All along in our dressage adventures I’ve always felt that the majority of Henry’s shortcomings are a reflection of my own. And in a way – they are. Of course they are. But he did come with plenty of baggage himself, and I’ve tried like hell along the way to do what I’ve felt is best for him and his brain and his future, to the best of my ability. Lately in particular I’ve felt like there are a couple things that Henry has been juuuuuuust on the edge of grasping, but I’m not quite educated enough to really help him make that last little step. I asked Dressage Trainer to ride him this week so I could watch and see how he handled certain things, and so Henry could be helped a little bit more. This is a first for us, so I really wasn’t sure how it would go. On one hand you’re like “maybe this’ll be the magic bullet” but then you’re like “Oh crap, that would mean I really do suck.”. And then if you’re like me you curl up in fetal position and chant “Dressage is too hard” over and over again. But back to the trainer ride…

So Trainer hopped aboard and got to warming up. Henry did pretty much the exact same things for him as he does for me. First thought “Oh thank god, I’m not totally retarded”. Second thought “Well this means we still have a ways to go”. Henry isn’t bad. He’s never ever bad. But he’s tense, he’s an overachiever, he’s very sensitive, and he comes undone pretty easily if he feels trapped or confused. He’s very simple to ride, but he requires a lot of tact and precision. The mental baggage from his past shows through a lot in the tension. It was awesome to watch this happen with Trainer so that I could see what he did to work through it, and be able to see the exact moments of change in Henry. Feeling it is one thing, seeing it is yet another level of education.

Of course Trainer said he liked him and he was a talented horse and he thought I’d done a good job getting him to this point, etc, which were nice things to hear. It’s easy to get so bogged down in progress that you forget where you started and how far you’ve come. A year ago this horse was in a hackamore because a bit sent him straight nose-to-chest and made him very nervous. I have to give him a lot of credit for that, and need to do a better job of keeping our journey in mind. He tries hard, his canter is lovely, and he has definite moments of brilliance.

Trainer got more true shoulder in and shoulder fore work than I am able to get – I can tell I’m doing too much with my reins there. He also got better trot-canter transitions than I do. I suspected those two faults had a lot to do with me and I think this confirms it. Something else to work on. Otherwise I think, and Trainer seemed to agree, that we’re on the right track but he’s just gonna take time. We’ve got to get him to relax more and connect better and really give his back and his ribcage – he’s still protecting himself and hesitant, and who can really blame him. He’ll get there one step at a time. It’s a lot harder to undo and redo than it would have been to start from scratch in the first place.

I do however feel more confident that I’m doing the right things, and that eventually I will have a pretty nice horse when we get through all that. For now I’m happy with where we’re at and know that we’ve just gotta keep chipping away. Trainer ride: success!

Jen’s post yesterday about snakes reminded me that I haven’t yet told the story of Rattlesnakepocalypse 2015 to the readers here. Maybe because just thinking about it makes me shudder and triggers severe PTSD. I should start off by saying that in the 19 years I have lived in Texas, I’ve seen ONE rattlesnake. ONE. And that was a few years ago. Granted, I saw it only because after it bit my lease horse Kai on the nose, the grooms went and found it and killed it.

We know the snakes are there, but we basically never see them. It’s really rare to find them near any place with regular activity (like a barn) and if you do stumble upon one, they tend to want to get the hell out of dodge just as much as you do.

This year however… this is the end of times. Pretty sure the Bible was wrong about the plague of locusts, it’s a plague of rattlers. First the Barn Owner found this little guy in the garage

Which – ok, the garage, I can give him that. It’s pretty quiet in there and he might have found something to eat.

But then one showed up at the barn. This is ultra strange because #1 – there’s a lot of horse and people activity. #2 There’s cats. #3 I have never seen a rodent or even a hint of a rodent in that barn. They stay out in the fields in their own little world and we never see them. WHY ARE YOU HERE, SNAKE?

This guy was BIG. Not as big as I’ve seen online, but BIG when you’re standing there staring at it. He was slowly making his way up the back of the stalls behind the barn when we found him. Brandy and I tried to kill him with a shovel but he managed to wedge himself into a small space so instead we just babysat him until the BO could get down there and kill him. And when I say Brandy and I tried to kill him with a shovel, I mean Brandy tried to kill him with a shovel while I ran backwards at a high rate of speed. And when I say we babysat him I mean Brandy watched him while I said “HE DIDN’T MOVE, DID HE? IS HE STILL THERE?”.

This is Brandy: “Wow he’s so interesting looking. Wow it’s so LOUD. Wow I’ve never seen one before!”

This is me: DIS BITCH AIN’T GONNA DIE TODAY

And then, a few days later, the BO almost stepped on one just hanging out in the barn aisle when she went down to do night check.

A neighbor a mile or so down the road found a little one on their driveway, so it’s not just us.

That was bad enough right? Snakes in the barn. Snakes near the horses. Snakes everywhere. But wait, it gets worse. A few days later Dressage Trainer, whose barn is about 10 minutes away, sent this picture of a visitor he found in his barn bathroom.

Yes that’s the shower. Yes that’s a giant freaking rattlesnake wrapped around the shower curtain rod.

My most sane and logical response to this picture was pretty much that we should just burn down the entire place. That’s the only reasonable thing I can think of.

Then I decided I’m not safe inside OR outside and now I’ve got this new habit of checking around the toilet for snakes. And the shower. And the bed. And the closet. And my tack trunk. And my car. And basically everywhere I go or think about going. Yes I live in the city and the snakes seem to prefer the country. Don’t care. They could be anywhere. Rattlesnakepocalypse 2015, y’all.

