So last night was an interesting ride. But first I will start off with a little background:
J is a paint/quarter horse, J has certain conformational issues when it comes to dressage work, J is lazy. That about sums it up. But I love the dork even so! So J can be lovely supple bordering onto TOO supple... J can get dull to the aids.... J does not like to engage his hind end as much as he should be. Dressage is like building blocks and it always feels like once I master one building block and move onto the next, that previous block (or any and all the blocks before it) would come crashing down and need to be readdressed. I suppose that is my amateurish issue, but I am learning. I want everything to be connected in a smooth and regularly uphill way... but it certainly doesn't work like that. So I am realizing more and more to keep those previous building blocks in place and then work on the new task if only the previous blocks are left in-check. They are all connected, but just not in the way that my OCD brain wants them to be.
So for weeks we had been working on J's commitment to the outside rein and bending him through his back. In this process we asked for him to be deeper, even over-flexed at times, all-the-while keeping his tempo up. I could certainly feel the improvements that were coming from this block, but after awhile I knew that it was time to add more. So that's where last weeks lesson comes in. Shelley identified that J needs to take a half halt more honestly (and seriously) and quicken his hind end much more before, during and after those half halts. J does half halt, but he slows his hind end in the process and his hind legs end up trailing miles away from his front end. So we tossed away all the exercises with suppleness and bending and moved onto the next step. Shelley wanted me to keep his front end lifted, through a series of half halts through my seat and reins and then gentle "annoying" tickles with the whip. Then with that posture, go to a big springy trot (well, springy for the little yellow horse) back to a half step idea, all the while keeping the hind end quick through the whip. Now I fully admit, I am not always the most suave with the whip and when I go to it, it is usually for some sort of "I used my leg a million times so do it NOW" sort of one-time-deal crack, so J has trained me that when I resort to the whip, he is in big trouble. So the process of using the whip to activate his hind end was two-fold, to teach me to be more subtle and deliberate with the whip and to teach him to respond correctly. Rides like this is an interesting paradox... I see the point of the exercise, I can see where this is going and how beneficial it will be, but in the meantime we look like CRAP to any bystander that happens to wander into our craziness. This is very difficult for me... I like to ride well, I like to at least look like I know what I'm doing and I fall into that trap of feeling like people are judging me. I am trying to get past that and just train the damned horse, knowing full and well that I'm doing the right thing. I am getting better, but I still have my moments.
So onto last night. I groom and do our usual routine that J seems to appreciate- stretch his front legs and adjust his shoulders, tack up, do "mint" stretches in the arena, which usually elicit a few "pops" in his neck, tighten his girth and hop on with rein in one hand and walk around the arena, two laps each direction. Then I will pick up both my reins (although still very loopy) and do some figures just off my seat or I do some walk/trot transitions, just depending on if he feels pokey or if he feels that he is not steering off my seat right away. Then we got to work... pick up the rein and keep them rather short, but NOT short enough to get in his way. Keep my leg on, but not pressing. Sit to the inside with whip in the right hand (if whip is in the left hand, he will inevitably throw his haunches to the right and keep going out the right side). I ask him to back from the halt, he can either just shift his weight back or I will actually ask him to take a few steps back and then I immediately send him forward with annoying tickling taps from the whip- keeping my reins out of his way and my seat ready to absorb the forward movement so he is not punished for going forward. Now in the beginning of the ride, J was not too appreciative of the whip. We had lots of legs flying everywhere- cow kicking, bunny hops and bucking. Lots of grunting and squealing in displeasure. But I kept on- never increasing the whip and not changing my seat. When he would give me the correct answer of going forward with a big step off the behind, the whip would immediately stop and he'd get a verbal reward. Then I would ask him to half halt, by stilling my seat and light taking/givings in the reins quickly followed by taps from the whip to keep him from slowing his hind end. Then I would give the reins a few centimeters and he would walk off strong. Before falling on the forehand (about 3-4 steps) repeat the entire process. Now J was not happy about this whole thing... he wavered between kicking out, coming to a dead stop on his forehand, being behind the leg or taking off. It really taught me to sit back because the second that I would get ahead of him in even the slightest manner, he would start going through his bag of tricks. I kept my cool and was patient with him to understand what it was I wanted. It took a while and it wasn't pretty. But soon he started to feel entirely different. His body was quivering, waiting for the next aid as I kept changing things up- transitions between gaits, transitions within a gait, lengthenings for 2 steps one time, an entire long side another time, he never knew what was going to happen. He was carrying himself- no getting stuck in his hole and dragging his hind end out behind him. Sure, we made mistakes, but I did my best to keep my cool, not get in his way and reward him a lot through verbal praises and breaks. In that process I felt the best and most honest half halts we have done to date. I am not saying that they were perfect, but they were better than before in all three gaits.
It was very exciting, despite him looking like a giraffe at times. I can definitely see how this is the next step in the progression of training and after really committing to this exercise and getting him to reliable, it will make our work so much better and more honest. I just have to remember all the previous training blocks that came before this and then, when the time is right, incorporate them all. These blocks are not separated by definite lines and stacked one on top of the other, they are all connected through doors that flow back and forth. So I foresee that the next step will be to open the door between these previous two training blocks- keeping the hind end active, keeping him responsive to the aids but doing it in a more supple manner where he is using his back in a more correct way.
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