Cob Jockey

I think I'm finally ready to talk about Connor's warmup without feeling like I'm going to jinx it.

Close your ears, just in case.

I've written in the past about how it takes him like 40 minutes before we get really good work.  How the first part of every ride is a slogfest of me trying everything under the sun to get him going.

And...I'm just going to let these recent ride times speak for themselves.

Ignore that outlier in the middle, the Equisense malfunctioned.

That amazing canter leg yield ride I wrote about yesterday?  It was 25 minutes long because it got so good so fast.  Super productive rides of less than 30 minutes have been consistent since January 1.

Here's what we're doing:

1. Lunging, suggested by you guys.  For like...less than five minutes each side.  Maybe even closer to 3 minutes.  Just until he's forward with an open throatlatch and I see him softly chew the bit.


2. Setting the tone that, from the second I get on his back, we're there to work.

3. Learning to identify things like the right amount of impulsion and when a particular hind leg isn't joining the party instead of trying everything under the sun and hoping something works.

4. I hate to bring purely anecdotal evidence into the "Does BoT work?" conversation, but...Back on Track.  I've been letting him stand under his saddle pad, quarter sheet and his non-BoT cooler while I'm grooming him, then he lunges with the quarter sheet on.  The first "productive and short" ride was also the first time he wore the BoT.  No idea if the ceramic fiber heat thing is working, if he just likes the saddle pad better than our other pads, or if it's just a super crazy coincidence, but there it is.  And I am superstitiously not going to change a thing.


We've had enough rides in a row like this, even when I've had to take a break for travel, that it seems to have stuck.  We can be productive in 30 minutes or less instead of our usual 50-60 minutes.  And I feel a heck of a lot better going into the clinic with a horse that can show up and get to work.  So happy!

Having two trainers, plus me being a little more autonomous these days, is interesting.  Sometimes all three of us are approaching the same problem from different angles.  I am definitely interested to hear if I'm on the right track about this if any of you smart Dressage people have any ideas.

NK: "Something about the way you sit on him encourages him to power down instead of become more active.  Encourage activity behind."

Regular Trainer (RT): "You need to start asking for the canter out of a more active trot so we can avoid those sticky transitions."

Me: Why does my warmup take so long and at what point does it get better...  (Haha, I asked this same question a month ago, turns out it was my hands, now I'm asking the same question about a different warmup problem this month.)

I'm pretty sure all those things are related.  I videoed my lesson last week to try to pinpoint when he really came on my aids, and it helped.  The screenshots below are from that ride.

This is the beginning of a ride.  We are at this phase for...a long time...every ride.


Right now I'm trying to develop that relaxed feeling of him seeking the contact before I ask for anything that might induce tension, given our issues with tension in the past, but that means our warmup is super long, and I think a lot of that time isn't really productive.  I know what the feeling is in my body when riding the "shut down" sitting trot and the active one, but I don't want to ask for it too early - and I think I'm misjudging when the right time to ask for that is.

I think I need to find a way to get both forward and relaxed much earlier in the ride.  This is the same ride about 45 minutes later:


His long warmups are concerning to me, because I'm thinking about giving myself a 30th birthday present of a Jeremy Steinberg clinic the first weekend of November, and I want to spend the rides working on the horse in the second picture, not the first one.

We can get here, every ride, it just takes a while.  Also interesting to note the difference between my sitting trot (which I don't find hard, but am clearly doing something wrong in) and the posting trot.  This is posting trot.

This is probably also related to the fact that we can't let him switch off during a ride, be it a break mid-lesson or between the warm up ring and show ring.  He goes from being the horse in the "good" pictures above back to the horse in the first picture and we can't get him back.

I said we weren't going to work on the canter until after Championships, but that hasn't been entirely true.

So...is forward sooner the answer?  Or should I still be searching for that relaxed/seeking the bit/balanced feeling first before pushing for more?  Chicken or egg?

The whole point of going to Heartland was to 1. Show Dressage with my trainer there to warm us up for the first time ever, 2. Figure out a good warm-up plan and length, 3. Have a confidence building outing with our favorite test, 1-2.


Our warm-up ended being 25 minutes long, and looked like this:

1. Length: 5 minutes. Mount in stabling and walk over to warm-up ring.  Focus on my position and try to get Connor's attention.

Photos do not tell the entire story.  This pony was UP for this test.

2. Length: 5 minutes. Walk circles of varying sizes and directions while waiting on my trainer.  Try to get the pony to relax in an unusual warm-up ring.  Focus on my position and getting good bend.  Extra attention paid to sitting "up" and my hands being forward and following with short reins.


3. Length: 10 minutes. Trainer gets there and quickly OK's the walk, we didn't want to beat it to death.  Move on to lots of walk/trot transitions on circles of varying sizes, changing direction often.  Focus on getting good bend and good position.  We would only trot as long as the trot was good and then go back down to walk.  In the beginning, that was just a few strides.  Toward the end of the 10 minutes, we were trotting entire circles with good quality.


4. Length: 5 minutes. A couple of longer canters, both to release some energy and to work on getting him to stand up and me to be in the correct place in the saddle.

A sassy tail swish.

It went by so quickly, I felt like I time traveled when we pulled up from the last canter and my trainer told me it was time to go in.  He felt GOOD after that warm-up, and I knew the test would be good.

I think the focus on position and the transitions were the biggest differences from my normal non-trainer warm-up.  I'm looking forward to playing with (but not rigidly sticking to) this recipe both at home and at shows this year.

I mentioned in my last post that I had a game plan going forward.  This is what I've come up with:

1. Develop a better more-appropriate-for-this-stage warmup.
In that Hilda Gurney article I mentioned, she talks about her typical warmup method (free walk, then medium walk, then some SI, then some travers).  I have a feeling my current warmup that we put into place several months ago isn't what he needs right now.  Time to experiment.

What he needed then isn't what he needs now.

2. Act like I don't have a trainer
I need to read more, think more, and become more independent.  My trainer is incredible, almost too incredible.  She teaches as if she were riding the horse with me, which is the only reason we've made as much progress as we have.

She does spend a good part of the lesson quietly observing, but too often I'm drawing a mental blank in those moments when I should be thinking.  I'm of course going to continue taking lessons with her, I'm even upping my regular number of lessons per week in March.  But I have to be able to ride on my own too.

The dream team

3. Actually get to a damn Dressage show.
I was surprised to find out that the things we're working on are almost all second level skills, because I haven't been to a Dressage show in three years and I only went down centerline for eventing twice last year.  Part of the reason I'm feeling lost is that Dressage tests function as a guide, to show you where you are now and what you should be working on next.

MORE OF THIS.  Sadly in a jump saddle instead of a Dressage saddle though, RIP Wintec.

4. Clinic or haul-in for a lesson with a straight Dressage trainer - suggestions welcome
I'm just curious what an impartial straight Dressage observer would say about us right now, and what they would suggest.  I have wheels, so I can make this happen.  Suggestions?

Come back, CJF, I miss you.

I've sat on this post for two months because I didn't know whether to believe what I was seeing.  I've gathered enough data now, though, to officially call this a thing.

Every single ride, toward the end of our warm-up and after several minutes of being somewhere between here:

Meh.

And here...



...Connor shakes his head twice, juuuuuust as I'm asking him to really do stuff and he realizes he can't get out of it.  This head shake tells me three things:

1. My warmup is working.
2. He knows what I'm asking for, and he's in his own head deciding whether to play along with it or not.
3. I am T-1 minute from getting total body control and really good work out of him the rest of the ride.

That exact process has happened every ride for months now.  My trainer said a few months ago that as the work gets harder and more complex, horses often develop something like that.  Some grunt, some cough, Connor shakes his head twice.

It's like the obstinate part of his brain is making one last stand against what the obedient half of his brain is about to give in to.  "Obedient brain, you hear me?  This is going to be hard work!  She's going to make you go in circles with your inside hind leg underneath your body!   You want no part of that!"  Two head shakes later, obedient brain wins out and we're ready for the Olympics.  Or at least a Beginner Novice Dressage test.

Anyone else's horses ever develop a really specific behavioral response to work?

I said in my 2013 wrap-up post that I need to plan more, so here you go: my first-ever monthly goals post (nevermind that it's already the 8th, I feel like a lost a week in there):

Me:
1. Get back to Crossfitting 4 days per week
3 is too few, 5 was awesome, but is unsustainable if I also want to ride Connor 4 days a week/keep my job/see my husband every so often.  Priorities...

2. Spend $0 on any non-budgeted items during January.
This means saying no to our first winter warmup Dressage schooling show, which is not a bad thing.  Showing in January is typically a chilly affair in Indiana.

Last year's January show...brrrr!

3. Work up to wearing the Shoulders Back the entire work day
At the time of writing this, I've been wearing it for 10 minutes and my back muscles are already sore.   So far, so good  effective.

This photo contains better posture and some sweet post-workout hair!

4. Break in the brand new Effingham tall boots that have been sitting in their box in my closet for five years
This is a really long story, but they were given to me by my mom's friend who bought them at a tack store going-out-of-business sale. I thought they didn't fit and have tried to sell them several times. After reading Gingham's post about how much she loves her Effinghams, I gave them a second try, and it turns out they do fit, or they will when they drop.  Now to break these monsters in...tips appreciated, I've never done this before.

Currently pushing my kneecaps toward the sky, how long will it take for them to drop? Also, my husband's desk area is his own to clean, just to absolve myself of the blame of the background of that photo.  I asked him to take this photo and agreed as long as he didn't have to get out of the guest bed.

Connor:
1.  Warm up every ride by first establishing forward, then establishing body control.

2. Gradually increase the amount of time spent cantering each ride, with a goal of 10 minutes per ride.  There's so much to get done at the walk and trot, but now that he's getting better at the canter, he needs to get totally comfortable at the canter.  This is admittedly hard in the indoor.

3. Pull his mane??
I have a "no pulling under 50 degrees" rule, but we often do hit 50 degrees once or twice in January, so this is really a bet on the weather.

Bonus goal: not get nervous about about not getting to see him due to the weather.  Repeat after me: the topline will return, the topline will return...

Oh man, I think this is the most behind I've ever been in blogging.  I have two Liebster Awards to catch up on (thanks, guys!) and lots of stories to share.  Also, thank you all so so much for the support and comments on the last post.  They mean the world to me.  We're hanging in there, and he's already had a couple of interviews so far, so hopefully this will be a much shorter unemployment this time.  Ok, time for a catchup post!

#1: Connor's been easy to catch lately because being outside in the buggy heat is not his idea of a good time, and I've been doing fun things with him like hand grazing him outside his field or spraying him down before we ride.  Also, he had a bug bite on his eyelid that led to some minor eye-area swelling on Tuesday:

Add caption

which has led to this:

Fly mask time!

#2: My plan for a long time has been to sell both of my too-narrow saddles after Leg Up next weekend, but after forgetting my jump saddle at home and riding him in my lesson last night in a borrowed Xwide tree Walsall Saddlery saddle that belongs to this giant drafty fellow, I am speeding that plan up.  They need to go, and he needs a wide tree and a flat-paneled saddle, end of story.  The Walsall wasn't a perfect fit, but he was all too eager to lift his back and be perfectly between my leg and hand last night underneath the wide tree.  With my husband losing his job, it gives me the perfect chance to sell them, sit on the cash just in case he's unemployed for a while, then hopefully put the money from both toward a really nice, permanent jump saddle that I'll also ride Dressage in until I can afford a Dressage saddle.  His back and shape have stabilized enough that I am comfortable looking for my "forever" saddle now.

Cob people aren't kidding when they say the British brands fit the Cobs best.  They know their broad, flat-backed ponies.

It's a bit too wide and therefore a little low in the front, but putting my Thinline Saddlefitter underneath it took care of that.

Looking good.

#3: We're still in the middle of jumping boot camp, and for the first time ever last night, he took an appropriately short distance to the fences like an educated adult pony.  This is the result of a whole lot of concentrated work!  Because the canter was so long and flat before, he was taking long and flat distances to the fences and then throwing himself haphazardly over them.  Now that we're working on shortening the canter and keeping it active behind, he's able to take off from an appropriate distance - and equally as important, he has the confidence in himself that he can make that distance.  The first one felt wonky even though it was smooth because he had a split-second "Why am I this close?" moment as we took off, but he made it and my trainer was pleased with it as a learning moment.

This is from one year ago, in May of 2012, jumping indifferently from a flat, runny canter.

#4: I'm giving him longer warmups that include walking in the grassy field until he relaxes through his back and into my hands.  Sometimes that takes a while, but I'm on his time for that, so that's okay. We just walk and I gradually ask him to come on the bit through relaxed lateral work and circles. By the time we walk back over to the barn for our lesson, he's got so much foam going on he looks rabid, and he's happy and relaxed enough to do whatever I ask during the lesson.  Happier horse = more productive lesson.

Beginning of our warmup.

Despite the fact that we're still slogging through one of the coldest late winter/early springs I can remember, Connor and I are putting in more time than ever these days.  I've bumped our rides up to four days a week, and though we haven't been able to get outside, I'm keeping it interesting with ground poles and, every once in a while, a couple of crossrails.  This weekend, I'm signed up for another visit from our pseudo-resident clinician, Cathy Jones Forsberg.  Just one ride instead of two, since the whole thing is against my better financial judgment, but I was signed up for it before our plumbing fiasco happened - not that I mind, since Cathy is awesome, and last time she saw us in the fall, we couldn't turn left.

Summer, where are you?

Since I haven't seen my trainer in three weeks due to work, our rides are beginning to feel a little flat.  Just yesterday I was able to get him working over his back for the first time in a few rides.  I know it's primarily because my trainer has been having me focus on my position lately, and I've been focusing more on internalizing these changes (posting up to my wrists, not collapsing my upper body, keeping my pelvis from tipping forward, keeping my lower leg steady and on him, not hanging on the left rein, improper rein use in general) because I know that when I get all that right, he goes wonderfully. We're still making progress, but I feel like I need a 'Wow!' lesson to feel good.  Anyone been there?

One thing that has helped is changing our warm-up.  I'm giving him more time at the walk and I'm waiting until his walk becomes free and his head is lowered and he's relaxed through his back, even if that takes a while. Then when I first ask for the trot, I do some very quick transitions to get him in front of my leg - for example, trot, one step of walk, trot.  He's also finally educated enough at the canter that I am able to add a tiny bit of it to our warm-up, and he's always stretching into the bridle and forward by the time we get done with that.  It feels good, and he feels more mature than ever.

Two weeks until the Hoosier Horse Fair!