hair!

I feel like i have spent the last 2 weeks removing hair from Mr Z. He is moulting so badly, and it takes forever to get rid of it, and he still look scruffy! Next year he is being totally shaved!

So where are we training and riding wise? well, have had various lessons since i last wrote. Things that i am doing, as well as the trying not to think too hard, and trying to learn my 'feel' are:

1. still forward, round, straight. I suspect this will be the same now for the rest of dressage career!
2.for normal work much shorten reins, but have my hands more forward. This means that i can feel the mouth, and can correct subtly much sooner. I was putting them behind the front of the saddle, which encouraged me to drop them to use, and get an inconsitstent contact. By bringing them forward (to above his withers), i still have the contact, but its more consistent and i am not 'pulling back'. also its easier to give him a good boy scratch!
3, for 'deep' work, i am not allowed to pull him down with my hands - use flexion (inside hand can lift) and longer reins. use legs to get him to the length of the rein. when you do this right you get more relaxation - the boy is taking his head down and stretching, not being pulled down and held there... warm up in this deeper frame, walk, trot and canter, keeping things easy and light, you want little corrects on corners of mouth and little bumps with leg etc, not heavy pushing and pulling. nice easy transitions, and smooth circles to get him and me warmed up. Without this relxation and stretching we wont be able to get anything else.
4. we now have the muscle to work properly on a 'novice ' outline as well as the longer and lower one. Yay. i just need to check that his neck muscle is working, and he is round, and not trying to stick his ears up my nose!
5.  shoulder fore past scary things. dont force him past them, work in the non scary bit of the school until hes too busy concentrating then you can bring him closer to scary bit without it being a big deal. Always praise when he goes past.
6. corrections are good - it gives me a chance to reward him.... which means i need to stop panicing if things go wrong. just gently re - position, re- activate the energy, and quietly ask again.
7. canter - now can practice coming back to a more collected canter and then onwards bound again. Use smaller circles to get the smaller canter. Dont expect to have that 'collected' feel of an advanced horse, as Z isnt strong enough.

other than the schooling, which is working again, we went for a longish hack on our own on sunday. Its nice for us to bond with each other. i like hacking him, he feels like going walking with a friend - you can talk to each other.

oops, forgot to write up...

so, last week, I rode Z. on weds pm. He was good, but more importantly, i seem to have cracked the round, forward, straight thing... the key to it was not thinking too hard, and keeping my elbow bent and hands soft, yet closed. we did a lot of serpentines, circles, and played with the walk in a circle with big hind cross over. lots of transitions too... we are now consistently getting nice canter transitions, but i need to be aware of asking when he is round, forward,  and straight, and asking the moment he is good, rather than waiting for him to stay being in the right place for half a circuit to ask, as then we miss the moment! also, lots of pats and good boys. For z, i am trying to focus on getting to the pat and good boy...

J rode on tues, and then on friday i had a lesson. I was unbelieveably flaky. I had just got my hair done, and so it looked nice for once, so i , er, just got j to ride and talk through what he was doing. this was ace. Z is starting to work on lateral work now. The legyeild is coming, but on the right rein hge tends to go out through the shoulder, so you need to do very straight very shallow legyeilds on that side. i will play with this this week. He also started baby shoulder in, and got some good steps, but it was very babyish and a bit messy. he finished with a few steps of medium trot. My boy really looks fab now, he is much bigger and more like a proper dressage horse. his bum and neck are getting bigger, and he just looks more impressive. he is going to be massive! lovely...

sat, was a bit of a washout. All i can say about it is that dressage comps are much more fun with a loud, cackling posse, and bottles of wine.  I am also much better at riding when a bit drunk. Although i cannot decide whether it relaxes me, so i am a better rider, or if i am not better, but i just think i am! we did a lot of trot / canter transitions, mainly because i thought they were fun...

sunday i had a bit of a hangover. well, a lot of one. so i chickened out of riding, and just groomed and cuddled.... i will have to do more this week to make up for it...

Still perfect...

On sunday i realised that I had left my girth with J. So i found an old one i had. this was a little too big, but being me, i thought that it would still work , as long as i didnt get too crooked! I also put on his new clarendon 'event' boots, (navy leather with padding and sheepskin, looks lovely with his light blue numnah!) which are totally overkill for hacking and jumping about 2 foot, but i am so paranoid about his hitting himself...

so i warmed up in the school, and he was really off the leg and bouncy, which was great! so as it was a lovely day, and i missed my hacking companion due to being dozy about the clocks changing, we set off alone. Mr. Z. is great company out hacking. he is interested in everything, his enormous ears just flop forward and when he sees something scary he merely becomes 21 hh and snorts VERY LOUDLY like a dragon, which i think is funny. Scary things include: plastic bags, alpacas, sheep, birds, woodland, agricultural equipment, large modern art sculptures at the college, cyclists, walkers with dogs and bridges. But as all he does is snort, i dont mind at all!

On our hack, with the loose girth, on our own and with no phone, i find an inviting looking bridleway i hadnt been down before. The ground is hard, but not rock solid, and its pretty level by the field, so we have a lovely canter. And it suddenly occurs to me as we are happily bounding alone in a nice working canter, that i have never been off the road with Z. and never cantered not in a school... Oops. Anyway, Mr. Z. being Mr. Z. it turns out this is all fine, and he will, as always, do exactly what i tell him when i tell him, so we stop easily, we go easily, and all round its all easy and lovely! I let him go a little more up a small hill, but even then it was just a big canter, and he was calm and happy afterwards. He turned home the same way we had cantered up with no change in pace, and was happy to walk home. I may have done some singing...

J rode Z yesterday, and Mr. Z was, i quote 'awesome'. I will find out what that means on Friday, J is less than forthcoming on text!

found out why today...

Soo, mr z has been bracing a bit with his neck which is why i was having some difficulty. i was having more difficulty because i was thinking too much. so big lesson from today is think in the walk breaks - what i want to do, then ride in the riding bits.... i.e. get my head out of it. while i am thinking what did he do, what do i do, wheres my hand blahblahblah the moment is gone. I need to feel my way in, which i actually know how to do know, i dont need my brain telling my what to do, i can just let it go, and have a conversation with zando, not with my own head...

so i cant really say what i did today. i dont know. but it was working....

laura rode like a bag of spanners today...

... so after struggling for15 mins i realised i was just annoying Z. So i stopped.

on other news Z has had his beard cut off. thank god, it was driving me nuts. I cannot wait for his hair to finish falling out so he can finish his dressage pony transformation....

in other other news he had a lovely time outside in the sun. I relented and he is now turned out with a friend. They are so cute, and spend all day about 30 cm from each other. very cute!

Zando in the sun...

Wow, two followers! Hi Amy and Pia! You will have to come and meet zando! this is a mammoth post, so i doubt many will read til the end!

Have had a lovely few days. Today, Z's non stressage day, I got my friend Steph to jump Z! he went over a little cross pole and a straight bar, and was really really good! He loved doing  it too, but after the jump went straight back into dressage trot or canter, all round and calm! Steph wants to keep him now! I was pleased that he went forward without spurs or a stick, showing i think that he is getting stronger and happer about the forward thing! I wish i had taken pictures, but i forgot my camera. Anyway, steph agreed she will pop him over a jump or two every month or so, which i think will be good for him mentally.

On friday we had a lesson. I cannot believe how well zando is coming on. He has a neck now! and a bum!

J rode first, and i jsut had this huge grin watching Z look all fab. we are not needing to do the overtempo thing now, as he has gotten the forward idea and is happy making forward transitions. Likewise, although we still do deep, it isnt as BTV now he has the neck to take it forward. I am glad i trusted J on this! when Z comes up he has a lovely 'novice' outline that is soft and forward towards the bit, which is good. and h is just forward. He can still get a little stuffy if you do too much little trot etc., but is easy just to push on for a bit to re energise him. Also  is now doing a moving turn on the forehand in trot - and looking fab! its really hard for him to use his hind like that, but you can see them working and getting stronger.

When i got on it didnt immediately go to pot, which is always nice! At the moment we are doing a lot of just circles, serpentines, going large etc, so nothing exciting to report on that really! however, we also started putting in some transitions - trot, to walk for a few strides then trot. we did some of the turn on the forehand thing in walk. And we finished with some 'ringcraft' as although its more important for z to e set up right for transitions etc, i need to be more accurate with figures etc. when we go competing.. gulp.

anyway, lessons to take away:

1. watch i dont collapse my left hip, all the damn time.
2. keep my legs still!, only use them if i want to change something, and most of the time a click, or a change in seat will get a reaction.
3. when Z hollows, use both legs to bring him down...
4. forward, round straight - all the damn time. thats all i need to do...
5. bend my elbows, thumbs on top, point at his ears. Forearm soft, not tense. hold the rein with a closed hand. I know all this but i keep havin to remind myself...
6. canter transitions, - extra round, extra forward. in the canter i need to ride it (i tend to go a bit passive) and relax my knee so that i can really sit deep with him, rather than perched on him.
7. TOF - get a good flexion to the inside on a smallish circle ( 10-15m), use a touch of whip to keep energy, use inside leg to ask for inside hind to step through. we only want a few good steps, then praise and ride forward. I find it tricky to do the balancing stuff of outside hand and leg with the inside push for flecxion etc. I also need to ensure that I am looking forward, am straight in the saddle and not giving away the outside rein totally...

Yesterday we had another lesson. I rode from the start. It was a really beautiful day and the lesson was very chilled out for all of us! of course, i got frustrated with myself (my hands dont want to behave) but actually it was pretty good for both of us. We did some warming up stuff, concentrating on relaxation and rhthym, played with flexion, and then did some leg yeild back to the track. we finsihed with a little canter work. anyway, things to remember:
1. give my right rein and keep my left, all the time. Atm my right hand is naughty and pulls, and my left is naughty and gives! when i get it right, its much easier
2. when anything goes wrong, i immediately blame myself and think about what i am doing badly, by which time the wrong thing has gone on for half a circle! i need to rethink about this as an opportunity to 'train and get to the pat' ie. allow Z to get it right again and get a neck stratch. I also just need to correct. Most of the time my instints are right now, i just need to let me get on with it.
3. when leg yeilding, we want the training to  be easy. So i am not looking for a perfect legyeild, i am looking for a smooth happy sideways movement. Its ok if his shouders go first, we can gradually make him straighter. Lots of praise. Let the outside hand come down and out to give the shoulder space to move into. Get flexion and straight first - circle if needed, then do the LY down the longside.
5. canter transitions needs to extra round and etra forward to get the nice forward transisiont. Its ok if i do 50 bad ones as long as i get one good one, but I have to get that good one!

so although i was a bit cross with myself, J thought we did well, so maybe i need to trust him on that one too....

Hacking and schooling...

I am so pleased with boy. i totally lucked out on him!

Sunday I went for a hack on our own round the lanes. despite much of the fauna of ashorne trying to attack Z he kept his head! we had several incidents of note, including a baby lamb who got confused and decided Z was his mother... he was so happy to see us he ran baaing through the fence and froliced right in front of Z's legs. I was terrified pony would squash him with on massive hoof, but bless him, Z just snorted at him, and stood very still. We turned and lamb followed us for a few feet, but luckily his mum realised and shouted at him, so he left us alone... A bird decided to fly out in front of us along the lane, which was very scary for Mr. Z. But he held it together, even if he was a bit tall past that bit of hedge!


Today I was in london for work, so i came home and went round to the stables for a cheeky school in the daylight. Z was amazing! forward, soft, lovely, just made everything easy. He was so good we only did about 30 mins, no point pushing it!

Zando's breeding

so interesting!

http://www.kwpn.org/site/main/article?guid=57ac8592-8d62-11de-ad3b-000c299e1a48

explains the Gelder bit of the KWPN, and the gist is that they are bred to be happy, lively all rounders. The stuff about their temprement fits Zando to a T!

His dad is Ahoy,

http://hengsten.kwpn.nl/openbaar/abonnees/details.asp?onderdeel=algemeen&lang=uk&knpnr=H0000003301

or

Who looks very like Z, i think.

two fab lessons

so i hacked sunday, (he was ace, as normal) and on tues or weds i schooled. didnt do much, just 30 mins or so trying to do ythe forward, straight, round thing.

J rode weds, and lesson thurs. He realised that when Z does the pull back into the transition, it actually is the frist stage of a rear, very much not something we want to encourage. Answer - super forward. We worked on pushing him into a muh more forward rhthym - too forward, really, our of his own rthym - to really get into him that we also go forward, and actually he can use his hinds to go into upwards transitions, cos look , they are stronger. this seems to have worked, in that we got more ooomph, and less back off.

as he was so good, today we had a lesson that was more me focused. Basically i am doing too much, which is just confusling Z and dulling his reactions to me, so everything becomes too forceful. So I got given a whip, with the instruvctions that i wasnt allowed to use my legs, just the voivce and whip, to tap. Now i could use a little bump with my calf - but thats it!

So then we worked on my seat, hands and riding. things to think about are:

1. bend elbows, put hands higher and with a shorter rein that i was, so that i can give a feel with my elbow without pulling back. Immediately, this made Z happier, more round, and more consistent.
3. I have to use my voice when fgving aids, it just works better, and is less forceful.
4. seatbones and weight even, pelvis neutral.
5. right shoulder comes forward on right rein.
6. inside rein goes up and in to get the flexion, not back = you can see his muscles on his neck change when you get it right,

we did serpentines, circles, and transitions, and he was so much more through, soft and i was doing so much less. He was hollowing less because i was letting him use his back more.

for now,  i should ride like this - much softer, and slower - so that i can then be more effective when we are more forward...

tommorrow, we are off on a hack - i hope to have a little gallopies, if the ground is ok!

(also, shhh, but next sunday Z is getting to have some jumpies! i think he will enjoy it as a change! as i am jsut watching, i will take some vid, if jockey lets me, and put it up...)

Shhhhh - videos

From our lesson on saturday.


So, they are a benchmark for us - where we are now, and so I can look back and see what we have done. Definately not perfect, but I am 'riding him for 3 years time' not for the perfect moment...

... lots of position things for me, but at the moment the most important thing i can take away from this is some reassurance that i dont look terrible, and that we look like the start of a team!

Tired laura and tired Mr Z...

Had a great lesson today. I managed to overface myself about riding Z on my own- i am riding with J more than not at moment, which is great for us both training wise, but then I got a bit weird about not knowing what to do when he wasnt there - which is bloody silly, but hey ho. I have this mad idea I will break Z and ruin him, which is nonsense!

Anyway today instead of J warming up and doing some schooling and then me on him, I started from the start. The plan was to come up with a plan for me.

We started in walk, just large, then took a contact and did some 10m circles each way, and then serpentines. Idea was to stop on centre line each time to get him listening.

then onto trot. Get forward. This proved harder than you would hope and we got a few into canter transitions. after he kept doing this, we just worked him in canter, forward and large, and more collected and in circles.

Then we got walk to to trot! again, trot in serpentines, i think, and asking for flexion round the little bits. I must remember to ride straight for a few strides in the middle - i tend to try to go from one bend to another instantly...

also again, i need to let him make the mistake as an excuse to correct him and then reward him!

we also walked on a long rein every 10 mins or so to give us both a breather!

We did some more working within the pace - sitting trot - and asking for more and less with seat first, then leg if ignored. my tummy hurts. ow.

finally some anter transitions. main lesson for me is take my time with the transitions - i must set him up. Questions for self are - is he forward? Is he round? then ask.

anyway a really good lesson, and lots to remember. J told me to school a little tommorrow before hacking to set the stuff in my memory. Back to getting him to school first next week tho, methinks!

