This week in lessons I am hoping we can ride outside...I wonder if rocket will be able to handle it? The mosquitoes aren't quite as bad as they have been.
We are going to work on transitions on the flat, and adding strides in lines for jumping...we will see who can do the least strides in a line while still making the one stride leading up to the line. This will also help rider's work on counting strides and developing an eye.
Remember that when trying to add strides, you want to shorten early so the last stride before the jump can be a little more flowing...you don't want to pull them to the base.
Karen
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
This morning started with a nice visit from Janine. She helped me bring the boys up from the grass for the vet...they did not want to leave the grass as there was an absence of mosquitoes. Ginger tried to help too by barking at Dexter and S'Argent...and is lucky that she was able to avoid the equine karate kicks.
After the vet visit it was time to go to Amberlea; it was odd packing and loading for one. I missed having Clare with me. Maybe next year a few others will be ready to do the big shows too. It is more fun to show with company!
It has been so dry I thought Amberlea was finally free of its rain curse. Even though we had rain here, it wasn't enough to do more than keep the dust down, so I was surprised to see lots of mud and puddles everywhere. Once again standing water in the show ring...Brie is thrilled and was a little sucked back which affects my Freestyle timing, but now that I have done enough of the things I am not going to get so stressed over it.
I met some nice people that came from Manitoba for the show with some lovely horses. Seemed like quite a drive to come to Amberlea, so I hope they have a good show.
Fortunately it did not rain today, so setting up at the show went well, and we didn't have to jump without stirrups in lessons...I am sure it will rain again some week though!
Karen
After the vet visit it was time to go to Amberlea; it was odd packing and loading for one. I missed having Clare with me. Maybe next year a few others will be ready to do the big shows too. It is more fun to show with company!
It has been so dry I thought Amberlea was finally free of its rain curse. Even though we had rain here, it wasn't enough to do more than keep the dust down, so I was surprised to see lots of mud and puddles everywhere. Once again standing water in the show ring...Brie is thrilled and was a little sucked back which affects my Freestyle timing, but now that I have done enough of the things I am not going to get so stressed over it.
I met some nice people that came from Manitoba for the show with some lovely horses. Seemed like quite a drive to come to Amberlea, so I hope they have a good show.
Fortunately it did not rain today, so setting up at the show went well, and we didn't have to jump without stirrups in lessons...I am sure it will rain again some week though!
Karen
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Thank you for the rain!
As much as it was disappointing to have to revert to teaching inside, the rain was very welcome; we need it to get the grass growing and reduce the fire risk. And of course it wouldn't be an Amberlea dressage show if we didn't have rain!
Here's hoping the cold weather put an end to the mosquitoes and not that it is encouraging new ones.
If it rains tomorrow night, students can look forward to jumping without stirrups!
Karen
As much as it was disappointing to have to revert to teaching inside, the rain was very welcome; we need it to get the grass growing and reduce the fire risk. And of course it wouldn't be an Amberlea dressage show if we didn't have rain!
Here's hoping the cold weather put an end to the mosquitoes and not that it is encouraging new ones.
If it rains tomorrow night, students can look forward to jumping without stirrups!
Karen
Monday, May 23, 2011
Westwood Warmblood Dressage Daze
Laureen (with Shawn), Tamara (with Tango) and I (with Pony) had a great show yesterday at Westwood Warmbloods. The show was very well run, and went quite smoothly. They even had a volunteer show Steward there which was nice; gets us in a habit of doing things correctly.
We all did Training Level test 2 and First Level test 1.
Shawn seemed quite shocked and dismayed when he unloaded from the trailer to realize he had no idea where he was. To make matters worse he was put about as far from any other horses as he could be when we got there (Tango and Pony were side by side) and he was not impressed. Some hay and the arrival of a neighbour helped to calm his nerves, but he did have a bit of a deer in the headlights look for his first test! I had forgotten that Shawn really hasn't been out much.
Tango started the day letting us know she was VERY in heat and was rather pleasant...other than the peeing and the calling to Pony.
Pony thought it was all quite exciting and enjoyed the carrots that would randomly come her way. I have discovered she is not a fan of goats. Note to self; keep her from seeing them next time! Apparently seeing me on Pony is a source of entertainment for some, but she definitely showed she belongs in the dressage ring with scores over 65% in both tests!
The horses and riders all did very well, with respectable scores. Nobody went off test or had a major flaw, and Tango refrained from peeing during her time in the ring. Tango came home with a first and a second, Shawn with a second and a third, and Pony with two firsts.
It rained a bit on our way home, but we couldn't really have asked for better weather for a horse show in May. I look forward to their June show!
Karen
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
IMPORTANT NOTICE
There is currently an EVA-1 outbreak in the US, with confirmed cases in Alberta, BC and Saskatchewan. EVA-1 is a HIGHLY contagious disease that is VERY easily spread. The original outbreak started at a reining/cutting event in UTAH, and so far the risk at dressage/jumping shows in our area is minimal (no more than usual).
EVA-1 can be FATAL, and can be transfer ed through DIRT, human contact/clothing and other ways. PLEASE restrict your visiting of other barns until this outbreak is fully under control.
There is NO proven vaccine against EVA-1 although the rhino vaccine (which our horses have) is reportedly of some help in reducing the severity of symptoms.
We will be watching this as it progresses, and deciding on the safety of going to shows on a show by show basis. We will be limiting haul in lessons, and paying close attention to our horses for early signs of the disease.
The first sign is a elevated temperature, so horses going to shows will have their temperatures taken regularly.
Meanwhile there are also confirmed cases of strangles in the area, so precautions need to be taken against that disease as well! I will be doing up a protocol and posting it in the barn.
Please do not hesitate to discuss this with me.
Karen
EVA-1 can be FATAL, and can be transfer ed through DIRT, human contact/clothing and other ways. PLEASE restrict your visiting of other barns until this outbreak is fully under control.
There is NO proven vaccine against EVA-1 although the rhino vaccine (which our horses have) is reportedly of some help in reducing the severity of symptoms.
We will be watching this as it progresses, and deciding on the safety of going to shows on a show by show basis. We will be limiting haul in lessons, and paying close attention to our horses for early signs of the disease.
The first sign is a elevated temperature, so horses going to shows will have their temperatures taken regularly.
Meanwhile there are also confirmed cases of strangles in the area, so precautions need to be taken against that disease as well! I will be doing up a protocol and posting it in the barn.
Please do not hesitate to discuss this with me.
Karen
Photos from today
First off a photos of the barn crew:
And here are the fashionable fillies in their new fly gear. Well, some of it is new; Cara got her dam's hand-me-downs.
They were all lined up perfectly but then Ginger had to shake her head...which Charlie didn't care much for.
And here are the fashionable fillies in their new fly gear. Well, some of it is new; Cara got her dam's hand-me-downs.Karen
Monday, May 16, 2011
Please tell me the worst of the wind is past! Of course now the mosquitos will move in. The little biters seem particularly attracted to poor dexter who was covered in them last night despite the wind.
The week in lessons I am REALLY hoping to get outside again, but only if it isn't crazy windy! Not sure I will bother building a course out there, but perhaps at least a warm up jump.
Going to continue to work on inside/outside bending to create a laterally supple and responsive horse. May try some counter canter if we are outside (bigger space makes it easier). If we are inside...maybe some fun no stirrup work?
Karen
The week in lessons I am REALLY hoping to get outside again, but only if it isn't crazy windy! Not sure I will bother building a course out there, but perhaps at least a warm up jump.
Going to continue to work on inside/outside bending to create a laterally supple and responsive horse. May try some counter canter if we are outside (bigger space makes it easier). If we are inside...maybe some fun no stirrup work?
Karen
Friday, May 13, 2011
All that rain =
Mosquitos are out in full force already. From nothing to swarms of them on the horses, so bring out your fly spray and fly sheets!
karen
karen
I am addicted...
To xtranormal....
New videos:
Shopping for Tritan... I decided to leave out the part where her two kids were using a lunge whip to chase two loose horses in the ring WHILE I was trying to look at his feet. It was fun. Christine ended up with a nice horse though!
Showing at Amberlea Although some of this would apply to horse shows everywhere!
Karen
New videos:
Shopping for Tritan... I decided to leave out the part where her two kids were using a lunge whip to chase two loose horses in the ring WHILE I was trying to look at his feet. It was fun. Christine ended up with a nice horse though!
Showing at Amberlea Although some of this would apply to horse shows everywhere!
Karen
Is it possible? Has the wind actually died down?
