Introduction to First Level

The last 2 weeks since I took the "For Sale" ads down have been really, really good.

As it turns out, I did end up caving and taking out an old pair of nylon cord draw reins that I own from my jumper days. I hate those things, but I clipped them on Lily just to have them there. While riding her for the girls that came to see her, I realized we needed a hell of a lot more work on our canter. We had not really cantered in over a month, and while performing for the prospective buyers, I realized just how rusty Lily had become. My idea was to have the draw reins on, and if necessary, give a suggestion (never, EVER cranking down on the draw reins) for her to bring down her head at the canter. 

The result? My draw reins are the kind that clip onto the girth loop and the bit (instead of running throught the bit rings). Just having that little bit of extra weight on the bit was enough to get Lily to really think about arching her neck and lowering her head. My legs did the rest to bring her back up and her hind end engaged, and it was sooo much easier to get her on the bit at the walk and trot! The draw reins flapped loosely between her front legs the entire time. It was the weight of them on the bit that did the rest.

For cantering, I did use a little bit of light contact on the draw reins, only enough to put pressure on the bit if she lifted her head above a normal head carriage. The first couple of sessions re-introducing the canter, Lily was completely dropping her left shoulder on the left lead and leaning in; because of this, it was almost impossible to keep her on the rail going to the left. In Mary Wanless's book "The Natural Rider", she discusses that to correct this, you should make sure that your weight is evenly distributed across your seat bones. So I did the opposite of what I used to do in jumpers-for years and years, I was always told to step into the outside stirrup, to avoid getting dumped on the inside of a tight bend when doing rollbacks and tight turns at a gallop. This time, I distributed my weight evenly in the saddle, and all of a sudden, like magic, Lily straightened.

We've continued practicing this in our workout sessions for the last 2 weeks, and doing 2 wonderful exercises that Judy gave me in my last lesson about 3 weeks ago: the loopy serpentines that I described before, and the giant X. For the X exercise, we would post at a working trot down the long side of the arena, turn the first corner, collect and sit the trot, and at the 2nd corner, launch into a medium trot crossing the diagonal to change direction. In the opposite corner, half halt, 10 m circle (I added the circles to make it harder), down the short side of the arena at a collected sitting trot, up the long side at working trot rising, and repeat the exercise. Lily really seemed to enjoy this, and has been responding by being slinky-like in her flexibility and willingness to bend, while staying on the bit for longer periods of time. We've also started practicing simple lead changes again at the canter, and just staying on the rail down the long side of the arena at the canter-we usually do a lot of 20m circles.

We've also been working on the trail the last 2 weeks - once we went out by ourselves and just did an extended free walk around the park; another time we went with Dianne and Mark, also just walking, but since Lily wanted to power walk in front, I had her doing zig-zag leg yields across the trail on the straightaways so we wouldn't put too much distance between us and Dianne and Mark; and the 3rd time, we went by ourselves again for a proper conditioning ride, where Lily glided down the trails at a trot, neck arched and on the bit most of the time.

I finally had another lesson with Judy Saturday. I'd been really excited to show her our progress, as the day before, Lily had been absolutely amazing, actually staying on the bit for a full 15 min at the end of our ride. This was the first time she's done this for that long while in the arena. She's been getting better and better at simple lead changes within 3-4 strides as well, and the other day while attempting to push her into a shoulder-fore at the canter, she actually did a flying lead change! The funny thing was that she scared herself and tried to bolt...*lol*...silly girl. I think it's the first time she's ever done a flying change under saddle; she can do them effortlessly on the lunge and at liberty.

I did place the draw reins on Lily for the lesson, but they were slack as ever. I demonstrated our warm-up loopy serpentines, which I've made more difficult by doing mini leg-yields to push Lily into the bends. She has been responding really well to this, and Saturday was no different. Judy was impressed. After we'd done loopy serpentines up and down the arena at a walk, Judy had us practice real leg yields. We'd walk down the center line, I'd make sure I was sitting with my weight distributed evenly in the saddle, look where I wanted to go, and push Lily over with the opposite leg. Leg yields to the left were effortless. To the right it was a little harder-her hind end trailed somewhat. We worked on this for a few minutes, then switched to something else-the giant X. Judy had us circle BEFORE crossing the diagonal. This was harder than what I had been doing on my own, as it meant getting Lily organized, without changing the pace, before sending her across the diagonal. Again, Judy was very happy with our progress.

We then practiced simple lead changes, which Lily nailed fairly well. Good thing we'd been practicing! I asked if Lily was even remotely on the bit at the canter, as it always feels like she's going down hill. Judy had me work on my position, and I made the conscious effort to stay even in the saddle. At one point, I felt Lily lighten on the bit and arch her neck-she was on the bit.

We then repeated everything without the draw reins-it made no difference! Lily's performance was just as good without them! She was even on point with her trot-halt transitions. I was thrilled, and so was Judy.

On Sunday, I rode for 45 minutes without the draw reins, and Lily gave me another amazing ride. Maybe it's a new trend? :)