If anyone needs me I’ll be moving to Canada.

Brandy and I audited an afternoon of the Charles de Kunffy clinic at our dressage trainer’s farm this past weekend. Our trainer works pretty regularly with Charles and has a lot of the same teaching philosophies and style. Honestly, my brain was total mush by the end of the 3 hours, that’s about as much dressage as my brain can process at a time. I jotted down notes as Charles talked – mostly things that I thought would be helpful to me, but also just general wisdom as well. Hopefully others can find something useful in here too!

– “You can’t do anything without trust – the horse has to want to work for you.”

– Adjustability, adjustability, adjustability. He said that word about 1000 times, along with suppleness.

– He is not a fan of the dressage training pyramid.

– “Shoulder in strengthens the hocks, haunches in strengthens the stifle, half pass strengthens the hips.”

– “What you can’t accomplish in a 30 minute ride is for tomorrow.” Anything more than 30-45 minutes is mentally taxing, and continuing to work after the horse has given you good work is punishment.

– Lots of walk and stretching breaks for body and mind.

– Constantly change the length of the neck, the tempo, and the length of stride throughout the ride. This creates a supple, adjustable horse.

– For a horse that tends to travel with it’s haunches in when going “straight”, the inside rein is too strong.

– To help improve the connection through the topline, give alternate reins for 4 strides at a time (give left rein 4 strides, then right rein 4 strides, etc). When you give the rein it raises the ligament in the back. This exercise worked really well.

– Inside seatbone down into the canter, outside leg back, keep the toe in, “scuff” the horse with the leg.

– The rider has to advance as much as the horse. The rider should constantly be seeking education.

Charles de Kuffny clinic from amanda chance on Vimeo.

– “There are 3 evasions of a horse: crookedness, inversion, and speed.”

– “Speed is the enemy of impulsion.”

– To help improve the seat, he suggested riding sometimes with the shoulders behind the vertical to help build abdominal strength and feel how the ab muscles should engage. This strength is what helps create a good vertical position.

– To fix overflexion: slow down 3 strides, drop the contact, double the inside leg drive and then go forward again.

– “The horse is where his tail is, not where his head is.”

– Jigging in the walk is a rider problem caused by unclear aids and rider tension.

– To help learn to drive with the seat, he had one woman alternately rock her shoulders (NOT hands) back – left, right, left right – which put her more into her seat aids. This actually really worked to get the horse forward from the seat and the rider sitting more “in” the horse.

– “By perfecting the rider, we perfect the horse.”

– A rider with a good seat in sitting trot is much lighter for the horse than a rider with a bad seat in rising trot.

– He really hated a toe out leg position because of what it does to the rider’s pelvis. See video below (hopefully you can hear his explanation, but if not you can see what he means).

Charles de Kunffy from amanda chance on Vimeo.

Overall he was big on position (leg, seat, body, and elbow in particular were very common themes), having a good effective seat, and rewarding the horse through walk and stretch breaks. He wanted to see a leg that draped on the horse’s sides, with the toe behind the knee, seat IN the horse, and an elbow that hung by the rider’s side. He is not a fan of heavy contact and never wants to see a horse behind the vertical.

Whether you are a fan of Classical Dressage or not, I feel like there was a lot to be learned from Charles. He seemed like a true horseman first and foremost, with a lot of compassion for the horse and for rider education. The horses and riders that I saw come into the ring all improved under his tutelage. I really agree with him in that a horse is truly a reflection of how it’s ridden, and we as riders must always ask ourselves what we can do better in order to get better results. I was inspired enough by his philosophy to come home and buy his books “The Ethics and Passions of Dressage” and “Training Strategies for Dressage Riders”. We’ll see what I think about those!

Many of you may remember that Henry’s condition (or lack thereof) was the major factor in leaving our previous barn. He lost a lot of weight in the fall, to the point where you could easily see all his ribs and his hip bones. I treated him for ulcers and moved him to a new barn where he gets significantly more hay. About a month ago I switched his feed from Safe Choice to Triple Crown Complete.

This is what he looked like in January. When the vet took his coggins he said he’d put him around a 3.5 on the Henneke scale. Embarrassing.

This is mid February, shortly after the barn move.

He filled out a little bit in those first couple months, but at a certain point he just seemed to plateau, so I switched to TC Complete. This is about a week into the TC. His body had filled out a little and the ribs were covered slightly more but still easily visible.

And now here he is after about a month on the TC Complete. Most of his ribs are well covered although the last couple are still slightly visible in the light. His hips have filled out a lot and his neck is looking more normal.

You can still see a hint of a rib, more so when he’s in motion than standing in the barn, but not much. I think he’s finally pretty close to ideal weight again, I’d put him at a solid 5 on the Henneke scale now. His neck and butt are coming back too, and he has the look of healthy weight, not a pot belly.

I’ve been really happy with the TC Complete. It’s a little bit pricey (about $25/bag after tax) but the quality is great and it’s supposed to be very good for ulcer prone horses due to the fact that it’s beet pulp (forage) based. Henry has shown no change in his general demeanor, even on the 8lbs/day amount. Soon we should be able to start backing down to more like 5-6lbs a day for maintenance. I’ve been pretty impressed with how quickly it’s helped bring the condition back, plus his coat looks great! Between good feed and plenty of hay he’s bounced back pretty well.