January Clinic with Elaine Part I

I did finally have time this weekend to go through some of my riding photos and videos so here is a post with media! This one pertains to the clinic I had with Elaine on January 12-13.

Spoiler alert, it was good,
pony got lots of pets 

I last rode with Elaine in September and the pressure ended up being a bit much for Kachina and she lost her ability to trot cleanly.  Because of that I backed off for a few months and spent more time focused on forward, rhythm and straightness (and jumping) and didn't worry overly about frame or connection. We probably could have gotten through the issue in some other way but I think the decision to back off was a good one for myself and Kachina at that time. We kept being able to have fun under saddle and naturally found our way back to where we wanted to be without fighting or adding more tension.

For the record: Initially I was convinced that Kachina was almost pacing when she was doing her weird trot because it honestly felt that lateral through her back and felt so supremely "wrong", however over Christmas I got to see that trot when someone else was riding her (and other rider also had the reaction "omg what is she doing?!", and it looks far less dramatic from the ground, just a bit off-diagonal. I think now that the bad feeling is primarily from her getting stiff and awkward through her topline.

These screenshots are all from Sunday's lesson
Over the years my leg has finally gotten
better at staying in contact with the horse

Anyways, back to the present more recent past, in January I had two lessons with Elaine, both Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday's lesson started with a productive conversation about where we've been. I got Elaine up to speed with what we've been doing. I was honest that the pressure of the last lesson was an issue but I was careful to just talk about what happened and not lay blame. Both Elaine and I were able to agree that in situations like that, some horses you can push through the ugly and come out better on the other side, and some horses lose their wheels when you try and push them through. Kachina fell into the later category at that particular time, but sometimes it's hard to know which they are until it happens. It's nobody's fault, but both Elaine and myself will be more aware for next time that pushing Kachina too hard can set us back and so we will be careful to break things down into smaller pieces for her. It was a big weight off my shoulders to be able to talk this through in a positive way. I have learned a lot from Elaine and I didn't want to stop riding with her, but I also knew that I had to advocate for my horse and take some pressure off. I'm really glad those two things weren't mutually exclusive and I feel good about my training situation going forward.

No comment, I just like these screenshots

We started off by doing some walk and trot in more of a dressage frame (as opposed to jumper frame I've been messing around in lately). Elaine was generally happy with how we looked, Kachina was similar to how she was before the break but Elaine praised my position and hands for being steadier.

I can't remember the exact scenario but fairly early on I was adjusting my rein length at the trot and as is normal, it made Kachina tense up and speed up. Elaine recommended using my upper leg to slow her and that led to a whole series of Eureka moments on my part. You see I have never really used my upper legs for anything while riding. I use my lower legs, and I use my seat a lot, but not the piece in between them. I had started to realize I might be missing something but I didn't know what I didn't know because I've never been taught. When Elaine told me to use my thighs I seized on the moment and actually brought Kachina to a halt to ask for the 'first toolkit' instructions. Elaine told me that I should be able to slow my horse down by squeezing with my upper legs. Simplified: squeezing with lower legs = go, squeezing with upper legs = slow. I confessed that this was a brand new concept for me so Elaine encouraged me to introduce the idea to Kachina by asking for a downward transition first by squeezing my upper legs and then following up by using the blocking muscles in my arms and back. We did this both from walk to halt and trot to walk. What do you know? It worked! After only a few repetitions Kachina was responding to my upper leg and I had an entirely new aid to play with! As well as helping me with downward transitions, this is a new dimension I can use in a half halt. Also, I have always struggled to keep Kachina in a steady rhythm and frame when lengthening or shortening my reins. Elaine suggested that using my upper legs in this situation is a great way to reassure Kachina that I am still with her and haven't dropped my aids completely even when the reins are changing. This is something that I can definitely work with on my own so we just did a bit of it and then moved on with the lesson. I was really excited to explore this more though.

The next thing we worked on was an extension of lessons I have had with Elaine before. Kachina is slowly becoming better at accepting the contact and working over her topline, but there are always still times that we lose both of those things. In order to get better consistency, I need to recognize the second Kachina starts to bring her head up and correct it before she becomes completely hollow. The sooner I respond the faster we can recover. In the past we have tried doing this in different ways but this month Elaine had me supple her on the inside rein and ask for more inside flexion as a way to get Kachina back. While doing this I would keep a steady feel on the outside rein but take and give by small amounts on the inside rein. If I could get her back with just inside rein that's great but if not I could use more inside leg to outside rein. Elaine also encouraged me to use the inside rein suppling as a test to see if Kachina was still soft or if resistance was creeping in. This approach seemed to work well. In the past I have tried using outside rein more but that sometimes has an unintended consequence of having Kachina tip her head and lose straightness. That problem didn't seem to happen using this new method so that's cool. 

I still lean to far forward, especially when posting,
but otherwise I don't mind this

This post is long enough so I'll cover Sunday in Part II!