milliepops
Wears headscarf aggressively
No reports from me for a long time as Millie has broken herself twice in the last 5 months 
firstly mangling a splint bone while having an argument with a fence post, and then last week she did her check ligament after putting her foot down a hole. Back to box rest for her then!
Anyway, onwards... In December a HHO horse came to stay with Millie at my yard... a little grey spanish called Armas!
I expect many of the C&T regulars will have followed his threads in Tack Room now and then during the summer... it's with more than a little trepidation that I'm posting this so PLEASE PLEASE can I ask now that this doesn't go the way that many of those went- we don't need to look back at the past but very much looking forward to the future 
He's a super little horse with a lovely attitude and I've really enjoyed the last few months getting to know him and his little foibles.
Millie was booked onto the 3 day clinic at AM Dressage with him last weekend but her typical bad timing meant she just came along for a change of scenery and some holiday box rest.
We arrived on Thursday afternoon to the usual laid back atmosphere at AM Dressage,installed both horses into their stables and set off to the kitchen to meet the other riders before dinner. Lovely mix of people with a wide variety of backgrounds and experience. Over the course of the 3 days I think we all bonded pretty well and it was lovely to follow everyone's progress
Armas had the previous day off as I was away for work so thought it would be prudent to ride him on Thursday evening. An hour and a half later he had climbed back down from the ceiling and was fairly settled and on my aids, ready to work the next day
He's not a horse that thrives with time off, he just spends his time dreaming up more spooks, I think!
On Friday morning Justine and Adam ran several assessment sessions. There were 3 or 4 riders in each and we basically had 45 mins to work the horses, shake out the initial spooks and for the trainers to see what we were doing when left to our own devices. They made some notes about the strengths/weaknesses of both riders and horses and we had a short discussion about what we needed to work on over the weekend.
[video=youtube_share;Db1gtnlVx7c]http://youtu.be/Db1gtnlVx7c[/video]
On Friday afternoon I had my first lesson, which was with Adam. I've had lessons on Millie with Adam, and Armas has been for one session in December so we had a starting point to work from. The main focus of the lesson was encouraging Armas to remain adjustable, in front of my seat and to wrap around my inside leg, which was something of an issue on the right rein, resulting in a few minor tantrums, some napping and a bit of getting stuck in passage By the end, he was more supple and able to go on and back in trot and canter without becoming too tight, staying pretty straight and I think the paces were becoming more expressive. A good start, and not too spooky!
[video=youtube_share;3uV9pq80vWw]http://youtu.be/3uV9pq80vWw[/video]
The rest of the day was spent watching the other lessons and getting to know the rest of the group. Dinner and wine to finish
Saturday morning began with a 3 hour lecture demo with Justine and Matt schooling several horses belonging to them and some clients. They all had different strengths and weaknesses, some too laid back, some too hot, all at different stages in their training. Adam led the discussion about each one and we talked about the different approaches needed for every horse. Matt has some super competition prospects coming up and Justine's horse which is aimed at GP this year I think looked really smart.
In the afternoon we all swapped trainers and my session was with Justine. I've only had a schoolmaster lesson with Justine in the past and found her pretty brutal
if I sat weirdly or gave a rubbish aid.. let's say I was a little bit nervous at the start. However, either I've got better or perhaps Armas doesn't show my weaknesses as much as their schoolmaster but it was a really positive session working on increasing engagement and moving toward medium trot, something that Armas doesn't find at all natural, but he will have a good bash at!
Firstly we worked on getting him up and out in the frame - it's taken me a while to get used to having to ride him in this frame and believing it's *not* wrong for him - you can feel instantly when he has let go of his back as he takes you along with him and reaches into the rein... and then I know it's right. To begin with it feels like his head & neck is far too high but I do think he's now softer in his neck and body, and the neck overall is longer and not wedged in, plus I have more control of his frame and can put him up or down as required (usually!!) It's not established yet and whenever you change something the tension and short neck comes back but I think it's becoming a happy place for him now.
Justine asked what level he was competing at. As he came into the country aged 8 he was automatically given 400 BD points .. so he was assessed and regraded to elementary, so that's where we will begin. Justine asked to see some half passes (which were OK) simple changes (which are a bit ropey as he gets in a stew about the downward transition) and then we worked towards building the medium trot. He's gradually getting the idea - just at the moment when he is about to break we are getting a few lengthened strides but he finds it difficult to find his balance and rhythm still so it was nice to have some eyes on the ground and help with that. All in all another good day, and he was more focused and more connected compared to the previous session.
