Lydia Major and Mi Tough

2010 Region 4 Gifted Scholarship Recipient, to train in 2011


A Week at Dressage Boot Camp

Photo by Sam Stern

The plan for the week is to really concentrate on the quality of the movements, especially the pirouettes and flying changes. Because of his Thoroughbred conformation, we have always struggled to get his neck position and poll as high as it needs to be for the upper-level work.  When the movements get challenging, he tends to hollow his back or drop his neck, rather than lifting at the base of the neck and carrying from behind. We also want to spend some time on the one-tempi flying changes. His four-, three-, and two-tempis are fairly confirmed and he's been doing a single set of one-tempis (over and back) since last fall, but we haven't strung three together yet.  Staying focused for six rides in a week on all these issues should help develop his strength and confirm the message.
 
For my part, I am hoping to use this opportunity to ride in a bigger arena to better understand where to place the movements and to work on keeping the quality of the half-passes and medium gaits across those extra meters. I also keep hoping that I will have some kind of breakthrough and be able to sit Spencer's huge medium trot. It's like riding a pogo stick and I confess that I can hardly post it, much less sit it. Some of it is him needing to lift his back and carry a bit more, but most of it is me. I have no problem sitting his regular trot, but when he shifts gears for the medium, I get launched.
 
Well, we have a week at Sleipner Stables Boot Camp to work on it...
 
Day 1:
 
Spencer is all Thoroughbred today: head up, trying to see everything at once, wiggly in the cross-ties, impatient to be doing something.  Once under saddle, he settles right in, as he usually does, though he certainly has a little extra oomph. We use that oomph to really work on his energy from behind and jump in the half-passes and pirouettes.
 
We hit all the movements: trot and canter half-passes, walk and canter pirouettes, mediums, flying changes, but we spend most of our time on the quality of the gaits.  Spencer loves the footing here and between that and his "up" attitude, I have a lot to work with. Alison asks me to keep him very quick behind.  Sometimes Spencer's reaction to the whip is more up--either passagey/floaty or a little "croup-high" (a euphemism for bucking that I find amusing)--than quick. I sit him down a bit more when I tap with the whip and he starts to speed up the hind leg, which really improves the medium trot.  Can I sit it?  Well, not quite, but it's closer.
 
We spend a little time on the changes. His singles and four-, three-, and two-tempis are easy, but need to be straighter and more expressive.  I am working on helping him cover more ground in the change by better preparing the forward and throughness. Then, if I keep the outside rein on, he stays straight and through. We attempt some three-in-a-row one-tempis and he does one correctly behind, though he's late on the last change in front. Of course, it would really help if I could get my legs to move a little faster. I get so twisted around making the second change happen that I can't get my legs back in place for the third one. However, the work on the changes really gets his shoulder and neck up and makes him responsive to my legs.
 
By the end of the ride, his neck and poll have probably come up six inches and the contact is steady and correct, with him pushing from behind.
 
Day 2:
 
Alison has me try one of her saddles, to see if it can produce the medium-trot miracle we're all hoping for.  It doesn't, but I suppose that saves me the cost of a new saddle.
 
We spend more time on the canter pirouettes today, with Alison and her lunge whip at the center of our ever-smaller circle. Spencer is very impressed by the lunge whip, so it doesn't get used very much but has a big impact, all the same. With Alison's encouragement, Spencer stays jumping much more correctly around the pirouette and I am able to concentrate on getting the bend and roundness. After only a couple rounds, I suddenly feel it: a soft, energetic, very collected canter that just happens to be occuring in the shape of a pirouette.  Yay!
 
We reiterate yesterday's lessons about the changes and medium trots with good progress if no major breakthroughs.  The quality of the trot is excellent after the pirouette work and we all call it a day.
 
Day 3:
 
Spencer is officially tired. I warned him this week would be hard work and that he shouldn't waste his energy being goofy, but he's learned his lesson now.  Despite that, we have an excellent ride.
 
We start with a couple walk pirouettes to remind him not anticipate them and me to control each step individually.  If I let the first step drift into the turn before starting the pirouette or if I let him take too big a first step around in front, all is lost. As usual, it's all up to me to prepare and manage.
 
Next we do a couple canter half-pass and pirouette exercises that sounds simple but aren't.  First, canter down centerline (preferably straight), do a big schooling pirouette around the end, and half-pass across the diagonal.  Keep the jump and the bend steady, and it all works fine. Lose either and you'll scramble.  Second, half-pass out of the corner to just past the centerline, do a half-pirouette, and half pass back.  Again: jump!  Lose it at your peril.
 
Then we spend a couple minutes on the flying changes.  The multi-stride tempis are getting much straighter and more through and, unlike last year, the work on the one-tempis isn't making him all excited and silly about the others.  So, back to the one-tempis. After a couple of too-slow-rider botched attempts, Spencer suddenly does it: three clean one-tempi changes! I'm pretty sure that he just got sick of me screwing them up and decided to try this third change to see if it would get me to stop throwing myself around. With no help from me, he tries another set of three a few strides later, just to be sure it worked and we throw a big celebration.  He seems quite proud of himself, as he should be.
 
We leave the canter alone after that, spend a few minutes in very nice trot work (the flying changes really do wonders for his trot), and take a quick walk down the road to cool out.  He seems happy to be walking outside the arena and I promise him a trail ride later.

