Half Out Half In

 

I feel like this picture encapsulates where we are in our dressage journey.  Halfway between riding and training in the more German style with heavier contact/aids and transitioning over to the school of lightness, Legerete.  It’s quite a change.  Anyway, things are going great, I think we’re on weekly lesson 5 or 6, but even though we’re doing a lot of the same things, it’s in a slightly different way.  Hence the half in half out.  

We usually start out lunging BUT in the Legerete way, which means in a cavesson, with a light contact in the line at all times, and a lot of parallel work down the long sides.  The biggest challenge for me has been not moving closer to get something and instead using in order, INTENTION, ENERGY, VOICE AID, REINFORCEMENT(like a whip wave/tap or shake of the line), and VOCAL PRAISE.  By following these steps Cruise is already so much more tuned to my cues, focused on me, and improving in his response every session.  It’s amazing to me how being much more picky about what you accept and reinforce makes such a big difference so quickly.  Also, I’ve learned from LM that my reinforcement can be much bigger, used a couple of times, and then he gets the message and we are done, instead of endlessly picking at him.

Then we do the flexions in the bridle and a little in-hand work.  This has mostly been the same but again, with more nuance, always starting from lightness, and being picky about what I release on.  We’ve also changed him to a mullen mouth straight bar egg butt snaffle which he seems to really like.  His right flexion is getting better, he is less chompy and giving more tongue releases, and his neck extension is getting pretty good.  The in-hand work is also improving, helped a lot, I think, by getting him much more tuned to my intention energy etc. while lunging.  He’s feeling much lighter to any cue at all, if that makes sense.

We’ve only gotten to under saddle in a couple of lessons but we’ve had some lightbulb moments.  LM wants me to ride much looser-as she calls it “LOOSIE GOOSIE”.  Also, she wants me to pull my shoulder blades down and ride with my hands a touch higher, giving forward instead of slightly down to follow the motion of his head.  And BOOM I have a forward horse.  Add in a slight lift of the hands for a second or two when he gets unbalanced or hurried, followed by going back to home base, and I finally, finally have Cruise forward AND off the forehand.

I’m really liking how in the system of Legerete everything leads to and reinforces everything else.  Without fine tuning the lunging and flexions, getting the easy response in the riding would have been much harder.  I literally worked on fine tuning the lunging and flexions/in-hand for a month without really changing anything in my riding.  Then when we added under saddle in our lessons all it took was a few small tweaks on my part to effect a large change in under five minutes.   LM says Legerete is a system that teaches the horses a language so that everything builds on everything else and the horse always understands what you are asking for.  

So far, Cruise loves this approach and so do I.

How the New Trainer is Working Out

The new trainer, let’s call her LM, is working out well so far.  I’ve had one lesson in-hand with her horse and two hauling Cruise in.  Both of the lessons with Cruise were in-hand, with the first mostly being about refining the flexions and in-hand work, and the second on lunging the Legerete way.  LM asked me at today’s lesson if Cruise and I would be willing to be her student exam ride for Phillippe Karl’s School of Legerete, which is kind of cool.  See an example HERE.

I’ve actually been using this student exam ride as a template for my work with Cruise, so I am mega excited to go through each phase, step by step, and add a lot of polish.  The plan is to haul in weekly, weather permitting, through the winter.  I really like LM’s philosophy of polishing up the flexions, in-hand work, and lunging before we move on to riding in a lesson.  I’m still riding him at home and he’s going really well, so no complaints here!

My homework right now is to get him responsive to my energy on line from a distance without stepping closer for reinforcement.  He likes to be on top of me for comfort, he likes to blow through my whoa a bit, and I like to use my body instead of my energy, so we are definitely challenged.  The flexions and in-hand are going well though and I love how he settles down within five minutes at LM’s place.  All that hauling out and riding with another horse this Fall definitely made a difference in his attitude when going someplace new.

 

A Little French (Classical)

 

This past weekend I audited a Pippa Callanan clinic at a local dressage barn, and WOW.  Seeing the lightness and gentle aids but the serious gymnastic progress of each horse in an hour was eye opening.  So much so, that I signed up for an in-hand lesson with the host barn’s instructor, using a school horse, this coming Saturday.  If things go well, I’ll haul in Cruise in the next couple of weeks after that.

I looked around on YouTube to find something close to the clinic exercises and found this GEM.  We’ve been playing with versions of the flexions, in-hand work, and counter-bending all summer, but when I followed this exact progression of exercises, Cruise and I had the lightest, most free, gaits and ride we’ve ever accomplished.  Much to learn, but I’m so excited to explore the School of Legerete!

Fall Frolics

 

As you can see, we got our ribbons from the ODS Championship Show and Cruise was very excited.  We’ve been plugging away, working on parts of First Level Test 3.  The trot stuff is all pretty easy for him but the canter still needs work, especially the counter-canter loop.  We’ve been doing a lot of counter bending at the walk and trot, working on getting better upward transitions in general, and doing lots of rebalancing at the canter.  We’ve also added in a bit of shoulder-in and haunches-in at the trot under saddle to get some strength and balance improvements.  He’s progressing but it feels really slooooow.

In other news our field trips have continued and we’ve added another horse!  The barn owner recommended someone with a dead broke quarter horse and it has worked out beautifully.  I pay her $25 to ride while I fool around with Cruise, first on the ground, then under saddle.  He’s been really good, a little nervous but able to focus back on me and after two sessions we’ve done passing at the walk and trot and a few horse shyness drills.  I’m hoping to continue this through October and then shift to adding in other horses.  We’ll see how things go.

I’d really like to ride First Test 3 this fall and get a 60+%.  It’s all going to depend on how fast his balance and strength progress and how the weather holds up.  So far, so good.  We’re having a gorgeous fall and we wish you the same!❤️