Where are we?

Spring is finally here.

The sun is once again giving us some warmth during daytime and the snow is decreasing, even if the temperature still drops quite low during night time.

It is daylight outside when I leave and come home from work. Marvellous!

A little more than a year has passed since I started the English part of my blogging life.

When looking back, I must confess that the last year has been a year where our progress in the dressage work has taken longer time than I had planned.
I suppose that comes down to me being an impatient person with a vivid interest of dressage, but sadly not with an ability to match my hopes.

Oh well, that’s the disadvantage of being an optimist.

So where are we, and what do we need to work on?

The last period I have been concentrating on getting Fame to relax and to stay supple.

She easily tenses up, and sometimes she also braces against the bit.

A large portion of the problem here has been me.
As always *sigh*

It is so easy to tense up as a rider when your horse is tense.

The task has been to keep my hands and arms flexible and soft, but to be stronger in my seat and mid section of the body.

Getting middle aged for sure doesn’t help.

I could very much need some extra training to strengthen my absent abdominal muscles, but I know that will stay on the to-do-list for a new and better life.

In this present one I have more than enough to keep family, work and horses afloat.

I need to keep working on strong body, soft hands.

I feel that I have had some aha-moments, and that I have a clearer perception of where I need to go.

Unfortunately that doesn’t equal getting there!

To help myself to improve my seat I will continue to ride bareback.

It is a very good help to get you balanced and centered, and also to get a better feel for your horse's movements.

I also have to focus on having Fame in front of the aids at all times, with an improved hind leg activity and contact to the bit.

I have to be clearer in what response I can accept, or not.

The demands on hind leg activity will be larger in the work to come.

We need to get there, but without any fuzz.
Pushing limits, but also making sure that she has the necessary strength and understands what I want.
Keeping her supple through the exercises, combined with a good contact and rythm are the main parameters.

In spite of all this, I can see that both Fame and I are stronger than we were a year ago.

We can keep the up-tempo work for a longer time without the need for the breaks that we needed a year ago.

As long as she is relaxed, the canter work is going well.

Extensions, collections, counter-canter.

As opposed to the situation a year ago, she is obedient and keeps her balance in the transitions.

If she is tense, she sometimes changes behind when I ask her to collect.
Again, I need to keep her supple at all times.

Shoulder-in works tolerably ok in all three gaits.
Still needs more work, but she is more stable and balanced than she was a year ago.
Sometimes we get the right floating feeling, but it is not consistent.

We have started with half-pass trot and canter, but they need more work.

We need to improve the trot work.

She gets too open in her form in the extensions, and we need in general to play around more with collection/extensions to improve elasticity.

I found out the hard way in the dressage show that we need to work on extended walk too.
Fame is talented with a good walk, but I normally walk her either with loose reins, or at a working walk, so again, my fault.
We should be able to get some extra points here with some more training.
Walk pirouettes need improvement too.

We have also been working quite a lot on the very important work with straightening, mainly with the help of counter shoulder-ins along the long sides of the arena (trot and canter), but also with counter-canter.
She is not stiff, more the flexible type who easily pops out here and there....

I very much miss mirrors when I ride. My perception of where she is (and where I am) is not necessarily where we are!

We have taken a good step forward compared with the situation in October, I know that.

I am able to handle her tenseness better, i. e. work through it and get her supple.
What we need now is more consistency in the work, to get her straighter and thus achieving more throughness in the work.
Sometimes we get there, and it’s such a wonderful feeling.

I want more!

Isn't a sleeping cat the cutest thing in the world?

Thanks again to my daughter for all the pics.