[video=youtube_share;_pbAQE8GYb8]http://youtu.be/_pbAQE8GYb8[/video]
tbc....
firstly mangling a splint bone while having an argument with a fence post, and then last week she did her check ligament after putting her foot down a hole. Back to box rest for her then! Anyway, onwards... In December a HHO horse came to stay with Millie at my yard... a little grey spanish called Armas!
I expect many of the C&T regulars will have followed his threads in Tack Room now and then during the summer... it's with more than a little trepidation that I'm posting this so PLEASE PLEASE can I ask now that this doesn't go the way that many of those went- we don't need to look back at the past but very much looking forward to the future He's a super little horse with a lovely attitude and I've really enjoyed the last few months getting to know him and his little foibles.Millie was booked onto the 3 day clinic at AM Dressage with him last weekend but her typical bad timing meant she just came along for a change of scenery and some holiday box rest.
We arrived on Thursday afternoon to the usual laid back atmosphere at AM Dressage,installed both horses into their stables and set off to the kitchen to meet the other riders before dinner. Lovely mix of people with a wide variety of backgrounds and experience. Over the course of the 3 days I think we all bonded pretty well and it was lovely to follow everyone's progress
Armas had the previous day off as I was away for work so thought it would be prudent to ride him on Thursday evening. An hour and a half later he had climbed back down from the ceiling and was fairly settled and on my aids, ready to work the next day
He's not a horse that thrives with time off, he just spends his time dreaming up more spooks, I think!On Friday morning Justine and Adam ran several assessment sessions. There were 3 or 4 riders in each and we basically had 45 mins to work the horses, shake out the initial spooks and for the trainers to see what we were doing when left to our own devices. They made some notes about the strengths/weaknesses of both riders and horses and we had a short discussion about what we needed to work on over the weekend.
[video=youtube_share;Db1gtnlVx7c]http://youtu.be/Db1gtnlVx7c[/video]
On Friday afternoon I had my first lesson, which was with Adam. I've had lessons on Millie with Adam, and Armas has been for one session in December so we had a starting point to work from. The main focus of the lesson was encouraging Armas to remain adjustable, in front of my seat and to wrap around my inside leg, which was something of an issue on the right rein, resulting in a few minor tantrums, some napping and a bit of getting stuck in passage
By the end, he was more supple and able to go on and back in trot and canter without becoming too tight, staying pretty straight and I think the paces were becoming more expressive. A good start, and not too spooky![video=youtube_share;3uV9pq80vWw]http://youtu.be/3uV9pq80vWw[/video]
The rest of the day was spent watching the other lessons and getting to know the rest of the group. Dinner and wine to finish
Saturday morning began with a 3 hour lecture demo with Justine and Matt schooling several horses belonging to them and some clients. They all had different strengths and weaknesses, some too laid back, some too hot, all at different stages in their training. Adam led the discussion about each one and we talked about the different approaches needed for every horse. Matt has some super competition prospects coming up and Justine's horse which is aimed at GP this year I think looked really smart.
In the afternoon we all swapped trainers and my session was with Justine. I've only had a schoolmaster lesson with Justine in the past and found her pretty brutal
if I sat weirdly or gave a rubbish aid.. let's say I was a little bit nervous at the start. However, either I've got better or perhaps Armas doesn't show my weaknesses as much as their schoolmaster but it was a really positive session working on increasing engagement and moving toward medium trot, something that Armas doesn't find at all natural, but he will have a good bash at!Firstly we worked on getting him up and out in the frame - it's taken me a while to get used to having to ride him in this frame and believing it's *not* wrong for him - you can feel instantly when he has let go of his back as he takes you along with him and reaches into the rein... and then I know it's right. To begin with it feels like his head & neck is far too high but I do think he's now softer in his neck and body, and the neck overall is longer and not wedged in, plus I have more control of his frame and can put him up or down as required (usually!!) It's not established yet and whenever you change something the tension and short neck comes back but I think it's becoming a happy place for him now.
Justine asked what level he was competing at. As he came into the country aged 8 he was automatically given 400 BD points .. so he was assessed and regraded to elementary, so that's where we will begin. Justine asked to see some half passes (which were OK) simple changes (which are a bit ropey as he gets in a stew about the downward transition) and then we worked towards building the medium trot. He's gradually getting the idea - just at the moment when he is about to break we are getting a few lengthened strides but he finds it difficult to find his balance and rhythm still so it was nice to have some eyes on the ground and help with that. All in all another good day, and he was more focused and more connected compared to the previous session.
[video=youtube_share;_pbAQE8GYb8]http://youtu.be/_pbAQE8GYb8[/video]
tbc....
As she's off the road thought it would be of interest to some to see what we got up to at the clinic especially as there was talk last year of a HHO meet up at AM Dressage some time 
