Back to Dressage School

Yesterday I had a dressage lesson with Karen Whitman. It was great. The whole day was organized around lessons w/ Karen by my regular instructor, Kathleen. So there were many riders, and part of the fun was definitely just seeing people in the middle of winter.

Normally on a Sunday afternoon in January I'd be home tucked into a hot cocoa. With snow showers and a high of 20 degrees, this thought did cross my mind as I was getting ready to go out. Actually, the thought went like this: "What the hell was I thinking signing up for a clinic in January?" But I made a New Year's resolution to get back on my horse, plus nobody called to cancel so off I went.

Since Odie had his big boo boo this past summer, I haven't spent much time in the saddle. We have still done lots of work together, and I did get to ride earlier in the week since it was 60+ degrees. (I can hardly believe that weather happened myself, now that winter is back to its regularly scheduled programming.)

But anyway, as I was driving out w/ Chipper's mom, who had a lesson scheduled after me, I realized was nervous. What was I going to tell this person about me? Odie and I haven't been doing anything! We're both out of shape. Do I even remember how to do dressage? I've only had a handful of lessons with Kathleen over the past year.

But I eventually calmed down and just tried to be myself. No we're not competitive at the moment, but I do work with my horse nearly every day, even if it's not riding. One of my goals for Odie is really to just be a good "family horse" for myself and my daughter. Besides that I would like to show him, but it would be purely for fun.

Well, it was so wonderful. Karen was very kind to express her appreciation for Arabians (not always the case w/ dressage people) at the outset and she didn't sniff one bit at my rather casual approach to dressage. She sent us off to warm up,and I eventually started trotting a figure-8.

Then she jumped in with comments, the first of which was this: "Look at his head!" (Um, huh?) "Make sure it doesn't fall off! I know it sounds odd, but just keep doing it...look at his head...look at his head...keep watching it!" Sense of humor! Major points for Ms. Whitman. No more worries--I could tell it was going to be fun.

Also suddenly Odie became rounder. Karen explained that I have an old hunter-jumper habit of turning my head (and therefore leaning over) to look for the next jump, which of course is not there anymore. So looking at Odie's head almost instantly adjusted my balance, and then he became more balanced. I stopped leaning to the inside, so he stopped leaning to the inside.

So simple and effective! The rest of the lesson followed along these lines in mostly trot and canter. We worked on more steering and balance issues through the use of my weight and leg aids as primary functions, and allowing my hands to remain steady. She asked that I really slow him in the canter to trot transition, and said to expect that over time he will learn to balance himself better in this as well.

She tried to improve my sitting trot. I tried to use my stomach muscles. I tried to hold my upper body more steady. I tried to allow my hips to follow the motion more and let my lower back be fluid. So--oo--oo--oo--oo, this needs work. Karen just said not to worry and to watch other riders. She also noted later to let my hands follow my hips at the canter, as opposed to following his head, so I think I need to work on opening my hip joint and engaging my core muscles more in general.

Odie also really liked Karen. She commented that he's not the type of Arabian that can feel too good for his job, and therefore be difficult to handle. She said he could do many things, and would be a good fit for my daughter too. This totally matched my own opinion of Odie--he ALWAYS tries. Even if he doesn't get it, he's just a good guy who wants to please.

Overall, Karen felt that just a bit more working on communicating with Odie through my leg and weight, and asking him to balance himself more consistently, would yield big results for us. And she added that despite the "exorcist head" thing, my dressage position is looking pretty good.

Dare I think back on all the time I spent trying to get my leg out of the hunter-jumper muscle memory and into a longer dressage leg? What a pain in the rump!! Or ankles--all those lost stirrups. But I guess it worked, finally. Kathleen had also mentioned last year that we were close to getting over a plateau. So maybe we are!

So the whole thing was totally encouraging. It's also nice to have a smart horse that doesn't forget anything he's learned! Dressage work, here I come! Since it's snowing I'll have to do pilates instead of ride. I've got a great series of equestrian exercises that I'll write about tomorrow. :)