Lyndon Rife clinic June 2014

The take home message of this weekend's clinic with Lyndon Rife was to make Rijkens sharper to to the aids so that I will have access to his generated energy for the increased requirements of collected and extended work of an advanced horse.  For example in walk to canter transitions, get Rijkens' shoulder in front of my leg then cue for canter while keeping a still, strong position.  If he does not canter right off from a small cue, then one sharp reminder from the whip immediately. My legs must remain long with my heels down and toes turned in.

To collect, I do less, or sit still in my strong position.  The whip can be used as a reminder to increase cadence in collection, while the rider's leg is used for more giddyup (or "forward") into extension.

An early in the ride suppling exercise is start with counter flexion for example on a large circle to the left, while having the horse's ears look right but keeping his shoulders (and haunches) turning to the left.  Then return to normal flexion left while the horse continues to turn left.  Then flexion right again while the horse continues to turn left.  You can spiral the circle in smaller as you continue turning the horse left.  Of course ride the exercise on both reins in both directions.

The inside hind must be active, yes, but also the outside hind must be addressed for straightness and collection.  A good exercise to address the outside hind in trot and canter is nose to the wall leg yielding. Start in trot on the longside with nose to the wall leg yield thereby activating the outside hind, then turn onto a large circle and ask for canter.  This improves Ri's canter as the outside hind is in a state of readiness.  In canter do nose to the wall leg yield, then return to shoulder fore position in canter.  Again since the outside hind is active in the leg yield, this improves the regular collected canter and helps build strength for pirouette canter.

"How are my ears?" Lyndon wanted to know as our barn buddies tapped whips and tossed arena sand behind the photographer.

Walk On

Don't tell my husband or dressage coach, but deep down inside me there's a person who is secretly happy to put training and showing goals on hold and just go out for a trail ride.  And let me just tell you I have a really fancy trail horse.

All kidding aside, I'm so grateful for all the excellent footing options at Twinwood while Rijkens is recovering from a bruise in his foot.  We have about a mile of groomed race track, and several acres of groomed sand footing outdoor space, and dozens of acres of soft turf on which to saddle walk.  

I contacted Adrienne Lyle this weekend and told her about mine and Rijkens' situation-- so similar to hers and Wizard's last year.  Adrienne graciously took time to inbox me while busy competing at this weekend's Adequan Global Dressage Festival CDI5* in Wellington Florida.  She and her horse Wizard went through the same scenario of recovering from a coffin bone bruise last year.

Adrienne shared this wise advice: 

     "The good news is that it should heal 100% and not be a reoccurring issue, as long as you give it ample time to heal."  

     "I think tack walking is a good idea. It keeps them a little fit and it also keeps them mentally sane.  And as long as you stay at the walk, you can do a lot of work just doing collected walk, medium walk, work on halts etc.  No lateral stuff and I wouldn't make him walk so big or fast he puts undo stress on the coffin bone. Obviously, make sure the footing is good and not too hard.  With Wizard we gave him 4 months of tack walking twice a day.  He has been fine ever since coming back, so I'm sure you will be in good shape too.  It just takes time."

     "Best of luck!" Adrienne told me.  And right back at her and Wizard!

So it is with great gusto and happiness that we watched Adrienne Lyle and Wizard claim back to back victories in the CDI5* Grand Prix arena this weekend, winning the class with a more than six point margin.  Doing the right thing by your horse proves successful once again.

To Adrienne's good advice I'll add another pearl of wisdom I learned from trainer Lurena Bell.  When I asked Lurena previously if trail riding is indeed a good idea for dressage horses, she said "Yes" but with this caveat: 

     "As long as they're marching with their ears lower than their withers, and not allowed to strain their necks upward like a llama gawking at everything in site.  Keep their neck low and their walk marching."

Our 90 days of saddle walking has begun.

Treasuring the small yet meaningful moments between six minute bouts in front of a judge,

Ri and I were both unaware we were being photographed during this amicable moment:

Silver Lining

A truly impressive equine hospital that I hope never to visit again, the folks at Texas A&M University (TAMU) large animal clinic were amazing during Rijkens' recent visit there.

The silver lining is that he will make a full recovery from the bone bruise in his front right hoof.  It may take up to 90 days of time, but he will return to 100 percent.

Similar to what Adrienne Lyle's olympic horse Wizard went through last year (see the full story here and here) Rijkens was a bit off so we decided to have a lameness evaluation with our veterinarian Dr. Bill Stone who suggested an MRI based on his findings.  We now know exactly what we're dealing with, and as Adrienne Lyle expressed so well in an interview last year:

"He [Wizard] sustained a bruise to his coffin bone.  We went and got that MRIed, and they said he should have two to four months off.  We ended up giving him more than four months because we wanted to make sure he was 110 percent.  We didn't want to start him back, find out it was still there and then have to give him more time off.  He was tack walking the whole time, but it just takes a long time for a bone bruise to heal.  It's something that heals 100 percent-- you don't have to worry about it later-- but you have to give it the time."