Day 4:

Spencer seems to have recovered his energy and, for once this year the Minnesota weather is cooperating, so today is our ride-a-test day.  The full-size outdoor arena is one of the reasons to come to Sleipner stables, but the spring rains have been epic this year, so it's just now rideable again.

We warm up in the indoor to save the outdoor footing from Spencer and vice versa.  He now seems to start rides in a much better frame and with more forward and responsiveness.  His contact is at least very good at the beginning, rather than starting at okay and developing to very good or excellent over the course of a ride. 

Alison and I meant to drop the one-tempi changes for a day, but Spencer disagrees with that plan and throws four clean one-tempis at us during warm-up!  We take advantage of his generosity and do another set of four, then drop the issue.  Apparently that lesson is sinking in.  For now, Alison recommends not disciplining him for offering them when they're not asked for, but we will have to stop asking entirely well before the horse show to get them out of his system.

Then we go outside.  I ride around the outdoor a couple times and immediately feel the change in his back from the soft indoor footing to the slightly harder outdoor footing.  And then I ride the Intermediare-1 test for the first time.  It, umm, is a little chaotic.  We know how to do all the movements, but they come up so darn fast! I remember this feeling from the first few times I rode the Prix St. Georges test, but it's just one degree worse in this test.

The trot work is relatively good, but I botch the canter half-pass zig-zag (no really, I do know how to change the bend before the change--we've done it dozens of times!).  The extended canter, collect, change across the diagonal is okay, but not our finest.  The three-tempis are there, but not straight or expressive. The pirouettes are the worst we've ridden all week, mostly because I've gotten too focused on the test and have let Spencer fall so far behind my leg that he seems to be back at H when I'm trying to ride a pirouette at I.  And the two-tempis dissolve into a series of crow-hops, one-tempis, and cross-canters.  Even my trot up the centerline and halt at X is crooked. Despite all that, I have to pause and say that I just made it through the I-1 test for the first time in my life.  And I never have to ride it for the first time again, thank goodness.

Alison and I school the canter work again, with lots of reminders to get Spencer in front of my leg, which makes so much difference that I want to tattoo it to my forehead.  She helps me figure out where to put the short diagonals and changes in the pirouette sequence (what crazy-person made this movement up?).  And she puts the bends back in my canter half-pass zig-zag.  It's not show-ready, but I have a very clear idea of what I need to work on and what it will take to get it there, so we quit.

Day 5:

Naturally, its raining again.  Plus, the pressure of riding the test yesterday seems to have worn Spencer out again. Back in the indoor, we work on the stuff that fell apart during yesterday's test ride. 

Despite being tired, Spencer is so much easier to get in front of the leg and up in the bridle than he was five days ago. I have learned not to nag (ask once, mean it, expect a response) and Spencer shows his appreciation by doing what I ask without hesitation. In addition, Alison and I have really solidified our daily riding plan by now, which helps both at home and at shows. 

I begin with shoulder in and half-passes at the walk. I tighten up the half-pass and do half-pass zig-zag at the walk (this exercise has really helped his canter zig-zag, I think mostly because it allows me to break the pieces apart and get the bend sequence correct).  I throw in a couple of walk pirouettes, do a halt reinback, and trot off.  I trot a few shoulder-ins and circles, then canter (working really hard to get a nice, straight canter depart). I canter a few circles and extended canters down the long-side, cross the diagonal for some counter-canter, and do a single flying change to repeat the sequence on the other side.  I always have to watch the first flying change from left to right because he tends to be sloppy and crooked until he's warmed up and in front of the leg.  We then do the canter work, whether it's half-pass, pirouettes, or changes because good canter work makes his trot work so much better. We finish with the trot work (half passes, voltes, and today a few half-steps), let him stretch at the trot, and then walk on a long rein to cool off.

Day 6:

Our last day at Sleipner Stables.  Sigh.  Spencer and I are both officially worn out.  He's held his weight well all week (always a concern since he is a Thoroughbred) and he still seems loose and willing, but he's lost some of his innate forward momentum.  On the other hand, I'm a little less loose by now.  Who knew that riding one horse six days in a row was such hard work? I have a lot of respect for trainers who ride multiple horses a day for days in a row and then sit on benches in arenas and teach lessons.

We reiterate the major issues of the week: jumping in the half-pass and canter pirouettes, straight and forward in the changes (Spencer is having none of this one-tempi stuff today and at least half the problem is that I can't get my legs and seat moving fast enough to convince him), through and round in the mediums.  These will be our homework exercises in the coming weeks.  Alison threw in a couple more half-steps today.  We've done some before, but it is amazing how much easier it is to keep him round and active in them after this week.

We keep the ride short and positive and then I take him for a long trail ride with a friend.  As usual, Spencer is happy to be out exploring the world.

Epilogue

Back at home, we've now had a follow-up lesson and a week to digest our experience.  A friend who frequently rides with me says that Spencer's neck seems to have relocated itself about four inches further up his shoulder.  I feel a big change in his jump and his contact and everything just seems a little more connected and active. His half-passes and pirouettes are much improved.  I find myself being a little more demanding and working a little harder in every ride.  Spencer doesn't mind a bit and has stepped up his game, too.  He really thinks he's special, and I am happy to give him opportunities to prove it.