DefinitelyDressage.com

Ponichiwa

Here's the USEF Safe Sport policy, which defines jurisdiction (who investigates what and when) and enforcement policies.

https://www.usef.org/forms-pubs/YXj0R68 ... ort-policy

It's worth a read if you think there's a lot of bad info upthread.

Ponichiwa

Just to be clear, Ryeissa: You consider training to be "acting like police." As we say in the polite south, why bless your heart! POINT 1 No, I'm talking about Safesport INVESTIGATIONS. Not training. I don't think its the job of USEF to go after offenders. It's not. It's SafeSport's job t...

Ponichiwa

We use the SI in the walk on the centerline as a warm up exercise--with halts in the SI and move-offs still in the SI alignment. Working towards the mirror, so no cheating :) Helps him with suppleness and getting the hind leg stepping through and under, and helps me with straightness and body align...

Ponichiwa

Depending on humidity, it may feel cooler to ride outside than indoors-- you get more evaporative cooling outside.

That said, over here in the sweaty uncomfortable armpit of Texas, I've just accepted my fate: I'm going to be hot and I'm going to be sweaty, so may as well work my horses anyway.

Ponichiwa

Blob, you/RP and Queso/I are in similar places. I learned recently that while Queso's great at patiently halting and standing on a loose rein, those skills don't necessarily transfer over to on-the-bit patient halts. In fact, they 0% transfer over. So we've been schooling 5-10 sec immobile (ish) hal...

Ponichiwa

I also thing transitions in gait are far more important than any lateral work in canter. Lateral work is fun but not necessarily helpful in the development of carriage, muscling or collection. Maybe I am too traditional. I had this on the brain when I was riding Kiwi yesterday. I have noticed that ...

Ponichiwa

Congratulations!

Ponichiwa

Preach, sister. I recently had a run-in with a very similar individual and did not rise to the occasion. At the end of a very tense meeting, he was no closer to confessing his incompetence and I ended up looking like a total jerk. It's hard, but every time I mentally take the high road I end up fari...

Ponichiwa

I work with several of these. Good news is that they're not nearly as slick as they think they are; other people do see right through them, too. And there is absolutely no glory in trying to get them to admit they're wrong/don't know what they're talking about. You just end up looking like a terribl...

Ponichiwa

My question to those of you contributing to this conversation is: what kind of exercises do you do to teach the horse about engaging the thoracic sling and lifting from the base of the neck? I think canter is the easiest gait to get across the need to lift and carry the "brisket" all on t...

Ponichiwa

Lovely work, all! OK, so I tried different degrees of renvers in counter canter tonight (in 90F after work). WOW! This is a super tool. Initially, I went too far and got a nice clean change our hard way. Then I realized the degrees of it and how it jacks up the canter (I mean increases engagement in...

Ponichiwa

Your neck of the woods, colt with good breeding, and $9500:

https://www.warmblood-sales.com/HorseDe ... serID=1084

Ponichiwa

I've got one of the Samsonite bags that StraightForward mentions-- I love it, but the wheels did wear unevenly and now it's a big pain to drag around. But the rest of the bag is still great! To its credit, it has been 6 years or something of semi-frequent (monthly) travel for the first 4 years.

Ponichiwa

The trouble with these storms is that they're shockingly variable. Where my horses and I live, we've gotten maybe 5" over the course of the last week. Areas just 5-10 mi north and south of us have gotten 6" in a night. We're just lucky to be between the worst of the rain bands! My sister h...

Ponichiwa

I get my fill of SMART goals/actions/deliverables/etc. at work, but looking back through the various 8-week threads I still default to that general structure anyway. Classic case of becoming the thing that you hate. Demi-- did you make it through all this crazy rain without issues? It's been a slow ...

Ponichiwa

I'm pretty happy with where my herd ended up. We more or less kept to the goals outlined in the start of the thread: - Kiwi and I have been touching on the half-steps and the pirouette canter more consistently, generally doing one or the other (sometimes both) at least twice a week. This has come at...

Ponichiwa

Other exercises that help with medium trot carriage and expression: Shoulder in from corner to R, short diagonal in medium steps, shoulder in (or renver, your choice) on the opposite wall. Rinse, repeat. Helps the medium in the same way that half-steps help the medium: the haunches are already more ...

Ponichiwa

Good for you, Sue B. One of the traits I really appreciate in a trainer or clinician is the quick assessment of the horse's capacity for increased expectations. The best I've ever seen at that is Ann Gribbons. I only rode with her 1 weekend 3 years ago and I still remember just how quick and accurat...

Ponichiwa

Love the picture, Flight! And condolences, Rosie, looks like winter isn't ready to give up just yet. Down south, winter has well and truly given up. Temperatures hit (and exceeded) 90F this week for the first time this year, and we're all wilting a bit. Kiwi is starting to get the pirouette canter b...

Ponichiwa

It looks like the microchip rule is limited to competitions with USHJA licensing (hunters/jumpers/equitation): https://www.usef.org/learning-center/videos/horse-microchipping https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/safe-sport-microchips-and-freestyle-qualifications-what-you-need-to-compete-in-2019 The ...

Ponichiwa

I love the ISO ads that stipulate FEI experience, under 12, bay/black gelding, over 16.2h, with a budget of $10k. Yeah, alright. The horse that has all of that for that budget is guaranteed to have red flags. Otherwise they'd be hawking him for 10x. And I say this as a person who has had an unrealis...

Ponichiwa

Scruffy, that's the most depressing/infuriating sales story I've heard. "I'm so sorry" barely covers it.

Ponichiwa

I can see why some QH people can't understand the ground manners issues that some of the dressage/jumper barns have. Queso is essentially "born broke". He follows anyone with his eye at their shoulder (or lower); when he was led into the barn by one of the young lesson students, he almost ...

Ponichiwa

We have 4-tempis. I repeat, we have 4-tempis!

Ponichiwa

Linden, that's quite the dramatic backdrop! Hope you're feeling well and up to riding soon. Anne-- my guy is also a food-hound. I threatened him with a grazing muzzle until the clover bloom is over, but couldn't follow through. As a result, he's now approximately spherical. Queso did his first Train...

Ponichiwa

On the topic of cheapo vs. expensissimo: The expensive price tag may be a better sign of the quality of training (commiserate with age), bloodlines, soundness, and temperament, or it can hide things like double-dipping commissions or an inflated sense of horse worth due to barn- or agent-name recogn...

Ponichiwa

Dresseur-- you have so many grey horses! H4S-- hurray!! I bet that's a weight off your shoulders now that he's back to his old self. As for me and my two, we're trucking along and actually ticking off the activities we need to do to get our goals down. Queso and I have been out on the trails wheneve...

Ponichiwa

Too bad I'm so klutzy. I'd be the best of spies, and the worst of spies...

Truth time: I've had recurring nightmares that I won't be able to put a solid change on Queso. Totally normal fears over here.

Ponichiwa

I'm with heddylamar on this one. I honestly believe that telling people like that why you're backing off gives them continued power over your happiness. Every time I've actually told people something cutting, even if it's truthful, I've felt worse for it. It's better for me to let them go without co...

Ponichiwa

I attract overshares. So many people I don't know well enough to warrant that kind of closeness have told me about their medical issues, love lives, etc. Even complete strangers! Wonder what it is about me that triggers them to drop TMI on me.

Ponichiwa

Agree with the other comments re: white noise, and the onus on the rider to be clear in their own aids to aid the horse's understanding. This, though, is the real crux of riding without ambiguity to me: I have long been an advocate of clear and consistent, I think riding without ambiguity is another...

Ponichiwa

I don't have any advice, just sympathy. I'm so sorry for your loss.

You may (or may not) find it empowering to master some of the tractor work. Just a thought. I also very much understand outsourcing some of that work-- very few tractor implements are designed for ease of use/ergonomics.

Ponichiwa

I once told that to my trainer back in the day-- "I'd love to sell a horse for $75k!" And she told me that no, actually you'd look at that offer, and you'd find out that you can't buy a horse as good or better than the one you're sitting on for that purchase price, so you'd probably say no...

Ponichiwa

Brr! Stay warm up there. I've got some simple goals for myself and my two horses: Kiwi: - Incorporate our newly-compliant half-steps into a more regular schooling session (at least 1x/week), and use them as a tool to improve medium/extended trot - Improve flying change relaxation such that I can sta...

