Paula Pugh

2009 Region 6 Gifted Scholarship Recipient, for training in 2010

If I were to think of a dream outing for myself, it would be to take my horse and work with an inspiring instructor for a week, away from the distractions of work, domestic duties and activities – immerse myself in the equine world. I could never do that – too much time away from home, too much money, too much effort to get away. Little did I know when a friend told me about the Gifted grant that my dream might come true.

Paula with Andy and Jeremy Steinberg.

When she first told me about it, my reaction was that this grant is for gifted riders, which I am not. Looking further into the opportunity, of course I found that the grant is named for Carol Lavell’s lovely horse. The two of them have made dreams come true for some of us amateur riders.

I read over the qualifications and decided to accept the challenge.  I am a 64-year-old grandma, a little out of shape, a little chunky with a new right hip, but dedicated to learning more about dressage. I wasn’t able to start riding until my children went away to college. I spent many mom years involved in our local Pony Club, where I received my basic horse training, even though I didn’t realize that at the time. To the dismay of my husband, who thought that phase of our lives was fini, I took over the horse, saddle, trailer and all the horsey items the children left behind.

My horse, Andy, is a 21-year-old bay appendix TB - gentle enough to pack me around, talented enough to keep me challenged, kind enough to let me learn on him - an equine saint - and he is cute.

Needless to say, I was thrilled when I received word of the grant. I sat on cloud nine for a few days before setting to work to make the dream a practical reality.

After a ferry ride to get from Whidbey Island to the mainland, we arrived at the KGF Equestrian Center, a premier training facility in an urban area of Seattle, located on Bridle Trails State Park.  Jeremy Steinberg, our instructor, met us. He helped settle Andy in the stall and showed me where to park the trailer. The camper stayed in Jeremy’s driveway, which is just a five-minute walk to the barn. It doesn’t get any better than this.

Andy was fairly apprehensive about this stall idea as he lives outside 24/7 but tried to settle in. Both he and I were bit overwhelmed.  My daughter came with me to hold my hand throughout the settling-in process and I was glad for her help.  The weather was dreadful – wind and pouring rain (shouldn’t be a surprise as this is the NW, but this was particularly bad). The camper had one leak, so I placed a pan there to catch the water, but it missed the pan and we had some wet cushions. I was grateful that Andy stayed on site, as the weather all week was atrocious. We didn’t care, because the arena is indoors and the horses were cozy.

Day 1: I lunged Andy in the early morning to get his pent-up energy dissipated, then walked him around the new indoor hoping he would see enough that we could actually work at our first lesson. He was a bit looky but OK. He wasn’t eating and that worried me. I couldn’t tell how much he was drinking because our efficient help filled the water buckets three times a day and didn’t speak any English. I crossed my fingers that some liquids were going into him.
Since we scheduled six days of consecutive lessons, Jeremy, Andy and I had the luxury of easing into our routine – taking steps to build a solid foundation. We started with getting Andy in a relaxed trot, fixing a few position items for me and feeling out the situation. The pace was perfect for building our confidence. We had to learn to navigate around lots of other horses being ridden at the same time.  One problem I had throughout the week was that Andy was very sweaty, as he wasn’t clipped this winter. It took almost four hours to dry him off.

Day 2: Andy was still not eating much, but he discovered barn hay, which he seemed to like better than the hay I brought from home. I let him eat it, as I was anxious to have him eat something. He didn’t even touch his grain.

I was delighted on day two how Andy quickly resumed his relaxed trot (relaxed is not usually a word that we use to describe him), so our starting point for the day was excellent. One of my goals was to work on my sitting trot. Since I ride at 2^nd Level, I DO sit the trot, but that doesn’t mean I like it or it feels good! Since Andy was being such a peach, we right away moved into ideas that helped me feel more secure sitting. Jeremy reminded me to keep my heels down as an anchor point so my legs won’t grip and my hips open. I sat BACK on the fleshy part of my bum, flexing my abs at each step with a rounded rather than an arched back, while melting my arms and shoulders into the saddle and keeping my chin up. By golly, it worked. Not perfect, of course, but I started to feel the trot in a new way and Andy was glad to have less bouncing on his back.

Day 3: Andy was still not eating much, but tolerating the stall. The one big open window out the back of the stall kept his attention most of the time. He wished he could be out there. He started to eat a little hay.

The sitting was better than I expected – a little rocky getting going but we settled in nicely. We reverted to our foundation work when things weren’t going well. We went back to our lovely posting trot to get round and swinging, then added elements one at a time. We added canter/sitting trot transitions to the mix. I was surprised at how good they felt. Andy seemed to be moving into a new work mode, which helped me a great deal – giving his back more generously than I thought possible.

We also added some slight shoulder in – Jeremy reminding to always keep my eyes and shoulders looking through Andy’s ears. He said that this is a subtle adjustment, but can make a big difference.  I usually get a bit overwhelmed when making any changes to my position, but I liked Jeremy’s idea of checkpoints starting from the foundation of the heel and working up.  My checkpoints included the heels down, sitting back on my seat, relaxing the arms, and making sure my chin was up. The visualization helps make the changes manageable.

