XC Dressage - Incorporating hillwork into your flatwork
On Wednesday, I took a lesson with Karyn Rainy. Karyn has an extensive dressage background, has competed through Intermediate level eventing and exercised racehorses for 20 years across the USA. Originally, she had intended to conduct a pacing clinic, but she took the lesson in a slightly different direction after watching Leo.
One of the first observations every one has about Leo, is his long back. They immediately anticipate (correctly) that it's difficult for him to engage his haunches. Karyn picked up on this too. Karyn also called out that his crookedness - leaning on the right side and dropping his haunches right - is a clear indication of the crapping riding & training he had in his track days. She said at the lower level tracks on the east coast, the quality of exercise riders is pretty poor. Riders lock one of the reins in order to slow the horse, but the horse merely learns to run laterally. In Leo's case, he drops his haunches tot the right which ensures that he never has to bring his left hind under his body. Hence his weak left hind leg.
When I bought Leo, Carrie Butler mentioned that his race trainer was horrible and starting Leo on the flat was incredibly difficult for her. Right before I purchased Apollo, I rode a couple of fresh off the track horses that were for sale and it's true that depending on their trainer, their education can be significantly varied. I remember one horse couldn't trot in a straight line, but another had good transitions, was relatively straight and easy to bend. I can't even imagine what Leo was like to ride fresh off the track. Yikes!
Working Hills into Flatwork
So Karyn wanted to work on his engagement and adjustability using what she called "XC Dressage". On the side of a hill, we first walked, then trotted, then cantered a figure eight. The goal was to keep Leo's haunches and shoulders in line at all times. Coming down the hill, we collected using just my seat. Going up the hill, we extended. Karyn emphasized that everything comes from the haunches. In order to get the connection and steadiness in the connection, I first had to engage Leo's haunches. The hills force the issue more so than a flat ring.
Counter bending on a turn to a fence
We did add in one xc jump and Leo was foot perfect. Karyn said I had to take care approaching fences on a left turn. I need to counter bend this direction to help with straightness. Going to the left, Leo lands a good 1-2 feet further right than where he takes off. Sally also says that counter balancing is important because it frees up the inside hind leg, allowing the horse to engage it and bring it under their body. Since his left hind is his weak leg, the counter bend is especially important to help Leo engage that leg properly.
Keeping it Positive
I really appreciated Karyn's approach because her focus was extremely positive. At the end of the lesson, I had to list 3 things I thought we did really well. She said to make a habit of highlighting the positive, not the negative. Simply acknowledge what you need to work on, but don't dwell on it. One thing she said that I thought was really interesting, was that with horses "and" is how you need to think. Here's an example: Leo is spooking at the shadow and he needs to bend to the inside. Rather than: Leo is spooking at the shadow, but he should be bending to the inside. "But" is a negative bridge while "and" is a positive bridge. Karyn said with horses its very important to think positively all the time.
Good Things We Did:
One of the first observations every one has about Leo, is his long back. They immediately anticipate (correctly) that it's difficult for him to engage his haunches. Karyn picked up on this too. Karyn also called out that his crookedness - leaning on the right side and dropping his haunches right - is a clear indication of the crapping riding & training he had in his track days. She said at the lower level tracks on the east coast, the quality of exercise riders is pretty poor. Riders lock one of the reins in order to slow the horse, but the horse merely learns to run laterally. In Leo's case, he drops his haunches tot the right which ensures that he never has to bring his left hind under his body. Hence his weak left hind leg.
When I bought Leo, Carrie Butler mentioned that his race trainer was horrible and starting Leo on the flat was incredibly difficult for her. Right before I purchased Apollo, I rode a couple of fresh off the track horses that were for sale and it's true that depending on their trainer, their education can be significantly varied. I remember one horse couldn't trot in a straight line, but another had good transitions, was relatively straight and easy to bend. I can't even imagine what Leo was like to ride fresh off the track. Yikes!
Working Hills into Flatwork
So Karyn wanted to work on his engagement and adjustability using what she called "XC Dressage". On the side of a hill, we first walked, then trotted, then cantered a figure eight. The goal was to keep Leo's haunches and shoulders in line at all times. Coming down the hill, we collected using just my seat. Going up the hill, we extended. Karyn emphasized that everything comes from the haunches. In order to get the connection and steadiness in the connection, I first had to engage Leo's haunches. The hills force the issue more so than a flat ring.
Counter bending on a turn to a fence
We did add in one xc jump and Leo was foot perfect. Karyn said I had to take care approaching fences on a left turn. I need to counter bend this direction to help with straightness. Going to the left, Leo lands a good 1-2 feet further right than where he takes off. Sally also says that counter balancing is important because it frees up the inside hind leg, allowing the horse to engage it and bring it under their body. Since his left hind is his weak leg, the counter bend is especially important to help Leo engage that leg properly.
Keeping it Positive
I really appreciated Karyn's approach because her focus was extremely positive. At the end of the lesson, I had to list 3 things I thought we did really well. She said to make a habit of highlighting the positive, not the negative. Simply acknowledge what you need to work on, but don't dwell on it. One thing she said that I thought was really interesting, was that with horses "and" is how you need to think. Here's an example: Leo is spooking at the shadow and he needs to bend to the inside. Rather than: Leo is spooking at the shadow, but he should be bending to the inside. "But" is a negative bridge while "and" is a positive bridge. Karyn said with horses its very important to think positively all the time.
Good Things We Did:
- Responsive collections downhill!
- Good simple changes at the canter!
- Perfect jumping efforts!
Karyn wanted me to pick one thing I wanted to improve with Leo in the next 6 months. I would like to improve our trot lengthenings over the next 6 months. This will require engagement of the hind quarters so its a good goal that should have larger benefits :)
Karyn had one more interesting insight which I wanted to write down: A 4 minute dressage test has 12 transitions (at training). How often in our day-to-day training do we do 12 transitions within the span of 4 minutes? Rarely if ever, so it's no wonder that a dressage test can blow a horse's mind. I need to add more transitions to my training rides.
Jumping Brilliance!
This morning, I took Leo out for a jump school. It was cool, 63 degrees and very windy, but Leo was absolutely perfect. All the fences were set at 3-3'3" and he was AMAZING. We warmed up over a couple verticals. Then jumped a vertical to oxer line. It was a holding 6 or forward 5. We hit the forward five. We jumped an oxer to 1-stride combination line. The distance was a holding 5 or forward 4 from the oxer to the combination. Again we hit the forward distance. Then we cantered into the triple: one long stride to 2 short strides. He was a machine!!
Now granted, I did not practice the holding distances (which I probably should have). But it was so much fun and he was so sharp and confident, I left it where it was. So proud of us! We are REALLY in-sync these days with the jumping. I'm getting more confident riding him really forward. He's careful and rarely touches a fence. The last time through the triple, I yelled whoa twice but didn't touch my reins and he took care of everything. I love jumping this horse!!
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