After Margaret and I had such a fun time at the fall hunter pace, we opted to go again this spring! This time, while I rode Rejoice again, Margaret rode her horse Jester and had a friend ride Ladyhawke. All Kennebec Morgans!! Jester and Rejoice have the same dam and Jester and Lady share the same sire. Unfortunately instead of a lovely late spring day, we had one of the first intensely hot and humid days of the year. It was definitely a bummer, but the ride was mostly in the shade of the woods and we had a great time! most of the fences were 3' coops but we found a small log and this hay to jump haha Until we didn't. 😑 We brought along a third friend who rode Margaret's older mare, Ladyhawke. She's a good rider but hasn't known Ladyhawke for very long and didn't realize how much of a cranky boss mare she could be at times. She kicked Jester right in the front leg just about halfway through the ride, and while the cut itself ended up not being a big deal in the
Ellie and I closed out our busy 2019 season with a dressage clinic with USDF Gold medalist Ashley Madison of Yellow Wood Dressage at Hidden Brook Farm (where I take lessons). Almost exactly a year ago, I rode with her for the first time; this year I was able to ride both weekend days thanks to my Morgan Dressage Association scholarship!
Ashley had not seen Ellie in a year, so she was suitably impressed with the progress we have made. I really like being able to ride in a two-day clinic as it seems to help solidify what you learned the first day by being able to practice it again immediately (at least immediately in my mind as someone who takes weekly lessons haha).
I was also lucky to ride in a later afternoon lesson on Saturday and then Ellie spent the night at HB Farm and I rode in the second lesson on Sunday morning. It was so much easier to only truck her up and back home once, plus Ellie LOVES being at HB Farm haha.
Riding with Ashley helped me better understand our September clinic with Georges, and OH MY WORD we had a real breakthrough in creating straightness within the bend.
Ashley had me ride Ellie in a sligh counter flex at times and it finally FINALLY clocked on how to finesse the outside shoulder to maintain straightness. It is one thing to know how to do this in my brain, but when it all finally comes together under saddle and the horse feels AH-MAZING, I feel like we are finally truly just starting to understand this whole dressage thing together hahaha.
One thing Ashley repeated to me over and over was, "Ride the channel" meaning to continually create a channel with my aids, to funnel (or channel) the energy from behind and to the connection and bit. It was incredible to finally be able to ride forward into the connection and truly feel the connection being created by the hind leg! Ellie is still unsure and not 100% confident with this idea, but the fact that she is now finally starting to get it about 90% of the time is just the best feeling to end the year with; of course, now I am BUMMED OUT that it is our downtime, as I just want to keep riding and keep improving lol!
Ellie is a hot little mare with a big engine, which I have always joked I need to channel for good and not evil hahaha! She has taught me a lot about tact without throwing it all away or being too lenient. And on the second day of our ride, all of a sudden, all the work Beth has done with us came together, the lightbulb went off, and I felt as though I was finally riding like a "real" dressage rider on a "real" dressage horse! I mean, that sounds silly and overly emotional, but to have started her myself as a super uncertain green bean who could barely steer and to have everything come together so well was addicting and overwhelming in a lovely way!
I giggled like a little kid on Christmas morning several times LOL! We were able to carry this through to all transitions, especially the trot to canter (which has been our sticky transition all year) to maintain the best, most balanced canter I have felt with Ellie so far!
Ellie and I have grown so much in our partnership this year, and to have two solid rides with Ashley to round out the year was really great. I am so excited to see where we go from here, and I actually feel confident about First Level in 2020! There were times I thought we would be stuck at Training 3 for the rest of our lives hahaha.
I have some great video that Beth took for me, but I have no had a moment to upload any of it. I will try to get all the clips together into one video soon! It's just a little busy around here right now at school and at home hahaha. ;-)
Huge shoutout to Morgan Dressage Association for providing me with this scholarship. The clinic with Ashley (and the one with Georges) definitely was a good use of this educational opportunity!
Ashley had not seen Ellie in a year, so she was suitably impressed with the progress we have made. I really like being able to ride in a two-day clinic as it seems to help solidify what you learned the first day by being able to practice it again immediately (at least immediately in my mind as someone who takes weekly lessons haha).
I was also lucky to ride in a later afternoon lesson on Saturday and then Ellie spent the night at HB Farm and I rode in the second lesson on Sunday morning. It was so much easier to only truck her up and back home once, plus Ellie LOVES being at HB Farm haha.
Riding with Ashley helped me better understand our September clinic with Georges, and OH MY WORD we had a real breakthrough in creating straightness within the bend.
Ashley had me ride Ellie in a sligh counter flex at times and it finally FINALLY clocked on how to finesse the outside shoulder to maintain straightness. It is one thing to know how to do this in my brain, but when it all finally comes together under saddle and the horse feels AH-MAZING, I feel like we are finally truly just starting to understand this whole dressage thing together hahaha.
it was SO COLD Ellie had frozen icicles on her chin and I couldn't feel my face or legs after our Saturday lesson lol Winter in Maine is fun (not) |
Ellie is a hot little mare with a big engine, which I have always joked I need to channel for good and not evil hahaha! She has taught me a lot about tact without throwing it all away or being too lenient. And on the second day of our ride, all of a sudden, all the work Beth has done with us came together, the lightbulb went off, and I felt as though I was finally riding like a "real" dressage rider on a "real" dressage horse! I mean, that sounds silly and overly emotional, but to have started her myself as a super uncertain green bean who could barely steer and to have everything come together so well was addicting and overwhelming in a lovely way!
I giggled like a little kid on Christmas morning several times LOL! We were able to carry this through to all transitions, especially the trot to canter (which has been our sticky transition all year) to maintain the best, most balanced canter I have felt with Ellie so far!
Ellie and I have grown so much in our partnership this year, and to have two solid rides with Ashley to round out the year was really great. I am so excited to see where we go from here, and I actually feel confident about First Level in 2020! There were times I thought we would be stuck at Training 3 for the rest of our lives hahaha.
I have some great video that Beth took for me, but I have no had a moment to upload any of it. I will try to get all the clips together into one video soon! It's just a little busy around here right now at school and at home hahaha. ;-)
Huge shoutout to Morgan Dressage Association for providing me with this scholarship. The clinic with Ashley (and the one with Georges) definitely was a good use of this educational opportunity!
Awe....those moments are what it is all about and you have certainly put the time and energy to deserve to feel that pride.
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