So time is what we're giving to Rijkens.  He is definitely a horse worth waiting for.

My first visit there, TAMU campus was interesting in its own right:

TAMU large animal clinic, Rijkens in foreground:

 

The place was amazing.  The doors below that look like mouse holes were for people.  All the other doors were 10 feet tall and opened wide enough for a carriage to drive through:

A TAMU large animal veterinary ambulatory vehicle from the 1950s:

The appendage of interest.  They scrubbed his feet so clean they were almost white.  Dr. Chad Marsh MRIed both front limbs from the bottom of the hoof through the cannon bone:

When your babies are down, even for a short time and a very good reason, it ages you:

Don't you just hate those hospital gowns that tie in the front?  Rijkens waking up healthy, if hungover, in his hospital attire:

The detail an MRI shows is amazing:

Why yes, I believe that IS the emblem for SuperHorse:

Prescribed treatment for Rijkens is: put regular steel shoes on to support the coffin bone, NSAIDs for fourteen days, and up to 90 days rest from work.

As Adrienne Lyle so aptly put it when this same scenario happened to her own horse last year:

"It just needs a little bit of time," said Lyle.  "He'd been schooling so well before, so it's disappointing.  But that's horses.  There's never a good time for an injury."

The plan is for Rijkens to continue to be turned out at our home base of Twinwood Equestrian Center, and we can start tack walking next week.  

Jan Ebeling Clinic March 2014

Before I ever picked up the reins, Jan asked me how things were going.  I told him it was going very well, that I had been doing well showing just a couple of times at fourth level, and that I'd like to take a break from showing to focus on training to ready myself for Prix St Georges and then resume showing at that point. 

Jan emphatically told me that showing is part of the overall approach to my training, that I should continue to show at fourth level until I'm ready to go out and conquer at PSG.  He said that show butterflies never completely go away (he would know, he's shown all the way up through the Olympics!), and we as riders must keep going to shows until it is second nature to continue to grow our confidence.  Nothing can re-create a show experience, not even braiding and wearing show attire at home; nothing is quite the same for taming show nerves as riding often at actual shows in front of real judges. 

In our warm up we schooled shoulder fore in trot and canter, and Jan said I must do lots of transitions both between gaits but as importantly withing gaits as well.  Working, collected, medium, extended walk trot and canter every day, every ride, thousands of times in a week.  And by thousands per week he was NOT exaggerating.  The response to my giddyup aids must be prompt, crisp and when I give a driving aid it can be strong, but then I must sit there and let the horse do his job of carrying me and himself forward.

To improve canter pirouettes he had me do the following exercise, in addition to riding transitions in the canter from schooling canter to medium canter and back again.  Bring the horse onto a ten meter circle between the quaterlines.  From working canter go to four steps of medium canter then four steps of collected canter.  Spiral the collected canter in to a pirouette in school canter, remembering to keep the rein aid VERY LIGHT while the horse is in collection.  The aids should become lighter and lighter in the collected pirouette canter.  Rijkens has to maintain as much energy as a medium canter, but doing so while in a school canter.  Riding those thousands of transitions weekly will facilitate this access to medium canter level of energy as the horse becomes more and more prompt and obedient to my aids.

It was exciting to hear Jan talking about his plans that will include the upcoming WEG in Normandy, France!

 My barn buddy Carla, the Percheron cross Gryphon, and Jan:

 My barn buddy Maddie, the PRE Sandalo, and Jan:

The Holsteiner Rijkens, Jan and me:

Freestyle Notes

In organizing my thoughts for a freestyle with Rijkens, here are some notes:

Rijkens approximate beats per minute (calculated from a video of his most recent showing at fourth level):

Walk = 48 bpm
Trot = 72 or 76 bpm (so music with a 74 bpm can work well)
Canter 96 bpm

Fourth level choreography requirements:
WALK:

Walk (20m minimum continuous collected)

Walk (20m minimum continuous extended)

 

TROT:

Shoulder-in (left and right)

Trot half-pass (left and right)

 

Extended trot

CANTER:

Canter half-pass (left and right)

Flying changes of lead,every fourth stride (3 minimum) note: coefficient  2

Canter working half-pirouette (left and right) note: coefficient 2

Extended canter

 

Halts at beginning and end of test

 

Clearly Forbidden

•Full canter pirouette

•Tempi changes (2s, 1s)

•Piaffe

•Passage

 

Clearly Allowed

•Everything that is not

clearly forbidden

•Note that flying changes

of lead every third stride

and true canter half

pirouette are permitted

Deworming Info

So I just had a conversation with Rijkens' veterinarian Dr. Bill Stone about Rijkens' deworming schedule.  In the year and a half that I've owned him, Rijkens has been on Strongid C2X daily dewormer, and a bi-annual paste deworming.  Last year I did a five day Panacur power pack followed by Quest plus in January 2013 and then Zimectrin gold in July 2013.

