This week the time had come for our group to ride through the dressage program our instructor had put together for us. The weather, alas, wasn’t on our side. It has rained a lot the last few days, and it kept on raining for most of today (well, yesterday, seeing as it is just past midnight now). It did clear up in the evening, but the wind remained behind and got a lot stronger. Lovely conditions for warming up in the paddock. ;P
Fortunately, the horses had already had some lessons today, so Murphy was pretty much clean and shiny when I got to the stables. I had entertained some notions about braiding his mane, but given that they recently pulled it, it was much too short and thin to do anything with. He’s got a thick tail (sadly its a rather odd blend of colours, though) and thick fetlocks, but a fairly sparse mane. I did make sure to brush him thoroughly, though given the conditions of the paddock that was pretty much a waste of time, and his mood was quite good today as well.
Once it was time for me to start my warm-up, about half an hour before I was due to ride my program, I took him down into the extremely windy paddock. I wondered if he’d react to the weather, given that one could hear all sorts of things rattled and whipped by the wind, but he was no more alert than he usually is outside. In fact, he was probably livelier last Thursday, during the private lesson inside the arena. However, he did have a fair bit of energy even so, and I thought I might manage to get him working quite well.
That, alas, proved to be an optimistic thought. He may have been alert, but the wind was so strong that I had a very hard time concentrating and riding any sort of consistent and thought-out fashion. The ground was also soggy enough that it was hard getting a good feel for how he was moving, even if he didn’t seem to mind in much (he was also quite happy to splash right through the big water puddles that some of the horses preferred to avoid). Still, I tried to follow my instructors advice, varying the exercises and focusing a lot on transitions to get him obedient for my seat, legs and hands. I wasn’t really able to get any hindleg activity comparable to during the private lesson, though after a couple of tries I did get him fairly responsive to aids for trot from walk or standstill and to canter from trot.
I also tried to focus some on circles, and a little bit on leg yields, but in both cases I should probably have worked on that in a more efficient fashion, with clearer goals set. Actually, that goes for most of the warm-up. I definitely spent too much time going through the motions instead of asking him to work properly. Its always hard, though, to do these things on your own when you do it maybe once every two or three years. And its even harder under the kind of conditions we had today. Everyone was saying the same, that the wind pretty much made thinking and planning impossible.
Given this, I wasn’t too surprised that the program itself didn’t go as well as I had hoped, even though that part was indoors. Once it was my turn, and I rode him in, I could feel right off that I had a lot of energy (even though I had put my whip aside, so that was good at least) but not really any collection. I tried to ask for a bit more while I was waiting to be told I could start, but now that I could think clearly again I could definitely tell I didn’t have him properly framed between my hands and legs. Too late to do anything about that then, though, so I got started.
I tried to remind myself not to rush from one exercise to the next, as I always do when riding a program, and I think I did somewhat better than usual. Still, I could have set him up better for most of the transitions, and I could have kept him steadier through the serpentines and the circles. He also surprised me, in the second set of serpentines, by spooking when I caught sight of the wheelbarrow in the corner. Very un-Murphy like, but I did have him quite on his toes. Fortunately, it was a pretty small balk, so I got back into the program quite quickly. The leg yields were ... so-so. A bit wobbly.
And then there was the canter. He was energized enough that he started cantering on the right spot each time, and I kept fairly still, though I got the wrong leading leg both times. In the comments we got back afterwards, my instructor noted that I rushed into the canter a bit and ended up unbalanced, which lead to the wrong lead. He also dropped down to a trot during the first set of canter exercises, though I think I managed to sit the canter fairly calmly, with something of the same feeling that I achieved last Thursday. The second time, I noticed the incorrect lead very late, and as such my correction was too slow. I also got a very wide turn for the turn onto the diagonal across half the arena.
So ... not a great ride, as such. I scored between 3 and 7 out of 10 (5 being passable), though she felt that the trotting sections of the program were done fairly well. Still, I enjoy these kinds of tests now and then, even though I know I generally perform below my usual level. I was also quite pleased that I managed to retain at least some of the improvements to the canter that I reached last Thursday, even though the circles and the diagonals could have been much better. But he would have needed a lot more work at canter to improve on that, and with the paddock as muddy as it was, it would have tired him out even more.
As it was, Murphy was seriously laid back when we got to the stables. He stood around half asleep as I brushed the mud off him and when I offered him some candy he just sniffed it, so I had to put it in his feeder instead. I hope he isn’t coming down with a fever or anything. He certainly felt perfectly fine when I rode him, and I think have seen him tired like this after class before, so I suspect he was just feeling a bit worn out. I certainly felt that way from riding in that wind myself.
Now, time to look through the pictures and the video I forced poor Elio to stand around and take while I was riding. From the sneak peak I’ve add, I still have a long way to go with my posture. I wish I could rope him into taking pictures and filming more often, to keep reminding me of what needs to be done. The camera, alas, doesn’t lie.