Here are the highlights from our Grand Prix ride on Saturday. 59.783%
I’m super pleased with our piaffe even though it’s a little uneven and traveling but it’s a huge improvement from the past where he used to brace badly and/or rear. I’ll take the traveling any day!
When we can normally do our 2 tempis, canter zigzag and pirouettes well with our eyes closed, we had some issues there. I think if we clean those up next time, we’ll have our score!
The 1’s are about what I expected since we don’t currently have 15 1 tempis.
We had problems with late changes throughout the test but he was tired, being the last day of the show. I was having trouble at the end with him wanting to drop on the forehand. It was much hotter at the show than what we’re used to at home.
Overall, I’m so pleased with how this test went especially with how the first two days of the show were.
Prophet is a superstar in my mind for everything he’s gone through! He’s just an absolute unicorn and I’m so proud of him! 🦄🥹
Kahvi is doing fantastic at her baby horse job! She doesn’t get worked every day and maybe for about 15-20 minutes tops. Her job right now is very easy and I never want her to feel like it’s too hard. The rides are simple and to the point. 🎠She’s doing great at staying in front of my leg and now she’s learning to reach into the bridle! She’s doing wonderful! She’d like to drop behind the vertical but that will go away. Everything with get more consistent and connected. I’m so proud of her! 🥰
I’m so excited! I got three 1 tempis on Prophet today! It’s really the first I’ve gotten three in a row in over a year! I’m absolutely thrilled! 🥳And we got all our 2’s! We must have done a million simple changes today along with so many halt and halt rein back transitions. It was a fantastic ride! It felt great! He had energy and we were on fire! 🔥 We’re still working on getting more cadence in the lateral work and improving our transitions in and out of piaffe. But we’re getting stronger! 💪🏼🎠 He tries so hard! 🦄I’m also excited to have some poles down and measure out a dressage arena.
Yesterday’s ride was in the indoor since it was raining.
This video is a bit longer. I did fewer edits and cuts.
I always start out every ride with stretch trot circles and serpentines. ⭕️
I’m working on having more cadence in the trot during shoulder in and half pass. The old man is so talented and he tries so hard! I think we’re coming back stronger than before! 🔥
We also worked on keeping the rhythm and balance in transitions within the gait. He’d like to run coming out of the super collected moments. I also try to remember to keep him supple throughout the ride.
We managed to do some 3 tempis going around the arena with a few mistakes and we almost got four 2’s on a circle. All of which is super difficult in the small arena!
I’m so glad he’s starting to feel better! Gotta take care of my dance partner! 💃🕺❤️
Oops! This was kind of annoying to realize just after I got on because I had to walk back through the rain to get my helmet. I briefly contemplated just riding without it but that wouldn’t be setting a great example for something I believe strongly about. Always wear a helmet while riding! 🧠 ⛑️
Sixth trot ride with Kahvi! 🦄
She’s doing so well! I am working on getting her in front of my leg and hot off my aids. She’d like to be very lazy.
She can do circles, transitions, changes of direction, and go straight down the long side. She is also starting to learn to accept the contact.
It’s very exciting to be at this point with her. She’s going to be special! 🎠
We Still Got It!
Well…it’s official. I have an old horse. Prophet got diagnosed with cushings earlier this spring. I had been feeling like something was wrong with him…or me…or us both, for a while. We had been struggling to do pretty much anything beyond basics. It was very frustrating. There were times I didn’t even want to ride. Although cushings is not great news, it’s good to finally have an answer to what was wrong.
I started him on medication in April and slowly changed his diet. For the first time ever, I had to body clip him in the spring to help him shed his coat. It’s been quite depressing seeing my beloved dressage partner seem like he’s wasting away and I thought all our glory days are over.
(I am so thankful for all the opportunities I had to go up center line and ride the Grand Prix test! You never know if you’ll ever have the opportunity again.)
However, it IS slowly getting better and now we are also able to ride outside in the field. He loves to be outside, it gets him a little excited and we have more space to school all the things! Although he still needs lots of walk breaks and feels sluggish sometimes, we still have it! I feel like we have our spark back and I am motivated. I feel more determined than ever to try and get our last score toward the gold medal!
So here’s a little clip of our great ride yesterday. We schooled some pirouettes and put them together like it is in the test.
For the first time in over a year and a half, we attempted the canter zigzag and got all the number of strides right!
We got all 9 2-tempis! They were not all perfect but they were all there. We got all 9.
