Friday, January 27, 2023

Confession Time


I have a confession to make.  I have been cheating on Mary Wanless and Dressage Training TV with Celeste Lazaris’ BTMM Masterclass on Facebook.  I initially dipped my toe into the Masterclass HERE in April.  I liked the exercises and found the Masterclass useful but a little confusing in format.  I started taking lessons with a Mary Wanless trained instructor and basically fell down the MW rabbit hole.  No regrets, fixed my big biomechanics issues and learned a lot.  But.  Riding Cruise felt like driving a dump truck.  The contact was heavy.  Correct upward transitions were still super hard for him.  Everything was obedient but difficult to execute.  And Jet really didn’t improve at all with my improvement in biomechanics.  Hmmmm…

I know I have a tendency to bounce from one methodology to another, so I immersed in Mary Wanless for 6+ months.  I kept getting glimpses of the Masterclass when I was on FB though, and the posts spoke to the issues that kept coming up with Cruise.  I bought the MC for Jet but as time went on and I re-explored the updated content I started to be convinced that Cruise’s thoracic sling is under developed, he can’t abduct well, or put weight to the outside of a circle.  Even though he is naturally uphill with big gaits, the lack of thoracic sling development is why he struggles a bit.

I made an executive decision to try the Masterclass while I can’t ride outside much in January and February.  I went through the guides in the MC from the beginning.  Everything is much more organized with a lot more content, written and video, and I feel like I comprehend the theory much more.  Honestly, the Mary Wanless stuff educated my eye and understanding quite a bit.  I had missed a couple of (many!) key points in my first foray into the MC and with the expanded content I felt comfortable giving BTMM another shot.  And damn.  The horses both love it.  I started with the ground exercises and since everything is step by step, when they were pretty good there I started the process of transferring the same exercises to under saddle work.  

It’s been very interesting.  We’re about a month in and both horses are thriving.  Relaxed, even in the cold temps.  They both seem much more tuned into me and are moving much more correctly.  I just recently noticed that after this first month Cruise’s girth is now 3 holes down on one side and two on the other with no feed changes and if anything slightly less calories because the grass is poor. I can’t go into much detail about the BTMM exercises but I think I’ll do a post soon about the general outline of the 3 pillars and why they should be present in all types of riding.

Are you having any winter epiphanies with your riding and training?

4 comments:

  1. This is interesting. I keep wondering if I should check it out.

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  2. Wow! That's a huge difference in the girth area. I know Mazy has changed over time and depending on what work were doing, but nothing like that so far. Go Cruise!

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  3. I'm having a hard time getting to ride. All kinds of life keeps getting in the way. Sounds like this is positive progress. I love it when that happens.

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