PrintYesterday the pony and I participated in a dressage clinic with Joy Congdon. Joy helped me with Blue some when I was bringing him along, and I really liked her.
Not being born into a shadbelly and white gloves, I sometimes find straight dressage trainers to be a little bit scary. Joy is very down-to-earth and accessible, on top of being a smart and gifted rider, and a very talented teacher with a wonderful eye (and a ready smile, which is maybe my favorite part).
So when I heard a boarder of Vicki’s was organizing a day with her, I hurried to sign up! I figured that a whole bunch of flat exercises to take us into the winter would be just the right thing at the right time.
Our lesson was scheduled for 4:15 p.m., but the day was running behind. We had the option of trekking up to Vicki’s neighbor’s indoor, but we decided it would save us time to just get going, and maybe the light would hold. I was Joy’s last lesson of the day, and it was getting quite chilly as the sun set, so I didn’t want to be more cause than necessary of keeping her late or freezing her half to death.
I gave the uber short version of pony 411 and got on with trotting. We did a lot of trot and walk work, and a little canter. Joy’s take on the troublesome up transition to canter was that the right is getting there because he’s sort of starting to come into the outside rein in that direction. The left not so much, but she thinks improving the connection in the trot work will be the key to improving this piece.
We did lots and lots of spiraling and lots of changes of direction. She really wants me to focus on his suppleness so that his whole body can loosen up rather than addressing the work over his back more directly.
She had me play with the connection in the reins a lot—ask for inside bend with an opening rein (to the left, I have to widen the outside rein also, just to get some feel in it) while keeping the forward tempo. This required much application of tap, tap as pony says, “Bend and forward? Isn’t that like rubbing my head and scratching my belly at the same time? I.e., HARD??” Then keep testing him with a soften to see if he will hold the bend himself.
Little pieces to teach him the beginnings of self-carriage. He seldom stayed put when I softened, but the good news is that he definitely knows how to stretch down into the contact. Joy said this shows a good attitude and the installation of good basics. Yay! (Remember the head flipping pony from seven months ago?)
She said it will be fun to watch his gaits change with continued good work—that they will open up a lot and get quite fancy for a little pony. This is one of the things I like about her—she enjoyed what there is to enjoy about him—he’s not a 17-hand warmblood bred for floaty gaits, but he still has his own special points worth making the most of, and nothing to apologize for.
Oh, and we got compliments on our transitions down from and up to trot!
So my homework is:
