My current obsession (what's yours?)

[piedmontfields]

I am obsessed with figuring out to consistently execute power and forward flow through trot-canter-trot-canter transitions. I know this sounds ridiculously easy, but it isn't for us! We have spent too much time with me accepting little power gaps and throttle leakages through these transitions, which means that fun stuff (like flying changes) are not possible due to too many power gaps. It's like I'm trying to change Emi from being a quirky old Fiat that threatens to stall out way too often to a smoother running Alfa!

One thing that is really helping me with this effort it to incorporate a fair bit of one handed riding (reins bridged), especially through the transitions. Clearly my hands have been part of the problem with our power hiccups.

What are your current obsessions?

[khall]

I was just sitting here thinking about FCs! I know my horse is ready for them, not sure why I'm scared to try. I think I just need to give it a go and see what happens. That and better medium trots. Canter mediums are good, trot he needs to be more up and out I do believe. So those two things.

[piedmontfields]

(Changing the topic slightly to respond to your first sentence)

It is possible that you are wise to be scared to try. It's also possible that you should give it a go! You know yourself and your horse. Maybe you are thinking whether or not you are prepared to deal with the reactivity quotient. I think this is a reasonable thing to think about!

I don't mean to be a downer--just a realist. It has been becoming more and more clear to me just how "sharp" and reactive I need my horse to be in order for us to progress. Having spent the last 10 days after my clinic insisting that my mare be much quicker off the aids (esp. every canter depart) and enforcing it with a sharp whip when needed, I can say that over the first several days of this revised "program" I rode *a lot* of bucks--more and bigger bucks than I've ever ridden on this horse. I also found the canter that has the FC in it. That said, when my little mare bucks it is not scary and does not unseat me. This is why I am grateful to have a less than super athletic horse!

[DJR]

My obsession is simply to ride! I keep getting thwarted: weather (no indoor), then boarded at an indoor for 5 wks but the dust problem they were having prevented meaningful rides for all but the last week of boarding there, then Jet had cellulitis in his LH groin area, then my work exploded, then my daughter almost broke her arm, blah blah blah. Then we just got through a three-day ice/freezing rain/ice pellet storm. So it's been horrible.

I now have to restart all of my horses ... again. It's making me think about splurging on buying my own facility with an indoor, but then I'll be VERY horse-poor paying the higher mortgage associated with that sort of a property, not to mention the extra work as I'd then need boarders most likely. That versus boarding at a better facility more months of the year, but then I rob Peter to pay Paul in that the commute to the boarding barn takes time away from home life (dogs, daughter, my own farm chores). It's very tricky to balance it all now.

Anyway, if I could ride 2-3 times for the rest of this week, it would be A-MA-ZING. I really am at a crisis of faith now with wondering what the h*ll I can accomplish if I cannot keep my horses in work, especially Jet. There is NO WAY I'll make progress if I'm spending weeks at a time getting him back in shape, nevermind working on Third/Fourth level stuff.

[StraightForward]

I now have to restart all of my horses ... again. It's making me think about splurging on buying my own facility with an indoor, but then I'll be VERY horse-poor paying the higher mortgage associated with that sort of a property, not to mention the extra work as I'd then need boarders most likely. That versus boarding at a better facility more months of the year, but then I rob Peter to pay Paul in that the commute to the boarding barn takes time away from home life (dogs, daughter, my own farm chores). It's very tricky to balance it all now.

I don't know how you do it, DJR... I'm questioning whether I can manage to ride two horses... and I don't have a kid or a farm.

Pretty basic, but I'd say the common theme in all our rides boils down to controlling the shoulders. Annabelle is very left dominant. The right hind goes out and pushes her onto her left fore, which is always at the ready to pop out and act like a kickstand. Keeping the shoulders between the reins, and by default, getting the right hind under the body and carrying, is a constant challenge in all the work.

[Moutaineer]

Yeah. we're about ready to start addressing the FCs again. But, I'm scared of screwing them up. I need to address with Uber trainer and see if she will get on and give it a go...

I'm not sure I have a specific obsession at the moment, except just riding better--there are so many things to work on!

