At Long Last Autumn
Oct. 10th, 2005 10:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancinghorseFinally, the long, brutally hot summer (one of the hottest on record) is over. 50 degrees F this morning, and it still hasn't cracked 70F. The horses are relieved--they have fuzzy coats already--though Pooka was having conniptions last night at bedtime. Pooka hates, hates, hates cold weather. He got his blankie. Such a fragile flower.
The weekend was very odd as to weather--normally early October is dry and still warm (well, hot if you're from anywhere else). We drove to Willcox on Saturday in waves of thunderstorms, stopped for lunch at the Desert Rose Cafe (great and varied menu and even a decent little wine list) and waited out the rain, then drove on to Apple Annie's in clouds and sun. We bought honey and fruit spreads and baked goods and homemade apple ice cream, and I picked half a bucket of apples. Then on to the produce farm for vegetables and a pumpkin. And so on home just in time for the suddenly early sunset and horse dinners.
ETA Nor should we forget how the clouds blew away from Tucson, but at bedtime there were flashes of lightning beyond the mountain to the east. No clouds visible, but flash after flash. Very strange.
Sunday was lesson day as usual, blustery and breezy but rather nice. Keed had his Teacher Torture; he looks lovely now, round and forward and light. He's almost ready to show training level, and is schooling well above that, with good lateral work and a very nice canter. Then Capria and I had our lesson, back to basics for a bit: perfecting the walk wall-to-wall and the trot serpentine. "Slither around the curves," said Joni. Which made me think of being Sorted to Slytherin. I have a strange mind. We did slither as instructed, and didn't do too badly. Capria wants to walk on the aids all the time now she can lift her back in the new saddle, and her trot is getting progressively better. She still worries about her right hind and is obsessive about being perfectly balanced, but that's all to the good. She loves to collect.
Made me think of a friend who is getting her USDF Gold Medal--the highest award a competition rider can get--and talking about the difficulties of getting a good piaffe: "The horse isn't used to keeping his withers up." That's what collection is. We start the wither lifts very early on, so by the time they're doing lateral work as keed is, they're used to sitting down and raising the front end. It seems there's a tendency out there to pull the nose in, shorten the stride, and call it collection, but then you get to Grand Prix and you can't do the movements. The horse can't get off his front end.
Or, why we do these basics for so long, and it takes so long in the first place. The horse is building strength and balance from the beginning. Which is why Capria had to do perfect serpentines, or try. They're all about bending, straightness, balance, rhythm, and acceptance of aids. Very complex study of an apparently simple figure (it's sine waves across the arena, is all).
I like to reflect that Capria is doing this work, sound and happy, at age 17--which is retirement age for the other kind of dressage horse. At this point we'll see how far she can go. Maybe a lot further than we thought, back when she was having all those injuries and problems and we didn't know if she'd ever be sound.
After the ridin' hosses had their innings, Gaudia got some ground-driving and walkies with her human. She loves the driving--gets all proud and light and full of herself. Next year I suspect she'll get a cart and do some fancy driving before she starts under saddle. It's classic training for the Lipizzan mare, after all. Camilla is on the same regimen--in fact in the evening, she got some ground-driving herself, and was quite happy about it. Camilla loves having a job.
Today is cool and clear and not too breezy. Great riding weather, but I must work first. It will be a great pleasure to go out this afternoon and be able to ride without suffering heatstroke.
The weekend was very odd as to weather--normally early October is dry and still warm (well, hot if you're from anywhere else). We drove to Willcox on Saturday in waves of thunderstorms, stopped for lunch at the Desert Rose Cafe (great and varied menu and even a decent little wine list) and waited out the rain, then drove on to Apple Annie's in clouds and sun. We bought honey and fruit spreads and baked goods and homemade apple ice cream, and I picked half a bucket of apples. Then on to the produce farm for vegetables and a pumpkin. And so on home just in time for the suddenly early sunset and horse dinners.
ETA Nor should we forget how the clouds blew away from Tucson, but at bedtime there were flashes of lightning beyond the mountain to the east. No clouds visible, but flash after flash. Very strange.
Sunday was lesson day as usual, blustery and breezy but rather nice. Keed had his Teacher Torture; he looks lovely now, round and forward and light. He's almost ready to show training level, and is schooling well above that, with good lateral work and a very nice canter. Then Capria and I had our lesson, back to basics for a bit: perfecting the walk wall-to-wall and the trot serpentine. "Slither around the curves," said Joni. Which made me think of being Sorted to Slytherin. I have a strange mind. We did slither as instructed, and didn't do too badly. Capria wants to walk on the aids all the time now she can lift her back in the new saddle, and her trot is getting progressively better. She still worries about her right hind and is obsessive about being perfectly balanced, but that's all to the good. She loves to collect.
Made me think of a friend who is getting her USDF Gold Medal--the highest award a competition rider can get--and talking about the difficulties of getting a good piaffe: "The horse isn't used to keeping his withers up." That's what collection is. We start the wither lifts very early on, so by the time they're doing lateral work as keed is, they're used to sitting down and raising the front end. It seems there's a tendency out there to pull the nose in, shorten the stride, and call it collection, but then you get to Grand Prix and you can't do the movements. The horse can't get off his front end.
Or, why we do these basics for so long, and it takes so long in the first place. The horse is building strength and balance from the beginning. Which is why Capria had to do perfect serpentines, or try. They're all about bending, straightness, balance, rhythm, and acceptance of aids. Very complex study of an apparently simple figure (it's sine waves across the arena, is all).
I like to reflect that Capria is doing this work, sound and happy, at age 17--which is retirement age for the other kind of dressage horse. At this point we'll see how far she can go. Maybe a lot further than we thought, back when she was having all those injuries and problems and we didn't know if she'd ever be sound.
After the ridin' hosses had their innings, Gaudia got some ground-driving and walkies with her human. She loves the driving--gets all proud and light and full of herself. Next year I suspect she'll get a cart and do some fancy driving before she starts under saddle. It's classic training for the Lipizzan mare, after all. Camilla is on the same regimen--in fact in the evening, she got some ground-driving herself, and was quite happy about it. Camilla loves having a job.
Today is cool and clear and not too breezy. Great riding weather, but I must work first. It will be a great pleasure to go out this afternoon and be able to ride without suffering heatstroke.
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Date: 2005-10-10 10:56 am (UTC)So much for the hardy mountain breed. Crumble snorts disdainfully.
It seems there's a tendency out there to pull the nose in, shorten the stride, and call it collection, but then you get to Grand Prix and you can't do the movements.
There's a tendency to see it as Yet Another Thing to Do, as if it were a trick you could teach when the horse has ticked x other things off his list. It's a continuum. Fairly green horses do a little bit of it, advanced horses _a lot_.
I like to reflect that Capria is doing this work, sound and happy, at age 17
I wouldn't expect anything else, but then again, she hasn't been hammered by you before she was even fully grown. Older horses have brains. There's something to be said for that...