Lexington Training

Training day 3, yet this is my first post. I haven't been very busy, either. But, I'll try to post as much as possible.

Cody was very good today, especially since he is really gaining the stretch to hold the impulsion and reach over his back in a sitting trot for long distances. Today, we worked on keeping him consistently energetic and he was much better. When I would get him in a nice trot, I would sit and everything would fall into place. He would get very easy to ride and I didn't have to fight him. I figured out that when I go into the corner, I can't get fussy with the reins, I just needed to ride deeper and support more on the short side so he could keep pushing with his haunches. 

I also purchased a pair of Back on Track hock boots and they work like a dream. He reaches under himself with his haunches more than ever and he isn't stiff. This is also coming from a 24 year old Quarter Horse who never used his hocks correctly until last winter. A very good improvement to his overall movement.  

    Kristin got a lot of good pictures! 

               I really like this one! 

Lexington Bound!

Starting spring break with a bang as I pack my bags for a week of boot camp and training in beautiful Lexington, Kentucky. Quick shout out to my immune system for staying strong and keeping me healthy for this week (not!). Instead, I am hyped up on sinus medicine, however, it's getting much better and I plan on sleeping all the way up there, anyway. Again, thank you, immune system, I can always count on you!

I'll be posting as much as I possibly can- most likely everyday- about my lessons and adventures. I have a lot of fun planned for the both of us and I'm sure Kristin and Susan do, too. Cody and I are ready for a week of serious training for my show the week after (12-13). Bring on Lexington! 
 

 

        Cody says "Where's the treats!"     

    He's all bundled up in his theraputic 

    sheet! 

Feel Over Sight

I had a nice ride today consisting of mainly working on the shoulder-in and strengthening the left side in the sitting trot. I worked on feeling how Cody is and not just seeing how he looks. I have a habit of looking down and I think that it's blocks my way of riding. I notice that when I oh into corner, I stiffen up and almost stop riding- same goes for transitions. So I started reading up on the issue and found some good exercises to use to keep me riding through the corners and transitions. I put them to use and had some trial-and-error moments, but it all came together and I learned so much in just 45 minutes. 

The first exercise was directed at my transitions. I tend to throw myself forward and loose all of my soft aids, as they turn into stiff, harsh aids. The article said to look up (obviously, but a problem that I need to fix), keep your shoulders back, and reach up with your upper body. These all go hand-in-hand and seem to be pretty easy to fix, so I worked on it first. Might I just say, MAGIC! Cody bounced up into the transition without flicking his head up or running through my aids. He was very relaxed and didn't swish his tail. I'm glad to know that this problem was about me, instead of him. It will be easier to fix. 

The next exercise was still about transitions, it explained that a horse needs to be stepping under himself for a proper transition. They have several suggestions for exercises, but only one really worked. It required Cody to pick up the trot transition in a shoulder-fore. So, I did a shoulder-fore down the long side and waited until he was really stepping under himself for the transitions. Unfortunately, a bird flew out of the bushes right beside him and made him jump, up into the trot. But, it was a fantastic transition! He stayed over his back and jumped up into it without loosing his impulsion or dropping his back. I rewarded him for transition because he did it correctly and I don't want him freaked out when we do shoulder-fore by the bushes, again. 

On the side note, his corners are getting so much better. When we come out, he rocks back so much that I can feel him swing with his hind legs. I just worked on not quitting riding or stiffening up when we came to the corner, just riding it as normal, and just lifting my inside rein while supporting with my outside rein. 

I also made sure that I didn't look down at all when I rode. I kept my shoulders up and I looked ahead. It really gave me the feel of him moving forward and help me finally loosen my back. I kept my hands up as normal, feeling how he stretches up with his back and swings up into the bridle. I was feeling him using his body and reaching under himself without having to look down. I think Cody enjoyed me just riding him up to the bridle and not worrying about "how he looks". He seemed so much softer and responsive when I only rode by feeling instead of seeing. 

Towards the end of my ride, I switched Cody back over to the right and did some shoulder-in. Man, was he fantastic! He stepped under himself and really moved off of my inside leg, not drifting from the rail. After a few more shoulder-in's to the right and left, I cooled him out and left it at that. He was super great and I feel bad about the riding on my end considering that he had to put up with my poor transition aids. Well, now they are fixed and ready to go for this week. 

Tomorrow morning, I will be on my way home! 

Home Gym

I like to think of my arena as a home gym. At the barn, there are several sets of trot poles set at different distances for collected, lengthen, and medium trot, and there are also a few 12 inch jumps to use every once in a while to strengthen the haunches in the arena.  It's not just an arena to ride in and drill exercises, creating the 'gym' feel to it will help your horse strengthen physically and mentally. It makes then more confident to stretch over the trot poles or over the cavalletties and gain the physical and mental power. It not only makes them less spooky, but helps keep focus when you are not doing the same move over and over and instead keep their attention. 