Day 4: Taking a shower sounded like heaven, and I didn’t see one in sight until I got home on Friday. Oh, where was the hotel room when I needed it? Maybe I should consider taking a shower in the horse-bathing stal

Even though I wasn’t as happy with the opening trot, Jeremy thought it was good. It was helpful to have someone else’s eye tell me what was acceptable, as sometimes it didn’t feel that way. We continued to work on the tools presented the last few days, fine tuning them and getting them more set in my body and head. I felt like I was bouncing in the sitting trot (not as bad as before, but not as good as I dream of) and that Andy wasn’t helping me. Jeremy reminded me that I was working on new position issues. Andy is trying to figure out if I am going to be consistent before he will change his habits. Jeremy promised that if I keep honest in my position, Andy will conform, give up and give his back…can’t wait for that day and I hope it comes soon. Andy had a hard time moving off his right shoulder, so we worked on changing the bends on trot and canter circles. He was sticky at first, but slowly became less stiff. I needed to remember to use lateral work to loosen him up, which also allowed his back to start to give. All in all we both worked hard. Jeremy stayed with us every minute, not missing a thing and gently reminding us to fix this and that. I thrived on his positive approach. He rewarded us if we got something right, and encouraged us if we needed to do more to make it better.

Day 5:  My morning routine was to hand walk Andy early, at about 8 AM. I was in the arena with the jumper trainers. We had gotten almost friendly even though we barely talked. Just hanging out together created a sort of bond.

My lesson wasn’t until 1:45. I watched some lessons until it was my turn. Andy was very active warming up at the walk. I attributed it to the “new” position I am trying -  leaning back and shifting the pelvis – like a driving aid. He went to work nicely at a round posting trot. I do have to say that he does try to evade me, but I don’t let him anymore. I let him know what I want and hold the line. We practiced the sitting trot, which was better than the previous day, then moved onto canter/sitting trot transitions. Before, Andy would run away with me when I made a transition from canter to trot. Now I sat back and insisted he go with me. He still tried to resist, but I persevered and we are coming to a new agreement. Jeremy said that the key to flying changes is to do honest canter to trot transitions. Any deviation from correct should not be tolerated. I need to practice so that these transitions are excellent all the time. Only then will I be ready to try a change. If I start doing them before I am secure and reliable, then my changes won’t be good. This is my homework for the next few months. I am glad to have the formula to lead me to the changes. I can feel it when the transitions are right, so will be ready to try a change later this season. I am grateful to Jeremy for not allowing me to move ahead when my basics are not yet in place. 

Day 6: Another terrible weather day – storm warnings, winds to 60 mph, torrential rains. We were supposed to ride at 11, but I asked Jeremy if we could go earlier as it was the Friday of Easter weekend and the ferry traffic piles up to go to the Island, Andy isn’t the most patient horse sitting in a trailer for hours. As always, Jeremy was helpful and we rode at 9. I talked to my husband about coming over to go home with me. I so glad to have the comfort of another person for the return trip. It also gave Jim a chance to meet Jeremy, see a little of one of my lessons and visit the facility.

Andy was very tense and quick on the early morning hand walk, so I wasn’t sure how the lesson would go. But as usual, he settled in nicely to go to work. Our new routine is to take a nice, long warm up at the walk, then go directly to work with a soft round connection at the posting trot until he relaxes into his body. It takes some time, but is working beautifully. We reviewed our position issues (which are already more secure than at day 1) - tried the sitting trot - still a bit stiff and unsteady right at first. I asked Jeremy to help me with a turn on the haunches. He again explained the building blocks of the movement and helped us with the beginning stages - small circles with the haunches in a steady rhythm. When this feeling was secure and natural, then we started to make the circle smaller and smaller, but not going further until we felt the correctness. He said that if we didn’t get the small beginning pieces accurate, internalized and in place, it’s doubtful the movement would end up correct. I know now what we need to do to get to where we want to go.

We worked more on the canter/sit trot transitions and they were already improving. I found myself staying longer and longer in the sitting trot without as much annoying bouncing. At this point Andy seems to have two trots. The one from canter to trot is different than going from walk to trot.  Both are valid and I am appreciating the difference. He was still bracing at the trot from canter, but Jeremy said that I needed to keep at it, as Andy isn’t used to the “new regime” yet. In time, he will learn to give in and relax.

I have nothing but kind words about Jeremy, his partner, Shauntel, and the staff at KGF. Everyone helped me to settle in when I was a bit overwhelmed. They put up with me as I was attempting to learn the barn routine. Jeremy is a gifted instructor, offering imagery to go with the work to make it understandable. His keen eye doesn’t let horse or rider get away with anything that isn’t working towards harmony. He is always considerate of the horse, even though he works both horse and rider to the max of our abilities. He is professional in his attitude towards his clients and his horses, yet still has a warm personality - a special combination.

I am grateful to my regular instructor, Lisa Boyer of Boyer Dressage on Whidbey Island. She started me so many years ago and has encouraged my riding as an older beginner. Her support allowed me to move beyond my comfort level to apply for the grant. She will be there for me as we integrate the pieces of the work with Jeremy back into daily life.

This morning, as I was reading in my new Dressage Today about upper level riders who go to Europe to ride with a top notch instructor, I had the feeling that I had my mini version of this exceptional experience - in my own comfort level - by immersing myself for a few days into the wonder and gift of daily tutoring with a teacher I admire. My thanks to Carol Lavell for providing this opportunity of a lifetime to a serious amateur, who will never go to Europe.