Sheep
Well-Known Member
Last week, after a glass* of wine, I was browsing through FB and saw a local rider was running a dressage clinic this weekend. As we had no other plans, I booked OH for his towing services and booked myself in.
*might have been a bottle
I hadn’t ever attended a clinic before but realistically it’s just a fancy name for a group lesson, isn’t it?!
Anyway, boxed over today to a venue I hadn’t heard of previously. It was a very smart livery yard, with a lovely indoor & outdoor, very good surfaces on each. As soon as we arrived we were greeted and told where everything was which was really nice ?
Anyway, got tacked up and big horse decided the outdoor arena was absolutely terrifying ? but he quickly wised up. Once we went into the indoor, he had a bit of a meltdown at the perspex window on the viewing gallery. He did settle but felt a wee bit uptight at first, once we started working properly he decided to relax.
The trainer (Yvette Truesdale) chatted to each of us at the start to learn a bit about our horses and our goals. I am only really a competent prelim rider haha but starting on lateral work and mediums. The others were probably a level above me but she quickly identified exercises that would benefit all of us, with the goal of really engaging the hind and encouraging that proper stepping under.
So we warmed up individually, with Yvette taking time to look at each of us and ask questions about how the horse felt and what we could be doing to help them out.
On to the work then!
We started with simple walk up the 3/4 line, focusing on being truly straight. Once we had that mastered, same again but introducing the bend, then leg yielding out to the track, then asking the shoulder to come in. Same again on the other rein.
Then we did the same again but in the trot, eventually shortening the turn to a couple of metres off the track, again on both reins.
There was a strong focus on precision, accuracy and correctness. The big focus was on engaging the hind leg. I found Yvette to be very encouraging and positive. She explained things well and touched on the technical details, but kept it simple if that makes sense? Big horse really was a very good boy, very happy with him!
Now for a few flattering stills from videos!
Ignore my face haha!
Relaxing at the end:
I had a great day. We are so lucky in equestrian sports that we have access to top class training, even as total amateurs! I don’t think many sports are as accessible. There’s another clinic running in a couple of weeks, hopefully I can make it to that - if not, will definitely be booking more lessons with her ad hoc, to go alongside lessons with my current instructor ?
*might have been a bottle
I hadn’t ever attended a clinic before but realistically it’s just a fancy name for a group lesson, isn’t it?!
Anyway, boxed over today to a venue I hadn’t heard of previously. It was a very smart livery yard, with a lovely indoor & outdoor, very good surfaces on each. As soon as we arrived we were greeted and told where everything was which was really nice ?
Anyway, got tacked up and big horse decided the outdoor arena was absolutely terrifying ? but he quickly wised up. Once we went into the indoor, he had a bit of a meltdown at the perspex window on the viewing gallery. He did settle but felt a wee bit uptight at first, once we started working properly he decided to relax.
The trainer (Yvette Truesdale) chatted to each of us at the start to learn a bit about our horses and our goals. I am only really a competent prelim rider haha but starting on lateral work and mediums. The others were probably a level above me but she quickly identified exercises that would benefit all of us, with the goal of really engaging the hind and encouraging that proper stepping under.
So we warmed up individually, with Yvette taking time to look at each of us and ask questions about how the horse felt and what we could be doing to help them out.
On to the work then!
We started with simple walk up the 3/4 line, focusing on being truly straight. Once we had that mastered, same again but introducing the bend, then leg yielding out to the track, then asking the shoulder to come in. Same again on the other rein.
Then we did the same again but in the trot, eventually shortening the turn to a couple of metres off the track, again on both reins.
There was a strong focus on precision, accuracy and correctness. The big focus was on engaging the hind leg. I found Yvette to be very encouraging and positive. She explained things well and touched on the technical details, but kept it simple if that makes sense? Big horse really was a very good boy, very happy with him!
Now for a few flattering stills from videos!
Ignore my face haha!Relaxing at the end:
I had a great day. We are so lucky in equestrian sports that we have access to top class training, even as total amateurs! I don’t think many sports are as accessible. There’s another clinic running in a couple of weeks, hopefully I can make it to that - if not, will definitely be booking more lessons with her ad hoc, to go alongside lessons with my current instructor ?
