Author: Amanda C

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?

It occurred to me that some of you might want to see the inspection pictures of Liam too, since a) he’s adorbs, b) he’s featured so prominently in Presto’s life story thus far, as the trusty BFF. But if I’m gonna post pics of Liam, I may as well post pics of all the WTW horses that were part of the inspection, right? I mean, in some capacity y’all have probably at least heard most of them mentioned on here before. And if you haven’t, you should. Because Willow Tree is the best and you will keep hearing about them forever and ever. Plus a whole post full of pictures of pretty horses is never a bad thing. So I guess consider this an update post on the horses you already know, and an introductory post for the ones you don’t. **The overcast pics were taken on actual Inspection Day, and the sunny pretty ones are from an impromptu “redo” with better lighting.

First and foremost: Liam!

 

And of course there’s Liam’s dam, Lissa (Lasino x Winnetou), the 1.50m GP jumper mare. I thiiiink Michelle is going to breed her back to Emerald next year and hope for a keeper filly this time? She borrowed Henry’s jumping bridle for the inspection… I think she pulls off the Lund figure 8 and the Boy-O-Boy browband with panache.

 

Chanel Z (Crown Z x Heartbreaker) showed through 1.40m classes both in Europe and here in the US. Chanel already had two foals in Europe before she was put under saddle and then sold across the pond. The first foal is currently jumping at 1.45m in the UK and the other is at 1.20m in Slovakia.

 

Inca R (Diabolo D’Esquelmes x Lux Z) is a super cute 3yo black filly that was started under saddle this year. If you know anyone that’s looking for a more petite sporthorse prospect, she’s for sale! Inca is very smart and easy and quiet, with a huge stride, and should mature about 16-16.1h. And she scored a 9 for her trot at the inspection.

 

Laken (Torino x Pikadero) is out of another mare that Michelle used to have – Portia. They look very very similar: big, powerful, and beautiful. Laken showed a little bit when she was younger, through 1.15m, and now she’s in foal to Diarado.

 

Hanna (Iris Landai x Iveday) was the very first broodmare at WTW, the one who started it all. Hanna is the senior lady of the herd but started her life in Belgium, where she won a huge young horse class before being imported and having a long career in the children’s and junior hunter ring.

 

And then there’s Stormie the sportpony, smallest in stature but largest in ego. This is the pony that all the big name riders keep trying to buy from Michelle every time she takes it to a clinic (yes, this is her main riding horse too!). Stormie moves fantastic and jumps even better. REALLY can’t wait to see some super nice sportponies out of this one! I haven’t come across very many ponies in the US that equal her quality. I just wish we had a stronger pony jumper market here.

 

There is one more that I just had to include here. Murphy is a quarter horse, and he’s bred for barrel racing, but he’s adorable. You might be seeing more of him in the future once Liam leaves, because this little nugget is Presto’s other friend. Granted, Murphy is like half the size, but he’s got more than enough confidence in himself to make up the difference.

I also really wanted to share these because this was Michelle’s first time hosting her own inspection at her own farm, and she really busted her ass making it nice. Sun up to sun down (or later) for WEEKS, doing upgrades around the farm, mowing, painting all these jumps and poles, making and stuffing flower boxes, watering, re-landscaping, getting the horses ready, getting shirts and banners made, etc etc. I’m proud of her and want to recognize her accomplishment, and I feel like everyone else should get to see it too. Round of applause for you, friend!

Oh, and if you’re not following Willow Tree Warmbloods on social media (facebook and Instagram), you really should.