Global Dressage Masters and more

I'm going to attempt to cover a few different things in tonight's post.  This past weekend the Global Dressage Masters took place at the Jim Brandon Center in Wellington, the main reason I wanted to go watch this event was to see Valegro and Charlotte Dujardin in person and they did not disappoint.  Valegro is the quintessential equine athlete, I can't think of a single thing about him that is not to like and Charlotte does such a great job piloting him and making everything look super easy, they had a couple minor mistakes in the freestyle but certainly didn't take away from the overall performance and this horse is still so young, he is sure to be a medal contender for the London Olympics, if you haven't seen him yet definitely look him up on youtube!  Ravel and Steffen Peters put on a great performance as always and ended up the winners of the evening by .05, Ravel is such a relaxed looking horse and Steffen is so precise in his riding, they're always a pleasure to watch in action.  I also took advantage of the show going on this weekend and got Nico out to school on the grounds, I thought taking him out to the show environment and schooling him with no pressure of competing would be a good first outing for him down here this season and I was very pleased with how he went, he felt very relaxed schooling and hacking around the grounds.  Generally speaking I've been thrilled with how Nico feels in his day to day schooling right now, he is feeling stronger over his back and more supple than ever and is trying very hard.  Something I wanted to talk about at some point in this blog is the importance of the consistency of the rider's aids, I started to really dissect and focus on this back in August as it dawned on me that when we ride a lot of different horses frequently it can become very easy to get complacent with our aids.  As we all know, correct responses to a rider's aids have to be conditioned into a horse through consistent training, consistent aids, consistent responses and consistent praises.  This all sounds very simple and straight forward I know but when I really started to think about it a few months ago I realized that it's super easy to become complacent, for example,do you ask for something as simple as a walk trot transition with the exact same aid (same timing, same positioning and same pressure) every single time or do you sometimes get a bit complacent and get away with it because the horse is smart?  Anyways, I realized that I wasn't getting the exact responses I wanted from Nico going into the piaffe and passage work, mainly because I was being a bit wishy washy in my aids, since then I've made a conscious effort to be super consistent each and every time I ask for a transition and I think this has made a world of difference in his work, when I'm correct he is correct as well, I feel he is more and more in tune with my aids and I'm getting better and better responses from him for them, again this all sounds so basic and simple I know, but in all honesty when we sit down and really analyze it it's a very complex thing that requires a rider to really focus on each and every aid they give to their horse and if we are 100% accurate in our aiding we give our horses a much more fair opportunity to really understand what it is that we are asking of them.  On a side note, Dressage Daily has a fantastic interview with Canadian Pan Am team member, Tina Irwin, worth a read for anyone who is interested, a very insightful and inspiring interview!

Long Time No Blog!

Apologies for not blogging in a little while, been managing to keep myself relatively busy even with only 3 horses to ride.  Updates on the ponies, Tango is doing well and has had so many trial rides, the poor guy has had about 6 different riders on him in the past week, he's such a good boy though, such a trooper and never does anything wrong, everyone who has ridden him seems to really like him and have gotten a couple follow ups so now just to find the perfect person to become his new owner, will miss him for sure he's such a sweetheart but also know he will make a great schoolmaster for someone out there.  Roz is continuing to progress nicely in her training, though I am sporting a rather large bruise on my knee due to an unfortunate collision with the wall which occurred while riding her, haha nothing serious but an inside leg aid gone wrong which resulted in a rather interesting body check into the rail, other than that she's doing well, still working to get her more engaged from behind and up in front and to sit more in the canter, lots of travers voltes to get her flexing more through her hocks and carrying behind, she does lovely half passes and is starting to figure out her extended gaits more and more though she can't hold the balance and carriage yet of course but when she is able to I think it's going to be pretty nice.  Nico is continuing to do really well, he feels great and we've been working a lot to get a more balanced collected canter in between the movements.  Canada's Technical Leader Markus Gribbe was at our barn yesterday and today which was great, always good to get a different eye now and again and he also really helped with the piaffe and passage from the ground today which was great, Nico's piaffe is really starting to have some fantastic moments and is feeling easier and easier though I have to be very careful in my riding, he becomes very sensitive in his balance in the piaffe so I'm finding more and more that I have to be super precise in my balance and aids and when that all comes together he feels amazing.  I'm probably going to haul him down to the show grounds this weekend just to school, think it's time to get him out to a busy venue and just see if we can keep the same quality work in a more pressured situation, my plan is to just ease him in to things and see how he reacts and then go from there, but generally speaking I think he is transforming more and more into a very nice Grand Prix horse.  Other random notes on the ponies, in stall cleanliness they definitely rank Roz, Nico and Tango consistently, Roz is very neat and tidy, love cleaning her stall, Nico is fairly average and Tango is most definitely the pig pen of the group!  My parents are both in town visiting, Dad took a couple weeks off to come down and visit so him and Mom are staying at a little hotel across town having a nice vacation and they've been very supportive coming out to see me ride, has also reminded me how much is misunderstood about the sport of dressage (my parents not being horse people) and explaining to people why we have to make the decisions we do in this sport based upon what is best for the animal we are riding and not necessarily what our competitive brains want to do but what is going to be best for our horses in the long run.  Have been out to a couple shows and entries are definitely down this year so far, first two national shows were quite small and even the CDI 1* last week was on the smaller side, though Canada was very well represented which is great for our country!  The CDI 3* is looking a little bigger this week and I expect that the shows in February and March will be bigger as well, the Masters is on at the Jim Brandon center this week and I'm so looking forward to seeing Valegro and Charlotte Dujardin, I love this combination, fantastic horse and rider pair and they make everything look effortless, have to love that, so inspiring to watch!

