Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Another Way of Looking at Half Halts




This is an interesting take on half halts by Dressage Institute/Your Riding Success.  Basically, it has you think of a half halt as anything you do to rebalance a horse, not just one specific set of aids.  And it is continuous, not just in the corners or before a transition.  Think of half halts as more like all the corrections you make while driving a car or crossing an icy bridge under saddle.  This concept has been really hard for me to implement,  and I’m still working through the process, but I think this is how great riders do things.  Who knew you have to rebalance A LOT more?  See it HERE

Monday, February 26, 2024

The 80/20 Rule

 


As I explained in my previous post, when I had some downtime, I found YourRidingSuccess on YouTube.  Another great gem from this channel is the 80/20 rule for weight in the seat versus the legs.  Just thinking about this when riding has improved my seat and lower leg so much.  Check it out HERE.  

Saturday, February 24, 2024

The Banana

 


While I was recovering from COVID, I found a great channel on YouTube called YourRidingSuccess, that has some really different ways of explaining dressage that have really resonated with me.  First up is the banana.  No one has EVER explained why and how to sit to the the inside of every bent line to allow the outside ribcage to lengthen.  This has worked fabulously for Cruise and I on everything from basic curved lines to lateral work.  It even fixed our trot to canter transition.  Check it out HERE.

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Hello. It’s me.

 


So it’s been a while.  Had a fabulous family Christmas, kids both home, lovely Christmas Eve with board games, presents, and adult beverages.  Made my heart happy.  Then Mr. Exploring Dressage Biomechanics and I were off to Greece for a week.  Had the best trip, great weather, sights galore, and celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. ❤️



 
After a week of ancient ruins, monuments, museums, and other wonders, the fun had to end.  With me starting to get sick on the trip back and ultimately-10 days later- being diagnosed with Covid.  I kept testing negative so was not able to get on Paxlovid and was really ill.  I was honestly out of commission for about three weeks and it was not fun.  Took me another week or so to feel mostly normal.  Lessons learned, keep testing, get on Paxlovid if at all possible, and maybe start traveling more in the “low” Covid season of late spring to early fall.  Masks only do so much when you are the only ones wearing them…




Anyhoo, after about a month off, which coincided nicely with some epically cold weather, we are back at it with a string of brisk but sunny days leading to a streak of 12 days in a row under saddle.  We have figured out the trot to canter transition (finally!), how to do diamonds as circles, 80/20 seat weight ratio, sitting to the inside of the banana, and a whole host of new concepts that I will do some posts on soon. I’ve been having fun implementing some totally new training concepts.  How’re you all holding up through the winter months and what have you been learning?