[khall]

I think Rip's reaction to possible FCs will be to try to leave. That has been a problem in the past anyway, the big lug. Not as scary as he used to be since he has way more buttons than he did as a young punk horse! I;m thinking about just going across the diagonal and asking for FC. See what happens. That way I would have the corner and short side to contain him. The stickiness in the WC right has resolved, so WCW transitions back and forth are easy. I was even adding in C halt C and C halt, RB, C in the other day with no issues. So I think I'm going to go back and do simple changes across the diagonal make sure they feel good (been doing them on straight lines in the field mostly with some in arena) then have a go. Will report back!

[Tsavo]

Piedmont, it is my understanding that trot-canter-trot is challenging for some horses to do in a fluid manner. I think it is a barometer of strength. I also think blips that are repeatable in the canter trot can map to weakness/stiffness in certain legs.

My current obsession is to bring my horse out of retirement safely since he has decided to be sound again. He is stiff and weak and mincing around from not having shoes so he is being shod today after being barefoot for a while. His stride is longer on grass than in a sand ring so he needs shoes.

I also learned recently that a horse i am exercising who was not being ridden regularly was on the precipice of doing FCs. I have been doing most of the work on gently rolling grass and not in the ring so he is getting his strength back quickly. I will try CC soon and if he handles that I will try some FCs eventually.

[piedmontfields]

Piedmont, it is my understanding that trot-canter-trot is challenging for some horses to do in a fluid manner. I think it is a barometer of strength. I also think blips that are repeatable in the canter trot can map to weakness/stiffness in certain legs.

I've heard from multiple very experienced trainers that *many* horses struggle with a smoothly powered t-c-t transition. Often this is due to a lack of thoroughness. In our case, our struggles are not consistently on one leg/lead/direction, so I suspect pilot error is the fundamental problem! Also, we *can* do them fluidly, too.

Good luck with your older fellow and tell us more about the horse you are exercising.

[Tsavo]

Right if it isn't repeatable then it might not be a leg. My horse consistently bobbled from trot to canter only going left on the lunge. I just added more hill work and it stopped.

My farrior had another client who asked him if he knew anyone who could exercise her second horse who is a 13 yo TB eventer. He is nerved and I was unnerved over riding a nerved horse lol. I later learned he has some feeling which probably accounts for why he doesn't stumble much. He lost his exercise rider and was not in much work. He does fall out at the stifle a bit so I do mostly hill work. He is one of those metronome movers and is a lot of fun to ride. He is very people-oriented which is so nice.

[Moutaineer]

My understanding is that they only nerve the back of the foot, so they can still feel quite a lot, just not the pain...

[khall]

Well I had a great ride on Rip yesterday working on medium trot. I rode out in the big field to have some long straight lines and be able to just send him on and it really helped that and I am keeping him way more up and open US (probably riding with high hands!) to allow for the shoulders to come out more. I was really feeling the push out through the shoulders with him and the swing from behind. Very happy with the big guy! Also working on keeping my leg closed on him more, just to be there (Cedar had suggested it last clinic) making real difference in the CW transitions.

[mari]

I am obsessed with figuring out to consistently execute power and forward flow through trot-canter-trot-canter transitions. I know this sounds ridiculously easy, but it isn't for us! We have spent too much time with me accepting little power gaps and throttle leakages through these transitions, which means that fun stuff (like flying changes) are not possible due to too many power gaps. It's like I'm trying to change Emi from being a quirky old Fiat that threatens to stall out way too often to a smoother running Alfa!

One thing that is really helping me with this effort it to incorporate a fair bit of one handed riding (reins bridged), especially through the transitions. Clearly my hands have been part of the problem with our power hiccups.

What are your current obsessions?

Used to be the most difficult thing for us, but now it's much easier. For you it might be different, but here is how we built it:

Step 1: Get thy bum out the saddle. Light seat forward trot. Canter aid with leg only, forward canter half a circle, back to forward trot. Only a few steps of trot, less than a quarter circle, then back up to canter. All the while staying in light seat. The trick with mine was to really insist on a prompt upward from a light leg aid only. My instructor yelled at me a lot to be more forward, to the point of being pretty over-tempo, but the idea was that he was really rolling along, but reactive to upward and downward transitions.

Step 2: Same as 1, still light seat, but a bit more controlled and through. Still forward though!

