USDF Region 4
Living the Life of a Working Student
When I was awarded the Gifted Fund grant for USDF Region 4 by The Dressage Foundation, the most common question I received was: "How did you get that?" So first things first. There is one grant of $500 given in each USDF Region each year. The application for the grant is on The Dressage Foundation website - www.dressagefoundation.org. The grant helps adult amateurs work on their skills away from the pressures of everyday life -- an intensive week of training. The week was, in my case, a dream come true.
I chose to work with Amy Larson, my long time trainer who is based at Stoney Meadow Farms in Bonner Springs, Kansas. My goal was to improve my horse's canter work and my seat. I wanted to live the life of a working student for a week and take lessons on my horse, and lunge line lessons, watch Amy ride her horses in training and watch all of her lessons.
That's just what I did. I took eight lessons that week. One each day on my mare Trilby. Two days I took lunge line lessons ("shoulders back, open up your chest"). And one day I got to ride an FEI horse in a double bridle (the last time I had that many reins, they were attached to a pelham in a hunter's mouth.) Wow, it was all too fun and I learned so much.
The intensive work resulted in some of the best canter work ever from my mare. I learned more about where I should be in the saddle from my lunge lessons. My horse's canter has been a challenge and I learned that sometimes you have to be in the correct place and wait there for the horse to find you. When you ride better, they go better. The better they go, the easier it is to sit and be in the correct place. It really did make a difference to ride with my trainer and watch her ride and watch lessons for a week. I am inspired to try and do this again.
One ongoing problem with Trilby is that she falls out the right shoulder. Amy taught me that this is a result of her resistance and lack of lateral flexion through the poll on the left. Amy says that this is a common problem seldom addressed in a cause and effect context. The problem will be ongoing if only the shoulder popping is addressed without looking to unlock the poll as the initial cause. In application, the first thing that I need to address each time that I ride her is to keep her poll unlocked and loose on the left so that I can keep her spine lined up behind the outside rein.
Thoughts and tips from the week:
Day 1 -- A friend hauled Trilby, my 10 year old Trakehner cross, to Stoney Meadow Farms on Sunday so we would be ready bright and early on Monday. In the summer Amy starts most days at 6:30 a.m. I was so excited that I got to the barn at 6:10 a.m. I sat in the driveway and listened to the last of the crickets trying to find dates at closing time at the cricket bars and the first morning song of a red winged blackbird.
Amy said the first day was going to be a "fact finding day." I hadn't had a lesson in months. We worked on me being more aware of my position, "open your chest, shoulders back" and "if your inside seat bone is headed out of the circle, she is falling out her outside shoulder". The warm up is a progression, if you don't have it in the walk, it won't be there in the trot, or the canter. All and all, it went better than I expected and there was a lot to work on.
The rest of the first day, and every day, was spent watching lessons, and watching Amy ride. This really reinforced my lessons, because all of the horses and riders were on the same consistent program, just at different levels, and lots of horses and riders have similar problems.
Day 2 -- I took my first lunge line lesson on the gentle Colette. After some stretching exercises, comments were:
· "Open up your chest, open up your seat."
· "While posting let your leg settle down each stride."
· "For sitting trot, stabilize in the middle, feel a forward and back motion in your hip, not up and down, open up your hip, try a few strides leaning back behind the vertical to feel where you need to be."
Lunge lessons are amazing, offering the chance to work on just your position and maybe just one small thing, which you never understood before, without worrying about the reins or the horse.
Amy stressed the importance of the upper abdominal muscles in stabilizing the rider's torso and allowing the seat to be supple and free. The upper abs also control the amount of arch in the lower back (pelvic tilt), minimizing the whiplash to the spine, and allowing the hip joint to flex and absorb the movement. In addition, the abs maintain the torso on a vertical plane. Yes, Virginia, you need to do sit-ups.
Then I took a lesson on Trilby. We worked on trot/walk transitions.
· "Forward into the transition."
· "Prepare for each transition with a half halt, let her know all the time what is coming. Obedience comes from the horse always being on your aids because you are constantly preparing for the next thing."
Then we did leg yields in the walk and trot from quarter line to track:
· "Let your seat guide the horse over."
Trotting off the wall came next -- down the sunlight beam to practice riding straight down the long side off the wall and in a channel. This exercise was especially good towards the mirrors because I could really see that I was drifting right.
Later I watched a lesson on a more advanced horse. Comments:
· "The tempo is in your seat."
· "The walk pirouette is a collecting movement, the horse should not become more strung out."
· "The shoulder-in is a collecting movement, but the horse must go forward into the shoulder-in."
· "The horse should go forward into the flying change."
Day 3 -- I took a lesson on Trilby in the afternoon. We did lots of canter work. We worked on the First Level canter serpentine.
· "Going right think of leg yield into the corner on the loop from X."
The canter was wonderful -- some of the best ever. The problem we had last winter getting the right lead out of the walk was gone.
· In practice, ride the canter loop and then at the end of the arena ride a small circle.
Then I got to ride an FEI horse in the double bridle. He was so much fun! It was great feeling the lightness and power. Wow!
Day 4 -- Lots more canter work for little Trilby today. We worked on the right lead first and it was as good as the left.
Day 5 -- I took another lunge line lesson.
· "Stretch the whole back of your leg down each time you rise in the trot."
· "Look between the horse's ears."
· "Open up your chest, shoulders together."
· "Sitting trot, the movement in your hips should be forward and back, like the movement in the walk."
· "Knees back and down."
Day 6 -- The last lesson for the week for Trilby.
· "Use the whip in the transition. Touch it on in all downward transitions."
· "In the canter touch the whip at the same time as the half halt at the top of the stride."
We worked on the trot stretching circle.
· "Take your hands wide to find the connection." It made me think that I needed to ride it just like the free walk to the working walk.
· "Keep the connection, and let the horse really stretch down," Slowly take back the connection. You get a better stretch down if the horse starts out in a more collected floating trot.
· "When things are good, ask for more trot."
The walk pirouette left is good to find the correct positioning left. This is good before canter and upward transitions.
· "After breaks go back to work in the same place that you were when you took the break. Ride her on the buckle or round, but don't spend half your time in some in-between state."
· In practicing the First Level canter loop, ride a small circle after the loop in the corner to collect and organize the canter.
· "Keep the tempo the same in the counter canter."
I would like to thank The Dressage Foundation for this wonderful opportunity. This week, this experience has made a real difference for me. The Gifted Fund grant inspired me to work harder on my own riding and to give back to the dressage and horse community by volunteering at more events. It was a wonderful week.
I would like to thank my trainer Amy Larson, who has taught me so much, for giving me so much time and attention in all the time that I have known her and especially this last week. I would like to thank Maggie and Mike at Stoney Meadow Farm for finding a spot for us for a week.