Amateur Dressage

[This is a Blog entry that I have set so that Everyone can see it.] 

This past weekend I had the opportunity to ride in a clinic with Jennifer Baumert. The clinic was organized by Lighten Up Dressage and held at Goose Crossing Farm. This was the second time in a month that I've been able to ride with a USDF-certified instructor. As someone who teaches and who has had (probably too much) training in learning theory and pedagogy, I really appreciated the way my lessons with both of these certified instructors went. There was a clear direction and focus for each lesson. In each case, we worked on improving one or two things only. It made it easy for me to stay focused on making a change or two and understanding the impact of the change.

For my lesson with Ms. Baumert, she had my 19yo TBX and I working on our transitions between and within gaits. The two things that we really focused on were: for me, to stay sitting with him rather than against him. When I audited a clinic with Jennifer earlier this summer I mentioned this was a theme (see this blog entry) that emerged with many of the riders. When I put it into practice with my horse the result was that there was much less tension in the transitions and it was much easier to keep him coming through and over his back in the transitions. The change in my position was really minimal, but I tried to keep my shoulders just a little bit in front of my hips and avoided tilting my seat back (which would put me in a driving position). For my dear horse, we worked on keeping him through and engaged in the transitions. I am guilty of allowing him off easy in the stride or two before and after the transitions. He was quite willing to keep moving and coming through during the transitions, but I did have to be very mindful to require it of him.

Another epiphany (and apologies to all the instructors who have told me this a million times over) was that I shouldn't half-half if I don't have my horse coming through. This was truly a light-bulb moment for me but it suddenly just made sense this weekend. When my horse gets a little disorganized and I lose his back, it's too late for a half-halt. So, at this moment, I will work to get his back again and then retry the half-halt. I had been trying to half-halt if my horse got discombobulated or otherwise strung-out and running, at which point the half-halt only had the effect of making things worse.

I look forward to seeing the effect of these small changes over the next couple of weeks and also look forward to the next clinic!