Month: October 2017

For Day 2 and 3 of the clinic, Trainer was riding Henry. She’s just getting back into her normal riding routine post-baby, and really only has young horses at the moment, so she hasn’t jumped anything of much size or technicality for like… a year. Henry is kind of perfect for helping a rider knock the rust off, because he’s got a high tolerance for mistakes, but at the same time he’s a HUGE tattletale. If you do something even slightly wrong, you’ll know it. Basically they got a little bit of a teacher-student role reversal this weekend, and Henry got to return the favor to someone who has really been so instrumental in bringing him (and me!) along over these past couple years.

Her stadium lesson on Saturday went a lot like mine. Lots of working on rocking the canter back onto the hind end and lifting his ribcage UP to his withers, and lots of working on her own body control. Henry seemed kind of pissed about stadium 2 days in a row when there were a bunch of lovely XC fences just outside of the arena, but he tolerated his torture with nothing more than large amounts of Resting Mare Face. It was pretty fun to watch the lesson progress and see Trainer finding her “sea legs” again as things went along.

The weather was quite miserable, so freaking humid in the morning that everything had a layer of wetness to it. The day ended up being 92 degrees with 60% humidity by the afternoon. Seems pretty excessive for mid-October, Texas. Henry had to spend a while under the hose to get cooled down when he was done. I was glad that I had clipped him the day before the clinic, although I’m not sure how helpful it really was considering the humidity.

Sunday was cross country day, finally something Henry was happy about. They started with little exercises, eventually stringing together some courses and then some harder combinations. A lot of the focus was on the ability to quickly bring the horse back from an open XC canter to rebalance for more of the shorter bouncier stadium canter that is required for combinations… a little bit of a struggle in the beginning with Henry, but eventually she got it done. He was pretty pumped to be out and jumped everything she pointed him at, regardless of mistakes. The first time he leaped into the water I’m pretty sure he was screaming “CANNONBALL” as she had to quickly gather her reins back up to make the turn for the jump out.

Really cross country day heard a lot of the same concepts repeated from stadium day… especially “put him up into your outside rein”. Like if I had a dollar for every time I heard outside rein all weekend from Ashley, for real. She ain’t wrong, though. Another thing she really stressed was that it was important to keep a conversation going with your horse all the way around, instead of just sitting up there like a bump on a log (“bumps on a log don’t go cross country”) or setting your pace and then just kind of expecting the horse to gallop along on autopilot. It was important to continually check in with them, make sure they were with you, make sure they understood what you wanted, make sure the balance was always there and ready, etc. It really helped the horses not just perform better, but they seemed more confident in the exercises.

At the end, Ashley’s main takeaway for Henry (both for me and Trainer) was that either we could let him go around and be an average cute little horse, or we could really ride every step, create the powerful canter, improve the balance, and then suddenly he was a machine. Or more accurately, she said it like “MA-CHEEEEN”. He performs to whatever level he’s ridden, basically. Ride him averagely, and he’s an average horse. Ride him well and he’s a great horse. Which really is absolutely 100% accurate, so I need to make myself be a better rider so that he can be a better horse. What else is new?

But now I feel like I have a lot more specific tools in my toolbox to get that done. When we got home I unloaded Henry from the trailer and immediately drove out to my jump field to set up some exercises while everything was still fresh in my mind. I will be riding around thinking about straight bouncy canters, outside rein, my core, separating my hands from my body, quicker reaction times, and riding his girth uphill to the base. Maybe we’ll actually even succeed and get better.

Either way, I can’t recommend Ashley enough. She isn’t just a naturally talented rider, she’s also a really excellent teacher, and it’s hard to find both of those things together. She can very clearly get her points across and knows exactly when to push and what to say to get the results she’s looking for. It’s also really obvious that she cares a lot about what she does and she really gives it 110% of her effort and attention. I’ve been to a lot of clinics with a lot of people, some of them really big name riders, and none of them were as useful to me as she was. It wasn’t one of those “one size fits all” things where there’s one exercise set up and every horse does the exact same thing throughout the day.  Instead everyone got exactly what they needed, individual attention, and specific exercises to help them with their particular horse. Nothing cookie cutter about it. Those of you in Area 2, I’d definitely look her up and try to ride with her. But if any other folks out there are thinking of bringing someone into your area for a clinic, for sure look at Ashley! 10/10 would recommend.

