milliepops
Wears headscarf aggressively
Thought I'd do a little report on our weekend at AM Dressage as we did have quite a lot of fun 
We had agreed beforehand with Adam that we would use the weekend to begin changes properly, as we'd have the chance to do a lot of repetition and different approaches if it was tricky. He's done a few here and there just playing, but the success rate for clean changes was low!
We slotted in an extra lesson with Matt on Thursday afternoon when we arrived, to get settled in and begin to get Armas's brain in gear. We worked on making the canter adjustable and being able to position him left and right without any tantrums, and then working towards pirouette canter to get him sitting. Then we popped a few changes in which were consistently late behind and accompanied by lots of crazy pogoing! It was a productive session though and helped to set the agenda for the weekend. I never felt he was quite straight into the right rein... never mind, plenty of time to address that!
On Friday we had our first session with Adam. We were in the small school so that we could have the space to ourselves in case there was more leaping about
We picked up the themes of adjustability and responsiveness, and working in counter canter with the shoulders positioned to the inside, letting him almost boil over and then ask for the change. We came back to walk after each change to let him settle again before the next one, and decided to do several repetitions of the exercise before changing the rein, as he is a horse that learns better that way. He was starting to get it, though we had some issues going left to right as he tends to push the left shoulder down and out, napping to my inside leg. Still... getting closer to the goal
http://youtu.be/uGy4yvSbmTs
Saturday was another session with Matt. We had intended to continue the changes but Armas was somewhat lacking in the submission department, so we took a step back and did some other work, initially on the half passes trying to add energy and push, and later working on adding power and cadence to the trot by playing with passage. It was nice to ride after watching Matt schooling his horses, because it really made me think about the need to make a hot horse hotter sometimes - his horses are so, so responsive and simply not allowed to go behind the leg. Armas kids me sometimes that he's on the aids, when he is simply pratting about and overreacting!
He's come a bit short in the neck as the work has stepped up, but we had a break through a couple of weeks ago where he FINALLY learnt to pull into the rein, so I feel confident that he will be able to reach into the contact again when the more demanding work becomes normal.
http://youtu.be/yq8hialSdbY
On Sunday we had another session with Adam. I'd have liked to have one with Justine because I think she's so good for correcting rider faults but as we were close to success with the changes we thought we'd stick with Adam as he knows the horse so well. I think we really made a lot of progress on the last day - there was less stressy galloping, and some neat little true changes which we can build on at home.
Unfortunately there's no sound on this vid but we talked a lot about when to ride through a stressy period and make him wait for the aids, and when to accept a horse offering a change albeit slightly on their terms. We got stuck in passage at one point while we had a disagreement about submission to left rein and right leg, but apart from that I think he did very well.
http://youtu.be/FDiE28QNZAQ
All in all another productive camp at AM Dressage and I'd recommend them to anyone. In February we went with no goal in mind and achieved loads, and this time we went with a specific aim and came back with plenty of homework but having laid great foundations. It was a lovely group of people and I hope (HOPE HOPE HOPE) that Millie will be back in work and able to go to camp next year.
Armas has a few more days to work on the changes and then we will put them aside until after his Area Festival - as Adam pointed out, he's the sort of horse that will be hard to stop doing them once he figures out that they are easy!
In other news, Millie has been signed off to start trotting (yay!)though she's finding it all a bit hard work
and Kira has started work in the school which she seemed to enjoy, tucking her little welsh nose in and flicking her toes! There's a lot of work to do but it's nice that they are all so different
We had agreed beforehand with Adam that we would use the weekend to begin changes properly, as we'd have the chance to do a lot of repetition and different approaches if it was tricky. He's done a few here and there just playing, but the success rate for clean changes was low!
We slotted in an extra lesson with Matt on Thursday afternoon when we arrived, to get settled in and begin to get Armas's brain in gear. We worked on making the canter adjustable and being able to position him left and right without any tantrums, and then working towards pirouette canter to get him sitting. Then we popped a few changes in which were consistently late behind and accompanied by lots of crazy pogoing! It was a productive session though and helped to set the agenda for the weekend. I never felt he was quite straight into the right rein... never mind, plenty of time to address that!
On Friday we had our first session with Adam. We were in the small school so that we could have the space to ourselves in case there was more leaping about
We picked up the themes of adjustability and responsiveness, and working in counter canter with the shoulders positioned to the inside, letting him almost boil over and then ask for the change. We came back to walk after each change to let him settle again before the next one, and decided to do several repetitions of the exercise before changing the rein, as he is a horse that learns better that way. He was starting to get it, though we had some issues going left to right as he tends to push the left shoulder down and out, napping to my inside leg. Still... getting closer to the goal http://youtu.be/uGy4yvSbmTs
Saturday was another session with Matt. We had intended to continue the changes but Armas was somewhat lacking in the submission department, so we took a step back and did some other work, initially on the half passes trying to add energy and push, and later working on adding power and cadence to the trot by playing with passage. It was nice to ride after watching Matt schooling his horses, because it really made me think about the need to make a hot horse hotter sometimes - his horses are so, so responsive and simply not allowed to go behind the leg. Armas kids me sometimes that he's on the aids, when he is simply pratting about and overreacting!
He's come a bit short in the neck as the work has stepped up, but we had a break through a couple of weeks ago where he FINALLY
learnt to pull into the rein, so I feel confident that he will be able to reach into the contact again when the more demanding work becomes normal. http://youtu.be/yq8hialSdbY
On Sunday we had another session with Adam. I'd have liked to have one with Justine because I think she's so good for correcting rider faults but as we were close to success with the changes we thought we'd stick with Adam as he knows the horse so well. I think we really made a lot of progress on the last day - there was less stressy galloping, and some neat little true changes which we can build on at home.
Unfortunately there's no sound on this vid but we talked a lot about when to ride through a stressy period and make him wait for the aids, and when to accept a horse offering a change albeit slightly on their terms. We got stuck in passage at one point while we had a disagreement about submission to left rein and right leg, but apart from that I think he did very well.
http://youtu.be/FDiE28QNZAQ
All in all another productive camp at AM Dressage and I'd recommend them to anyone. In February we went with no goal in mind and achieved loads, and this time we went with a specific aim and came back with plenty of homework but having laid great foundations. It was a lovely group of people and I hope (HOPE HOPE HOPE) that Millie will be back in work and able to go to camp next year.
Armas has a few more days to work on the changes and then we will put them aside until after his Area Festival - as Adam pointed out, he's the sort of horse that will be hard to stop doing them once he figures out that they are easy!
In other news, Millie has been signed off to start trotting (yay!)though she's finding it all a bit hard work
and Kira has started work in the school which she seemed to enjoy, tucking her little welsh nose in and flicking her toes! There's a lot of work to do but it's nice that they are all so different
