Midget lesson report

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Hallo2012

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Looking at the photos from today’s lesson and my heart just bursts with pride... This pony gives me 100% and then a bit more bless him!

Hacked up the road for this months Calum Whitworth lesson... Entertaining hack there as the farm pigs had made a break for freedom and were mooching around in the road and then started trotting along next to me! Was mildly concerned I would turn up for my lesson with them both in tow!

I had considered not posting all the pictures from this session as in some he is quite deep but I want to be transparent and realistic and share the full training journey! It would be easy to say that he came out perfectly poll high, supple and full of cadence and Calum was shocked into silence and off we went. But that wouldn’t be very honest... and besides if Calum was silent I’d just be worried he didn’t know what to fix first 😂 I don't want to give an unrealistic interpretation of how this dressage lark is basically, its all about stages and building blocks not instant perfection.

Raf is not naturally a big loose mover, he is active and forward thinking but bordering on Welsh frantic. We need to develop the looseness.

So today we started with him in a deeper frame in both trot and canter, moving him sideways out to the outside rein (and on the weaker left rein it’s MY responsibility to take that contact first) by using LY out of a half circle or SF down the long side.

Once the connection was improved we then worked on increasing and decreasing the tempo within the LY to help with the cadence and to loosen the shoulders. All this work was interspersed with periods of long low stretching.

Aaaaaand then... Picked up to his competition frame he produced the most amazing mediums.... all the work moving his body around allowed him to cover more ground but in a totally balanced way and regular tempo, clever dude!

I am a great believer in moving the body around, varying the frame and the flexion and the tempo albeit NOT to extremes. Hopefully you can see the progression through the pics :) ive tried to post them in approx order!
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There are many roads to Rome - riding in such a deep frame is not a route I personally would take. I like the use of the leg yield and some other lateral work (when they're ready) to improve the connection but this can be done in a much more open frame for better results. I am a wee bit surprised to see these photos because your pics from your last lesson showed him in a more up and open way of going, slightly IFV and almost even made it to poll high in some of the pics.

I suppose I just don't get why, a young pony who is still on his forehand due to age / training level, benefits from being pushed further onto his forehand and ridden so deep, the photos from later in the lesson show the outturn of riding like this - broken at the 3rd or 4th vertebrae, is that what a competition frame should look like? What happened to poll high? Or at least striving for it. Your last set of photos certainly show he is capable of coming closer to it than this set of pics.

My intention isn't to upset or annoy you btw so if you are happy riding in such a way then that is up to you but I personally preferred your last set of lesson pics.
 
Fiona said:
He's so cute ❤❤

When's your next competition?

Fiona
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well...........im waiting to see what BD say re the AF new rules in the official handbook release at the end of the month! ill do a show in October more for my benefit than his so i dont forget how to test ride and then we have native champs nov.....after that it depends when i can start getting my AF sheets :)
 
Wheels said:
There are many roads to Rome - riding in such a deep frame is not a route I personally would take. I like the use of the leg yield and some other lateral work (when they're ready) to improve the connection but this can be done in a much more open frame for better results. I am a wee bit surprised to see these photos because your pics from your last lesson showed him in a more up and open way of going, slightly IFV and almost even made it to poll high in some of the pics.

I suppose I just don't get why, a young pony who is still on his forehand due to age / training level, benefits from being pushed further onto his forehand and ridden so deep, the photos from later in the lesson show the outturn of riding like this - broken at the 3rd or 4th vertebrae, is that what a competition frame should look like? What happened to poll high? Or at least striving for it. Your last set of photos certainly show he is capable of coming closer to it than this set of pics.

My intention isn't to upset or annoy you btw so if you are happy riding in such a way then that is up to you but I personally preferred your last set of lesson pics.
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ultimately of course the aim is for him to be poll high IFV and supple, but in order to get the first two whilst maintaining the last he needs to work through different frames: it would be easy to manufacture a nice picture but it wouldn't have the suppleness or softness needed and would just end up with a braced back and neck.

he finds it easy to sit just off the contact which in turn affects how the hind legs step through (or not) because he's holding the front end, by putting him a bit deeper initially it 100% improved the elasticity of the contact and how much i could get him to push off the hind leg and not just flick his toes out :)

i dont think he will always need to go this round in the warm up, it just helps atm.
 
I agree that changing frames is beneficial but long and low whilst being on or just in front of the vertical would be my preference. A horizontal neck and on the vertical helps with the longitudinal balance and the horse can actually see where they are going and are not contracted on the underside of the neck or hollow in the lumbar spine.
 
He looks like a lovely horse. I thought it was very interesting, how when you look down, he comes btv and when you sit up and look forward, lifting your chin, he brings his poll up.
 
Wheels said:
I agree that changing frames is beneficial but long and low whilst being on or just in front of the vertical would be my preference. A horizontal neck and on the vertical helps with the longitudinal balance and the horse can actually see where they are going and are not contracted on the underside of the neck or hollow in the lumbar spine.
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we did do some of that too but OH didn't snap any pics except ones from behind which weren't very clearly showing much lol :)
 
Pearlsasinger said:
He looks like a lovely horse. I thought it was very interesting, how when you look down, he comes btv and when you sit up and look forward, lifting your chin, he brings his poll up.
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its a horrible habit, i was annoyed i had slipped back in to it so will be reminding myself not to drop my chest and chin!
 
Hallo2012 said:
its a horrible habit, i was annoyed i had slipped back in to it so will be reminding myself not to drop my chest and chin!
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I have this habit too and it's very annoying - it is my aim for the next few weeks to create a new habit of looking up!
 
I think it's hard when you go back to riding babies not to let your position slip, I know I'm having to remind myself all the time to ride properly at the moment :oops:
Jealous of your smiling face pictures though, I can't ride unless I'm gurning apparently! :p
 
Admire your honesty! Like you say a lot of people wouldn’t post the overly deep pics and of course young horses don’t stay in a perfectly poll high position at all times they have to find their balance and learn to work into the contact which you’re clearly working on and aware of, everyone has little niggling habits (like looking down) most people only show the best pics when they’re sat well and the frame looks good ... nice to see the work in progress not just the perfect moments ;)
 
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milliepops said:
I think it's hard when you go back to riding babies not to let your position slip, I know I'm having to remind myself all the time to ride properly at the moment :oops:
Jealous of your smiling face pictures though, I can't ride unless I'm gurning apparently! :p
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this must have been a lucky bunch normally i am screwing my face up horribly!
 
Littlebear said:
Admire your honesty! Like you say a lot of people wouldn’t post the overly deep pics and of course young horses don’t stay in a perfectly poll high position at all times they have to find their balance and learn to work into the contact which you’re clearly working on and aware of, everyone has little niggling habits (like looking down) most people only show the best pics when they’re sat well and the frame looks good ... nice to see the work in progress not just the perfect moments ;)
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exactly, i find it really frustrating when people only present the finished article and give no idea of all the experimenting, and work that went in to it.

i cant deny that working him deep for very short periods really opened up his back and the medium trot and canter both had much more ground cover and swing afterwards. I definitely WONT be using it as a fix for every issue, but for this it did really help.
 
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