Make sure you bring champagne

I am SUPER ANNOYED that Blogger seems to have disabled its reading list. So I am trying to find other ways to read everyone's blog without manually scrolling through I dunno 30-40 of them. C'MON BLOGGER. Suggestions welcome.

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Anyhoo.

Canter transition

I was lucky enough to ride in a LS clinic again here in town. Only had the funds for one day but honestly I get so much out of her lessons that's ok.

Hampton was a really good boy, and we touched on firing him up, turning in passage, working on a little bit of Spanish walk to help lift his shoulders, and then ran through the entire Grand Prix and picked a few weak spots and touched on those. 

She is just such an inspiring, no-nonsense coach. She makes me want to ride better. However, I think the big take away for riding a GP test in the ring is that I need to BREATHE and SLOW TIME DOWN. I paid for my time in the ring, so take it. Hampton and I both get to running and that is bad for business. 

oh look your knees CAN come up higher

Here are my notes from my lesson and a few others that I caught.

• Horses (and humans) don't tend to stretch well in the first 5 minutes. Unless they have a reason, don't start out long and low. Start picking them up and engaging their brain right away
• Keep horse short from tail to ears
• Even though rulebook says horse lengthens their frame in trot lengthening, they should not! That results in pulling with the front feet. Think power off the ground.
• "My grandmother could out trot you and my grandmother is dead."
• Build build build the trot, then canter
• "love him less"
• Accountability and honesty live in the transitions
• Let him live in fear of your leg
• Trot to rein back (for a horse who's legs are sticking to the ground in piaffe) Do a few of these then try piaffe

• When turning the passage, turn horse like a wheelbarrow. This really helped me!
• BREATHE
• Breathe in the corners. Take your time. Organize
• Try the one-tempis in medium canter
• Trot, then right into a 360 degree turn on forehand. Also unsticks the hind legs. Do these a few times, then piaffe
• Piaffe pirouettes help unstick the front legs
• Passage: Suck his withers up with your thighs 
• Passage lives in the ribs
• Transition in/out of passage is a dimmer switch. 3, 2, 1 .... not BAM
• Hands forward
• Think wheelbarrow a little bit in canter zigzag (for me and Hamp within the changes)
• Ride with my aids off. If I apply at a level 2, and he doesn't flinch then he gets hellfire
• BREATHE
• Don't support him so much in passage. Hampton relies on me too much
• BREATHE
• Bring champagne to my first GP. lol