Dressage Practice

This past weekend me and Mo headed out the the local Hunter Pace, and we had an amazing time. It was by far the best most connect event of this sort I have had with Mo. She was far more connected to my body language than she has been in the past, and even with the record amount of mud, we had a super day.

Yesterday I decided to enter a small fun show at the barn where I have taken lessons in the past year and a half, on and off. It is a dressage/jumper show, so we have to ride a dressage test and then jump a stadium course. Sounds easy peasy huh? Well, I hope it will be. I am quite excited about taking Mo, since it is such an affordable event and a fun way to get out and practice what we have been playing with.

Obviously I cant compete in a halter, so that means I have to re-introduce the bridle again, which is what we did last night. It was a very very interesting session.

My afternoon started when I got home from teaching, and jumped on Google to tell me how to make a dressage ring, and which test I would need to ride. I found both, and headed out with my trusty sharpie and started to lay out my hastily planned dressage test practice zone! It actually turned out quite well, and I am fairly proud of it. I used jump standards as my corner points, with jump poles to mark the arena lines vaguely, and small white barrels with the letters markered onto them as my letters for the pattern. Then I mowed the  whole area with the lawn mower [dont tell D... he hates when I do that! ]

The best part of the whole endeavor, was that Mo hung out with me for basically the whole time! Except the mowing part, which I understand ! But while I was moving poles and standards and barrels, she was with me, checking things out, probably snickering to herself as Zephyr chased around the new cows.  I thought that was rather nice. Mo being with me, not Zephyr chasing cows [though that really is just funny]

Once it was all set up, I fetched myself a Mo, which was really easy because she was right at the barn. She haltered herself in a lovely fashion and I set about making her purtyfull :) I wasnt sure if we would have to go fully decked out in show gear this weekend, so I tested out if my white sheet will work over my Smart Pad, and it turned out ok. Saddling was good, so then it was time for the bridle. Despite our bridle hiatus, Mo was eager to take up the bit again [yey!] and so we were ready to go.

I had her on a 12' line, with reins in hand, and my dressage whip instead of a carrot stick. It is easier for me to listen to her and not 'make' her at phase one with the littler stick I think. We turned to go and got about five steps before Mo said "hang on a second" and paused. I waited a bit, she licked and we went on, but it was really one step at a time. I was really trying to mirror her, and not just step off without her. We made it just past the red gate before she got stuck again. This time I accidentally kept walking a bit, because I was distracted by squirrels.

Now Squirrels. This might not be a big deal to the rest of the world, but it is a fairly significant thing in my life. For the last 14 1/2 years of my life, there have been NO squirrels anywhere near any house I have lived in. Why, you ask? Well because of Sable and Ajax. Between the two of them, the doggies kept small game to a minimum because they are apparently very tasty. So, the fact that I uncovered a nest of at least two baby [well, youngish] and one grown up squirrels..... well thats a sad fact because it means my amazing fluffy dog is getting older and doesnt want to chase them any more :( I think Varo is to too engrossed with chasing Orange Cat to take up the reins eating squirrels, so who knows? Maybe I will be over run with the little critters soon! Maybe then Jax will notice, and resume his squirrel hunting prowess.....

So, squirrels. I was so astounded to see them, that when Mo stopped, I kept walking until the end of the line and then noticed she had stopped. Oops. So I waited. I watched squirrels and waited until it was her idea to come up to me. And WOW. When she came up to me, all on her own, she power walked! And was SUPER enthused to keep going out to the field! Thanks, Squirrels. My mistake turned out pretty alright after all!

Out in the field I took Mo over to check out our new play pen. We checked things out and played a little with circles, stick to me and sideways. It was just amazing. I allowed her to offer what she thought was right with the energy I directed to her, and released when she matched my picture. She did TONS of thinking! Her sideways was some of the best its ever been, cantering from a standstill with loads of happy exuberance! I released way more often and was rewarded with way more try. How interesting! Im not sure I can even clearly express the easy happy back-and-forth that went on in that session. It was just so light hearted and fun! I ended up playing online for much longer than I had planned to :)

When I finally did get on and ride, I started with my reins on the halter. We played with some connection there and tried out our test for Sunday. It went really really well. We were both just so focused and in tune, it felt easy! Then I switched to the reins and tried out a soft touch, and it was still wonderful, then a little more of a soft feel to her mouth,  and it was still there! She got a little bit iffy with more feel, really wanting to hide in a stretch, but I tried really hard to keep it light and fun and giver her a release often. I must have done something right, because by the time we were done, she had NO frothy green [from cookies] stuff at all! I am pretty sure that is a first EVER! SUCCESS!!!

After playing around with our test a few times, we tried some different things too. Sideways, haunches in, shoulders in, just different shaping the body things. I tried a few changes, but I didnt set her up right, so we just got the front end - ALTHOUGH! A few times when we missed the hind, she did get extra elevated behind and fix it herself. THAT was cool, and also a first :)

I am really really enjoying the feel of playing with this new filter I have given myself. It is making a world of difference to Mo and even to Zephyr. I think too, it is giving me permission more to be where I am, instead of wondering why I havent gotten to X point yet. I feel like I am putting way more layers on what Ive got, rather than needing to DO new tasks..... if that makes sense?

Hopefully today I will be able to sort out some kind of a video.... if Zephyr will leave an unattended  camera on a barrel alone! Darn curious children ;)

:)
S