Impulsion is not spelt S.P.E.E.D. I took Fergus up to a clinic with trainer of ex-EPAE fame, Rui Campeao at Bluegate Hall Dressage , with some trepidation (Im not known for my instructor friendly style!). Naturally, of course, we were in an outside arena on the day we caught the tails of Hurricane Bertha, because one cant expect a nice sunny day in mid August these days :p Fortunately we had all mod cons, in the form of an ear piece so at least I could hear what we were being told to do (or not to do!). Having had a cursory trot and canter around, Rui told me that he could see why F was averaging around 62% and gaining comments about engagement and suppleness in competition... He needs to swing more through his back and work more into the bridle, and I am compensating for his short, choppy stride by whacking my leg on and causing him to multiply rather than swing. Funnily enough, this meant we spent the first ten minutes walking, then trotting, slowing the rhythm right down, before putting the impulsion back in. Impulsion is not spelt s.p.e.e.d. Youd think, having done this repeatedly with both F and D during lessons with S of Back to Balance, I might have learnt this lesson by now. Evidently not. Chastises self with cat-o-nine-tails... Meanwhile, Rui pointed out that I have become very prone to allowing my shoulders to creep forward and my chin has become very fond of my chest. (Again, S told me in my first lesson with her to engage my hips more forwards which is a related issue.) I think this largely reflects the amount of time I spend riding like a jockey on D, and fast hacking F. Bad form. But easily fixed, and henceforth I shall be channelling my inner Jolly Tall and actually having a neck between my head and body... These minor adjustments left us with some nice medium trot and ext walk strides, mostly gained by me not rushing him and using my hips to swing in walk / rise in trot and engage him more. So worth doing. In canter, we spend some time pushing it forwards on the long sides, before coming into 10m circles. Again, many despairing cries of shoulders back (having seen the pics, I couldnt agree more!). We moved the 10m circles into the centre of the school and used them to create straightness on the centre line. F has a tendency to swing his hindquarters into travers in canter and I spend a lot of effort correcting him with my hand/seat/legs. It was rather nice not to have to bother, when the straightness came from him! All I had to do was sit up, leg on, and keep him into the contact. Easy peasy :D I declared my desire to take Rui home, and he told me to finish up and caress the horse :D Rui seemed pleased with the progression during the lesson and was quite complementary about Fs potential to improve his scores and move up some levels over time. He also told me I was very determinated (adore this!) and a good listener (nobody has EVER said this before :p ). I told him he must be good as I hadnt disagreed with him once and I have no problem letting people know if I think theyre wrong! Weve booked in for next months clinic as I think his style will really complement the training Im getting elsewhere, and we should be able to really make some progress from here on in :)
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 17:42:02 +0000
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