Thursday, February 5th, 2009

Today was simply brilliant. I cannot wait to tell you all about it. Roode was so fantastic.

Also, today was the first day that we actually had some warm weather. The birds were out for the first time in weeks and they are still singing. The sun is brightly shining and it’s the perfect day to be riding.

Herr Schmidt was running a bit behind schedule for our lesson so we had a lot of time to warm up. As I began I felt like it was going to be a bit difficult to make Roode loose to the right. I persisted at working at it and staying relaxed. I monitored all small things constantly and I realized that a lot of this problem is my fault. I kept on saying to myself, “Outside rein makes him through and inside makes him loose”. Whenever it seems to not work I often resort to wagging his head (minor) left and right. Well, there was no more wagging today. I finally got it through my own head that if he just does not seem to be coming through, then push more with the leg, not the hands. So I pushed more with the inside leg and guarded my line with the outside leg. Suddenly, the rest of the looseness problem was history. I know this sounds so simple but I promise I apply this principle to my everyday riding just not effectively enough sometimes. It’s like the feeling that Jen was always trying to explain to me but I never quite understood. Well I‘ve got it now.

Once our lesson started, Herr Schmidt was complementing about how good Roode looked. We showed our best collected trot and I was stunned to see how great Roode looked in the mirror. When the feeling is right, I can push, half halt, then balance again, and continue the feeling instinctively. Sometimes, if I verbally whisper to myself when I am giving a half halt, it helps me think how strong they need to be and whether or not they were effective enough in that moment. Sometimes I give a half halt every stride and sometimes I get the feeling that it is not necessary for two more strides. I feel it in my seat. My back swings with his and if I want more than I push with my seat and a small leg aid. If he stays balanced and nice over the back then I can feel him in the rein and I continue the small half halting to keep him balanced while keeping the bigger movement. If I push more and he runs away from my seat and braces in the back then I give a strong half halt to bring him back and start again. I return to the loose inside feeling and the balanced outside contact. Sometimes I ask for more cadence and schwung and Roode pumps up for the challenge but can speed the rhythm too. Once I get the amount of cadence and schwung that I want, I give a half halt that makes the rhythm more relaxed but I keep the long stride by keeping my seat swinging as before and my leg touches him again in the half halting moment so that he knows to keep the big movement but to slow the rhythm. This has become very successful.

When we move on to lateral trot work, I shorten the inside rein for more flexion and bending. If a shoulder in begins unbalanced, I sometimes circle again or push more on the line to make it better. I am working on making the beginning start as well as the lines end. In half pass today, we did not even do many because Roode did so well at staying loose to the inside and bending. I decided today that when H.S. said more bending, I was going to do it no matter if Roode might get tight for a moment and offer an unpleasant display. Well, he was yelling for more bending and I thought that as effective as I wanted to be the next stride, I better get it now. I was then afraid that H.S. might yell at me for being too abrupt and that the choice was wrong but instead he said that it was the correct way and that sometimes he would need that. Even though he is a sensitive horse it is important to decide if I am not asking enough in a relaxed way or if he is just being a bit lazy and then he needs the correction like I did. It was not a very pleasant sight but we moved on and the half passes were well worth it. My first medium stayed big and trough too which sometimes has to be developed with more than one go at it. But the two we did were great.

After a break, we began the canter work. The quality was so good from the beginning and I am so happy that it is coming along so well. The half passes in canter are becoming much stronger. I am happy with the work and I think Roode is enjoying it too. The pirouettes are going much better also. I am finally learning how extra sensitive I have to be with Roode. The most common quick words out of H.S. in the moment is “RELAX, Relax, relax”, as he pushes his hand to the ground and cocks his head as he watches us. In both directions I need more inside leg and outside rein. Roode was just completely fantastic. I wish you all could have seen it. It was a brilliant lesson with some very small passage work on my own. I just wanted to make sure he still remembered the aids. I will ask Herr Schmidt tomorrow if we can work a little bit on the half steps.

Ciao.