Lipstick and Legs

Ha!!! No I'm not going back to trolley dolly'ing....quelle horreur.

Rain stopped play again, the heaviest downpour when I was riding in the barn so it was back to flexions. Bingo!! At last we got LIPSTICK, not dripping but distinct line of light foam on the lips after the flexions and no arguments he absolutely *got it*. After working in hand and more flexions I got on and he felt great; raised back really carrying me and the ridden lateral work was good. It was still tipping it down as we finished so not even a tootle up the lane.

Oh and the legs, not mine but Lydia's. After failing to vault onto Cacahuète yesterday she made a sterling effort today and has finally worked out how to fling herself upon her steed....what a lovely man that pone is.

The rain cometh

Allegedly it cometh for the whole week. That throws a spanner in the gubbins then, I don't do getting wet so maybe no lunging, no hills and no teaching this week :-( So I have to learn to dance in the rain.
Soooo, today it was back to flexions indoors, having changed to a fulmered snaffle (haven't used one for I can't remember how long) in an attempt to see if I could encourage him to be more wet in his mouth. He is far less *worried* by the in-hand bit lifting and today was the first time he had actually relaxed and swallowed ,which is the intention.
I spent longer raising the bit and relaxing out his neck and jaw. Then I got on and did the same thing mounted. then we went on to ridden lateral work and he's now really clicked with the renvers and travers. Interspersed half pass with leg yield so that he didn't get too tight. It's excellent that he is today calmer in my hand and not throwing his head about, so much so that to end he took a great stretch down into the rein.
On a completely different front, I'm having so much fun cooking Indian food from my Christmas pressie book. It's the best book I've had on the subject and it's already got me experimenting on my own. Puts me in mind of training horses, there is a recipe but it's so very personal to each horse that there could never be a big enough book to cover every eventuality.

The trot IS there

Just a brief write up from our work for the last two days. Yesterday we lunged, trot/canter transitions and it stayed fairly calm and he stretched down and out better than before. Today I rode...some great progress with the lateral work much calmer and more restrained but with the energy just sitting there ready. I had promised myself NO TROT, it just isn't worth setting yourself up for failure. However, it just felt right and that's what training is about, recognising an opportunity. Much less stressed and even managed to get a stretch down and out into the rein...yee ha!! Finished with some transitions from walk to halt and varying the walk from medium to free on a long rein....I just love the Moo at the moment, hope it can last.

hands

The hands are the two intricate, prehensile, multi-fingered body parts normally located at the end of each arm of a human or other primate. They are the chief organs for physically manipulating the environment, using anywhere from the roughest motor skills (wielding a club) to the finest (threading a needle), and since the fingertips contain some of the densest areas of nerve endings on the human body, they are also the richest source of tactile feedback so that sense of touch is intimately associated with human hands. Like other paired organs (eyes, ears, legs), each hand is dominantly controlled by the opposing brain hemisphere, and thus handedness, or preferred hand choice for single-handed activities such as writing with a pen, reflects a significant individual trait.
No big surprise then that we feel the need to engage our hands when riding before any other part of our body. It is a huge part of my current path towards perfection.....of course I won't ever be perfect but just aiming for it seems to make the effort worthwhile.

At the end of the summer I learnt my greatest lesson in hands....EVER. I had been taught and then taught others to keep my reins within my fingers, not in a tight grip but certainly in a way that if the horse tried to pull the reins from my grip that I would at all times be ready. Imagine my disbelief that I could ride with the reins solely poised between my thumb and forefinger, leaving the remaining three fingers to *play* the reins like the lightest fingers on a harp. Vibrate, close (not just the hand but ONE finger at a time) indeed create a melody between bit and hand that is always individual, fresh and lively.

I'm still struggling with this, I can find very little in the way of backup from literary sources (please tell me if you find some) and the nearest (although it falls very short of the feeling it gives) is the description L'Hotte gives of the Comte D'Aure's hands *He only used the pressure of his fingers, which were always gentle, and played with the reins as though they were light ribbons he feared could break*

I will add to this in future but as you may have guessed I am still trying to figure out the whole picture.

OK, this is an edit after I published the first message but I didn' want to loose it amongst the comments, however, after searching some more I found this on the CD list and the poster describes exactly what I'm talking about ***************

I know that many won't agree, but I state it simply for you to know that there are other approaches out there too.There are those who use a hand in which the neutral position is moreopen in the lower fingers (maintaining the reins held between thethumb and index. I am one of them. Closing the fingers on the reinsis an action for me. The default neutral position is more open. Ibelieve that this makes it easier to teach the horse to really go inself carriage, liberty on parole, simply by opening the fingers alittle. I can obviously conceive that this is also possible with aclosed fist. But I imagine it more difficult both for horse andrider.Philippe Karl describes this well in his new book, saying that you donot try to play the piano with your fists and that riding should bethe same. I have seen many really interesting riders get very goodresults with very average horses with a hand like this, so somethingmust be interesting in there somewhere.But of course it is not just about your fingers and fists, it isabout educating the mouth and the attitude you have as well -recently talking with Bettina Drummond, she made a very interestingcomment, something along the lines of the fact that many ridersfalsely believe that they "own" the "mise en main" (softening to thehand), when in fact it should be the horse that keeps its ownership.Which highlights why the subject also runs into difficulty - becauseeveryone also has their own perception of how much they "leave" tothe horse, and how much the "take" for themselves. Which can explainwhy sometimes I watch riders on very nice horses, going very well andclassically and it just does not do it for me. They have taken toomuch for my taste, all I see is the rider. Then I watch another andall I see is the horse, and that, for me, is the goal! But someoneelse may not find what they are looking for in that, because thatpoint is unimportant for them, and there are other points that theyfind missing.Anyway, there's another perspective, strike me down and boil me inoil for such heretic thoughts! LOL