Even getting out of the arena will do good. Yesterday and the day before, I went outside of the arena and worked with a totally different side of Cody. We worked in gaining hind end muscle and power so he could sit for longer periods of time, we did this by walking, trotting, cantering up and down a hill behind the cornfields. As I was doing the hill work, I noticed that he was really having fun. I felt him pick up a bigger stride when we passed the mare's field and as we went up the hill, he would just swing up and up and up into the bridle. His canter was just phenomenal as he just swung up the hill, collecting on his hind end when we went slightly downhill and lengthening his stride as we continued up the hill. It made him more eager to get worked and come in from the field. Just getting outside of the arena will lighten up any training while still improving. Not only does working outside the arena change things up, it keeps your horse from getting burned out of the same 'arena' stuff. Maybe even end your outside workout with a trail ride to make it an even more positive experience. 

I know I can save this fun exercise as an every-once-in-a-while treat. 

Sitting Trot and Hill Work

Yesterday was a pretty big day as I was bound and determined to fix this sitting trot mess. And since it's hasn't started getting dark until 7, that meant it could start spending some time out of the arena and on the conditioning hills. 

Cody is at a point, now, where he is ready for First Level, his lateral work is on point (for the most part), and he lifts his back up for the lengthening's and reaches for the longer stride. But, his only setback has been that he needs more butt muscles, so he can hold that sit from the lengthiness trot longer than just the short, 20 meters. I can already feel him gaining the muscle for a more noticeable sit when I go through a corner and he comes out truly rocked back into his haunches, but for him to be successful at  First Level, he will need much more muscle on his haunches. There is already an extremely noticeable difference in his topline muscles compared to last year that the barn owner made a point to say that she didn't think he would get to this point until June or July (yay!). It's amazing to see the change happen over the course of seven months, from bringing him in to ride and his neck was so incorrectly muscled that there was more muscle on the under side than the topline, and to see that now, he has this beautiful arch to his neck when he stands in the cross ties. It's such a big difference because not only is it muscled, but half of his mane falls on the opposite side than before, which means he's building muscle on both sides of his neck. 
 

So today, that's what I worked on. I took Cody out to the cornfield, where the owner had cut a path so I could ride on it, and I just trotted up, asking for a big, lengthen trot (which really made him use his haunches) and I came down in a stretching trot or collected walk. A couple times I cantered up, but I think we need to work up to that, although it was extremely bouncy, and he was really sitting. I was blown away with how great his trot was, I could feel him sit with his haunches and drive up the hill. I think today I will do more hill work and just take him on a trail ride afterwards to get his mind off of "riding, riding, riding" for once. 
 

After we did the hill work, I took him back to the arena and he was flying. It took him a minute to realize you don't need to use as much strength just doing a working trot on a flat surface as you do a lengthening trot up a hill. However, when I did ask for the lengthen trot, he sat and flew across the diagonal, sitting, sitting, sitting and lengthening through his back. For this reason, the arena workout was pretty short. I worked on getting Cody responsive to my transitions and telling him that *maybe* transition aren't getting worked up over. It seemed to work pretty well and we got a few super nice transition in there. 

 

I'm ecstatic that I got a really good ride in, it's felt like forever since I've had one like this. I come off of him everyday saying that he is something special, to go from no-muscle to body-builder in only seven months. I'm lucky to be working with such talent, we are a team. Every step of this journey will be worth it, with Cody by my side, anything will be possible. Bring on this show season!

Sitting Trot Blues

I feel that it is in our darkest moments, that we find the brightest light. I am beginning to see the truth in that. That even the largest obstacles in our life are there to make us stronger, even when it seems so impossible. Everything will work out, I just have to keep telling myself that. The best thing I can do is to keep going on, working harder than I ever could because it is the only thing that will make me stronger. Even to the most impossible dreams- it's possible. Even though our future cannot be just a dream, it has to be a plan, even when you can't route the path. It is possible. 

Aside from all the downs this week, I continue to strengthen Cody, not only to the left, but maintain the strength to the right. I did mostly stretching work today. But, I kept it on a shorter stretching rein so I could keep a steadier contact with his mouth and get him to round his back up, more than usual, to stretch his back muscles even more.  

I've been posting more than usual lately because I've been working his left side more, but, unfortunately, that has made his super sensitive to my sitting trot. He's been getting weird about me sitting so I plan on doing much, much more sitting to get him back on track again. Two steps forward, one step back, right? But, that's what has made me a better and stronger rider because no challenges means no improvement. So, I will continue with sitting trot only, and tomorrow will probably be somewhat of a train wreck. Which means I will be doing a lot of lateral work in the next few days. But, hopefully, by spring break I will be able to sit all the time, back on track. Or, at least, that's the plan. 