Step 3: You can sit down now Better to keep sitting, and keep trot steps minimal. I found that going down to trot, then doing a 10m circle in the opposite direction, reaaaaallly using my legs for bend and to yield over a step or 2, then back to the bigger circle, then back up to canter, really helped to get him focused and soft, and broke the speedy anticipation trot.

[mari]

Oh yes, and I myself am obsessed with submission. Odin, on the other hand, is less interested...

[Rosie B]

I'm obsessed with keeping him in front of the leg, and with straightness, and bend.

Power through the transitions. Quick & honest responses off the leg.

I think I've got him in a really good place in trot in that I can just sit there and he powers along. I realized yesterday I've been riding the canter differently in that I've been chasing him along a little bit and if I quit he stalls. I need to ride the canter like I ride the trot and get him so that he does it himself.

[Tsavo]

The horse I am riding is like that... He will go seemingly endlessly in a metronome trot but will often break out of canter. He tried to buck me off the first several times I rode him. I am told he does that with everybody which may explain why the owner was looking for a rider. Even though he stopped that completely at one point, I think I have that in the back of my head and am subconsciously not asking him to stay in canter. I have been addressing this by never coming back to walk but always going back to canter. I think some of this is that he has been out of work. I know he isn't back to form because he occasionally falls out at the stifle.

My horse rarely broke from canter so I have little experience with this. In fact it was so rare that if he did it I assumed he had some physical issue. Even now, after being retired since late August and mainly in lunge work since January, the two times I cantered him under saddle were fine... he did not break.

I am hoping that I can start CC with him soon so that will distract him from breaking. Or not! We will see.

This is a focus problem.

[khall]

With Rip I did have trouble with him breaking from canter, very much like you tsavo (do I really want to keep cantering? I am sure I was saying that in my body at one point because of his punkishness:) Now totally different story both with him and with me, I have learned keeping the hind legs active fluff them up with my calves means that he is in much better balance over his HQs and he does not want to run off. Watching your video Rosie I would think more up/elevation in the canter by active hind legs. The seat movement is a shorter scoop along with light calf aid and upper body in erect and a bit of holding. So Bliss jumps more up and engaged in his canter. A little more packaged up if that makes sense. He is such a nice boy with a great mind, you are lucky to have him.

[Josette]

I've been reading all these training topics during the winter when I was unable to ride in preparation for our spring restart. We were able to get some lunging in when footing was acceptable for some fitness but mostly his mind. So far, our recent rides have been better than I expected - but maybe because I am very focused on correcting myself. Self awareness of position and now trying to intercept my guy who gets strong and lean. The hands topics was very informative. Demi had posted some pics a while back and her middle 2nd pic was the default position for my guy. I'm realizing that is when he is able to lean so I shortened my reins more and maybe that is the correction needed. We will see as I experiment in future rides. He is very FORWARD and can get hot and anticipate so I take care with the transitions as it sometimes revs him up - NOT what I want. So I am obsessed with keeping him relaxed, focused and intercepting him when he leans.

[Nikiwink]

Id settle for being able to ride too. I am just really struggling to get daylight time with work, commuting,
toddler, property fixing etc (and green pony is not ready for night riding).

So if im honest my real current obsession is painting furniture lol. As i can do that at night after bubs has gone to bed.

[piedmontfields]

I hear you on the various obsessions in and out of the saddle!

I will say that being obsessed with this particular thing is paying off. I've basically been touching this topic every ride for the last 2 1/2 weeks. We are getting much more consistency in reaction and power for these t-c-t-c transitions. I'm learning a lot about just how well positioned horsey and me need to be to make these sharp, bounding trot-canters happen, and just how much my thighs to need to let to get a going trot in the first step after canter.

[Chisamba]

Sleep. I'd like to be able to sleep more than four hours. I obsess about this

[kande50]

Sleep. I'd like to be able to sleep more than four hours. I obsess about this

I'd be obsessing about it too, because I like my sleep too much to give any of it up. I don't need 8 hours, nor do I need to get the same amount every night, but 4 wouldn't be enough. Although I have read that those who don't sleep much do go into REM sleep earlier, but I can't see how that could make up for not getting enough sleep?

[Moutaineer]

I'm having the same issue, Chisamba. A lot going on in my life too. It makes it hard to switch off.