Well, y’all, I think I found my new favorite clinician. I also got my ass completely and thoroughly kicked. It was awesome.

Since I was letting Trainer ride Henry in the actual clinic on Saturday and Sunday, I had a private lesson with Ashley on Friday evening. I have to admit that I didn’t really know a whole lot about Ashley going in. I knew that she had taken an OTTB all the way up through 4*, and that my trainer said she’s amazing, and that she’s worked a lot with Buck and Kim Severson. I had quickly perused her faceboook and Instagram, like a proper internet stalker, but you never really know someone until you see them in action. Over the weekend I got to know her more, and it seems like she’s ridden horses for just about every BNT, plus she rides timber racers, plus she coaches the Randolph-Macon eventing team. I don’t know where she gets the energy, but omg she has a ton of it.

I went out for my lesson and we did the usual “tell me about you and the horse” thing, then we went right to work. I got about one lap into canter before the feedback started. And never stopped. Right off the bat she nailed me for my canter being too long and weak, so we spent a while working on me properly getting him back on his hocks and getting him bouncy yet forward and straight. Since he’s kind of a downhill horse she wanted his poll to stay a little bit higher, and think about bringing his ribcage up toward his withers. That alone helped tremendously. Ashley has a really good way of wording things that make you easily visualize what you’re trying to do, and therefore you end up automatically applying the right aids to get it done.

From there we moved on to a grid of bounce canter poles, to further cement the idea of getting the horse light on the forehand and driving from behind. As we went, she built the grid up, and really focused on my position and how it affects the horse. Especially my inability to really separate my hands from my body. When my hands go forward, my shoulders tend to follow, and vice versa – when I actually sit up, I tend to lift my hands with them. I’ve always had an issue with this, and I struggled with it here too. I’ll definitely be spending a lot of time at home over tiny bounces and small jumps, working on making all my parts more independent.

It didn’t take long through the grid before Ashley could easily see my biggest issues, and what the likely effects of them are. Basically she said that my reaction time on the backside of the fence is slow and I don’t get him rocked back enough, which means he probably gets long and flat and has rails in the combinations, etc etc. I mean… she pretty much perfectly described our stadium round at Meadow Creek a few weeks ago. Creepily accurate.

So we started doing some courses, many of them with some tighter turns to really force me to use my outside aids, get my shit back together sooner, and keep him back on his hocks. At first there was mixed success. She is really really insistent on riding EVERY step and really producing the horse’s best canter and best shape. It’s work, y’all. There wasn’t a single stride where I could just sit there and be like “whee I’m on a horse”. Yeah no. If that happened I flubbed the exercise and got the dreaded “No, start again!”. So, like… sit up and ride the damn horse EVERY STEP. Duly noted.

The biggest things she said that really stuck with me were 1) I tend to get a stride out and think my job is done, just kind of sitting there the last step. That means he’s weak off the ground that last stride and doesn’t jump up and around with as much power. I have to be sure to really hold him with my core all the way to and through takeoff, so that we aren’t losing it all in that last step. 2) The best thing she said to me all weekend (that is my new mantra) was “ride his girth uphill to the base”. So basically think of really lifting his rib cage and riding him UP all the way to the fence. Ride everything like it’s uphill, keeping him back on his hocks and making sure the hind legs stay active and underneath his body. For some reason the words “ride his girth uphill to the base” just made the whole feeling really click, and it worked out extremely well.

 

While it was definitely never perfect, it was much better by the end. He just really needs that help from me to get the proper canter, and to keep it all the way to the jumps. And I need to stop collapsing my core at the base. And use my freaking outside leg. No big deal right?

For a 45 minute lesson, I came home with a ridiculous amount of homework. But I also feel like I came home with a much better understanding of what we need to be working toward, and how my horse really needs me to ride him in order to be at his best. Definitely some epiphany moments there. Ashley is a magician. Her eye for both the horse and the rider is pretty incredible… a lot of the time you get one or the other, but it’s hard to find someone that sees so much minute detail in both. Totally worth it!

It’s been a really long time since Henry and I have had a lesson with Dressage Trainer. Like over a year. Because first Henry got hurt, then when he came back we were really focused on the move-up, therefore mostly the jumping parts, since… you know… much less likely to die if you’re a shitshow in dressage vs cross country or stadium.