The Left Side

These past few days, I haven't done much when I ride. I've been taking it easy because of Cody's chiropractic appointment so he wouldn't get sore. Today, I started stepping things up, especially with his left side because yesterday all I focused on was strengthening it through simple circles and serpentines. He responded well and was filling up both sides of the bridle, really in front of my leg. 

When I first get on Cody, he needs a lot of lateral work in his warm-up, so I play around with some lateral exercises. I came up with a fun one, today, that Cody really liked, it also helped him ride into his outside rein going to his left. I start by going down the longside in a shoulder in, personally, I work on not stopping riding just because I am in a new movement. After about 20-30 meters of continuous shoulder-in, I straighten out across the short diagonal in a lengthen trot. When I do the lengthen trot, I really work on giving Cody a steady place to go and follow so he can feel more confident. Especially because he will never have fantastic lengthening's, just keeping his confidence up will really help his willingness to try harder. Even though it is a simple exercise, it does the most for Cody because he is older and needs more lateral and confidence work to keep him going. 

In addition to stepping things up with Cody, I started stepping things up with me, as well. I focused on following with my hands and softening my back- which is my biggest issue. During my walk warm-up, I focused on pushing him forward with my seat and supporting with my calf. This finally got him to loosen up and not get so sticky in his walk. I did the same with the trot but, I posted the long sides, sucking in my stomach to use my abdominal muscles, and sitting in the corners. When I sat, I worked on being as soft as I could be, sinking into my heels while loosening my hips and back- which really helped me not pinch with my knees. I could start to feel myself controlling my legs- they were no longer flipping or wiggling on Cody's sides. When I needed more support to the outside, or if I was going into a corner, I would just slip my leg back an inch or two and hold it there until I didn't need it anymore, and Cody responded to the slightest movement! Especially when I go into corners, I would like him to be responsive to my leg aids. When I sit the corners, I really set him up the best I can so we can go deep and get higher marks on balance and accuracy. I sit up my lifting my chest up, but I still have to remember to keep riding, one of my problems is that I stop going with the motion when I move on to something else. I lift my reins up, just barely enough to prepare him to sit back and get ready for the corner. When I get into the corner, I squeeze with my inside calf to ask him to wrap around my leg and stretch into the corner, but I keep my outside calf behind the girth and ready to support for the sit and departure from the corner. To get that final turn out of the corner, I support with my outside calf, so he will be able to sit on the final strides out of the corner, and I squeeze with my outside rein, which will give him the balance through the body. And then, on to the next corner! 

I'm counting down the days until Spring Break! One more week and I will be on my way home to beautiful Lexington for a week of lessons and training with the two best trainers on earth! If it could only come faster...

Chiropractor Success!

Chiropractic work= success! It's so interesting to see how the chiropractor worked with Cody to realign his body. The vet showed me where Cody's weakest point was and where the he was the most sore. He realigned his hips because the left side was tilted downward. He also focused on his left side, bending and stretching his neck and spine. Before we started, the vet took two metal rods and pointed them at Cody and they quickly pointed in the direction of the sore and unbalanced areas of Cody's body. After the treatment, he did the same thing with the rods and they went vertical to his body, with meant the balance was even and there were not any sore areas. I could not believe how much of a difference from when we began and finished. Afterwards, he gave me several exercises to use to keep Cody going between appointments (carrot stretches, tail pulls, ankle stretches, ect.). It's really gotten me interested in looking into studying equine chiropractic care for college. I talked to the vet about it and he gave me some good colleges with an equine program, too. 

The vet told me that he had never seems 24 year old horse do so well. When I rode Cody for him, he was surprised that, for his age, he was such a good dressage horse compared to the many that he had seen. Which makes me feel so ecstatic that Cody is so healthy and the vet noticed it! I'm a happy mama! 

Even though I was excited, Cody, however, wasn't so sure of the whole experience at first, but he got used to it and started enjoying it. You could see him relax more and more after every pop and stretch. When we finished, I hand walked him around the arena and he was so fluent and reaching for each stride. I had to jog to keep up with him! I can't wait to see how he feels tomorrow when I ride, just walking him was a world of a difference. We will continue every 6 weeks, which will be great for the upcoming show season. 

Speaking of show season, I am happy to say that I will be competing for the first time this season on April 12 and 13. I'm super nervous because I haven't shown in several months, but we have made a big improvement. Compared to last season, I feel like a totally different rider.  I've also set some goals for this show and I really hope I can achieve them. I can't wait to back in the show ring, but, on the flip side, I'm super nervous. Hopefully Cody and I can pull it all together.

