Monday - Watched BA ride Sephira and played B Me with Sephira and Try

BA took last week off from riding etc. last week with all the work on the ring and three new horses on the farm. Today she rode Sephira--warmup WT on loose rein then asking for her to come up thru her top line a bit at WT but mostly trot as that is easier for Sephira to do. Then canter and Sephira offered the flexion at a slow canter. Interesting when BA took one of a couple breaks to reward Sephira for trying and improving, Sephira looked at me and without thinking I said, "hey girl" and she started walking to me.

Gorgeous day and after lunch went back to the barn for B Me with Try and Sephira. Try had a bit of a nosebleed so we left her pasture where we were playing to tend to it and apply fly spray as insects were totally distracting. Played on the grass in front of the barn. Easy draw/alignment from intention. Increased energy to come to me, when I increased the distance. Gave exhale cue as we were melting back to standstill but unsure it is having any effect. We have exhaled/blown back and forth at each other for years. Try has the habit of blowing to help me relax. Riding I can exhale and Try will match and exhale as well. Our riding warmup begins with walk until she blows out.

Sephira--we played beside the drive outside her pasture and MiMi hung out with us while we did. Sephira also comes to me/draw/align from the a bit of a look at her stifle and my taking a step away from her--on both her left and right sides. Also she will increase her energy to come to me if I increase the distance. I also don't know if my exhaling is registering with her. In the past when I have blown out to reduce my tension, she has looked at me curiously.

I wonder when to go back to the cookie reward of asking Sephira for something, then giving the 60 second GM mode visualization of how wonderful she just was in completing whatever task we did.??
She was really licking and chewing back when we were doing that.

Sunday yeehaw with Sephira and lesson Kathy and Try

Cold am and horses silly. Sephira full of nervous energy. In playing the circle game to release some energy she got away from me and we played a full out catch me game. In just a couple minutes she stopped and most of that tension drained away. This was a first for us to play hard and it was successful!

Then lesson with Kathy and Try--first time riding on the new footing in the ring. Lovely ride WTC.
High light for me was realizing that Try uses her HQ and comes up thru topline a lot without my cueing. Also pleased that I am finding a dressage riding form for myself at the canter.

homework: keeping forward momentum in 1/4 turns on the haunches at the walk and trot.

Thursday - Best Ever strides with Sephira

Lesson with Kathy and Sephira

After two lovely days with Sephira I was really looking forward to lesson today! Sephira and I played out front with the gold ribbon for awhile before Kathy arrived. She comes to me when I move--unsure about my focusing on her stifle having any effect. Also although she is pleasant and happy, she does not melt into the ground. ASK MMJ





LESSON:
warmup now consists of basically everything I was doing before and is basically hunter on loose rein with lots of bending lines, patterns, suppling. Walk and trot. Walk--work on my "leaning back", shoulders-pinched dressage position to make a new habit.

Bends: serpentine, bend in corners, circles and spirals, shoulder in, shoulder fore, figure eights, diagonals, leg yields. Be creative and BEND

Then take up a connection/contact and continue bending in everything we do
1. outside leg says go forward
2. outside rein steadies her balance
3. elbows not hands--wear gloves and keep the connection--especially outside rein
4. inside rein asks for bend (or my body does)
5. inside leg asks for bend
6. both ring fingers ask for her to come up thru top line.

We got--really using HQ, good impulsion, bending, HQ really stepping across at the trot and it felt wonderful. Stopped, good girl, treats! (LBI whats in it for me).

Love having the ring in the field!

What's in it for me? for us girls. B Me day

Progress yesterday...I could see an increase in energy to fill the space with Try and, although Sephira still hasn't "retained" the idea that my focus on her stifle means forward energy from the HQ to draw/align with me, we can use the exercise with the lead line in the beginning so she sees me before we proceed to doing whatever. 

I decided to organize all my session 5 notes and found myself starting over from the beginning with session 1. No riding today with Try and Sephira--reviewing from the beginning for me with both.

• Improvement today. After reviewing--started the first session with Sephira with hanging out at liberty, TTime for me and then some mirroring. Today for the first time Sephira was the strongest magnet ever and I never needed her to feel the lead rope so, bless her heart, she did learn. OR perhaps she just wanted to connect align and I did not check to see if my focus on her stifle was causing the energy to come from her HQ first.

