So much to write about! I was going to try and write a post earlier, but there was just so much to talk about and I was exhausted. This is going to be an incredibly long post, so just be forewarned :)
So, Tuesday I made my way up to the clinic that was at Devonwood. It takes me about 2 and a half hours, so it's not a terrible drive, but just feels so long. I got there and settled Jetta in and checked in. The schedule for the day was to have lunch, do introductions, have a group schooling session, dinner and then a lecture.
Everyone was assigned a different instructor, mine was Meredith Crawford who trains at Donida Farm. At first I was a little tentative about having her. She was more quiet than the other instructors, not quite as bubbly or outgoing.
We had our schooling session and Jetta was okay. Not great, but not terrible. Meredith didn't really have me do anything - just commented that what I was doing (serpentines, circles, and transitions) was good and mentioned a couple things she wanted to work with me on later. I was a little worried because everyone else's instructors were working with them on specific exercises, while I only rode for maybe 20 minutes out of the full hour.
It was so hot! This was about 4pm and the sun was still full strength. Jetta got rinsed off and then put in her stall. I loved how this barn was set up, the facilities are gorgeous! There were temporary stalls set up for people coming to shows and three wash racks for competitors to use.
That evening after dinner we had a lecture on sporthorse conformation by a judge and breeder. I really enjoyed the lecture because I'm interested in functional conformation. She was a little bit negative about breeds other than warmbloods (I think good conformation is good conformation no matter the breed!) but of course warmbloods are bred to do dressage so it tends to come easier for them. She made a comment that "We're breeding elite athletes here!" which made me think, well aren't all horses bred to be athletes? I don't think jumping or reining or racing horses are any less of an athlete than a dressage horse! But it was a very good lecture and she had some great explanations for the why certain traits are good and bad. I thought it was awesome.
After dinner we had time to clean stalls and feed/water the horses and take them for walks. We went and grazed for a bit, then it was bed time! We had to sleep outside on the grass, which sucked because 1) the dew in the morning made everything wet and 2) I'm allergic to grass pollen, so sleeping on grass is not ideal. I slept absolutely terrible that night. I was freezing and the little kids were so hyper! How can they have that much energy?! Anyways, we were up at 6:30 in the morning to have breakfast and care for the horses. My lesson was at 8am which at first I was hoping for a later time so I could sleep in, but it was actually the best ride time to have because it was still a little bit cool out!
I had a fantastic lesson on Wednesday with Meredith. While I felt that she had some interesting ways of describing what she wanted me to do (in response to me lower leg swinging: pretend that the horse's barrel is a nut and your legs are a nutcracker and you want to crack the nut! Me: umm, ok? do you really want me to do that?) But Jetta was her usual brace-y and rush-y mess, though half way through the lesson the change was amazing! We worked on softening Jetta by playing with the bit a little, doing circles a lot and opening my inside rein a lot to help her bend. We also worked on my position, which I know is terrible on Jetta. Since she's always trying to yank me out of the tack, I've developed a defensive position which I know is terrible. She had me lean back more, especially in the canter which in turn helped me to still my lower leg (opening hip angle -> helps knee to point down and not allow it to swing as much). Weighting my elbows was something she had my work on to help lower my center of gravity so I couldn't be pulled out of the saddle as much. It's a hard concept, but it worked!
After our lesson, we walked around on the trails. They're kind of wimpy trails, but well maintained and nice to be able to walk around on. Jetta's feet were so great with all of the gravel! She got rinsed off and then I went and audited a couple lessons. I really enjoyed watching the different instructor's styles. I made friends with a group of girls, they all had adorable Arabian horse and they were super nice.
After lunch we had two different lectures. The first was about Centered Riding. At first I was a little skeptical, but a lot of the ideas seemed to make sense. She mentioned something about using your elbows to lower your center of gravity which reinforced what my instructor had me do in my lesson. Unfortunately it was more geared towards the younger kids (this camp was for 7 to 21 year olds) which was really disappointing. After that we had a lecture on using a training notebook, by Barnby notes. It was a little bit geared towards marketing the Barnby notes, but there was more information that made it educational too. I like having a blog as my training journal because I get to share it with other people and make it my own personal space to talk about whatever might be on my mind, not just training. The Barnby notes program is similar because you can have an open, online journal to write about your rides and people can comment on it, so it's more of a focused type of blog really.
We had dinner, then took care of the horses. We had another lecture by a vet. I was really excited and hoped in would be really interesting and something that I could learn a lot from. Unfortunately, I was really disappointed. It was geared towards that little kids (again) and basically he talked about how to be safe around your horse, some of his interesting cases that could have been avoided by using safety practices. It was super boring and I was disappointed.
Again, we had to sleep outside, so I stole Jetta's cooler so I could be warmer :) At least this time they had a movie going inside so that those who wanted to sleep, could! I was looking forward to our lesson the next day and wondering what we were going to work on.
To be continued...
