DefinitelyDressage.com

kande50

Hayburner wrote:Maybe have someone hold her for you and to keep her mind off of the water getting in her back, don't forget the treat afterwards,

And during too, if that helps make it a more pleasant experience for her.

kande50

There is lumping and there is splitting. While riding can be broken down into individual aids, it is the interplay that is the riding. I think balance before movement is more about splitting, while balance from movement is more about lumping. Not that bfm can't be broken down (split) from within th...

kande50

But there is no point to those movements, they don't work towards the goals. they are hand riding Of course there's a point to them, because they're all about trying to make it easier for the horse to figure out what he needs to do to avoid the aversives. They're no more about hand riding than any ...

kande50

Ryeissa wrote:I was trying to isolate too much because sometimes my brain hurts and I want one answer.

Wouldn't it be great if the concepts at least were simple?

kande50

If you come back to halt to regain balance every time you lose balance you are doing balance before movement. I don't think there's any requirement to come back to halt to rebalance, as we only need to come back to where the horse is balanced enough and then can attempt to add more impulsion again....

kande50

I treat but don't click. :-) I do a lot of that, too. Bob Bailey calls it food chucking. There's really no need to click unless we're shaping, or want to mark a very precise part of a behavior, because as soon as we get the behavior and get it on cue I think it's way more about the cue than the cli...

kande50

I’ve had Miss A. 2 years and have never given her a full bath with soap. I washed her tail a year ago, and have hosed off her legs and undercarriage. If it’s hot she gets an alcohol sponge bath. She is not good in the wash stall and frankly, I don’t feel like doing the training. ? My take on it is ...

kande50

Ie- on a more luggy horse I would give leg and there would not be the "side effects" of having them rush, though a shoulder, or lean all in the first 5 steps. You could send them on and they would maintain for longer. I think if that was the case everyone would be riding leggy horses, but...

kande50

A shame about your injury. I hate reading about falls because I admit to really being afraid to fall with my osteopenia (and probably osteoporosis by now). . Same here, MC. I had a baseline scan when I was in my 50's and already had osteopenia, and in spite of my best efforts it has now progressed ...

kande50

Last night about 2/3 of the time he did great and got lots of praise and a click, and a few treats occasionally. My suggestion is that if you're not going to treat then don't click, because otherwise the click will lose its value. IOW, praise and release when we're using pressure and release; click...

kande50

Sometimes a noseband makes a horse more comfortable with the bit. Take Susan's horse Kyra. Susan has tried everything under the sun to keep that horse comfortable the mouth (a multitude of bits, bitless bridles etc.). She has ridden without a noseband for years to keep her comfortable in the mouth....

kande50

I'm mildly worried he'll figure out how to open the back door of the trailer while I'm driving... he also unties himself from the tie rail, but doesn't go anywhere... yet! And yet, he cannot halt from the walk. :x He doesn't halt when you click? Most clicker trainers teach a behavior chain for halt...

kande50

Again read his book he talks a lot about his philosophy of training and I think he's the last person on Earth who would crank the nose bands shut I learned at my very first dressage clinic many, many years ago that what trainers write and what they do are often very different things. Part of the di...

kande50

I've just been back through the article and I'm not seeing anything particularly egregious about the nosebands? Yes, they all have flashes on, but nothing looks cranked and I'm not looking at a bunch of miserable horses. I don't know how miserable they are or aren't because there's no way to know. ...

kande50

Next, after we had established Forward Walk and lots of transitions, I decided to work on canter trans and he is now so adept at them that I just say "ready?" and off we go... even if what I mean was trot, or halt, or pretty much anything else... This is exciting, as previously canter was...

kande50

Carl doesn't really have a say in tack choices day on and day out. ..and he would 99% err on the side of diplomacy and not bring it up at this style of event. Unfortunately, that kind of "diplomacy" is what's led to the sad state that dressage is in today. It's as if the only ones that ar...

kande50

not sure why we need dramatic hand motions that are very odd. Probably because what seems odd to some seems like an improvement to others. I think exaggerated aids/cues are often attempts to help make things clearer to the horse, and aren't (or shouldn't be) anything other than temporary training a...