Not without taking some casualties though...a few neighbourhood horse shelters are now on their sides. Fortunately no horses were hurt.
As I was putting the geldings out on grass today, it occurred to me; for the first time EVER, Hillside has more mares than geldings on property! When black Java leaves this weekend we will be at a 50/50 split which is still unusual. Weather permitting, mares will start going out on grass next week. Other than the private pen horses, they should all be able to go out on grass this year which will be nice!
Karen
Not without taking some casualties though...a few neighbourhood horse shelters are now on their sides. Fortunately no horses were hurt.
As I was putting the geldings out on grass today, it occurred to me; for the first time EVER, Hillside has more mares than geldings on property! When black Java leaves this weekend we will be at a 50/50 split which is still unusual. Weather permitting, mares will start going out on grass next week. Other than the private pen horses, they should all be able to go out on grass this year which will be nice!
Karen
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Waiting.
Do you ever feel like you spend too much of your life waiting?
When you are a kid you are waiting for Christmas, your Birthday, Summer Vacation, to be able to Drive, to have your own car, to date, to graduate.
Then you get older and you are waiting to move out, get a real job, get some time off, save up for a better car, get married, get a better paying job, save money.
Time moves on and you are waiting for summer, vacation days, your kids to move out, retirement.
Less fortunate people have their lives on hold waiting to see specialists or for an organ donation to become available (reminder to sign your organ donor card!).
And there are the day to day waits; waiting at the doctor's office, waiting for the weekend to get here, waiting for the work day to be over, waiting for the farrier to show up (or is that just my day?).
As horse riders we spend time waiting to get our own horse, waiting to get a better horse, waiting to be able to ride outside, waiting for show season.
I wonder how much life is wasted waiting?
Right now I am waiting for this stupid wind to die down.
Karen
When you are a kid you are waiting for Christmas, your Birthday, Summer Vacation, to be able to Drive, to have your own car, to date, to graduate.
Then you get older and you are waiting to move out, get a real job, get some time off, save up for a better car, get married, get a better paying job, save money.
Time moves on and you are waiting for summer, vacation days, your kids to move out, retirement.
Less fortunate people have their lives on hold waiting to see specialists or for an organ donation to become available (reminder to sign your organ donor card!).
And there are the day to day waits; waiting at the doctor's office, waiting for the weekend to get here, waiting for the work day to be over, waiting for the farrier to show up (or is that just my day?).
As horse riders we spend time waiting to get our own horse, waiting to get a better horse, waiting to be able to ride outside, waiting for show season.
I wonder how much life is wasted waiting?
Right now I am waiting for this stupid wind to die down.
Karen
Monday, May 9, 2011
This week in lessons
This week in lessons advanced lessons will be doing their flat work outside (weather permitting of course!). I want to get them used to being in the larger outdoor ring a bit on the flat before we start jumping out there! So if the weather is nice, all Monday and Thursday lessons should plan on being outside for flat work. Tuesday 5:30 lessons and possibly Wednesday 7:00 lessons will also hack outside.
We will be continuing to work on counter bending, and will be doing some counter bend at the canter. The most important thing to remember for the counter bend, is that you are bringing the horse's nose to the outside of the circle, and not that you are pushing the shoulder to the inside. Repeat to yourself; "indirect reins are evil...my hands should never cross the neck... reins do not control the shoulders".
This is building towards work on counter canter for advanced students... which is not to be confused with being on the wrong lead :)
Our course designer for the week is Christine!
Karen
We will be continuing to work on counter bending, and will be doing some counter bend at the canter. The most important thing to remember for the counter bend, is that you are bringing the horse's nose to the outside of the circle, and not that you are pushing the shoulder to the inside. Repeat to yourself; "indirect reins are evil...my hands should never cross the neck... reins do not control the shoulders".
This is building towards work on counter canter for advanced students... which is not to be confused with being on the wrong lead :)
Our course designer for the week is Christine!
Karen
Saturday, May 7, 2011
My moving making debut...
Those xtra normal videos regarding the vets and horse boarding, promted me to make some about horse selling and buying...all based on true stories.
Here is my first attempt!
The name of the horse has been changed to protect its identity.
Karen
Here is my first attempt!
The name of the horse has been changed to protect its identity.
Karen
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Thank you Rolo...and thank goodness for Ginger!
Hey Karen, Look what I caught for breakfast!