Dr. Stone's program is to keep him on the daily dewormer, then he rotates yearly between ivermectin/praziquantel (delivered as Equimax) and moxidectin/praziquantel (delivered as Quest plus gel).  Dr. Stone explained that for the horses at Twinwood he likes to de-worm every two months from Labor Day to Memorial Day then give them the summer off.

Dr. Stone's reason: here in the Houston area parasites can't really live out in the pasture in the summer months due to the heat.  In Dr. Stone's words "It cooks them."  Yet it never really gets cold enough in the winter to kill parasites.  He explained that praziquantel has less resistance while products like Panacur (fenbendazole) are more likely to have parasites build up a resistance. 

For Rijkens going forward, Rijkens will continue the daily Strongid C2X (pyrantel tartrate). Dr. Stone will deworm him this week (February 3, 2014) with Quest plus (moxidectin/praziquantel), then again in April and again in June.  Then give the summer off of paste deworming and re-start the fall/winter/spring deworming every two months with Quest plus again in September.  In 2015 he will rotate back to ivermectin/praziquantel (Equimax) following the same every-two-months-from-Labor day-to-Memorial day. 

 

In the Shower

My barn buddy Ceil suggested I occasionally take off the USDF bronze medal Rijkens earned in 2013, such as when showering.  What I've discovered is: I can't.  Ok I don't literally wear it in the shower, but I might as well.

I'm so proud of my good boy Rijkens for all his accomplishments, and grateful to him and our team for allowing me to ride my dream.

Some highlights from 2013:

Spring at Windy Knoll Rijkens gets our initial third level score requirement:

  

We earn our final third level score and achieve our bronze medal at the HDS labor day show:

 

Rijkens earns in the 69+%, making my fourth level debut at the fall Belle Terre schooling show:

 Fall 2013 Rijkens moves to Twinwood to start training with Andrea Attard and Jan Ebeling:

 

 Achievement certificate for Rijkens' third level work in 2013 from the HDS:

 Rijkens and Delphinia have their photo in the winter 2013 USDF Yearbook:

   

Rijkens' wall of fame including his 2013 blue (and the one red from his bronze medal ride!) ribbons, glass trophies, certificates from the USDF and HDS and his USDF bronze medal and lapel pin:

 

What's next?  I'm currently working on a fourth level freestyle for Rijkens.  In order to be eligible, I have to submit a score of 60% or higher at either fourth level test three or Prix St Georges.  Since I am aiming for my silver medal I've set my sight on showing PSG to both qualify for freestyle and earn the second half of my silver medal scores.  His FEI work with Andrea is continuing well and we plan to move him up to Intermediate later this year as he's ready.  

HDS Winter 1 and 2 highlights

A big weekend for Rijkens, and a testament to his increasing fitness level, Rijkens turned in three quality tests over the weekend: fourth level and Prix St George the first day and fourth level again the second day.

Andrea Attard showing Prix St Georges received a championship qualifying score.

 

Rijkens won both his fourth level classes with me in the mid 60's.

Above photos credit: Moonfyre photography

Back home with the weekend's swag:

Bookmarks

The following are a list of links to which I want to have easy access in the near future:

HDS Anne Gribbons/Christine Traurig symposium flyer and demo rider/auditor application: /http://houstondressagesociety.org/education/clinics-events/

Guidlines for the Evaluation of Pirouettes, the Contact and Mouth issues: www.fei.org/system/files/FEI%20Guidelines%20for%20the%20evaluation%20of%20pirouettes%20%20contact%20and%20mouth%20problems_01july2011.pdf

Useful dressage documents from the FEI: https://next.fei.org/fei/disc/dressage/useful-docs

FEI tests, including PSG, Intermediate and FEI four year old test: https://next.fei.org/fei/your-role/organisers/dressage/tests

Windwood freestyle design: http://www.woodwindstudios.com/customfreestyles.html
and
MusiKur ready-to-ride freestyles: http://www.musikur.com/home.html

Success!

Rijkens won both his fourth level classes with me, and with Andrea he earned a championship qualifying score at Prix St Georges. 

Judges' comments included:

• "Nice horse - quite capable.  He's nice!"  From Dolly Hannon
• "Quality correct; fairly  polished."  From Debbie Rodriguez
• "Capable elegant horse."  From Dolly Hannon

Certainly we have our homework cut out for us, and we're enjoying the journey!

Video of Rijkens winning at fourth level: