DefinitelyDressage.com

tlkidding

As someone who made this mistake - if you are getting slow or late behind changes, make sure you always have someone who can watch you and let you know what it looks like. It took me 6 months to clean up a slow behind change because I couldn't tell (still within the same stride but slow). Ride an al...

tlkidding

Tlkidding. Thank you for your suggestion and the reason why my leg is not underneath me. Suggestions for opening and releasing the hip flexors? I sit at a desk all day and I don't workout or do yoga :roll: This one is my favorite: Kneeling Stretch Kneel with your left knee on the floor and your rig...

tlkidding

Hayburner, not to pick on you specifically, but most of the people who's knees creep up and forward often have tight hip flexors and/or their stirrup bars and center of the seat of the saddle are not positioned well for their conformation. I had almost 2 weeks out of the saddle dealing with my horse...

tlkidding

I'm finding this discussion super interesting - what works for some of you (who have identified having hotter type horses) would not work at all for me. tlkidding - what types of horses do you find the walk warmup works with? Do you have any that are 'energy conservationists' that you employ this m...

tlkidding

For my upper level horse, I do all of the lateral work at the walk checking first the connection and suppleness through the neck, then through the body, then the response to the lateral aids. I do "show ring" lateral work (SI, HI, HO, HP) as well as asking for a few steps of extra body pos...

tlkidding

Some horses need more than the "minimum recommended" of zinc, copper, and Vitamin E in their diet. I do a high dose (8,000 IU) of Vitamin E daily and have seen a huge reduction in skin issues (4 white legs and at least one always has something brewing towards scratches). My vet has said yo...

tlkidding

I agree! Unless you have an insanely talented horse, you will need to help the horse change their balance at times through their training progression, and all of those horses will need some change in the level of contact/weight in the hand to move their balance point further back. As you ask for the...

tlkidding

The FEI database only shows if a rider has competed at International or CDI events. A rider can compete at the FEI levels but only at National Federation shows and not CDIs. For National shows, you only have to be registered with the national organizations and not with the FEI. So here's my question...

tlkidding

I ride in the rain in my regular riding clothes, with maybe a rain jacket on (but those things never breathe well and I end up feeling like I'm in a sauna). I switch my reins from flat leather to leather with stops so I can still hold on if they get wet. I have a nylon quarter sheet I'll put on my h...

tlkidding

I have salt blocks in all pastures, plus a brick in his feed pan, so am covered there. If horses are salt deficient, the cannot lick a block enough to make up for the deficiency. They'd have to bite off chunks of the block. Add a tablespoon of iodized table salt to his feed or offer a pile of loose...

tlkidding

Especially thinking about upper level horses in regular work, they have an extensive cardio base that has been built up as long as they stay in work. I think you need to keep the cardio base conditioned with at least one 45+ minute session a week (more if you have a "heavier" or lazy horse...

tlkidding

They have a 2016 palomino colt for sale right now

http://www.avalon-equine.com/gelato-davalon.html

tlkidding

Avalon Equine have a stallion (Goldmaker) that throws palomino. You could look into doing a custom breeding with a dressage bred mare.

http://www.avalon-equine.com/goldmaker.html

tlkidding

PaulaO wrote:Can you clarify driving reinhold?

Driving rein is to hold the rein like a carriage driver would - so the rein from the bit comes over the top of the index finger and is held to the index finger with the thumb and the rest of the fingers closed to the palm.

tlkidding

Also, to be clear, this is a means of quieting my "busy" hands such that I can do it with no ground help or mirrors. I live 100 miles from nearest regular coaching; my arena is on our farm exposed to winds that can be in excess of 70mph, making mirrors pretty much impossible. So I ride by...

tlkidding

Not on topic but I have always wondered if spurs are not for forward, and yes I've heard the mantra, why grand prix riders use them I extended gaits, and for piaffe and passage. ;) I think it's more that there should never be any nagging with the spurs for forward. If you are spurring every stride ...

tlkidding

As soon as the horse WTC, turns, and stops, spurs and whip go on until they are no big deal. Then they can go away or come back as needed. I rode my horse from years 4.5-10 without spurs and put them back on when we needed more lateral response. I still don't use them much in the winter since they d...

tlkidding

I usually get pretty good scores in my extended (after the first test I rode it and was chastised for letting the reins out too much). Not 8s necessarily but consistent 7.5. I usually think about letting the reins out 2-3 inches, maybe a little more if my horse is really marching on his own. I give ...

tlkidding

I think I "schedule" about 35 minutes to warm up for the only test I'm riding that day. I do 10-15 min walking, ~10 min T/C general warm up and suppleness, and then will key up the vital components for the test (i.e., check for sufficient lateral response to the leg aid at T/C, school some...

tlkidding

I've been told several times to let the tempo slow down when you are introducing new lateral work. Only hold it for a few steps, get out and refresh, and then try again. But you do sometimes have to let the gait suffer if you are not getting adequate response to a lateral aid. You are affecting the ...

tlkidding

Do EEETTTTT! Since my horse was backed by a trainer, I think I've had a trainer sit on him to school him like 3 times. He's 14 and we're schooling all of the GP. Work with a trainer who knows how to teach, not train a horse. Since they are not sitting on the horse, they have to teach you the rider h...

tlkidding

When I got to 30 minutes of hand walking is when I started sitting on my horse for the rehab. For me, the timing of it all was perfect as we were coming into spring right as I started sitting on him and my horse was able to be put in a small pen outside during the day rather than in his stall. But, ...

tlkidding

Is there a time where the barn is quiet and you and your mare would be the only ones around? Move the muck bucket and anything else she can get into trouble with, close any doors/gates, put her in the cross ties after working/riding, and walk way. Go clean your tack, de-cobweb your stall, mix grain ...

tlkidding

This is pretty specific to my riding but something to check - for our difficult HP, the first issue to correct was that I was not keeping contact with the inside seat bone. The way my horse initiated the HP and twisted dropped me off the inside seat bone and onto the outside. Then he'd stop going si...

tlkidding

Coffee and about 1 cup fresh fruit (right now some berries with splenda), or fat free greek yogurt, or a hard boiled egg.

On the weekends, I sometimes will replace the above with 1/2 of a Quest protein bar on the way to the gym and the other half after.

tlkidding

Tlkidding and RosieB - interesting that you both don't have regular lessons yet obviously doing so well! RosieB - you video and analyse that quite regularly? Tlkidding, do you do similar or have mirrors to assist with your training? Pretty cool that you are training GP, I love hearing of AAs gettin...

tlkidding

I have a horse with some of the highest withers you've ever seen and he can get all the way over. I think it's a matter of how much they can twist laterally and arch their back if they can get over or not. He is able to arch a lot so he can get all the weight on the top of his butt and withers at th...

tlkidding

I think this proposal that unless you are in a regular program, it's detrimental to your horse is quite simplistic and somewhat insulting. We've shown I1 and are now schooling GP and once my horse was started at 4 years old, we've never been in a "regular program." A trainer has gotten on ...

tlkidding

The wave mouth can be caused by the lost teeth. And horses loose teeth multiple ways. Maybe just a change in the mineral content of the area you live in, grass, or hay you feed... My horse cracked a tooth at age 13 - vet thinks it's likely from biting down on a stone that was in the hay. I do think ...

tlkidding

One of my trainers that is chock full of good sayings has one for this - lateral suppleness will fix longitudinal disobedience. For a horse that jigs, do some lateral work. Start with a circle and scale back to just displacing the shoulders or hips and then both legs to go forward. Eventually you an...

tlkidding

I think that picture of Valegro shows a level poll through 3rd vertebra - the 3rd vertebra is not at the crest but rather down in the middle of the neck...His forehead also perfectly on the vertical. I do think that he can look like he has a "tight neck" sometimes but I think Charlotte rod...

tlkidding

I got 2 replacement zippers from Mountain Horse directly for free for a pair of winter boots - fixed the bad winter boot and ended up using the other in a pair of MH dress boots.

You could contact MH and see if they can send you a zipper for that specific jacket.

tlkidding

I have a few suggestions as a person who still occasionally relapses into a fearful trail rider: Any uphill incline makes me more brave - I'm much more willing to trot or canter uphill than on level ground. Plot out a nice 20m circle or even a bit smaller to do your first few trots or canters - it's...

tlkidding

Silk-like Cuddle Duds under my regular breeches. I put the Cuddle Duds on, put wool hiking socks over them, then the breeches. The socks keep the Cuddle Duds from riding up.

tlkidding

I've seen recommendations to fix this two ways: To fix anticipation of the change for me and my horse, I was told to do changes every ride until they became no big deal. One clean one each direction and leave them be. For a haffie that did a lot of bucking, the exercise was HP quarterline to the rai...

tlkidding

Do you change which hand has the 3 reins, so the inside hand always has just 1 rein? Or it doesn't matter? I think I just have to choose a way and stick with it until I get completely comfortable with the extra rein! My hands get really sore holding 4 reins, especially the knuckles on my right hand...

tlkidding

It totally depends on the horse, the rider, and how you are taught. There are a number of "accepted" ways to hold the double reins.

I find that for me, 3 in 1 is most comfortable but I lose a bit of lateral suppleness sometimes.

tlkidding

Ahh, I used to do these religiously >3 times each week. Skip the very last session as it's mostly stretching. I'd also double up and do one session + the ab session each time (so 40 minutes). I belong to a gym now (to get more cardio classes), and they have a core class that is amazing and super har...

tlkidding

khall wrote:There is a technique in hand that teaches the horse to lift out of the base of the neck and lift the withers.

Can I ask you to explain this technique? I have a horse with a short, wedge-shaped neck and lifting the base is difficult when the poll is up. Feel free to start a new thread or pm me.

tlkidding

I've been through 2nd level he** twice and struggled both times. -- I think one of the biggest hurdles is in 2nd level is the half halt. It is vital to help change and hold the balance over the hind legs and maintain the beginning of collection. For many, many riders the timing of the HH is not yet ...

tlkidding

So I don't "know" Steffen Peters, but I believe he's saying he doesn't work a horse for longer than a few minute in collection, or at the top end of their ability. So I would say if you are in a warm up and there's a lot of tension, go ahead and canter for 7-8 minutes if that is something ...

tlkidding

He encouraged taking the time to get the horse in the "zone", especially at canter, in order to loosen their backs. He noted that this could be 10-15 20 meter circles to get them into their "fuel-efficient yet active" canter zone. This process can have huge benefits for connecti...

tlkidding

Thinking back over the years I can remember several occasions with people had very hot horses and they would lunge them without successfully relaxing them. It just didn't seem to work. Do you think with some horses lunging can be counterproductive. For the case of this question I'm including round ...

tlkidding

You want cold for the ligaments/tendons and you want to gently warm joints if you have arthritis. I live in WI and don't worry about trying to "warm" my horses legs in the winter. That is the time I also don't have to worry about excess heat build up in the legs during work. In the summer,...

tlkidding

I've ridden with her a bunch. I think she'll do great with you and your Lusitano. She just really wants the rider to try hard and listen. Watch as many rides as you can before yours and stay and watch after your ride. She notices who is watching, and she also will use variations on the same exercise...

tlkidding

"Studies have shown that core temperatures in the flexor tendons of horses can increase to up to 45 degrees C (normal temperature 38 degrees C) after high-speed galloping. Laboratory studies with cultures of cells obtained from horses have shown that tendon cells are remarkably resistant to thi...

tlkidding

I do ice the fronts in the summer (right now I'm still icing the RF for an injury in the dead of winter). I use the Ice Horse boots and packs. I have an Ice Man machine for people that I'd like to try but I can't get it to work. I read an abstract of a study that indicated the interior temperature o...

tlkidding

I go by the heat index described by Srhorselady. Also, my horse has a heart murmur so I try to be pretty conservative in the heat. Sometimes I'll do a quick school and hose his neck and chest and scrape him on the way back the barn from the arena, strip his tack off, and then hustle back out to the ...

tlkidding

When it's below 10F, I will ride but not so hard there is frost on the whiskers when I'm done. Kind of like Chisamba's reference, I don't want the horse breathing heavily or quickly so that the air hitting the lungs is still cold. When it's below 15F, I'll do a quick WTC at most (20 min including wa...

tlkidding

I agree with trying a "fast" trot and keep asking for it until the horse flattens the knee action and rotates the shoulder. My WB/TB used to have a trot that we called his "Hackney knees." Schooling around first and second levels, if his back was tight some days we'd have to bomb...

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