kande50

If my brain chemistry goes haywire and I decide I want to show again I'm going to try some Western Dressage with my mule, who seems to prefer jog and lope to trot and canter, anyway. So I've kept my western saddle with the mule tree, just in case I ever want to use it again. I'd been planning to sel...

kande50

. I have trouble paying attention until it’s too late. But I am finally learning, I think. Yes, there's a learning curve for a lot of things, and figuring out how to manage advancing age is one of them. Another, which I'm getting much better at as I become more patient (with age), is about getting ...

kande50

I never have cared about breed, size, color, or gender, and up until recently have always wanted young horses without much training. But now that I'm pushing 70 I want horses who are old enough that I probably won't outlive them, and am quite a bit more interested in calm and steady than I ever was ...

kande50

A week off hasn’t hurt my mental state, I am really excited for my next lesson, but physically, at my age, I am wondering if I am able to do a full lesson. Is your lesson a full hour, and if you feel like what the instructor wants you to do is too much is she okay with taking more walk breaks? We g...

kande50

StraightForward wrote: I think I found a whole new sector of my core.

Yeah, same here. I was doing okay on the smaller horses, but then I had a workout on Sting and found out that I need to ride him more if I want to stay in good enough shape to ride him at all.

kande50

Moutaineer wrote:Sounds like progress.

The videos are ALWAYS agonizing to watch immediately after. You need to allow them to mature for a few weeks!

The cure for that is to tape the at home practice sessions, and then you'll already be in shape to watch the show footage.

kande50

Hm, I could have entered 1st level at the last show and came 2nd out of 2. And come to think I could have been 1st out of 0 at 2nd, 3rd or even 4th! :twisted: The best part of dressage shows is that they're so much more about the scores than the placings. They'd be even better if the scoring could ...

kande50

Working on correct bending with Miss A. in preparation for,the dreaded 20 meter circle. She has had no dressage training ever but is very responsive to seat. I remembered some things from decades ago and played with them tonight at the walk. Weight in the inside stirrup, inside leg at the girth, ou...

kande50

Or better yet you could NOT show at all but continue to progress in your schooling and delightedly tell all and sundry that you are schooling 2nd/3rd/4th, etc!!!! :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :roll: :mrgreen: Uh... this hits a bit close to home. But think of the cost savings on shows! And the ti...

kande50

How often is laminitis the FIRST indication of Cushings given the long list of signs and symptoms of which that is one? Are you really saying all horses who get scratches should be screened for Cushings? Would any vet agree with that? I'm not saying any of it, as I'm just repeating what I've been r...

kande50

(Money shot) Should the other two horses be screened for Cushings? Depends on whether their owners want to know more, or not. Personally, I'd wait until I saw other indications that led me to believe that PPID could be developing, but then I'd live to regret that decision if one of them foundered.

kande50

Tsavo wrote:How frequent is laminitis the first indication of PPID? I mean don't most horses have some other sign or symptom first?

There's a whole slew of other symptoms that may occur first, but laminitis is often the first one anyone notices.

kande50

I'm riding more so life has improved 1000% for me, too. All it took was getting my schedule straightened out so that I have the same days off every week, because trying to keep track of which days I was going to have off wasn't working very well. That, and I met someone who likes to ride in the ring...

kande50

Yes but the point is you can't diagnose Cushing's just based on scratches. That is, not all horses with scratches have Cushing's. In fact I suspect only a very small fraction of horses with scratches have Cushings. True, but it's something to keep in mind because no one wants laminitis to be their ...

kande50

Tsavo wrote:
I asked my vet about any connection between scratches and Cushings. No.

