Collection& things

I am not even remotely bothered by the fact that all I think, breathe and talk about is horses. Or at least 90% of the time. I mean, I pretty much live at the barn, have horses outside my window and ride six days a week. Doing this internship was a test. A test to see if I got sick of horses day in and day out. The exact opposite happened. I am now even more horse obsessed than I ever was in my entire life …okay well maybe not as much as when I was 10-12, but I’ve still got the bug pretty bad!

Random fact:
As of this summer, I’ve now been riding horses for half of my lifetime! :D It can only go up from here.

Early morning horse show.

-Yvonne here: gorgeous. Okay.. back to Sarah!

Anywho, back to why I started this bragging on my horse infused life… As an unexpected twist, I not only get to learn how to train horses here at the farm but I get to show them, as well! About a month after I arrived, I was headed to a schooling show with two horses. I showed so much last summer that I was completely burnt out, a new experience for me. This year we have had more breaks in between so the balance of training and showing has been perfect. Not only that, but I’m riding kick-butt awesome horses that make me look good. I’m a little bit less stressed about making the cut, as far as getting qualifying scores goes and not letting my trainers down. One big thing I’ve learned after my extensive show season last year: ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING. If you remain positive, you have very little space to fail and even if you do, you will have enjoyed yourself.

I want to give a shout-out to the good judging we had this past weekend. Something I’ve experienced quite a bit at the schooling and rated/recognized shows we’ve attended? Higher expectations than what is required in the particular level. For example, a comment like “needs better uphill balance” or “lacks cadence” when I’m riding Training Level?! The horse doesn’t even need to be on the bit according to the standards! There was none of that at this show. My fellow intern and I showed our horses at two consecutive levels and the judges showed clear distinction between how the horse was to go in each level. They were very fair and right on in their comments. I learned that my twenty meter circles tend to not be centered and that I make the second half too small. In the grand scheme of things, if they only had to pick on my circles… I must be doing pretty well, eh? Hehe.

Tom Poulin judging Rocket and myself

On the almost five hour drive back to the farm, guess what my trainer, fellow intern and I talked about? You guessed it, horses! The topic within the category of horses was varied but somewhere in Illinois we landed on what we felt like we had learned the importance of during the past year. My fellow intern said that for her, it was the importance of collection.

Collection is the foundation of doing anything other than a working walk, trot, and canter. Even Training Level horses have to learn to sit on their hocks for a ten meter turn to go down the center line. It is just “baby” collection, but it’s there all the same. And for lengthening stride or medium and extended gaits, you absolutely cannot have that without the transfer of weight to the back end of the horse.

On the thought of collection, here’s my two cents.
You can’t make a transition from a medium trot to a collected trot using only your seat when the horse is on the forehand. They’re already pulling on you by then and you pretty much have to use your reins to get them back. Only when the horse is uphill and balanced are they able to respond to your seat aid of coming back to collection. But my, is it hard!

In conversation, I said that I have just been realizing the importance of thoroughness. My trainer came up with the best description of this very elusive thing. Imagine thoroughness as the recycling triangle. You know, the arrows that go round?

Perfectly clear, right?! Haha!

Right then. So the cycle goes something like this:

1. Your aids activate the horse’s hind legs
2. Your reins prevent this flow of energy from just bursting out the front end and contains it; making them lift their back and have that lovely chess piece neck.
3. You reapply your aids in a half-halt to continue the energy flow.

So pretty much you repeat that throughout your ride. Your seat and core will determine the tempo of the horse. So yeah, that is the basics of maintaining thoroughness. Getting it in the first place is another thing. I haven’t really accumulated all of my thoughts on that. I think the very basics of it is that your horse is supple. Suppleness and thoroughness really go hand in hand. You also can’t have a half-halt without some degree of thoroughness. If you don’t have that, the half-halt usually ends up being just a halt or just a random burst of speed.

A problem that I run into with one of the horses I ride is that I do step one and two and then forget to re-energize him with my leg to keep the cycle going, so we end up looking okay but only having two of those green arrows. It kind of arches up then ends.
With the other horse I sometimes only have one arrow because she is still learning to stay uphill throughout the whole ride and ends up leaning on my hands for balance and I get into the never-ending tug-o-war in which she wins and I only have the flow of energy going on a straight line with an arrow at one end. Not quite a triangle.

Anyways, I hope that gives your brain something to mull over during your next drive to the barn. I now know that dressage pretty much will go on forever, there will always be something more to learn and accomplish, which is a good thing for me since I don’t want it to end!

Can’t let Rocket steal all of the limelight. 

Here’s the queen bee herself, Renee’!