Goals for October

I have been inspired by various bloggers to also use this blog to help me keep a check on how things are going. I love reading back over some of the earlier posts and looking at the earlier photos and videos, thinking about how far we’ve come. But as well as this, it would be good to be able to set out goals and assess them at the end of each month, keeping a record of our progress.
So – here goes.
• Bring Echo back into regular work
• One more massage session
• Lunge her at least once a week in the chambon to work on her stretching, particularly on the right rein
• Work at least 15 minutes in each session long and low, between periods of greater collection – not including the free walk for 10 minutes at the beginning and end of each session
• Work on ‘uphill’ upward transitions form walk to trot and trot to canter
• Spend at least 5 minutes of each session concentrating on my position and flexibility in the saddle
• Do at least one session of pole work to engage her hind legs
• Hack out – in company and alone
• Have a lesson
• One session of jumping – working on getting a good stride in approach

Obviously, some of the more athletic exercises here will need to be later on in the month, as she has lost some fitness in the last few weeks. As I write this, I’ve realised that this is more of a training plan than a set of goals. Perhaps that is one of my problems – maybe I am too focussed on WHAT I will be doing rather than what I want to ACHIEVE… Perhaps I need to concentrate on what my training objectives are first, then come up with the exercises afterwards. This is something I was taught very early on when training to be a teacher – I guess it follows that it would apply to teaching my horse too. Definitely worth thinking about.

Where we are

I don’t think I ever showed you this picture – it was taken when I was warming up for the final dressage competition in the series. A friend of mine had got her husband to come and take some photos of her riding her new horse, and she leant him to me for a few minutes. I fell in love with this photo when I saw it – Echo looks like she is really stretching and it’s like she’s floating. It has however, made me think about how much work we need to do to get back to where we were before the soreness. It’s a good job I love schooling so much!

The saddler came out today and now, at last, I can ride my horse again – AND it didn’t cost me a fortune. He had a look at the saddle on her back with no numnah, and thought that it didn’t look too bad. However, he agreed that the muscle wastage behind the right wither is most probably due to the saddle pinching and making her unable to move that shoulder properly. He said that the saddle was not sitting correctly at the back, and was probably moving around too much, making her back sore. He also said that when it was up at the back, it would be too low at the front, causing it to pinch her. He changed the gullet from a ‘wide’ red gullet to a ‘medium’ black one. This means that it sits higher at the front and therefore sits level on her back.

I rode her in walk and trot with no numnah and he was happy that the saddle was no longer moving about. He also complimented her lovely forward-going paces, so that made me very happy. He said that she certainly isn’t lame now, and that I should ride her with a much thinner numnah now that the gullet is narrower. This has now been arranged, so when he left I was able to ride her properly – for the first time in a month!

I’ve been lunging her in a chambon for the last couple of days and been noticing some interesting things. On the left rein, she responds well to the chambon, lowering her head correctly in walk and trot, and a little in canter. However, on the right rein, while she’ll lower her head in walk, she really fights the chambon in trot, as if she is really not able to stretch her back and topline in that direction. It is interesting, as that’s the rein that she struggles to take a contact properly on when ridden. Even though I can ride her again now, I think I’m going to do some work on lunging in the chambon still, as I think it would be really good for her to work on stretching those muscles. I also alternated today when I was riding, between asking her to carry herself normally and asking her to work long and low. She is better at doing it when ridden on the right rein.

I am going to keep this stretching work going for a little while, and gradually build up to asking her to carry herself higher in front. I am also going to get her massaged again next weekend, just to iron out any stiffness as she comes back into work.

I was certainly relieved that a simple change of gullet was all that was needed this time round – I had nasty visions of having to fork out for a new saddle or, even worse, the saddler not having anything suitable and having to think again. Fingers crossed, it’s now sorted and we can get back to having fun again!

One step at a time...