According to the ECIR website Cushings horses have an increased susceptibility to infections, allergies, and hypersensitivities.

kande50

Something my instructor noticed was that I push with my seat when I'm trying to get more energy in the walk, so she had me still my seat and use the whip more. We worked on that for quite a while, and then when we started trot she noted that I don't do it in trot. And it's true that I don't push wit...

kande50

I just call it yielding in or out, but I think some do call it a leg yield on the circle, or while maintaining the bend.

kande50

I don't know if air-filed panels are flexible. If they are then it will be like a bouncy ball. I think the bouncing is why the air filled panels have become much thinner. I have 2 almost identical saddles because I couldn't decide if I liked the 17" or 17.5" better. One has CAIR and the o...

kande50

I don't have time to participate right now, but am loving this discussion because I'd like to understand saddle fitting better because I have so many saddle fitting challenges (mule backs, sway backs, etc...).

kande50

Again, if you eat sugar it seems counter intuitive to eat more, but add cheese, protein, fiber, to slow the digestion and carry you past the insulin spike too much sugar causes. Don rely o. Your will power, just add fiber or protein if you already caved . Bean salad has been my go to this summer. T...

kande50

I don’t get it. I may never be able to do tempi changes..... I don't think you have to be able to describe it to be able to feel when you need to ask for the change, although that does sound like a fun project. I wonder if sustainable dressage has any info on it? Or, it would probably be fairly eas...

kande50

Can you elaborate? I've ridden on loose rein a lot (western) and still use a lighter seat on greener horses. If ability to influence the horse through the seat is an accepted tenet of dressage, it seems reasonable to conclude that the horse can also be blocked by too much use of seat for the streng...

kande50

I know she says the horse is carrying the weight either way, but perhaps she has not ridden a lot of smaller horses with weaker backs that really do get blocked more easily and benefit from changes in the weight distribution and lifting the seat bones a little. I wonder though, if our position didn...

kande50

I cleaned 2 out of 3 and suddenly felt my blood sugar plummet. I was shakey and had to go in and get something to eat. DH is diabetic so we have blood glucose testing equipment and mine was 65. Ahhh, so it is the blood sugar. That (getting shaky mid-morning) happens to me often, and for the same re...

kande50

I've been stuck on sf/si to the left for years, because Sting never feels straight to me so whether I plan to or not, I always end up sliding back into sf/si left. I often lecture myself that he's always going to feel crooked because his body's crooked, so just accept it and move on, but apparently,...

kande50

exvet wrote: Sometimes it's as simple as riding a leg yield through the corner (think counter bent) and then resume whatever work I was doing at the time; This is what I was referring to exvet, what you describe here is NOT LY, it is counter bending i.e. bend and a movement I very much agree with. ...

kande50

Ryeissa wrote: I just resent the idea that things are automatically wrong if it's not perfect.

Why, as it seems like that would be a given?

kande50

MC yes I see your point. My hands come together and sometimes touch as my horse comes straight and sits in position. I wish that was all the time but it isn't. I am just grateful my hands are a pretty good feedback on straightness. The limit on this is when one of my instructors was trying to strai...

kande50

(Confession: I have pruned trails from horseback, too! On the current horse, I've done less pruning (some) but more mushroom hunting :-D ) The mushrooms are popping everywhere out there. Last weekend it was the Boletes, among others, but the Boletes were huge! I was too unmotivated to get off and c...

kande50

I think what is so “neat” about the 20m circle, or any circle, really, is that if you have the horse positioned correctly, and going steadily into the contact, and going at a very steady rhythm, the circle ends up close to perfect. Ok. I am drinking wine. But really, it is so neat to think about. Y...

kande50

I didnt say firm contact, I said light. And it’s at the walk because walk is all I can do with my horse right now. She has a torn suspensory. But I do want to be able to have a light contact at the walk anyway, just not for a long time. I think horses can perceive much lighter aids at the walk, so ...

kande50

demi wrote:
I am certainly guilty of trying to get too much too soon AND asking in ineffective ways.

If only we'd had to resources to be able to ride with those who knew how and could impart their knowledge effectively, we wouldn't have had to waste our youth on all that trial and error.

kande50

demi wrote:
I find it harder to ride the horse into light contact while riding at a walk.

Mine don't want much contact at the walk either, but why would I want a firm contact when it takes so little to shift the weight back at the walk?

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