I have found clinics with the eventing crowd to be very relaxed and not as "judgemental" as some with the pure dressage crowd. Plus, Lainey has ridden through I-1 in pure dressage, training the horse herself. So I knew she would understand what I was going through.
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| Why yes I did buy a pair of baby blue breeches. |
I know there was a big ordeal surrounding her and her accident at Rolex in 2008. Frankly, after meeting her and taking a lesson from her I can only conclude that people are cruel, especially on the internet. Well, duh, but I think this gal was really put through the ringer.
I found her professional, enthusiastic and quite positive.
Here are some things we worked on with Hampton:
* Sharper off the leg in transitions. Think walk to medium canter.
* Down the quarter line, shoulder in ... leg yield to the rail maintaining the positioning.
This made him BOUNCE in the canter. He really started to up the RPMs and jump up to me in the wither. Probably because I had him on my outside rein and his hind leg jumping under, duh.
* Trot serpentine with half-steps at the centerline
* Cleaning up that left to right flying change. I think we are right on the edge of a breakthrough here. We had some good changes and the light started going off in my head. He needs to boing in the canter, and I need to quit taking so much time to prepare. It is confusing to him. My aids need to be black and white for the change, and a tap with the whip if needed. Right to left change is confirmed and quite nice.
* True canter in ranvers positioning. This was hard as f*ck, and we did make mistakes, but I loved the fact that Hampton let me ride him. So what if you screw it up. He was trying, and he was NOT dropping my aids. That is a huge, huge improvement.
* Many many walk, canter, walk transitions. Alternating which lead I pick up. This is making it even more clear to him the aids for each lead. He has to be sharp and quick.
*Trot half passes. We had a left half pass from rail to just pass the centerline that was SOUND. No rein lameness! I almost cried, I really did. It is the first sound left half pass in probably a year?! Right trot half pass was also quite lovely. Canter half passes super.
She is for sure a clinician who will work your butt off! But at no point was I ever over faced, nor did my horse ever become frustrated.
I know we are right on the edge of climbing over this annoying hump we have been facing for the past year. It has been all about the connection, suppleness and obedience to the aids. The "tricks" are there. PSG won't happen this year, but I'm feeling good about hitting the FEI ring in 2016!
If you ever get the chance to clinic with Lainey, I would highly recommend her. For both eventers and dressage people, too. She was excellent with the flat work. And she treated everyone with enthusiasm and respect. I didn't get to stick around for jumping, but I bet she was much the same!
And I do apologize for lack of photos. My lesson was at 7 am. Only the hard-cores were up that early, and they were too busy getting things set up to take photos of me. :( Sad Karen.
Congratulations on a great clinic! Sounds absolutely wonderful. I'm so glad you are getting the rein lameness issue resolved. Thanks for sharing the exercises.
ReplyDeleteSo jealous! I love her! Congrats on a fun clinic!
ReplyDeleteI think Laikey is a fantastic rider and horsewoman and I think for the most part people have moved on from the Rolex incident in 2008. I was sitting at that fence that year and watched that horse die right in front of all of us, it was just one of those freak things that nobody could have predicted. I think she's great!
ReplyDeleteShe's doing a clinic with Jennie Brannagan out here in a couple of weeks that I'm going to try to audit. Very excited to hear such a good report!
ReplyDeleteSo happy you had the opportunity to lesson with her - sounds fantastic! And to read what you said about connection, suppleness and obedience to the aids - exactly what we are working on at our lower level.
ReplyDeleteFantastic opportunity!
ReplyDeleteI work with a 4* event rider on a regular basis (she's been my trainer for the past 8 years). There's a number of dressage trainers in the area, but I really don't care for any of them. It's a bit of the judgmental and they don't have the "just go for it" or "just try it" mindset. Maybe I like the just go for it mindset simply because I used to be an eventer and going to straight dressage, well... if you're not prepared, you're going to be embarrassed, not dead. But anyway, my whole point is I've found eventers to be a lot more fun and relaxed too!
Wow that sounds both awesome and SUPER intense haha. What a great clinic! You also must have been walking on air when he worked laterally without the rein lameness. Perhaps that's a sign that you can and will find a solution to that problem?? Very cool!
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome opportunity! Glad you got to take advantage and that you got some really great new tools for your toolbox :-)
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