HHO virtual clinic week 5a + b

[milliepops]

2 options this week!
One that doesn't require lots of space and can be done in walk and trot (and canter if you have a more established horse) and ought to be suitable for those without a nice surfaced area, and one looking at improving trot-canter transitions (and introducing walk to canter if you want to).

Exercise A
Leg yield hexagons
https://dressagefundamentals.com/ge...-horses-shoulders-with-the-leg-yield-hexagon/
this may be tricky to control to start with, but when mastered should really help to get the horse between hand and leg, more on the hindleg and connected. There are some variations/developments at the bottom of the page. The diagram should be self explanatory but shout if you get stuck

Exercise B
3 exercises to improve canter transitions
these look like they will complement each other quite nicely and also build on some of the LY and circle work of earlier weeks.

hopefully there will be something in there to suit or interest everyone? please share your vids and reports

 

[Sheep]

Ooooh love the video. Think exercise B is definitely on the cards for me this weekend, canter is a bit of a focus for me at the mo.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

Will give both a go, but will have to see how exercise 2 in 5b goes as we don't need more energy lol, but it should be good for her (Skylla) obedience!

 

[milliepops]

Will give both a go, but will have to see how exercise 2 in 5b goes as we don't need more energy lol, but it should be good for her (Skylla) obedience!

I'm thinking I might alternate the paces with Kira because that pesky Canter-Trot trans is at the end of the Inter1 test and she always offers walk instead I reckon riding the little circle after the downward trans in the snowman exercise might be helpful too.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

I'm thinking I might alternate the paces with Kira because that pesky Canter-Trot trans is at the end of the Inter1 test and she always offers walk instead I reckon riding the little circle after the downward trans in the snowman exercise might be helpful too.

I think the snowman exercise will be fab for Skylla, I'm quite excited to try that one! I hate canter trot transitions at the end of tests, Topaz either just wants to canter on the spot or halt or walk but never just a nice normal trot lol!

 

[Wheels]

These look good, looking forward to trying them

 

[Sprat]

I really like the canter exercises. I feel like the leg yield hexagon is going to cook my head as I will no doubt forget what I'm doing but will have a bash regardless.

 

[milliepops]

I've done something like the hexagon before but with shoulder-in instead, as a precursor to riding shoulder in on a circle, I think that's why it made sense to me

 

[Sprat]

I think in walk it should be doable, trot is negligible as I don't tend to have much control of the shoulders in the trot leg yield, I mostly rely on her keenness to suck back to the wall so this should help me at least identify what more needs working on.

 

[Surbie]

Ooh these are brilliant, thank you so much for posting them.

Cobbus is v enthusiastic yielding to the right, if a little banana-ish, but the combination of his stiffness and my weak hip means going to the left is a bit of a gamble. Am looking forward to trying the hexagon.

I'll give the canter exercises a miss till the building work in the school is done. He keeps remembering that the Killer Sandbags live on the long side by E and everything gets a bit expressive.

 

[humblepie]

I was pretty much doing that walk exercise today as something that occurred to me. Can finesse it now.

 

[milliepops]

OK so Darcy and I tried the snowman exercise in the B set today. He's done lots of sideways after week 4 and I really wanted to get back to third gear, now I seem to have his mind under control, so we will come back to the hexagon set another day.
This is the first time he has intentionally cantered at home in MONTHS, hence it is exceptionally green and quite messy. He has been such a pickle over the winter I just haven't bothered pushing the issue. Anyway, I think this will be a good exercise for him but it shows his remaining asymmetry quite clearly so gives us lots to be working on which is always useful

Canter right first - I had tried left to begin with and discovered that we had lost that lead temporarily Right canter is naturally more balanced and supple but it feels ENORMOUS, it's useful to see it on video as I think I need to ignore that feeling and ride more positively forward to stop it becoming too "hanging" and then he will be able to drop his neck/raise his back. The small circle left was hard for him, it took him by surprise and he is less supple left (work in progress). He is a smart cookie and cottoned on quickly to the area where I was going to ask for canter, so I had to vary it and chuck in some trot versions to stop him second guessing. When he has done more canter then I will be firmer about him needing to be patient.

