20 meters never felt so long

for those of you that aren't "horse-y", fair warning, this one will be a yawn...

today i had a lesson on jazz, who is sometimes affectionately referred to as "mare", "snortalicious" and "busy bee". said lesson was with most excellent dressage trainer IMO Chris Erbskorn, who can read me and my horse like a book and is slowly redeeming us from our multitude of sins- mine are of the "no dressage background" variety and hers are of the "i'm a racehorse, let me run" variety which coupled together is probably a big pain in his boohiney to train. anyway, he is patient and communicates well with me using analogies i can understand because sometimes dressage language is about as transparent as the waters of any lake in south georgia in august. sooo- mare was behaving herself well today and keeping her "track trash" attitude in check for the most part but was most especially ADD and looky at everything around us. sometimes she even makes up things to gaze at while i try to get her to stretch her neck down and out at the trot. mostly, i think she gets bored with my mundane ideas about what she is supposed to be doing and is waiting for the race to begin. she is not spooky at all- but enjoys a nice giraffe impression on a regular basis and just HAS to see what in the world that other horse that is 700 yards away is eating. so chris tells me to make myself more interesting to her- which is a fun game and a really effective tool so far. she is learning that my aids mean business and one day i'm hoping will figure out that it is far easier for her to stretch down and use her back consistently, than to be constantly reminded by me to do so. i have to give her credit though- she has a great work ethic and she has NEVER been asked to do such things as a racehorse. so the trotting got better and better and then we decided to "cue the horror movie music" CANTER...

don't get me wrong, mare can canter, i know she can since she happily does so in a well mannered and comfortable tempo and carriage when we jump, but lately, our trot to canter transitions have been, about on par for training level, bad, awful, horrendous. i chalk part of this up to the fact that spring has sprung and the horses are feeling good, and also during the winter i have her on a very specific cocktail of foods/supplements to keep her weight on, muscle building and coat/feet nice, which when coupled with fresh grass of spring and plentiful hay is basically the equine version of meth. so shes feelin' good and trying to say "mom- i really need to show you my god given talent for speed out of the gate" j/k- she just knows to use the front end of her body in upward transitions as it equates to more speed, but i am asking her to sit back on her butt and carry herself from behind- so at the moment she's a bit confuseled... and damn, i'm sure it's hard to do things in a way that your muscles are unaccustomed to. like try to walk up your stairs backwards and see if your boohiney doesn't protest a little. as of right now, our transitions are quick and reachy- she flings her front end and shoulders out from under us for this ground eating stride and she not so subtly says to me "let go of my face/neck NOW" by flinging her nose up in protest of my light connection to her mouth which was moments ago at the trot- quite elastic and mutually agreed upon. chris tells me to sit my ass back and half halt with the gusto of a wedding guest trying to stop the drunken members of a conga line behind her (i assured him i do not participate in conga lines EVER, but can still decode the meaning of this statement) and lead her around the circle with the "eye" being my belly button since she is simultaneously doing something underneath me than i can only imagine is what a travers with her shoulder would feel like mixed with a half pass in her back end all while trying to balance herself using my upper body as leverage- interesting to say the least. so i stopped the damn conga line- repeatedly and repeatedly and repeatedly! first time our circle turned into like a 56.2 meter egg and we broke at the top, then second circle still turned egg but we got two really good strides and her back came up and i could sit down and she listened to my leg, then we took a walk break since my stomach muscles were burning and then last circle OMG- we got it- the transition and first two strides were muddy but then the waters cleared and we got a real live canter for one entire 20 meter circle and let me tell you it felt like it was happening in slow motion- it was GREAT and i was soo afraid to i would lose it! the balance was there, the connection was there, her back was up- the tempo was there and she was even using her neck muscles correctly (which i had to sneak a peek at since chris yells at me that dressage is not about where her head and neck are until she is relaxed and powering from behind...ok ok ok)! it was like the fairies that sit on top of the dressage training pyramid had sprinkled sparkles and champagne and rose petals on us. bottom line is- those little victories add up to big ones one day- and my horse is athletic and smart and fun and challenging- all of which adds up to perfection in my book!

even though my abs are sore and my quads are tight and i know a decent 20m circle is nothing to write home about, one day when we get a great score on a test, i will get to celebrate with her that we did this together and we worked hard for it and it will mean so much more to me than if i just bought a "made" horse and was along for the ride while someone else's training paid for my blue ribbons... just sayin'

e.