But we’re finally back at a “stable” point to where it’s time (ok, past time) to add regular dressage lessons back in. I’ve taken a few this year from regular Trainer, but she’s far enough away to where I just can’t make it over there all the time. Dressage Trainer (DT) is a 15 minute haul, meaning I can squeeze lessons in on weekdays after work, which in turn means that it still leaves my weekends open for jump lessons or xc schooling or whatever else with regular Trainer. They both have similar styles, so it works out well for us.

Last night we had our first lesson with DT again. I was actually a little excited when I scheduled it, because I feel like Henry has come a long way since DT last saw us. Then on Tuesday we were a shit sandwich full of tension. Like… just could not, from start to finish. All the sudden I found myself kind of dreading Wednesday’s lesson. How embarrassing would it be if we were exactly the same amount of terrible as when he last saw us, early last summer?

Luckily Henry decided to actually come to play. He was still more tense than he has typically been lately, but he was obedient and fairly rideable. DT remarked on the massive improvement in his connection, which kind of just made everything better in general (shocking how that works). Shoulder in and haunches in were better, lengthenings were better, leg yields were better. We’ve never really touched much on sitting trot before, since Henry is the king of back tension, but we sprinkled some of that in there too, and it was not as awful as it could have been. Of course, there’s still a whoooooole lot to work on and a looooooooong way to go.

The most fun exercise I think was when he had us canter up quarter line, leg yield over towards the rail, but stop just short of the rail and go into shoulder in. It required a lot of straightness and acceptance of the aids, neither of which Henry has ever excelled at, but he did it pretty well every time, getting better with each attempt. We also worked on haunches-in at the canter on a circle and when we finally got a few really good steps, it was amazing how much “sit” there was.

Plus it was AWESOME to not just ride in an arena again (something we don’t really do very much) but especially one of standard size that has MIRRORS. Omg. I forgot how much I love the mirrors. Being able to see the angle of his body and my position and all that… it becomes self-correcting. Also, Henry still looks kinda fat. When the dressage guy says his condition looks fantastic, you know your event horse is fat.

Overall he was pleased with Henry’s progress, especially in his connection and general attitude toward the work. Definitely less feral! I was happy to hear that, because of course he feels tremendously improved to me, but… ya know how that goes. We’re going to try to stick to a regular dressage lesson schedule with him, hopefully twice a month, so we can keep building on the positive momentum we’ve got going right now. Henry will be SO thrilled.

 

Henry and I are headed to an Ashley Adams clinic this weekend at my Trainer’s barn. Well… I have a private SJ lesson on Friday, and then Trainer is riding him. She’s mostly back in the groove from her post-baby/riding-hiatus, but all of her horses are green, so who better to gallop and jump big fences on than Henry? Plus I’m still planning on making her run Prelim on him so they may as well start getting re-acquainted.

I think it’ll be fun, and since I’ve heard nothing but good things about Ashley (especially regarding her experience with OTTB’s), I’m willing to give it a go. Normally you have to twist my arm a lot for the clinic thing… by the time all is said and done most of them end up costing about as much as a horse show, or a lot of lessons with your regular trainer. When your budget is tight, it becomes a matter of priorities and choices. Clinics don’t usually win.

I have been to some good clinics though. I’m lucky in that I’ve never ridden with a truly BAD clinician, although some have definitely been better than others. I’m not sure that I’ve ever walked away with any huge revelations though. Except for that little steeplechase lesson we got from Hawley Bennett as part of the 3-Day at Coconino… that one little lesson, and applying what we learned at the subsequent event that weekend, really made cross country riding “click” for me in a way it hadn’t before. Maybe the Classic Format in general should get the credit there (the whole event was set up as a semi-clinic, with jog up lessons and everything), but Hawley’s advice still echos clearly in my memory on cross country.

Granted, I haven’t ridden in a ton of clinics… only 5.

I’ve audited a lot more than I’ve ridden in, plus participated in a couple un-mounted ones (the YEH judging and FEH ones). Some were great, most of them decent, and a couple were just uncomfortably bad. Auditing Charles de Kunffy was a particular highlight in the “great” column, as was the YEH judging clinic with Marilyn Payne, both of which I ended up writing about here.

The bad ones that stand out in my mind were mostly bad because of the clinicians’ attitude toward some of the riders. There’s a difference in constructive criticism and just plain meanness.

So that got me thinking: what were the best clinics you’ve ever been to, and what made them so great? And on the flip side: what were the worst clinics you’ve ever been to, and what made them so bad?