We are half-way there...I hope. Last week, Echo had a sports massage and Clare found that she was very tight in her shoulders and as a result has become quite tight in the under side of her neck. At first I thought this was a bit odd - she always works in an 'outline' (for want of a better word!), and I couldn't understand where this muscle has come from. However, if she's uncomfortable all the time in her shoulders and withers, then she would be holding her head up a little just to prevent stretching that muscle. She's done no work for several weeks now, so all I can assume is that it's from general discomfort in the field.

The sports massage looked amazing - I was, in fact, rather jealous. I have experimented with Bowen and McTimoney specialists in the past, but I really don't think there's any substitute for good old-fashioned massaging of the muscles. If I had a tight back or neck, I would want someone to properly manipulate the muscles, hands-on, releasing the tension and freeing up the movement. I'm sure that the more alternative methods work for some people, but I kinda like to see what I'm paying for!! Echo absolutely loves it too - she blows her nose, lowers her head and blinks a lot, apparently all signs that she is releasing the tension and build up of toxins in the muscles.

Clare agreed that all the signs in her muscles are that the saddle has been pinching her, so I am really hoping, with everything crossed, that this was the cause of her not feeling right when I last rode her. She has had the last few weeks completely off and I have just managed to get my hands on a chambon, so I can get her to stretch on the lunge. It will also mean that I can lunge her for a day or two before the saddler comes on Saturday expecting me to get on this wild beast! She has been extremely bored recently and thunders across her field, bucking and squealing whenever I turn her out. She has definitely developed a good height to that buck of hers, so I think some lunging before mounting will certainly be in order!

My only worry is that in not working for the last few weeks, she will have lost some of the muscle that was causing the problems with the saddle - but I guess we'll just have to see with that. I can't wait to ride her again - it's been too long! If all goes well, I'm hoping the saddler will be able to just change the gullet in my wintec saddle and all will be lovely and rosy. I am very much hoping that what looked wrong in her hindlegs was simply a result of the tension in her back and that there isn't any other issue to deal with.

Saddler comes on Saturday, so fingers crossed!

Some time out...

There really is nothing like horses for bringing you back to earth with a thump. I had a fantastic summer - both travelling and then with Echo, winning the dressage series, competing in our first tiny showjumping competition, and gaining a lot of confidence hacking out together on our own. I have many plans for the autumn and winter - a dressage lesson with a Portuguese rider, cross country schooling, perhaps a couple of winter dressage competitions... But Echo isn't quite right.

She had just under a week off while I went back to school and was insanely busy - then when I rode her next time she just felt a little odd. She still worked hard, but didn't feel as if she had the power in her back end at all and i couldn't get her to lift her front end whatsoever. We had been getting much much better at this, so I was a little surprised. When I asked her to leg yield on the right rein, she dropped my contact, contracted her neck and found it really difficult to move sideways. Not good.

I got off and lunged her, so that I could have a decent look at how she was moving. I couldn't really see anything wrong in her movement, but she was having trouble pushing off into trot from her left hind. The yard manager had a look at her back and thought it felt rather sore, but he was really digging, and when I ran my hand along her back she didn't react at all. He also pointed out that the grease on her numnah was rather unevenly distributed. I had been planning to get the saddler out for a while, so this made sense.

I gave her a week off, just in the field, hoping that this would help, then got my instructor, John, to have a look at her on Friday. I explained the transition thing in the left hind, but...as you'd expect...she didn't really do it then! He said that she looked fine behind, but was very tight high up in her left shoulder, and this is preventing her from moving correctly. He felt up and down her back and shoulders and said that her shoulder was rock solid and that was causing tension and soreness further down the back. He said that I should get her treated by a physio, then get her saddle checked. In the mean time, he suggested that I lunge her in a chambon for a few days, then ride her with more bulk under the saddle.

I don't have a chambon, so I decided to lunge her on Saturday just to have another look. It seemed to me that she was struggling with the left hind again. So difficult!! With my very limited knowledge of the horse's anatomy, it seems as if there is something not right in the stifle. However, it doesn't seem to bother her except for the transition into trot. I have no idea whether this might be being caused by the saddle and the shoulder tightness, or whether it's something different altogether.