Rainy Days

Well, this warm weather hasn't taken a liking to me and it was gone before I could really enjoy it. Today was the total opposite of yesterday as it was rainy and chilly, but that didn't stop me. Thanks to my Kerrits Coaches coat, I could ride and stay dry and warm. Although, I can't say the same for Cody, we did manage to pull off another fantastic ride today. 

I spent most of time riding and working his harder side (which is extremely tough at the moment). I've been posting the trot instead of sitting in this direction to emphasis moving forward and fluently up to the bridle. Which was harder because he has trouble stepping under himself going to the left because it isn't as strong as his right side. We had a couple moments of confusion but it was soon resolved when I focused on keeping myself quiet, even when he gets fussy. Which worked liked magic. I also worked on riding out to my hands, which kept them so much quieter because I was riding with my seat and not my hands. That also really helped me keeping him steadier to the left. 

Since it was rainy, chilly, and gross, we didn't do much other than walk and trot. Which, in his case, was really all he needed because he was very good considering it was his harder side that we were working on. I also worked on some shoulder-in to get him stepping under himself, especially going to the left. He was super responsive and moving off my leg, now I just have to work on holding it for longer distances. I plan on just adding five meters every few days so he can get stronger. I was also in for a pleasant surprise to see all the foam that covered his bit and lips when I got off, which means he was really working his left side! Maybe there is hope for his left side after all! 

So, that's not much for today, but it was still great! Tomorrow I plan on working on the shoulder ins and adding some sitting to the left (depending on how he's moving forward). Also, the chiropractor is coming on Tuesday to work their magic. I'm really interested in seeing how they do what they do and how Cody reacts when I ride him. It should be interesting...

The Miraculous Outside Rein

     I'm getting excited about the warm weather! Today it is 70 degrees and it makes me so happy to be able ride in my short sleeve polos again. Maybe it will stick around for a couple days so that I can actually enjoy it. 

    With this warm weather, Cody was definitely feeling the warmth and beginning to loosen up. That being said, he was very willing today- much more than usual.- so I got a lot more done with him than I expected. I went out to the barn today with a plan, and my plan was to see how he reacted to my invisible aids and try to get him more sensitive to my leg aids. 

    When we started working, I noticed that he was being very sticky in his medium walk, especially when I shortened my reins after the warm-up. So after a few twenty meter circles of slowly picking him up and asking for more of an extended walk, so he would reach over his back to keep him from getting stuck, I began to realize the real problem. The real problem was that I wasn't pushing him forward enough up to the bridle. I continued walking on a short rein while really emphasizing the reach over the shoulders and moving forward off my leg. This required much outside rein to keep him not only straight, but willing to swing over his back and not get stuck again. After about 20 minutes of continuous walk, I started my trot work. 

     The same followed the trot work as he seemed willing, but he was very sticky. I continued the same exercise while stressing the connection with the outside rein. Many exercises I used to get him working both sides of his body required me to keep Cody on a 20 meter circle. One of the exercises I used today was to do a shoulder in on a circle. This helped him to reach under his body with his haunches- which got him to ride into the outside rein. The second exercise was the icing on the cake to get him to step into the outside rein while remaining straight. I kept Cody on a 20 meter square, turning straight across the arena at each turn. I treated the turn like a turn on the haunches at the trot, getting him to step around and sit on his haunches. I rode into it thinking of a haunches in, really encouraging the sit when I came to the turn by sitting taller through my upper body. 

     I can only hope that this warm weather continues so that Cody and I can continue to move forward throughout this spring so we can be ready than ever for show season! He has taken such a huge step from last spring and I cannot wait to see what awaits this show year.

Quiet Rider: Quiet Horse

About a year ago, I would not have even thought about being the rider I am today! Yes, some things happened that I didn't think would, or that I didn't want to happen. However, things happened and changes had to be made for the better. I have turned into a better rider because I now have the opportunity to train with the two most talented trainers I could ask for. 

These past six months, I have worked my butt off to get Cody to the point where he is now and I am super proud of that! However, nothing will ever be perfect. I will have rides where things don't go as planned but handling things as they come is part of becoming a strong rider. 

So, that being said, my ride tonight was not near perfect. But, I did learn more than I would have if it had been perfect. Cody was pretty fussy tonight, so in return, I figured out how to ride out to my hands and keeping them quiet while remaining in a soft sitting trot (something I had been striving towards for months, now). I think tonight was a "Focus on Alexa" night as it seemed that any unnecessary movement in my body resulted in a few steps of fussiness. Through this, I realized that to fix a fussy horse, you must keep your hands still and keep them moving forward, up to the bridle. This means that whenever they start stiffening up just a little bit, don't start squeezing with the reins or seesawing their heads back down, instead do the complete opposite and just sit even quieter and push them forward. Today's lesson: quiet rider: quiet horse.