Canter left - as I expected, the left lead returned without issue once we had got cracking with canter. It's definitely the weaker pace and as he tires he leans on the inside shoulder but we just have to do more of it now. The little circle right was easier because of his better suppleness that way and I should have expected him to do it better. I have to remind myself to ride him like a grown up horse! But between straightening and pushing him into my outside hand on the big circle, that combination made it a easy for him to strike off correctly. All in all a good start and I will persevere this week

 

[Roxylola]

This will suit us on both fronts. I've used the snowman exercise in the past anyway with a nice response. The leg yield I may have a crack at in canter, hes happy to canter now but it is the weaker pace - gets a bit motorbikey or drops out under pressure

 

[McFluff]

These look good, I like the idea of the hexagon one. Although I suspect that in canter would be beyond us at the mo!
I’ve done the snowman before and really like it.
Will give them a shot on Monday.
Thanks MP, loving all these exercises to work on.

 

[milliepops]

I'm finding it useful to have something to work on and be objective about, in the absence of lessons

 

[McFluff]

I’m finding it really helpful. My challenge will be that I’m enjoying them, so I’m going to have to learn how to park some and remember to come back to them. I’m doing week two most sessions as it is really helping me use my seat and tune into my boy. He seems to enjoy that one too.

 

[JFTDWS]

I've done something like the hexagon before but with shoulder-in instead, as a precursor to riding shoulder in on a circle, I think that's why it made sense to me

Weird, I found myself doing hexagonal shoulder in this afternoon. I'd intended to have a crack at the hexagon leg yield, but got distracted in shoulder in and decided she'd done good and well enough not to bother trying it today. I also discovered today that I can school in a smaller trot and actually ride the whole circuit, rather than losing it on the downhill side and end up trying to control bambi on ice for half a dozen strides.

Plus after this mad dump of rain, the going in my field is now perfect. Woohoo.

 

[Sheep]

I tried the walk-trot-walk-trot-canter last night and it worked well! Snowman was less successful but mainly because there was too much crap in the way so circles weren’t the best. I will give it another go though because I think he will get it pretty quickly.

Transitions by the bucketload are the most effective tool in getting this big lad listening and soft.

Earlier in the week I was working on an exercise - trot at C, walk again at B, trot at F, walk at E - similar to one from a few clinics ago - and it was fabulous! Also did it mirrored on the other rein. We progressed it to trot - halt transitions and he was so good and soft and just generally lovely!

These clinics are brilliant. I’ve also added some of the kindergarten exercises to my warmip

 

[Surbie]

These are fab - have just been going back through other weeks. Thank you so much for them.

Hexagon was good in walk and a disaster in trot but a) arena has building work going on that Arch objects to and b) we aren't established enough to get there. We did trot diamonds instead but hopefully by the end of the week we can get somewhere towards the hexagon.

Am going to have a go at the snowman tomorrow morning.

 

[Wheels]

We tried the hexagon one today and it was tough. I found it really tricky to get the floor plan right. It worked ok in the walk after a couple of goes. The trot work was ok but M is very sensitive to leg aids and I think because I was concentrating on keeping the shape I used too much leg, asking for too much leg yield / too many steps then couldnt manage a good turn. He got a bit tense so will have another go later in the week. Decided for the canter that we would just ride a hexagon without the leg yield bit and that helped to get his inside leg working well anyway so we left it at that.

Didnt try the canter exercises this time because we're working on something specific with that at the moment to teach straight line and outside lead canter departs.

 

[Roxylola]

I um, knobbed round the field half a dozen times on the pretext of it being "fitness work" and may have mumbled something about interval training, not at all because the ground was good and it was fun to have a hooley round, nope not at all

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

I um, knobbed round the field half a dozen times on the pretext of it being "fitness work" and may have mumbled something about interval training, not at all because the ground was good and it was fun to have a hooley round, nope not at all

Excellent post! ?