What do you mean you don't want it? It is still fresh! See...it is still breathing!
Thank goodness for Ginger who was quite happy to pick the still alive mouse up and take it outside to put it out of its misery. Rolo was not impressed by my ungratefulness and Ginger's theft and proceeded to walk around the house howling.
That will teach me not to leave the back door open so the cats can come and go...
Karen
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
This week in lessons...
This week in lessons we will be working on counter bend and flexions inside and outside. The most important thing to doing counter bend correctly is to remember that you are trying to take the horses nose and hip out, and not that you are trying to push the shoulder in. Pushing the shoulder in (usually with the hand crossing over the neck....) doesn't cause the horse to carry an outside bend, rather it causes the horse to drop its shoulder and/or get crooked.
When doing a counter bend, you also have to make sure that the rein on the side that the horse is bend towards needs to act like an inside rein and have a lot of give and softness; the bend needs to come from the leg on that side (at the girth). The opposite rein needs to act like an outside rein and maintain a steady contact that the horse can reach for and that prevents the horse from bending more than it is able to.
Doing counter bend to try bend exercises can really help show and correct how crooked a horse (or rider) is, as it is impossible to do this exercises correctly without having the horse balanced and working off leg aids.
For jumping, we will be doing Joan's course. It involves a fan jump, a skinny jump and a bounce.
It is interesting that Nicole's course diagram portrayed the arena as a tiny postage stamp space, whereas Joan's makes it look like a giant grand prix ring...perhaps perspective given their respective mounts?
Karen
When doing a counter bend, you also have to make sure that the rein on the side that the horse is bend towards needs to act like an inside rein and have a lot of give and softness; the bend needs to come from the leg on that side (at the girth). The opposite rein needs to act like an outside rein and maintain a steady contact that the horse can reach for and that prevents the horse from bending more than it is able to.
Doing counter bend to try bend exercises can really help show and correct how crooked a horse (or rider) is, as it is impossible to do this exercises correctly without having the horse balanced and working off leg aids.
For jumping, we will be doing Joan's course. It involves a fan jump, a skinny jump and a bounce.
It is interesting that Nicole's course diagram portrayed the arena as a tiny postage stamp space, whereas Joan's makes it look like a giant grand prix ring...perhaps perspective given their respective mounts?
Karen
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Freestyle Clinic
As much as the Amberlea show was fun, and the Dale Irwin and Karen Robinson clinic's informative and motivational, I will be looking forward to a weekend of not going anywhere next weekend!
The Freestyle clinic was great. As I wrote in my previous post, Karen is a very engaging speaker, and is in general a very encouraging person. These two traits made it easier to be open with ideas and opinions during the creative development process of making a Freestyle.
Day 1 started with me loading Brie and taking her over to Westwood Warmbloods. I have never had to load her by myself, but she hopped on and trailered well. The barn at Westwood is lovely, with the stalls looking into the alley on either side of the area, so the horses can watch the horses in the arena, and see right across to the horses on the other row.
The first day of the clinic was devoted to music selection; I was second rider in after Paula. It was interesting and helpful to watch Karen pick out music for Paula to ride to, and to see how some music worked, and others did not, even though they were set to the correct BPM (beats per minute).
Brie it turns out has very steady gaits, and is similar in her way of going to the left and right, so measuring her BPM was a quick process, although we needed to run through all our "tricks" such as lateral work, lengthening and such to make sure the rhythm was consistent for all our moves.
The Karen picked out some music for us; we decided Brie needed something elegant. My stipulation was I didn't want bells and whistles (and apparently I don't like to ride to Tambourines either). I did not think this an odd request, but apparently in all her years of doing Freestyles professionally, I am the first person ever, to not want to ride to a particular instrument. So apparently Rob is right and I am a tad on the difficult side at times... Of course as nobody had ever made that kind of request before, Karen realized she didn't actually really KNOW what instruments the music had, so there were a few false starts where the music reminded me too much of someone riding around with change in their pockets...
In the end we found a pretty music for both trot and canter. I will have to find some similar walk music as well based on the BMP information.
Day 2 we tried one more canter song...but this one had whistling, clapping and snapping! I tried to be a good sport and rode to it anyway, but was thankful that she didn't like it either. We decided to stick with the selections from day 1.
