Stephen Bradley Clinic
This clinic was primarily focused on gymnastics but Stephen included a number of different exercises. The indoor was quite small, about the size of a small dressage ring. I am so spoiled at An Otherwise Perfect Farm.
Grid Exercise
While the distances were short, they didn't ride short - probably had something to do with how small the ring was. The turn into the grid was also quite tight. I had a problem preventing Leo from throwing his haunches to the right when we approached off the right turn. Leo has been a bit of a pig the past couple of days on the flat. In our dressage lesson with Courtney on Thursday, he was throwing his haunches every which way in an attempt to evade using his right hind and travel straight. The fact that I had a problem with it in our lesson with Stephen came as no surprise.
Cantering a Single Oxer
We moved from the grid to cantering a single oxer down the long side of the ring. We jumped this several times in succession. Stephen wanted us to maintain the same stride length and rhythm to the fence and away from the fence. Harder than it sounds! Leo preferred to come off the turn and charge the fence. This is where the clinic format and grid work are hard for Leo - it's a mental thing. They both require a lot of waiting and patience. It takes Leo a little while to settled when he starts cantering fences - cantering fences after waiting around and doing grid work is particularly hard for him. He's much more suited to my private lessons with Sally :)
Stephen wanted me to really set Leo down so that he didn't charge the fence. I did, but then Leo over corrected, got behind my leg and wouldn't move forward to the fence. (He'll show me!). But we eventually worked it out.
3 Stride Line
Stephen set these fences at close to training height and Leo was much more settled than with the smaller fences. We nailed the exercise riding from the vertical to the oxer. Then we had to ride the exercise the other direction. There was a longer approach to the oxer and Leo ate up the 3-stride distance. He was getting so bold, Stephen had me halt in front of the oxer in order to try and calm the jump into the line. Leo would halt, but as soon as he landed from the oxer, he lengthened his stride. The third stride was always tighter than the other 2.
Bounce
We finished by cantering through a bounce. The fences were quite small and Leo got really strung out again. On the right lead, he went back to throwing his haunches in around the turn. Stephen stressed that I have to be able to put my inside leg on and Leo needs to respect it and move off of it. I made a comment that I have trained myself to NOT put my leg on and wow, isn't that the truth. The hardest thing to realize with a hot horse, is that I HAVE to put my leg on. Leo hates rider input and he particular hates my leg. You'd think he would hate my hands more, but no, he actually hates my leg more. I think he understands that it's my leg that forces him to be straight and use his body in a way he doesn't want to.
Stephen helped me a little on the flat before he quit with me. Leo was disobeying my inside leg and dropping behind the vertical in my downward transitions - both evasion tactics. I wasn't allowed to stop until Leo was willing to keep his head up when I put my leg on to slow to a walk. He said to get him using his inside hind, I can practice haunches in on my downward transitions.
Thoughts
Overall, I really like Stephen and his low-key approach to teaching. We were in a novice/training group and I thought our group was a little mismatched. One horse had only been off-the-track since August - though he was really impressive in terms of where he was at in his education. Another rider was on the green side and her horse was stopping at everything, for no real reason. In hindsight, Jen and I probably should have ridden in the training/prelim group but you just never know. I wish the organizer had done a better job of dividing and grouping people.
The heights of the fences were definitely lower than what we're schooling at home. I kind of wonder if the straight forwardness of the exercises might have exasperated some of Leo's charging. Sally really keeps Leo on his toes with a lot of turns and angles, and he's more settled in those situations. Though now that I write this, I realize Stephen's exercises are probably closer to the questions we would see on a competition show jumping course - so if I'm having problems with control during his exercises that's something to think about.
I do think Leo is imploding a little bit this week. It makes me wonder if I've been working him too hard and he's sore because of it. We've been working on a lot of hard stuff lately and while he's only getting ridden 4-5 days a week, I think I need to work more light flatwork days into our routine so each back-to-back ride isn't pushing him and his buttons so hard. He gets a hack once a week, but I don't think that's enough light under-saddle work to keep him mentally happy.
It was a balmy 45 degrees today, so Jen and I took the boys for a nice long hack. We let them gallop a bit which they were quite happy about. Here's a picture of a part of the trail that requires us to walk upstream a little ways...