So, Tuesday I made my way up to the clinic that was at Devonwood. It takes me about 2 and a half hours, so it's not a terrible drive, but just feels so long. I got there and settled Jetta in and checked in. The schedule for the day was to have lunch, do introductions, have a group schooling session, dinner and then a lecture.
 |
| Our stall set up |
Everyone was assigned a different instructor, mine was Meredith Crawford who trains at Donida Farm. At first I was a little tentative about having her. She was more quiet than the other instructors, not quite as bubbly or outgoing.
We had our schooling session and Jetta was okay. Not great, but not terrible. Meredith didn't really have me do anything - just commented that what I was doing (serpentines, circles, and transitions) was good and mentioned a couple things she wanted to work with me on later. I was a little worried because everyone else's instructors were working with them on specific exercises, while I only rode for maybe 20 minutes out of the full hour.
It was so hot! This was about 4pm and the sun was still full strength. Jetta got rinsed off and then put in her stall. I loved how this barn was set up, the facilities are gorgeous! There were temporary stalls set up for people coming to shows and three wash racks for competitors to use.
 |
| One of 6 gorgeous outdoor dressage arenas. |
That evening after dinner we had a lecture on sporthorse conformation by a judge and breeder. I really enjoyed the lecture because I'm interested in functional conformation. She was a little bit negative about breeds other than warmbloods (I think good conformation is good conformation no matter the breed!) but of course warmbloods are bred to do dressage so it tends to come easier for them. She made a comment that "We're breeding elite athletes here!" which made me think, well aren't all horses bred to be athletes? I don't think jumping or reining or racing horses are any less of an athlete than a dressage horse! But it was a very good lecture and she had some great explanations for the why certain traits are good and bad. I thought it was awesome.
After dinner we had time to clean stalls and feed/water the horses and take them for walks. We went and grazed for a bit, then it was bed time! We had to sleep outside on the grass, which sucked because 1) the dew in the morning made everything wet and 2) I'm allergic to grass pollen, so sleeping on grass is not ideal. I slept absolutely terrible that night. I was freezing and the little kids were so hyper! How can they have that much energy?! Anyways, we were up at 6:30 in the morning to have breakfast and care for the horses. My lesson was at 8am which at first I was hoping for a later time so I could sleep in, but it was actually the best ride time to have because it was still a little bit cool out!
 |
| Jetta grazing |
I had a fantastic lesson on Wednesday with Meredith. While I felt that she had some interesting ways of describing what she wanted me to do (in response to me lower leg swinging: pretend that the horse's barrel is a nut and your legs are a nutcracker and you want to crack the nut! Me: umm, ok? do you really want me to do that?) But Jetta was her usual brace-y and rush-y mess, though half way through the lesson the change was amazing! We worked on softening Jetta by playing with the bit a little, doing circles a lot and opening my inside rein a lot to help her bend. We also worked on my position, which I know is terrible on Jetta. Since she's always trying to yank me out of the tack, I've developed a defensive position which I know is terrible. She had me lean back more, especially in the canter which in turn helped me to still my lower leg (opening hip angle -> helps knee to point down and not allow it to swing as much). Weighting my elbows was something she had my work on to help lower my center of gravity so I couldn't be pulled out of the saddle as much. It's a hard concept, but it worked!
After our lesson, we walked around on the trails. They're kind of wimpy trails, but well maintained and nice to be able to walk around on. Jetta's feet were so great with all of the gravel! She got rinsed off and then I went and audited a couple lessons. I really enjoyed watching the different instructor's styles. I made friends with a group of girls, they all had adorable Arabian horse and they were super nice.
After lunch we had two different lectures. The first was about Centered Riding. At first I was a little skeptical, but a lot of the ideas seemed to make sense. She mentioned something about using your elbows to lower your center of gravity which reinforced what my instructor had me do in my lesson. Unfortunately it was more geared towards the younger kids (this camp was for 7 to 21 year olds) which was really disappointing. After that we had a lecture on using a training notebook, by Barnby notes. It was a little bit geared towards marketing the Barnby notes, but there was more information that made it educational too. I like having a blog as my training journal because I get to share it with other people and make it my own personal space to talk about whatever might be on my mind, not just training. The Barnby notes program is similar because you can have an open, online journal to write about your rides and people can comment on it, so it's more of a focused type of blog really.
 |
| Conformation clinic |
We had dinner, then took care of the horses. We had another lecture by a vet. I was really excited and hoped in would be really interesting and something that I could learn a lot from. Unfortunately, I was really disappointed. It was geared towards that little kids (again) and basically he talked about how to be safe around your horse, some of his interesting cases that could have been avoided by using safety practices. It was super boring and I was disappointed.
Again, we had to sleep outside, so I stole Jetta's cooler so I could be warmer :) At least this time they had a movie going inside so that those who wanted to sleep, could! I was looking forward to our lesson the next day and wondering what we were going to work on.
To be continued...
I cannot recommend Sally Swift's Centered Riding enough. Do yourself a favor and buy a copy of her books, you won't be sorry.
ReplyDeleteDid you know that warmbloods were originally bred to be carriage horses? That's part of why they have such expressive trots. Take a gander at Deb Bennett's info on conformation if you haven't already.