The choreography went very smoothly; Karen watched carefully as we did our canter and trot work to match the music, and noted the types of moves we played with and were good (or bad!) at. Today I did a few things in the warm up that I thought may work, and she agreed they looked good, so we integrated those ideas. She then added some lovely moves to fit in the remaining requirements and to add some time to the freestyle...it was just long enough by 3 seconds! I was pretty amazed that we were able to put together all the moves and able to ride it from start to finish if one 45 minute session!
Now I have the pattern it is up to me to time the transitions and edit the music as needed. Karen does this professionally, but I am too stubborn to pay for it ;)
This I learned;
1- a metronome really helps
2- having a music machine that allows you to alter the bmp on the fly really helps
3- when coming up with the choreography, consider what your horse finds easy, and use those moves to add difficulty to the test. The things your horse (or you) find hard should be done in the easiest fashion.
So...
I am thinking a few of you should set the goal of doing a training level freestyle at the bronze show in August! It will be fun, and I do think you need to do a few before you really understand and can do them well.
I also HIGHLY recommend a clinic with Karin Robinson if you get a chance! Even if just to audit (watch). It is so uplifting to be around such a positive person.
Karen
(PS: Paula....can't wait to see your freestyle! Wish I could have watched your day 2 stuff...but I loved your music selection on day 1!)
The Freestyle clinic was great. As I wrote in my previous post, Karen is a very engaging speaker, and is in general a very encouraging person. These two traits made it easier to be open with ideas and opinions during the creative development process of making a Freestyle.
Day 1 started with me loading Brie and taking her over to Westwood Warmbloods. I have never had to load her by myself, but she hopped on and trailered well. The barn at Westwood is lovely, with the stalls looking into the alley on either side of the area, so the horses can watch the horses in the arena, and see right across to the horses on the other row.
The first day of the clinic was devoted to music selection; I was second rider in after Paula. It was interesting and helpful to watch Karen pick out music for Paula to ride to, and to see how some music worked, and others did not, even though they were set to the correct BPM (beats per minute).
Brie it turns out has very steady gaits, and is similar in her way of going to the left and right, so measuring her BPM was a quick process, although we needed to run through all our "tricks" such as lateral work, lengthening and such to make sure the rhythm was consistent for all our moves.
The Karen picked out some music for us; we decided Brie needed something elegant. My stipulation was I didn't want bells and whistles (and apparently I don't like to ride to Tambourines either). I did not think this an odd request, but apparently in all her years of doing Freestyles professionally, I am the first person ever, to not want to ride to a particular instrument. So apparently Rob is right and I am a tad on the difficult side at times... Of course as nobody had ever made that kind of request before, Karen realized she didn't actually really KNOW what instruments the music had, so there were a few false starts where the music reminded me too much of someone riding around with change in their pockets...
In the end we found a pretty music for both trot and canter. I will have to find some similar walk music as well based on the BMP information.
Day 2 we tried one more canter song...but this one had whistling, clapping and snapping! I tried to be a good sport and rode to it anyway, but was thankful that she didn't like it either. We decided to stick with the selections from day 1.
The choreography went very smoothly; Karen watched carefully as we did our canter and trot work to match the music, and noted the types of moves we played with and were good (or bad!) at. Today I did a few things in the warm up that I thought may work, and she agreed they looked good, so we integrated those ideas. She then added some lovely moves to fit in the remaining requirements and to add some time to the freestyle...it was just long enough by 3 seconds! I was pretty amazed that we were able to put together all the moves and able to ride it from start to finish if one 45 minute session!
Now I have the pattern it is up to me to time the transitions and edit the music as needed. Karen does this professionally, but I am too stubborn to pay for it ;)
This I learned;
1- a metronome really helps
2- having a music machine that allows you to alter the bmp on the fly really helps
3- when coming up with the choreography, consider what your horse finds easy, and use those moves to add difficulty to the test. The things your horse (or you) find hard should be done in the easiest fashion.
So...
I am thinking a few of you should set the goal of doing a training level freestyle at the bronze show in August! It will be fun, and I do think you need to do a few before you really understand and can do them well.
I also HIGHLY recommend a clinic with Karin Robinson if you get a chance! Even if just to audit (watch). It is so uplifting to be around such a positive person.
Karen
(PS: Paula....can't wait to see your freestyle! Wish I could have watched your day 2 stuff...but I loved your music selection on day 1!)
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