  
  
•  Next with Try I repeated the hanging out at liberty. Ttime and mirroring. I never got around to even putting a rope on her. We did the GM energy ribbon for relaxation plus asking her to align with me from focusing on her HQ and she comes and aligns strongly from intention. BUT I did finally check to look for the energy coming from the HQ first--at first I wasn't sure--perhaps it came from the FQ (and was therefor, not a sincere thought on her part but that I was in some way Making her do it.) The second time I could see the HQ energy. WooHoo. Some success.

Tuesday - A Quieter Day?

Possibly the best ride yet with Sephira. The first ride since the clinic, the first ride in the new dressage ring in the field and a weekend of watching Dressage at Devon show all led to more confidence on my part as well as more impulsion from Sephira.

What we did: groom, test responsiveness on the ground FQ--good, backup less so. Mount at picnic table (another first)--she wasn't really any different. Warmup with easy walk and trot. Walk for impulsion was great in the beginning but when I tried to add contact it all failed. Stopping at letters was good. I don't know how to cue her backup?? The trot was best good energy and better contact. Some extended trot and serpentines, leg yields and shoulder in. Then we rode the first intro test which was good until the last walk up the center line. Much more connected and relaxed when we finished than when we started.

Midway when big dump trucks rolled in and dumped dirt etc. I dismounted and we played with golden ribbon/see meTM cue--at first Sephira didn't get it but when she really did focus in on me with zone one we quit. (??something like the find my focus game??)

After Try and I "helped" BA fill a hole in the new ring and then played with GM/TM see me, align and got improvement in a bit of added energy in coming to me when I let more line out.
I would like next time to watch the FLOW of energy more.

News

Rollover was crazy yesterday so much going on...

1. I spent much of the weekend watching video feed of Dressage at Devon show. Friday MH's Prix St. George was not on the feed--she got 68 and 9th/50. Saturday I got to watch MH--she and Richmond were great--again 68/9th/50. Sunday was the coolest--freestyle--MH got 5th and a score of 70. So interesting--I just could not watch riders/horses who were not a part of their music. Also some music seemed cobbled together with abrupt transitions, and tacky with vocals, etc. MH music was beautifully done but did not match Richmond in places as he has progressed so much this year. Great pirouettes and extended canter. He seemed a bit tired in places both days. They all got back to the barn from Pennsylvania at 4am!

2. As I drove into the barn I saw Try has a pasture mate!! Grey 3 y/o TB mare fresh off the track--very skinny and sweet. Try was very happy, up and distracted. I gave Try a lovely long grooming, casual ride in her pasture with the new mare and a long, lovely shower. The new mare and a grey gelding arrived ?? sometime over the weekend--their boarding facility in Williamston had a fire. The owner is Olivia ??--who has known BA for many years.

3. BA and Devon were champions both days at their hunter show over the weekend Thursday thru Sunday.

4. The ring: BA was busy leveling and then packing crush and run before screenings arrive tomorrow.

Saturday - Marie Pruden - freestyle notes

2014 9/27/Marie/Freestyle

·        Warmup:

o   Mount, sit and do nothing

o   Test lateral flexion commitment

o   Test hq/fq flexibility and backup

o   Walk til she blows plus my pilates

·        Warmup patterns to test connection and responsiveness:

o   Straight line follow my focus

§  The fewer corrections the more rest

o   Circle and figure 8

o   Start with visualization/intention

o   All corrections to pattern made with hq/leg not reins

o   For dressage/finesse—we do not want to have to use reins to stay on the pattern

·        Warmup for impulsion/relaxation

·        Warmup for suppleness: lateral and vertical

Misc

·        Check how light is light with leg at girth for HQ/FQ/sideways movement

·        Green cow—would Try like to chase green ball out of the ring when we finish?

·        Check my R/L balance/brushing my teeth

·        Use scale of 1-10 to check for progress

·        Round turn/circle is inside leg; square is outside leg pushing

·        Neutral is a fixed position for freestyle, ?steady contact for finesse?

·        Believe I can do it

·        The plan