Ponichiwa

I had postponed making an update last weekend because the weather was so nice, I figured I'd have a couple more rides this week to really settle some things. Resounding no on that front, I'm afraid. This week we're getting all the stormy weather it sounds like Mountaineer, Exvet, and Khall are missi...

Ponichiwa

I disagree again. Statistics alone aren't malicious or evil either; the issue is usually the application of those statistics to draw conclusions. Example. I've got a bag with 20 marbles in it. I'll let you draw 2. Both turn out to be green, so 100% of the marbles that you've drawn are green. Nothing...

Ponichiwa

Pet peeve alert: Numbers do not lie. Math is not biased towards a certain outcome. However. Context is critical. Neglecting to mention boundary conditions, assumptions, and limitations of the dataset can skew the interpretation of the data. I have seen a rise in the "Well numbers lie and expert...

Ponichiwa

My 2-month goals aren't going out with a bang, but with a whimper. Having a very hard time getting myself up and out of bed in time to work out, shower, and get to work on time... so I've just been skipping the workout part. As a result, feeling flabby and unpleasant. And I didn't even get back to s...

Ponichiwa

I just bought a new truck last year-- $50k is on the low end for a decent towing vehicle! And that price tag doesn't drop much until the truck has lived a long (or hard) life. Where I raise my eyebrows is the 6yo 1st level horse advertised at 75+k-- feels like not-so-long-ago when the fancy young ho...

Ponichiwa

Back when I was in college and had much more time (although at the time I thought I was THE MOST STRESSED), I was riding 6-7 days/week and flying up the levels (1-2 levels/yr). Now that I'm older and have more working hours per day, I'm lucky to get to 5 and currently average around 4, and my progre...

Ponichiwa

StragihtForward-- If you're looking for a kind of heartwarming look into animal behavior, look into "King Solomon's Ring". The author was an animal behaviorist in the 1940s, and the book is a non-technical approach to animal behavior through the lens of the author's various pets through th...

Ponichiwa

It's maybe a bit more glitz/glam/flash than your run-of-the-mill dressage saddle, but here is Queso's new (to us) togs in a photo from ~Christmastime: https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/48374549_10156979142125990_6669245450819731456_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=7...

Ponichiwa

He looks like a totally different color! What a chameleon!

Ponichiwa

The night is always darkest before the dawn, but on days when it's dark when I get to work and dark when I leave work it's hard to remember that at the very least, I'm thankful it's not 90F outside. That said, my crew is hangin' in there. I had a couple tough rides on Kiwi late last month and could ...

Ponichiwa

On top of the good thoughts here, remember that there is a strength component required to be soft, supple, and also powerful. Anyone who has taken a barre class can commiserate! So your horse may be compensating for fitness (or muscle-soreness). If you are asking for increased engagement and power s...

Ponichiwa

Josette-- I thought that book was pretty well-done and enjoyed it. Hope you do too! I just finished "Ravenmaster" by Chris Skaife-- a memoir-type treatment of the Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London charged with the care and maintenance of the Tower's raven population. Skaife clearly love...

Ponichiwa

Truth be told, I trained my ear (which was not good) and learned how to play my horn at the same time, so it wasn't a very painful experience at the time. (I'm not vouching for my parents' or sister's experiences during this phase of my playing) Years after I got fairly good at my baritone/euphonium...

Ponichiwa

I've got an 18" for my short-backed slope-shoulder GRP mare. The shoulder relief/cutback shoulder is what made the biggest difference in her way of going. It's built on a smaller tree than their typical 18" and also has the short panels, which makes it sit well short of her 18th rib. I don...

Ponichiwa

Hurray! Quality instruments do make a dramatic difference. Good for you! I made some really great friends through music (high school/college band), and a few of us still do some small ensemble playing together nowadays, a good 15 years after we started playing. It can be a lifetime passion, even if ...

Ponichiwa

I was going to mention turns on the haunches and turns on the forehand-- these are classic "barrel racer" exercises that help standing up the shoulders (which is key to not knocking over barrels), as well as getting the hind end under. I'd approach them from the walk and turn a 20m or 15m ...

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