A Good Day For Nico!:)

Had a great schooling session with Mr. Nico today!  There are days in this sport (and probably most other sports too I'm sure!) where things just click and today was definitely one of those days!  Right from the start I could tell this was going to be a good day for Nico, he was settled and felt very relaxed and loose in his back from the moment I got on him, throughout the ride I was able to get him connected more and more from back to front and consequently the half-halts were much more effective, we went through all of the Grand Prix exercises and they all felt easy!  I've said it many times that I definitely do realize Nico is a green Grand Prix horse and I'm prepared to give him all the time he needs to develop into a confident and seasoned horse at this level, my primary goal is to have a Grand Prix horse who is going to stay healthy, sound and continue to get better for many more years, after all he's still got another good 7-8 competitive years in his life and this being the start of his Grand Prix career I'm prepared to be patient and he will let me know how he's feeling and today he just felt great, this was the first time that each and every Grand Prix movement actually felt very easy, the piaffe and passage felt so simple and the transitions in and out as well, pirouettes were extremely rideable, changes were fluid and the half passes more supple, all in all a fantastic ride, I'm looking forward to seeing if we can replicate this feeling consistently!  Rozzie is also progressing nicely in her training, she's an eager girl and tries very hard every day, the main goal has been to get her more up in front in her overall carriage, naturally this has to occur by getting her hindlegs more underneath herself so that she can push her shoulders more uphill, in order to achieve this I have been working to develop a more conditioned response of the hindleg, getting her to quicken her hindleg while half-halting, in the canter I have just started to introduce some working pirouette type exercises by using the travers on a volte exercise-while keeping control of the outside shoulder of course, this is to help her develop more carrying power behind, generally speaking she's quite quick with her hindlegs in the canter by nature so now I have to teach her to carry and sit a bit longer on her joints as well, she struggles with the balance at times still of course but her effort is really good so she just needs the time to develop the strength and understanding of her hindleg and then we will really begin to see what she's capable of I think!