Grid Exercise
- Placing pole - cross rail - 18 ft - oxer - 19 ft. - oxer
While the distances were short, they didn't ride short - probably had something to do with how small the ring was. The turn into the grid was also quite tight. I had a problem preventing Leo from throwing his haunches to the right when we approached off the right turn. Leo has been a bit of a pig the past couple of days on the flat. In our dressage lesson with Courtney on Thursday, he was throwing his haunches every which way in an attempt to evade using his right hind and travel straight. The fact that I had a problem with it in our lesson with Stephen came as no surprise.
Cantering a Single Oxer
We moved from the grid to cantering a single oxer down the long side of the ring. We jumped this several times in succession. Stephen wanted us to maintain the same stride length and rhythm to the fence and away from the fence. Harder than it sounds! Leo preferred to come off the turn and charge the fence. This is where the clinic format and grid work are hard for Leo - it's a mental thing. They both require a lot of waiting and patience. It takes Leo a little while to settled when he starts cantering fences - cantering fences after waiting around and doing grid work is particularly hard for him. He's much more suited to my private lessons with Sally :)
Stephen wanted me to really set Leo down so that he didn't charge the fence. I did, but then Leo over corrected, got behind my leg and wouldn't move forward to the fence. (He'll show me!). But we eventually worked it out.
3 Stride Line
- Vertical - 45 ft. - oxer. Ground poles set so that the line can be ridden in either direction.
Stephen set these fences at close to training height and Leo was much more settled than with the smaller fences. We nailed the exercise riding from the vertical to the oxer. Then we had to ride the exercise the other direction. There was a longer approach to the oxer and Leo ate up the 3-stride distance. He was getting so bold, Stephen had me halt in front of the oxer in order to try and calm the jump into the line. Leo would halt, but as soon as he landed from the oxer, he lengthened his stride. The third stride was always tighter than the other 2.
Bounce
We finished by cantering through a bounce. The fences were quite small and Leo got really strung out again. On the right lead, he went back to throwing his haunches in around the turn. Stephen stressed that I have to be able to put my inside leg on and Leo needs to respect it and move off of it. I made a comment that I have trained myself to NOT put my leg on and wow, isn't that the truth. The hardest thing to realize with a hot horse, is that I HAVE to put my leg on. Leo hates rider input and he particular hates my leg. You'd think he would hate my hands more, but no, he actually hates my leg more. I think he understands that it's my leg that forces him to be straight and use his body in a way he doesn't want to.
Stephen helped me a little on the flat before he quit with me. Leo was disobeying my inside leg and dropping behind the vertical in my downward transitions - both evasion tactics. I wasn't allowed to stop until Leo was willing to keep his head up when I put my leg on to slow to a walk. He said to get him using his inside hind, I can practice haunches in on my downward transitions.
Thoughts
Overall, I really like Stephen and his low-key approach to teaching. We were in a novice/training group and I thought our group was a little mismatched. One horse had only been off-the-track since August - though he was really impressive in terms of where he was at in his education. Another rider was on the green side and her horse was stopping at everything, for no real reason. In hindsight, Jen and I probably should have ridden in the training/prelim group but you just never know. I wish the organizer had done a better job of dividing and grouping people.
The heights of the fences were definitely lower than what we're schooling at home. I kind of wonder if the straight forwardness of the exercises might have exasperated some of Leo's charging. Sally really keeps Leo on his toes with a lot of turns and angles, and he's more settled in those situations. Though now that I write this, I realize Stephen's exercises are probably closer to the questions we would see on a competition show jumping course - so if I'm having problems with control during his exercises that's something to think about.
I do think Leo is imploding a little bit this week. It makes me wonder if I've been working him too hard and he's sore because of it. We've been working on a lot of hard stuff lately and while he's only getting ridden 4-5 days a week, I think I need to work more light flatwork days into our routine so each back-to-back ride isn't pushing him and his buttons so hard. He gets a hack once a week, but I don't think that's enough light under-saddle work to keep him mentally happy.
It was a balmy 45 degrees today, so Jen and I took the boys for a nice long hack. We let them gallop a bit which they were quite happy about. Here's a picture of a part of the trail that requires us to walk upstream a little ways...
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