It does make sense that her shoulders would be sore - I have been asking her to carry herself in a much more uphill position, and if her saddle is tight at the front, which the grease marks would suggest it is, then this would probably accentuate the problem. Also, we have been jumping more, which is probably putting more pressure on this part of the saddle. She has had that saddle for a year now, and has definitely changed shape, so the chances are that this is causing her some pain. It's infuriating that you have to wait until your horse is in pain to know these things though. The saddle looks to me like a pretty good fit, but then I have always been bad at judging this!

So - where to go next? I am going to rest her for another week, as I can't get the sports massage therapist that I use out for a few days. I will get her treated and those muscles eased off, then get the saddler to come and look at the fit of her saddle (fingers crossed it just needs a few adjustments...) and if she still doesn't look right behind, after all that, I will get a vet and see if we can look into the problem a little more closely. Since it doesn't seem to be causing her pain in general, and it is possible that its related to the saddle, I think its best that I get these things sorted first - sort of trial and error I suppose!

In a selfish way, it's much better that it is happening now, as I'm back at school and I have very little time during the week to ride. It is, however, very annoying, as we were just getting going after the long break at the beginning of the summer.

Fingers crossed that it will all be sorted by a massage and a saddle tweak - I'll keep you posted about how we get on!

Clear Round!

We went clear! Had two gos at it and second time we went clear. She was so bold and forward going - couldn't have asked for more. Just trying to remember when I last jumped a whole course of jumps and I think I was 15. That's 12 years ago. Plenty more to come - how exciting.

A few things...

Tomorrow we jump. Only a little clear round course of about 18 inches-2ft, but it's a start. It is therefore very likely that my next post will be dominated by that and I won't get a chance or have the inclination to write about how well Echo is going on the flat at the moment - actually, just in general really.

After my lesson on Tuesday, I schooled her for all of ten minutes the next day. It was absolutely scorching weather, but she felt soft, willing and light in my hands. We walked, trotted and cantered on both reins, then I decided to go for a hack. We haven't hacked out for months, but I think she was so unbelievably grateful to not be working hard in the school, that she didn't even think of messing around. We went out onto the heath and got into the shade of the forest, where we were able to have a lovely long canter. I'm usually a real wuss about cantering her out on my own, but she was a star and seemed to really enjoy it.

Yesterday was a schooling day, so we worked hard at getting her to carry more weight behind and lift her forehand. I have noticed a real improvement in this - possibly because she has grown a little and is no longer quite so croup high. As John was so complimentary of our improved canter, I thought I would start challenging her a little in this pace, so yesterday I introduced a little counter canter. She did it fairly well, although every stride it felt as if she was asking me, 'Are you sure? You really want me to canter on the wrong leg?' It was quite hard to keep her going, but the balance began to improve. What I did find, however, was that her trot after the counter canter felt quite long and stretched out. I remember from the pony that I used to compete, that counter canter always improved his trot, making it much more through and springy. Maybe Echo just isn't balanced enough at the end of the canter, through the transition.

Today, I couldn't quite decide what to do. I am trying to vary her work as much as possible, but as I had jumped Tuesday, hacked Wednesday, schooled Thursday, and am jumping tomorrow, I was at a bit of a loss. The decision was somewhat made for me, as it was very windy, therefore no hacking, there were lessons in the woodchip, therefore no jumping, so schooling it was. I'm glad I did actually, as she felt really good. I worked on some leg-yielding in trot for a while, then worked for a while on some walk to canter transitions, then lengthening and shortening the canter strides. I asked for walk to canter at one end of the school, cantered a collected(ish) circle, then asked for more lengthened strides down the long side, before asking for her to collect again at the other end. I find it quite hard to get her back from a more medium canter to a collected, as she naturally wants to fall into trot. It felt like quite a useful exercise, though, so I may practise that a few times.

As the jumping tomorrow is in the showjumping field with the posh showjumps, I thought I had better walk Echo round it a few times, just to make sure there were no monsters lurking behind the jumps. She was very quiet actually, and as there was a very small jump in there, I popped over it a couple of times. She cleared it both times, but I didn't manage to get a great stride into it on either approach. Determined to end things on a good note, I took her into the woodchip, which is the warm up area tomorrow, and there was a nice little straight bar of about 2ft 3 set up. We cantered up to it and about 3 strides away I knew that we were spot on - see - I'm learning! It felt great, so I stopped there. I'm now very excited.