And can I say suppleness suppleness suppleness!!! I can’t say that enough! You HAVE to have your horse supple to do all these movements.
Quality of the gaits and MORE LEG!
It’s all in the basics. And that is what we need to work on.
Yes, I am going to try to get my last score toward my gold medal this year. But I am also not going out unless I
Trotwork
I’m super pleased with this trotwork we squeezed in before the snow started flying yesterday! 🦄
This is quite possibly one of the best piaffe’s we’ve ever done! It was SO light and effortless! You can see the reins were lose and it was almost perfectly on the spot. 👀
We are working so hard to smooth out transitions between passage, piaffe and passage, or between passage, extended trot and passage.
It’s not good enough to be able to do each phase of trot separately. The transitions in and out of each one has to be effortless and smooth. It’s so hard! He’d like to cheat and fall on the forehand, especially coming out of the piaffe! Then can we actually having a true piaffe? 🤪
The ground poles have really been helping get more suspension. We’re finally developing a half halt over the raised cavaletti where he would really like to charge forward and run. The cavaletti will help improve our passage!
It’s so much fun! 😎
And thanks to Donna for helping adjust the distance between poles if they got bumped. It’s always fun to have a friend watch and help! 🥳
Yay! Kahvi Baby’s first rider!
I swung a leg over yesterday! She was absolutely perfect! 🦄
More ground driving, adding canter and cavaletti. Superstar!! 🌟🦄🌟
Kahvi Baby! 🐴 We had such a pleasant schooling session yesterday.
This was her second time ground driving! She is a superstar!! 🌟🌟🌟
I like to start out with a longe portion of the lesson. I focus on rhythm and tempo in the gaits. Longeing is such a great way to teach that and ground poles help develope suspension in the gait.
Then we did a very positive ground driving session and she was perfect! She did transitions and changed direction like she’s done it a million times! 🦄🎠
Then she stood at the mounting block while I laid over her back.
Perfect baby horse! 🦄🌟🦄🌟
What a great ride yesterday! The arena was borderline hot with such sunny, warm weather! 🥵 I’m so glad I clipped him! 💇♂️
We got some great half passes! Supple, supple, supple…it’s an absolute must!
Really nice extended trot!
Decent moments of canter pirouette.
Some nice tempi changes…3’s and 2’s.
Overall, just fun! 🎠🦄🎠🥳
Schooling transitions within the gaits! Trotwork! 🦄
Schooling Basics
Prophet got a haircut! The weather has been so warm. This winter has been so unpredictable. He needed a body clip. I think he’s happy!
Today we worked on…wait for it…basics! You can’t do too many basics! 🤓
I have been working on getting him hotter off my aids. Today we worked on transitions, transitions within the gaits, and pirouette canter. We are working on improving quality of the gaits and his canter pirouette should really improve with all the things we’re doing!
Is it possible to stay supple through all the things?! 🤪 So many things to work on!
I feel like we’re both getting our strength and stamina back. Every day is more fun and more improvement. 🦄
Kahvi baby is learning how to be a grownup horse and wear side reins! 🐎 She’s doing so fantastic! What a sweetheart! 💕
Schooling Changes and Piaffe
Check it out! 💪🏼 Prophet and I are coming back strong!
Our 2’s are back and we’re able to squeeze in five across the diagonal. 🔥
This level is tough enough as it is and when you throw in the challenges and life changes we’ve gone through in the last year, I am so thrilled to be schooling the way we are! 🥳
Bring on show season 2024!🥇
Kahvi Baby
Kahvi’s first time wearing a saddle pad and surcingle! Baby girl is growing up! 🐎🎠🦄🥳
This is the surrounding atmosphere at the fair. The carnival rides would randomly start up to do a test run and the tractors on the hill would start up and rev the engines. What a good boy! 🦄🦄🦄
What a fun time we had doing the demonstration ride at the Houghton County fair yesterday! Prophet was so pumped and very forward. He was a dragon with his blowing! 🐉
He handled the atmosphere and all the carnival rides next to the arena like a champ. He is such a superstar for just showing up to the fair, unloading, tacking up and going straight in the ring and showing off his stuff! I couldn’t be more proud of him! 🌟🦄🥳🎠🌟🦄🥳🌟🌟
Far from perfect but not bad given our circumstances! Prophet is a star! 🦄🌟
Not bad for not having an arena! 🦄🌟