A Day In The Life

I thought now would be a good time to write a bit about what the days are like here and more about the area etc.  Basically the horses are stabled at the Lady Jean Ranch in Jupiter, website for the barn is as follows for anyone interested http://www.ljrelite.com/index1.html, it's a beautiful facility, lovely airy barns with tons of stalls, beautiful tack rooms and lounge area, covered round pen, oversized indoor arena, 20X60 outdoor area and a beautiful full sized training track, also multiple large grass paddocks for turnout, the owners of the facility are great and extremely welcoming, the barn is fairly private and not too busy which is really nice for training.  My day starts around 7:00am, the board here is only a dry stall so we are responsible for all the feeding and cleaning, so I get up to the barn in the morning and do the feeding and stalls then usually head back to the RV park (which is conveniently located about 8 mins from the barn) and get myself cleaned up and ready to ride, I usually try and ride Tango and Roz before my lesson on Nico depending on my lesson time that day, after I finish their training sessions I like to ride them out for a good cool out around the track, Roz hasn't been out on the track yet as this is all still new for her but I'm planning to get her out there in the next day or two as she seems to be well settled in, Nico and Tango I take out there everyday and they quite enjoy themselves, gives them a good chance to really stretch out their muscles and a nice change of scenery.  In the afternoon I usually turn the horses out and tidy up the stalls and get their dinner ready for them, clean their tack and then I usually try and watch the rest of the lessons for the day, I learn a lot by watching the other lessons so I try and get in as much watching time as possible.  There's a nice diversity of riders at the barn once again this year, another mixture of riders from across the continent, me from BC obviously, a group from Alberta, a group from Quebec, a group from Nova Scotia and a group from Chicago with a variety of juniors, young riders and professionals, all talented and with a variety of quality horses.  I like watching lessons of all levels as I find I can draw something useful from watching every lesson, whether it be something for myself, my own horses or something that will help me with teaching my own students when I get back home there is always information to be had!  I finish up the day by bringing the horses in then head back to the trailer for a shower and dinner, then I usually go back up to the barn around 7pm to put on their blankets for the evening, do a final stall tidy up and top up their hay, all in all it's amazing how full the day can be even with only 3 horses to work, but full in a good way!  Definitely loving every minute of it so far and looking forward to seeing how the horses progress in the next little while, though also definitely a bit homesick and missing everyone and all the other horses back home, I hope the weather is holding up back home and everyone is getting in lots of riding time!  The Courtenay Fraser clinic is happening back home this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Serendipity Farms in Kelowna, should be a great clinic, Courtenay is very knowledgeable and an excellent teacher, the clinic is full with 10 riders each day however auditors are welcome at $20.00 a day (see Joanna Cockerline at the barn if you're registering for auditing on the day of) also I have spaces still available in the February and March Courtenay Fraser clinics in Kelowna at Serendipity, if anyone back home is interested in riding please email me at jmlittle75@hotmail.com and I will forward info:)  On a side note I really think I need to find some better titles for these posts but I have to admit I'm a bit too lazy to be creative with titles, this title is only vaguely more creative as I stole it from my favorite Beatles song, any future suggestions welcome haha!

First Days Of Training

After the long days of travel the horses needed a couple of days to rest and then a couple days of very light stretching before going back to full work, we are now two days into our training program and so far I am very pleased with Nico.  Yesterday and today have probably been two of the best rides I have had on him in terms of focus, relaxation and suppleness.  Before we left home Nico had a check up with Dr. Brit Mills his regular veterinarian who reported that he is feeling better than ever physically, this obviously made me very happy as one always likes to hear that their horse is in top physical condition and I can honestly say that I'm definitely feeling it in his body in our rides.  The past few months I took the time to really go back to basics with Nico and clean up some of the areas that I thought weren't clear enough, no matter what level of rider you are you always have to be willing to go back to the very basics and clean things up if you want to progress.  I felt that Nico needed a clearer understanding of some of the aspects of pressure and release, he has always been a horse who is almost afraid if you give away the contact too much and would react almost negatively to a softening at times, mainly because he is afraid of his own balance and feels like he needs something to hold on to, I wanted him to be braver about 'being on his own' so to speak, as I felt this would help him gain confidence in his own balance and help him achieve that little bit of extra carriage that he needs to be in self carriage for the Grand Prix ring, I am happy to say that I think that extra time I worked to make him better understand this concept has really paid off, I feel like he is slowly becoming much braver in carrying himself and consequently more willing to be expressive and use himself.  Today I not only had the feeling that he was really with me physically but mentally as well, for those of you who don't know Nico he truly is an ADD child, he sees and hears everything around him and this sure can make it a challenge to keep him focused but today I felt he was 110% focused on me and truly trying his hardest, this felt like a real milestone!  We worked through his tempis which felt great (his changes are always a highlight) and then did some piaffe work which felt quite good, his piaffe is feeling much more real now, the next goal will be to get it a bit more on the spot as he still has the tendency to want to travel a bit too much but given his greeness at the level that is okay.  The other horses are doing well, I think Florida has brought some life to Tango I can't remember ever seeing him so spunky he seems quite excited to be here, quite cute actually!  Rozzie took a couple days to get back in to work, she was a very good girl but was definitely tired from her first big girl road trip, she had today off and seems to be back to her perky self, riding wise the goal for her over the next couple months will be to get her more uphill, more up in the shoulders and up and out in the neck, this is also a matter of strength with her and starting to understand what a half halt is all about, it is important to remember that she is still playing catch up in her training physically, although she's learned all the tricks quite handily, muscle and carriage is just something that can't be rushed.  Generally though I am very pleased with how she is developing, she works very hard every day and is always game, have to love that quality in a horse!