To cool Echo off, I walked her through the cross country course, although I couldn't resist galloping up our usual steep hill - it was just too inviting! I must walk up it a couple of times soon though, as she is starting to anticipate the gallop.

I'm having such fun with my awesome horse at the moment - I don't want the summer holidays to end now! Only one more week of freedom... :(

Jumping

Had a lesson with John today - at last! It's been rather a long time. I was really pleased with how Echo went and as usual, it left me with plenty to think about. I wanted to jump, so we just got warmed up on the flat to begin with. He thinks her canter has improved, so that's good news and he also said it looks like she's starting to think about lifting her front end and I must really encourage that. He said I mustn't become 'outline-obsessed' and see it as more important that she lifts herself up off the forehand at the moment - if I concentrate too much on her being round, she'll go too low. I was pretty happy with some of her flat work today.

I like the trot in this picture - the carriage is really starting to improve:



I also like how bouncy the canter looks here:



We started the jumping with just a little cross pole in trot:



although he quickly said that trot is not the best pace for her to jump from - she's actually much more balanced in the canter. He soon established what my main problem is. I find it impossible to tell what a good stride into the jump is. I literally have no idea whether we will get over the jump properly until I am one stride away - sometimes not even then. He said that I can't expect to be able to do this, as I've never done it before. However, I have to do something about the stride on the way in, that way I will learn. Apparently!



He also said that I don't actually look AT the jump - I only look in the DIRECTION of it - very different things. On the way into the jump, I look at the line that I think I should ride - looking into my corner first, then making sure I'm heading straight to the fence. He said I must absolutely not do this - if I focus closely on the jump, I will ride the best line to it naturally. If I fix my eyes on the jump, looking at it, I can then adjust the stride to what I see. I absolutely whole-heartedly believe him, but years of riding school lessons teaching me to ride into the corner and go straight to the jump are quite hard to un-learn. I found myself naturally looking at my line rather than at the jump, then just riding forwards in the hope that Echo would sort herself out over it. Didn't work. Here is John despairing of one attempt:




We had a little chat and he reminded AGAIN what I needed to do:



However, when I did get it right, it felt great. I felt like I was able to change her stride and get her to lengthen into the jump so that we hit it correctly. It was about 50% of the time that I managed this. It is something that I really need to work on.



I did, however, ask John whether he thought it was a totally ridiculous idea for me to attempt the clear round at the tiny showjumping competition on Saturday. He said it was a good idea and that I should do it. Eek! Part of me was hoping he'd say, 'No - you're nowhere near ready for that!' Well - I'll have a go; it'll just be to get her some experience and it might even be fun!

We Won!!

Right - so Echo is back in work at last, after having the best part of 6 weeks off, and today we won the last of the dressage tests in the in-house series! I am very proud of her, as we were very rusty when we started again. I had about a week to ride her, then I went on holiday again and we've just had the last couple of days to prepare.

Backtracking a little, I have been a little busy over the last few months! As most of you know, I am a teacher and this year I marked GCSE exams on top of my normal workload. When everyone else was winding down for the summer, I was slogging away, trying to get my quota done each day. It wasn't particularly fun, but it paid pretty well and meant that I could then go and do what I had been planning for months - a cycling trip across Spain. My boyfriend and I flew with our bikes to Bilbao, then cycled across the north of the country, arriving in Santiago de Compostela. It was a tough journey and definitely more of an adventure than a holiday, but it was absolutely amazing.

When I got back from Spain, I took part in the London Triathlon - again - an amazing experience. I used to run a lot, but since getting an injury a year ago, I haven't been able to run nearly as much as I wanted to, and as my boyfrined is a cyclist, I got into doing a bit of both. The swim was rather unpleasant - 750m in the Thames, but I loved the whole thing and am definitely going to do another one. So - since then, I have been able to ride Echo (except for the week on holiday - almost entirely relaxing, I promise!) and try to remind her what this dressage thing is all about. It took a couple of days, but she got the hang of it quite quickly. While I was away, a girl from the yard rode her. She's a very good rider and will have made her go nicely, although I had to remind her of a few manners when I got on again!