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phew, glad I wasn't imagining it, off to bed happy then :-)

Winter sun and a friend to play with

Yay!!! Di came over this afternoon and the sun shined on us......
I'm hoping that Di may give me a few words to say about this afternoon but basically we nattered (lots) and played pones with Moralejo. It was really good to see someone else on him and to see the corrections I've been making actually work for someone else too. He looks incredibly *up* and proud and carries his back well throughout all the higher hand work and I think Di found him rather nice to ride as he is so responsive. We had some great walk work, still not consistent enough but getting there and Di experienced his tension in the trot but luckily, like I've said before, he really isn't scary just full of raw energy. Like she said, you can learn such a lot from a horse like him. Here's hoping then :-)
We finished the afternoon with a cup of tea , sorry it was French tea Di :-( and some cakes that Di treated us to. In all a fab day and I'm all keen to continue so that the next time Di comes over we have improved some more. Hopefully we can continue being *eyes on the ground* for each other and I can repay the favour with Di's mare Anky.

slowly , slowly

Weather was a bonus today as rain was forecast but didn't arrive until tonight.

A *thank you* to Claire for reminding me of the reverse pirouette last night, basically the same as the giravolta but with outside bend as I'd been meaning to try this with the giravolta, opposites always seeming to work. Thanks due to Vicky too (or maybe Mike) as their work at the weekend inspired me to move on to more lateral work in the walk whilst I patiently wait for the trot to come right.

Anything new always *freaks* Moo but at least I now have some *mantras* in place to relax him again (turning with no reins, halting and rein back from the voice and clicker). We have worked on travers /half pass before but it always got him so tight that all the benefits were outweighed by the tensions in his head/ neck. Today after a couple of leg yields along the fence I asked for a couple of steps with the bend changed to travers and after a couple of attempts he was really getting it. I remember an exercise that I used to ride with an old trainer, Inger, where to start the half pass work we rode along the diagonal with the bend for half pass but not in the travers position. Then after a couple of diagonals ridden this way start to put in some steps of travers to add to the bend...this gives a half pass that always thinks and looks forwards instead of a leg yield with the bend changed (oh yes I've seen it trained that way too, eek)

Trot work we used the lifted hand again if he started to lean on my hand and if I keep the trot tempo slow then he can cope with about two large circles before getting too fizzy....slowly, slowly I MUST not be impatient with this, it will come (I hope).

Went back to finish in walk and tried the reverse pirouette, oooh hard work for him and I will work on this in-hand as well but at least he didn't chuck his toys out.

So good and bad as always...some snatching at the bit which hurts my back so I have to find a way round that but he is so flexible that lateral work with him is a joy. Must do some work with the Midget tomorrow.

Final thanks to Mandeigh for joining us on here and in honour a 'pic of Fidge in a montage that Patrick did for an exam about 6 years ago.

a problem shared

Thanks to Trish (shoveltrash on EE) I actually rode with my brain engaged yesterday. After a tip off from Claire I was able to read up Trish's notes on the raising hand to help the curl back. I think we are at similar places and it was really helpful to compare notes.

I started with some in-hand jaw relaxation, leg stretches etc and then moved on to lunge. After less than ten minutes I was getting a nice soft stretchy trot AND bingo the boy has caught on to the click and double click. I use a soothing *good* to let him know he's on the right track, a click to tell him *yes, spot on* (but keep it up and don't stop for the treat yet) and then the double click for *OK brilliant, stop for your treat*. It works well on the lunge when you don't want them to keep stopping for the treat.

On to the ridden work. Straight away I could tell he was relaxed, no tension in his brain and the walk work was very positive. By that I mean he was able to contain the walk, not rush (well only a little) and we worked on giravolta, leg yield, shoulder-in etc. I found it really helpful to use the counter shoulder in as it helps him to balance better having the fence there and so we moved from counter to true and interspersed this with small circles. His rein back is so much better too as he doesn't lean on my hands and takes really distinct steps now.

Trot work followed and that's where the brain really clicked in; I found if I carried my hands higher but with only a light contact I could raise my hands quickly into the corners of his mouth and get him to take his balance back and off my hands every time he curled back behind my hand. It meant that I could actually put my leg on and ride him forwards....a first!! It probably does look bizare but the trot I got was much better balanced and free from tension, of course my ultimate intention is to return my hands to a lower position once he *gets it*. I only did a short trot session as I think he needs to go slowly (me too) with this work and I'm so happy with our progress that I don't want to wreck it by being impatient.

Off now to give him a nice lunge and some massage.