Not taking it personally!

This is the lesson that I've learned in the last 48 hours: don't take it personally! Here's how it happened: While my friend is at WEG, she asked me to rider her friesian while she was away. He's quite a lovely boy, trained to 4th level, very forward. For the most part, he doesn't know how to push my buttons and I don't know what his weaknesses are. Other than wanting to ride him well, I don't have any emotional investment in him.I just work on being correct and he's there. There's a satisfaction in knowing that you can ride a strange horse and do it relatively well. I rode him, for an hour it felt like I was flying. At the end of our ride, we were both pleasantly tired and relaxed. No agenda. No frustration. No second guessing myself. I didn't take it personally.

Sometimes, when I ride my own horse, I have an agenda of what I want to accomplish (totaly Type A/control freak/planner) and I know how well he can do something and I want.to.get.it.right. NOW! I must accomplish something! Sometimes, I don't even know what level of perfection I am trying to achieve, when I get tunnelvisioned like that, I doubt I would recognize perfection when I get it.

So the friesian reminded me to just ride and don't take it personally! I still rode with a plan of the exercises I wanted to work on, but I decided to ride with a little bit less detachment. I think it went really well and at the end of the ride we were both happy tired and happy with each other.

We rode up on the hill at sunset, so I walked red up on a long loose rein making sure he was moving every part of his boddy up the hill. Once we got up to the ring, I asked him to walk long and low and start getting over his back and stay relaxed. From there, our standard warm up of leg yielding, circles, walk halts, turn on the fore hand, shoulder in. Then on to the postin trot work.

Here's what we worked on:
20m circles working trot- spiralling in and out using leg yield. asking him to change his tempo to slow big steps as we make the circle smaller and longer big steps as we leg yield and make the circle bigger.

20 meter circle canter- spiralling in and out. Collecing the canter as we spiral in, asking him to take more weight on the inside hind and stepping up into the contact and coming up in the shoulders. 10 m. circles were great on the left, but on the right I felt him falling on his forehand as we spiralled in...like he lost his balance. From the walk canter, it was much better so I go the feeling and rewarded him with a break.

Then a small walk break- like Sue said...walk with a purpose and a pattern...don't walk aimlessly!

Then I worked on our halfpass. First worked at developing it at the walk, I made a 10m. square in the corners then turned straight on C-line, to ask him to move his haunches with the leg yield and then asking to bend the neck and step into the inside stirrup. This is just about breaking down the pieces of asking the haunches to move over, then bending in the direction you are going while keeping the outside aids.

2nd exercise, from the corner, cross the diagonal, then shoulder in on the diagonal line and then keeping the bend ask him to bring the haunches over. Pretty good HP to the right, it is harder to get and keep the bend to the left but it's there. After doing this for several minutes at the walk I moved into the sitting trot and did the HP across the diagonal. Again, great to the right- I can feel him sitting and bending. It's a bit straighter to the left but he's willing to do it, there is no resistance and it will take time for him to get stronger going in that direction.

We finished with a high note and walked back to the barn all happy and proud of ourselves! He got lots of rewards- cookies, carrots, apple, banana and peeps! He knew he was awesome tonight!

Red wonders, "Is she trying to wear me like last year's Gucci?"

There are bigger issues than Rollkur/LDR

So the big topic in dressage is Rollkur or Long-Deep-Round or the hyperextension of the neck. This is a type of training that is considered to be controversial. I won't go into the dirty details but if you need to know more- google it.


Is it attractive? No. Is it ugly. Yes, sometimes. Is it effective? Maybe. Is it cruel? I don't know.


But here is what I do know. The riders who apply it are being given a lot of attention by the arm chair dressage 'experts'. An incredible amount of bandwidth has been dedicated to the development of blogs, discussions, petitions, bulletin board topics to the publicizing and pontifcating of the evil of rollkur/ldr.


The horses that are being so supposedly mistreated are some of the most expensive horses in the world. I could probably by a cottage in Highland Park, a Bentley and a Chanel purse and still have money left over for what one of these horses is worth! These horses are celebrated and being treated to the best care in the world- the best feed, hay, veterinary care with round the clock attention to their every need and traveling first class around the world.


Meanwhile, there are horses that are being starved, beaten, abandoned, abused every day in our own hometowns. Horses (and dogs, and cats, and every other imaginable animal) are being subjected to some of the most cruel forms of abuse. I wish that some of these dressage biddies would spend less time focusing on rollkur and spend some time helping an abandoned or abused horse in their community. Personally, I think that energy would be put to better use there rather than trying to end some nonexistent cruelty to a multimillion dollar dressage horse that is pampered and treated like a national treasure.


So you tell me, what's more abusive, this?

(photo from St. Georg Magazine, Patrick Kittle riding Scandic)

or this?

(Photo taken by Suesy Fulton for TaPS Rescue of an Arabina Stallion rescued from the meat auction.)

World Equestrian Games

Are Happening Now in Kentucky.

In hindsight, a part of me wishes I had gone. But after going to the last three World Cups in Las Vegas, I wasn't in the mood for the clusterf@ck of a massive event like that... as awesome as the experience is, I come back wanting a vacation from my vacation.

BUT if I had gone, I would have gone to see the Dressage Freestyle and the XC. okay, maybe some showjumping. and the shopping, OMG the shopping must be out of control. I don't even think I have a credit card with a sufficient credit limit to cover the damage that I would do! Maybe it's a saving grace I didn't go.

There's a feeling in the air...

This time of year.

I love September in North Texas. It may very well be my favorite time of year. Almost instanteously, the days and nights are cooler but it is still so sunny and bright. September means The State Fair of Texas, Greek Festival and Oktoberfest. It also means LSU football and a sweat horse again. aaah! It's time to get back to work.

Even Red is ready for LSU football! Here he's telling Les Miles, "OFFENSE TIGERS!"

His LSU pad that only comes out on game nights!

Ever since college, this song has always made me happy/sad and ready for Fall, perfect for "this time of year".

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iphone video of trot warmup

hehe! This is a video shot by Cheryl. She was trying out her new iphone, and wanted to show me that I was trying to achieve some unachievable level of perfection because he was already going so nicely in our warmup. What a good boy. Sometimes you need a little video proof that everything is okay and you just need to chill. (I don't normally ride sans helmet but on this day I forgot...I was a little distracted on this day...sigh).