I also went and rode friends horse. am pleasantly surprised my hands and riding has improved - its easy to miss as I tend to think all mistakes are mine and all good things are horse / j, whereas truth is, I am getting better too!

Lesson today... vid on way....

I am watching my boy on the TV - yay for modern tecnbology... i am watching J ride first warming up - Z looks so soft and just keeps getting better from when he arrived. I cannot get over his neck - its seems to have gooton bigger, and he looks more together now.

the lesson today included:

1. when going into walk from trot take the trot right down the little bouncy trot, and then you can make a nice forward transition without landing in a pile. J:'you want to feel like you can almost give the rein in a transition'... so you keep him soft.


I am watchning me now - i actually dont look terrrible! woo! Also my jumper looks like it matches his bandages - in reality it clashed a bit, oh well.

2. get him forward first. also DONT ask and let him do nothing! also leave your legs off at the moment - he needs to keep on on his own.
3, click for go as you bump with calf, then he will go from click without leg in future.
4. think of lifting the belt buckle - i tend to hollow in trot
5, my head must stay straight - you are not looking for the next jump!
6. let him walk on a long rein after each 'set' of exercises, and build up as you go what he is dooing in a sequene.

my sitting trot feels better than it looks... :-( but its better than it could be. My tummy aches now

7. use the seat to change the tempo, use leg as backup
8 transition within the pace is good for him now - espeicially in trot.
9. use inside right leg to push him round bends if he tries to do that weird thing he does with his barrel.
10. as a new exercise do a inside flexion, and push his bum round so its like a leg yeild on the circle with lots of crossing, then diagonal, do it again on other leg.
11. you can use this to set him up for canter, without so much flexion.

I was really pleased with us both. I will put up some of the vid on monday - our internet connection is to slow to do it today...

Another lesson tommorrow...

Kick to the arse...

R. reminded me about a Spencer Wilton Clinic at the yard in May. I have signed up, but it reminded me that I have to get my arse in gear about this dressage lark and Z generally. I have had a distinct drop in enthusiasm since D. went (not to mention irrational outbreaks of tears) and poor Z. has taken some of the fallout. I need to remind myself why i bought him anyway - and lessons with J are helping, but my motivation to ride at night otherwise is very low at the moment.. Where is that madwoman who rode in the dark and the snow / rain / wind / hail, even when she thought she would get decked? COME BACK...

Anyway, Z. got short changed again this week, and so will only get ridden 4 times this week... again. I have excuses, but they are EXCUSES...

sunday is hack day

Z is fab - we went for a hack on the roads in the rain. He is such a happy horse - he ambled along, nosing at everything. No schooling on hacks for him atm, and he seemed to enjoy the break.

I was thinking when i ride tues, i need to remember nias advice - when they give, you give, and see if they will take it forward. Also when you get something good stay in it for a little while, as that is a reward in itself.

was thinking about my goals for Z. Although one is to get further with dressage i also dont want him realising bad habits - i think he needs the best i can do to make him an easy horse to ride and be around who can do a bit of everything. Although i never want to sell him, you never quite know and its important that he is a nice horse to deal with as they tend to land on their feet...

J lesson today

Sadly, my video was rained off. However, my lesson was not. It was pretty good but unlike recently i didnt feel i made any particular breakthroughs. I have to:
1. keep my right hand soft - almost think of giving with it all the time.
2. forward sorts out the nose curl. Its a forward issue not a rein issue - as Z gets stronger, he will stretch his nose out a little more each time, as in fact he does when he s going forward.
3. he tries very hard not to go forward into the canter transition. this results in a few steps of little crappy canter before he stretches out into a proper one. We are not expecting him to stay round, but he needs to move forward into the canter. Way to do tthis is to only ask for canter from an active trot, and praise lots when we get a good transition. remember to pat on the neck as well as good boy.


I am sure there are other things i forgot....