Travel Time!

Finally have a couple of minutes to update the blog!  So the date of departure arrived shortly after the holidays, had a nice Christmas up in Nelson with my brother and his wife's family and then dashed home on the 27th to get the last minute details in order before hitting the road early on the morning of the 28th.  We got on the road about 8, Nico, Roz and Tango all loaded up steadily into the trailer and we were all packed and ready to go (Larisa came along to help with the horse handling and my mom to act as navigator and GPS operator and of course Oswald!).  We headed out to the US boarder through Osoyoos and arrived there around 10am, things went fairly smoothly at the border and we were soon on our way into the US, the first day we drove through Washington and Oregon, with our first overnight stop being Pendleton, Oregon, I tried to space the travel days with a shorter day then a longer day alternating to give the horses some recovery time, the first day went very well and we arrived in to Pendleton around 6pm, we even had enough time to unhook and go in to town for dinner, we stayed at a bed and bale called Neighbors which was quite nice.  We hit the road bright and early the next morning off to Joseph, Utah, this was a longer day of travel, the roads were a tiny bit icy as we passed through the blue mountains but really nothing bad, we got in to Joseph in relatively good time but as we pulled in the driveway of our overnight stop we noticed one of the tires was hissing air, unlucky to have a damaged tire but lucky that it happened literally right at the end of the drive!  In the morning the owner of the farm was kind enough to put the spare tire on for us and we drove in to the tire shop to get the other one repaired (I wasn't about to take the chance of driving the rest of the way without a functioning spare tire, just in case), the repair was quick and painless and we were on our way shortly, next stop Albuquerque, New Mexico, the drive on this day was truly spectacular, the mountain ranges between Salt Lake City and Moab are phenomenal, I will try to upload some pictures in the next little while, we crossed over into Colorado then down in to New Mexico, more beautiful scenery, the overnight stop was fantastic, The Broken M Ranch, located right in town and with fabulous large, well bedded stalls, plenty of water and a wonderful guest for us to stay in as well, complete with all sorts of extras, the most comfortable king size bed plus a fully stocked kitchen and bathroom, wonderful!  Next morning we were up and off, this was our shortest day on the trip and also New Years Eve!  We traveled to Whichita Falls, Texas and we celebrated the new year by sleeping right through it!  Our overnight was Legacy Park, another fabulous bed and bale, literally two minutes off the highway and with paddock sized stalls and an apartment directly across from the stalls and wonderful hosts, definitely would recommend it!  Our next day of travel took us all the way from Texas straight through Louisiana and Mississippi  to Mobile, Alabama, Alabama has some beautiful scenery, it's very green and quaint to drive through, I quite liked the feel of it, we managed to make great time and went in to town for a traditional New Year's Day dinner at Cracker Barrel haha!  Final day of travel, we were so eager to arrive in Florida that we were up at 4am and on the road, we arrived into Jupiter around 4pm and after 6 full days of driving we were all happy to see our winter home!  The horses did great on the trip, all ate, drank and hauled wonderfully which is always a relief.  Little Rozzie was a real trooper on her first big girl road trip, she got in the trailer willingly each morning and was quite interested in the adventure, only on the last night did she show how tired she was by immediately having a nap in her fresh shavings.  Nico and Tango hauled well too though they did seem to have some "male bonding" occurring, there was a lot of talking between the two of them, Tango was always the last horse to load on the trailer and I've never seen him jump on a trailer so willingly, he literally was dragging me to the ramp by day 3, I think he was worried he was going to be left behind!  The horses have settled in at the Lady Jean Ranch in Jupiter very well, they're loving their winter home, they had a couple days to rest after the trip and had their first turnout in the big fields since we left home, they loved that and all had a good trot and canter around to stretch their legs, this morning I worked them all for the first time, just a light stretching work, tomorrow will be more of the same and then we will start to pick up and get into the real work, we are still getting ourselves settled into the RV park in Jupiter so things have been a bit chaotic but are starting to get organized now so should have more time to blog!  To everyone back home, hope you're all doing well and happy riding and once again I have to say the biggest thank you to everyone who has supported me and this journey, I'm amazed at the incredibly supportive people I have surrounding me at this time and will forever be thankful to you all!