I feel as if we have gone back a step to some extent, as I was really working at getting her to lift her forehand before I went away and now it's more about getting a decent bend and getting her soft through her body. There is certainly some improvement here, but she was going extremely well before and it's a little frustrating to be back a step or two. However, she was great today and tried very hard. She was quite stiff to begin with in the warm up, and was being quite resistant on the left rein - I had to do lots of lateral work and loads of transitions to get her beding round my leg and using her back end. It was extremely hot and she felt a bit sluggish - she moved off my leg, but she just felt heavy. I don't blame her - it was boiling!

We had to wait a little while before going in as it was 'open order' and lots of people were ready all at once. The other thing is that it was in the indoor school and you have to trot straight in onto the centre line and start the test - going from the light to the dark makes Echo really back off my leg and she tensed up immediately when we went in. The test was fine - it was BE 102 and has a few odd moments, such as giving and taking the inside rein for 3-5 steps in the canter. It also gets you to make a transition to walk for 3-5 steps across a diagonal. I got a bit confused and walked for 3 strides, which is apparently different to 3 steps. Oops... She broke into trot on the first canter when I half-halted - I hadn't realised quite how responsive she'd be heading towards the door! Other than that, I was pretty happy. She was quite tense and it certainly wasn't our best example of what we can do, but all things considered, I was very pleased with her.

The dressage competition was marked on the best three tests over the series, so some people have done them all, whereas I have only done three. We won all three, meaning that I won overall and we also won 'best turned-out' which was very nice! We got a pretty red rosette and a free lesson with John - so that's awesome! I actually have a lesson with John on Tuesday and thought we might jump in that. I have a slightly crazy idea that I may do a clear round class at a competition being held at the yard on Saturday...but I'll see how the lesson goes first! I really wanted to do one this summer and the clear round is absolutely tiny - we could easily trot them if necessary. I'll see... I'm also planning to have a cross country lesson at some point. I'm not going to neglect the dressage, but I want to make use of the good weather and the light evenings while we have them! Plenty of time for dressage when we are confined to the school over the winter.

Anyway - here are some pictures from the last couple of days and some of the show today. If I can upload it, there is also a bit of video of the end of our test. You'll see what I mean - it's not BAD, just could be better!!

...months...

Woah - it's been months. If anyone still comes here to check if I have finally got my ass in gear and written something, I am terribly sorry for the long wait.

What have I been doing? Not riding - that's what! After the two dressage competitions, I had to put the riding on hold a little, as I was examining GCSEs and then cycling across Spain! Echo also had a bit of an accident in a thunder storm, breaking through her fence and cutting her face quite badly above her eye. She had to have stitches, but it's almost healed now. She has to wear one of those funny fly masks in the field, but she's got used to that now.

She's back to her summer escape routine too - they've had to secure her field with more electric fencing and she stands by the fence looking cross that she can't work out how to get through it!

I lunged her yesterday after nearly 5 weeks of no exercise and she was great - I was expecting all sorts of handstands, but I think she was just so relieved to be doing something that she was on her best behaviour. She responded to every voice command and was an angel!

I am helping my parents in the chaos of their house-move for a couple of days, then I should be able to get going with the riding again. Except for a week in Cornwall! We have a dressage competition at the end of August, so we're going to have to get some serious work done - it's the last one of the series and we've won two so far - if we win a third, I think we'll have won overall. Very exciting!

Will be back to proper posting soon I promise.

Win Number Two!

Echo was awesome on Sunday - really really good - and we won!! Monday was a little more tense, but she still behaved beautifully and we came 6th in a bigger competition, against stiffer opposition and in a new place. So impressed with her - clever pony. Yay!!! Will post properly about it asap.

If it works, here is the video of Sunday