 

[milliepops]

Love it Roxy! hehe.

Kira has a busy afternoon. We started with some walk piris which we haven't done for ages, and then went to the hexagon exercise. I am going to find this so helpful, we have got in a bit of a muddle with her trying to wipe my outside knee on the fence lately and this exercise really gave me control of the outside shoudler.
Walk first

In trot this was HARD, it all happened really fast until I made her do some grown up trot and really stay between my hand and leg. Then I found it useful for pushing the trot together but did have to refresh the forward now and then.

Then we did 2 of the canter exercises, the walk-trot-walk-trot-canter and snowman. I think the more we did the more fluent the canter-trot trans became - that's the tricky one for us as I allow her to canter-walk abruptly too often. The quality of the trot got better too.

After that we went back to the hexagon in canter, again tricky to maintain the forwards but I noticed that the turns were giving me more control again so I think I am going to try and develop this into an exercise to improve the canter piris. I have to trust her now that she isn't going to stop in a canter piri but she also needs to allow me to direct it more, so an exercise involving small sitting turns and forward straights could be ideal. As she'd started offering I went with it a couple of times. I need to not get surprised and ride the last step better

 

[smiggy]

Millie pops thanks so much for putting these up

the hexagon one is fab. My pony is like riding a worm and this was great for getting his shoulders under control.
will become a regular exercise.

 

[milliepops]

Millie pops thanks so much for putting these up

the hexagon one is fab. My pony is like riding a worm and this was great for getting his shoulders under control.
will become a regular exercise.

brill I am missing my lessons so much but having something to work on each week is helping me to stay focussed (as well as identifying things that I need to work on), so I'm pleased other people are finding it beneficial too

 

[JFTDWS]

I had a crack at the hexagons today. Fine enough in walk when I paid attention and C got the idea, but I got a bit lost in trot - I kept losing my markers and wandering off the geometry. I could get the top half all right and then coming back around the bottom half I was overshooting the line.

However, issues with geometry aside, it did help to control the mare's shoulders and get her a little more rideable and with the programme. It's a nice game to have in the toolkit anyway.

 

[Wheels]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who found the trot hexagon difficult. I will have another go later and might try doing a square instead if I cant work it out.

MP your video has hopefully helped me, I think I was asking for leg yield before he had really got straight first then it all fell apart lol

 

[milliepops]

I think I'd ride alternate straight lines and leg yields on a greener horse, it was a lot to coordinate ?

 

[Sprat]

I tried the snowman exercise yesterday, it was useful as it’s highlighted some inconsistencies. On the right canter she wants to dive onto the inside shoulder, so a couple of times I kept the canter circle to correct the balance before coming back down to the trot. The downwards transitions were very sweet actually, and looking at the video I just need to sit myself a little further back to make the picture better. On the other rein, the transition to canter needs to be snappier, but we struggle with changing the bend through trot to then make the upwards transition. The downwards transition on this rein wasn’t as fluid, and tends to come against the hand rather than from the seat. Again, looking at the video it’s me causing the problem so will focus on sitting straighter and taller. I’m going to try the trot canter trot later today.
I seem to end up doing the exercises at the end of the session as I forget, so she’s beginning to tire which isn’t ideal. I’ll try again today after warm up.

sounds like everyone is really enjoying these exercises, it’s so useful to have something to work on.

 

[Kat]

Just seen these, I love the look of the canter exercises, especially the snowman, so will definitely try those. Canter to trot can be a bit of a problem for us, as L gets quite rushy and downhill hopefully this will help.

I'm not sure my brain can cope with the hexagon, I will try in in walk as it should help me keep her thinking and listening and together rather than anticipating and dashing off sideways as she sees fit. Not sure we will manage a turn on the haunches, we struggle with those but we'll have a bash. I expect trot will be a challenge to far but we'll see.

I'm enjoying these exercises as it gives me a bit of direction while I can't have lessons.