In the past few months, Dody and I have started moving forward, literally. It’s not something I ever thought we’d do together. In our first four years, we couldn’t reach an agreement on training. He hated my leg and I wasn’t to keen on his rearing. Nirvana for me would be getting a solid walk, trot, canter and I never thought we’d get there.
I knew all about the principles and results of going forward, that a horse moves back to front, engagement of the hind end, coming over the back, reaching for the bridle, but I’d never felt it. The problem with Dody was that leg on to go forward and reach actually translated to backwards and up. He was like a mare in season. I thought maybe my horse was a cross-dresser, a mare in gelding clothing!
Dody is a real head scratcher. He was so tense and sometimes mean to ride. Alot of my friends thought he was dangerous (you know it’s bad when the only good thing people say about your horse is that he has a beautiful tail!), but we got along fabulously in the barn. He’s a sweety and very popular. Dody loves
attention. He poses for pictures and has even pushed other horses out of the way to get in front of the camera. He bangs his stall door when he hears me come into the barn or when I’m paying attention to another horse and that makes me feel special.
The barn bond is what kept me going. Well, that and my coach, who every time I wanted to give up, told me she was sure Dody would come around to my way of thinking. He was a bit of a slow maturer even for a warmblood so he was eight last year when he first decided this whole leg thing was getting boring and it was time to move on. He still endlessly bobbed his head but at least he was bobbing forward.
This summer we began lateral work. I think I would have been happy to leave it with – I put my leg on, he takes a step sideways and life is good. Of course, my coach thought he should take two steps, so we’ve marshalled on. There has been the odd grunt, squeal, stop and, yes, a rear or two but the bonuses have been surprising. We’ve learned sitting trot because I’m not co-ordinated enough to stay soft in my hand, ask for the leg yield and post at the same time. The lateral work has helped him release his ribs and back and now he reaches softly for the bridle and when his hind end kicks in it’s a real WOW for me.
Now my coach is talking about subtleties and I tell her I’m perfectly happy where we are but that’s not really true. One of the greatest things about riding is that the learning never stops. Wouldn’t it be boring if we just had to get on, start the engine and go.
Hello, I just found your blog. The journey you write about is so meaningful to us horse people! I love reading these posts because it reminds me that I am not alone in my struggles to get this dressage thing. Thanks for sharing those thoughts. And yes it would be boring to just get on and go and have it be great, but I still like to have that happen once in a while, and when it does happen (once in a while) it’s worth it!
Hi Horseypants,
I agree. Mount and go once in a while would be good. Just read your blog and see you like the lighter side as well. I just started this and am having a lot of fun. I found Confessions of a Struggling Dressage rider and get a kick out of that one too! I’m going you add your link.
Thanks for visiting.
Janice
Hi there, Just found your blog while perusing the listings for
fellow dressage/classical riding blogs. Wow, there really are other “seniors” out there following through on lifelong dreams of becoming riders again.
The members of our group met serendipitously a couple years ago through the magic of our coach/trainer/”equine counselor” – we range in ages from borderline 40 to early 60’s. Very often our “homework” is having to write a post
for our blog – so much harder than riding!
The most frequent remark we get after our class is “you ladies sure seem to have a lot of fun – you’re always laughing”.
hope to read more from you!
Hi Amy,
I’m starting to connect with other older dressage riders writing some fun stuff. We also laugh a lot at the barn, especially when our token teenagers thinks it would be a lot of fun to unexpectedly jump 20 feet into a river like I did on a recent trail riding trip.
Can you tell us more about your group?
Janice
Hello, Janice,
Thanks for the reply – I’d like to add your blog to our “blogroll”
- sure enjoy reading what everyone is doing/learning.
Our blog is Feathertouchranch.wordpress.com – our
very humble mentor/coach, Feather Blake, spent many years training and working with Mr. Chuck Grant at Shineabit Farms, http://www.shineabit.com/sa00001.htm
We’re a diverse group, but all of us are honored to be learning from Feather -who has taught us so much in the
past 2 years about the art of classical riding and training.
Most of us have had horses for years and finally made the decision to take “real” lessons, but a couple of the ladies just started riding within the last year or two! We’ve seen tears, fears, impatience, frustration, all dissolve in the time we’ve been riding together.
We live in Northern Nevada, in the high desert country, which is pretty brutal in the summers and winter (1 ft of
snow on the ground now). I often pine for the green pastures of Oregon where I grew up riding.
Happy Adventures!
Amy
Isn’t it wonderful when the horse reaches down into the bridle and stretches over his back back?! I kill for those moments. That’s when everything’s perfect in the world…the reality comes crashing in and everything falls apart. So addictive!
Hi Janice
I just found your blog and this post really resonates with me. I am bringing along a 4 year old warmblood in dressage and things have been slow for us too. Patience, good help, that burning desire to keep moving forward (literally and figuratively), and those brilliant (if brief) moments are what keep me going. I look forward to reading more of your posts. Happy riding to you and Dody!
Molly
Hi Janice
Just found your blog and added it to my blogroll – I look forward to reading more.
I just started my own blog that centers around dressage/classical riding and thought you might be interested:
http://www.CavalliConnections.com
Happy Riding!
Bree
I was curious if you’ve ever done any natural horsemanship stuff with your gelding. It’s not something I was drawn to myself, but became necessary because of similar problems w/my horse. Anyway, it was a big help to me to use some groundwork tools–simple ones, I did not go Parelli-crazy! Just curious.
I did some regular join up work with him in the first year I had him and it didn’t really help. He was also perfectly behaved when he was longed but a beast when I put my leg on. Happily, we’re working well together now and having lots of fun!