Confirmation...

Here we are at 5 years old...4 years together...hopefully many, many, many more years to go.  I feel like a proud mother, believing my horse is the cutest, smartest and most honest that I've ever been privileged to call my own.  That our partnership is a good one and my hard work the past three years under saddle bringing him along has been well spent.

So yesterday as I prepared for our first dressage clinic with a real dressage instructor and judge, Jane Weatherwax, I was nervous.  No, he's not a fancy warmblood, or a jaw dropping FEI prospect.  But in my mind, he is well built and correctly trained thus far.  He is no slouch and I am sure he's at the cusp of a great eventing career.

Riders at the lower levels of eventing know that while it's not over until it's over...generally speaking placing often rests on dressage score.  It's imperative to put in a great test to finish in the top placing as most people can stuff their horses over the under 3 foot fences in show jumping and cross country.  With all that in mind I was anxious to get some feedback on how my horse is coming along in his flatwork.

In the sweltering heat (90+) we showed off our walk, trot and canter.  Nothing fancy, nothing more than 20 meter circles, diagonal lines and long sides.  The net result was as follows, my two favorite comments of the day:

Jane:  "I like him"
Me:  "Yeah, he is pretty cute."
Jane: "No, he's not cute, he's NICE.  Cute is what you call a horse that you can't figure out something good to say about.  He looks good, especially for 5."

Me:  "Thank you so much, that was a great ride!"
Jane: "You did great.  You're a good rider, nice feel and really balanced.  I mean it, I dont BS about this stuff or say it if I dont mean it."
Me:  "Haha, well then EXTRA thank you's!  I appreciate that!"

She also noted that he is not near done growing and to keep working him over his back to build up his topline.  We worked on using my leg to 'thump' his side vs. digging my heel up and in.  We also worked on not letting him hang on the right rein by vibrating it and letting go, so he can't grab on to it.  The big ah-ha was his trot to canter transition.  I have been slowing the trot, collecting him up into a little package, then cantering.  Jane encouraged me to canter from a forward trot, without all that prep.  He needs to be up in front and trucking along behind, then canter.  She reminded me that he needs to march in the free walk and medium walk, not shuffle along.  Finally she had me use my knee {pressed into the saddle} to catch his right shoulder going out to the left when we're making left turns or on left circles when he tries to pop out.

The little tweaks she made to our routine really made Pongo happy.  Thump vs. dig, vibrate vs. hold-hold-hold, and forward trot into the canter transition.  Good stuff.  She reminded me that he is only 5, and as such needs frequent breaks in his work to regroup mentally and that he doesnt need to be going around in an elevated, collected frame.  I need to focus on working him up over the back, developing swinging gaits so that he's got the muscles in all the right places in his topline to carry himself in a more advanced frame.  We have a little ways to go with his neck and lower back.

She will be back in November and you bet we're going to ride with her again!  I appreciate how positive she was, I left feeling good about my horse and the work we've done together.  She didnt upheave our whole way of going, just a few tips and tweaks that made a big difference.  That in my mind makes for a great clinic!