, was 1/4 mile from being burned to the ground by the recent Texas wildfires but by the efforts of local and volunteer firefighters was spared. My gentle and trustworthy mare obediently travels with me to shows, clinics and trail rides and is my daily partner, teacher, and co-scholar.

Yes, 47% on a second level test sheet with not receiving my qualifying score stings. Yet with so much to be thankful for I decided this weekend to graciously accept the red and blue ribbons on behalf of my "white horse" and march ever gratefully forward toward harmony and understanding.

Far from perfect but enjoying the journey.
Delphi and me at our first show in 2005:

Delphi and me on a trail ride earlier this year:

Delphi Beginning to Learn Half Pass

Our lesson this week focused on trot half pass and counter canter with steps of canter half pass. In counter canter along the wall I worked on bringing her haunches over toward the direction of the canter lead (as I would for canter half pass) which stood her up for a more balanced, more collected counter canter. To do this I kept stepping my weight into the leading stirrup, brought my outside (of the canter lead) leg back to ask her haunches to come in, thus standing her up. The counter canter work helped to improve Delphi's natural canter.

Here are some stills of Karen Brown schooling Delphi the previous day:

Delphi shows good relative elevation with good use of her shoulders in right canter half pass:

Delphi is still developing the required strength to maintain the bend:

"Sufficient" for third level, this reach of shoulder shows promise for improved half pass as Delphi gains strength and training:

You can see the balance still comes and goes; here she is in right canter half pass slightly on her forehand but still showing good energy and bend:

Good again with the shoulders and reach, however we expect improved collection and lower haunches as her training continues and her strength increases:

Here she is in right trot half pass; again "sufficient." Good crossing and bend but will work toward developing more impulsion:

I'd say this is "fairly good" to "good" for a third level initiate's left trot half pass. Like the energy and it has good crossing, reach, and bend.

Good crossing and from this angle we can really see the lightness of the forehand:

Again we see moments of Delphi struggling as if trying to balance with her neck. Though we wish we had more impulsion I like the crossing and bend, and we anticipate better use of the shoulder as her strength develops:

Again good crossing and lightness of the forehand. And from this angle-wowza that is one looooong body Delphi has to collect and carry:

(And no, she's NOT currently carrying a foal, just a rather large hay belly!)

Better use of the neck, and as her strength increases we will see more consistent collection; at this point the uphill tendency is consistent but there are still varying degrees of relative elevation as we see here:

And here, though with good crossing and shoulders leading the half pass:

Unfinished Business

It's true we're not quite ready to take it on the road, but with perseverance we'll definitely be ready for the 2012 show season at third level.
Witness as Delphi attempts bits and pieces of third level:



Note that Karen is riding in the outdoor arena. Dare we hope for cooler days?

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: