an arthur kottas experience...

- always ride in such a way as to INVITE the horse to participate

- give the horse several opportunities to stretch their neck at the walk on the long rein (even if you don't get an exercise correctly, it is better to give them a break & relax than to brow beat them into an exercise they're struggling with)

- during said walk break, do not allow the horse to become lazy in the walk. You must always encourage the horse to maintain a forward, MARCHING, active walk. Active does not mean the horse rushes on with short, choppy steps. This applies to all gaits.

- to test your level of independence for your hands, seat and legs: post the trot on the buckle. how is your balance? horse's balance? can you control the rhythm w/o the reins?
Next, sit the trot on the buckle (for a quarter of the arena). Did you feel this overwhelming need to snatch the reins to balance the horse? Keep alternating between rising and sitting until you no longer rely on your reins or legs to maintain balance, cadence and rhythm.

- you are the pilot, not the passenger! Your horse has 23 hours of the day to do whatever he or she wants. Not while you are in the saddle.

Personal Discoveries...
on Tori, during sitting trot, I have a tendency to use my thighs to keep myself stable in the saddle. I need to do more work without stirrups, not only to develop an independent seat, but to make sure I begin to elongate my legs because my stirrups are still too short to allow my legs to be utilized correctly.

on Tori, again during sitting trot, I need to lighten my seat so that she can hear my half-halts... because presently, she can't hear much except a demanding drive to go forward. :/

on both horses in canter, i need to completely lighten my seat, stop driving and stop trying so hard. I need to trust that they can maintain the canter without my constant nagging. i need to elongate my body, legs stretch down, and spine stretching up.

Saddle Fitting... the glories of owning a young horse

So... growing horsie = $$$$ saddle fitting... saddle buying... sleepness nights saddle hunting.

SO now I'm doing intense research, and planning on taking a course in saddle fitting this coming winter.

anyway, it was suggested to me that i look for a saddle with the following qualifications...
• a tree with either a shorter point or a flexible point
• wither guessets
• dropped panels

and here in begins my scouring of the internet for precise visuals & descriptions of such things. (by scour the internet i mean hijack the majority of my information from www.trumbullmtn.com)

Wither Gussets

a wither gusset
(the lumpy thing next to the thigh block)

Wither gussets are also referred to as half or front gussets and because that wasn't confusing enough, there are also full front gussets!

Wither gussets are often used for many purposes...

• some horses have hollows by their withers, which sometimes need more support to keep the saddle in correct balance, as to prevent it from collapsing on the wither but allow the saddle to remain it's correct width.

• even a rounder horse, may still need the support that the wither gusset provides.

• sometimes used to anchor the saddle behind the shoulder if the horse happens to have very large shoulders. (important that the tree point remains behind the scapula)
Full front gussets work well for horses that are narrower in front and wider towards the back or whose conformation isn't suitable for the wither gusset to work but needs the benefit of added lift.

Dropped/Trapezius Panel

a horse that would probably
benefit from having a
dropped panel.

Dropped or Trapezius Panels are deeper in the area below and to the rear of the wither. It is a fitting option used (often in conjunction with wither gussets) for a horse with dips behind and to the rear of the wither.






interesting candidates... probably will update this list when i'm not at work...
• Fryso Profile Dressage Saddle
• Fairfax Gareth Monoflap
• Albion SL Dressage Saddle

lesson from that different lady

Widdlest had her very first clinic this past weekend, with Heather Mason.

My trainer suggested I do the clinic because we're really pushing to get that 70% in recognized competition, perhaps even bring it when we're at regionals!

Lots of homework for the widdlest girl & myself.

She needs more suppleness through her body, so spiral ins & spiral outs at the trot, with true bend and counter bend.

Need to influence more with the seat to get a much larger walk out of her (i knew she had more in there!).

She needs to have her nose further out in front of her in free walk & stretchie trot. She likes to duck btv.

Canter transitions: no more rushing into canter. trot must ALWAYS STAY THE SAME SPEED. No cantering if trot increases in speed AT ALL. If trot to canter cannot be maintained in a calm & organized fashion, must proceed to walk-canter transitions until the liddle horsie is reasonable, and canters off in a correct and non-resistant fashion.

If canter quickens or becomes unruly, bring to a halt and try again. If this happens a second time, halt & reinback only a few steps (depending on the level of belligerence) until desired results are achieved.

Also, true bend & counter bend in canter to create suppleness through the body.

Trot leg yields from centerline to the wall: if fussing, increase difficulty by inserting walk/trot transitions mid-leg yield; until appreciation for easier work occurs.

SO MUCH HOMEWORK. HOLY CRAP.

Heather thinks Dezi is adorable & immediately remarked that she can easily go up the levels. Also asked if I was planning on keeping her. :3 of course i am.

Mare-ily We Go Along

So. Recognized Competition Record for Dezi...

4/26
Training 2 - 64.107%
Training 3 - 62.4%

5/25
Training 2 - 66.25%
Training 3 - 62.4%

5/26
Training 2 - 68.75%
Training 3 - 64%

6/28
Training 3 - 64%

We have qualified for the Colonel Bengt Ljungquist Memorial Championships at Training Level & Region 1 GAIGs at Training Level.

Now we that we're all qualified, we can actually work on getting that 70%! Never in a million years would I have thought that not only am I able to set goals & attain them, but I have the self confidence and knowledge to be able to feel confident in schooling my 4 year old and feel like I'm making significant progress with each ride!

And I've decided to rating my rides on a scale, like tests. So I know what it feels like when I have that 70% ride at home, so I have a better chance of making it happen at the show. :D

Had a 68 ride this morning (not actually a show score... I gotta start gauging my rides so I have a better idea when I go to shows), working our way towards that 70!! Steadier in the bridle in w/t/c, spent a lot of time on those pesky transitions, got after myself a bit with my pseudo sitting deep in the canter, and trying to get more actual bend with legs instead of depending on those darn controlling hands! I can totally do this, I have been given the tools and dammit I'm gonna use them!

I'm so glad I was finally able to feel the pseudo-seat in canter... It's gives the appearance of being used but isn't actually doing it's job. Frustrating!

leaps of faith, are not always through the air

Since the beginning of the year (especially), my lessons with my older mare, have been geared towards my faith in her. Like all married couples, we have entirely too much history and not so much of it is amazingly good, happy, fluffy memories; lots of bad habits. Bad habits including but not limited to, my explosive temper, lack of self-confidence (which is slowly, but surely improving) and my sub-conscious level of expectation for Tori, which is surprisingly set very low. 

I have a terrible habit of hand riding also, partly because I have a terrible time figuring out how to engage her hind-end (mostly due to her amazing evasive abilities). You tap her on the rear with the whip = she throws her head up, moves her neck around, changes the rhythm of the trot - aka. every evasion she knows to avoid using her hind-end.

I have to give the reins, ask and actually expect her to do.

(sorry if some of these things make very little sense, i probably shouldn't be trying to write this after an exhausting, but productive horse day)

A lot of my issues also stem from my lack of core strength, directly related to my lack of enthusiasm for working out (don't have the money or time to dedicate the gym). So instead, I did a revisit to my past. I'M GALLOPING RACE BABIES AGAIN!!! Didn't realize how much I actually missed educating & exercising baby racehorses.

Feb. 24, 2009 - (L) Snoopy, best pony horse in all the land. (R) Judge Sonya & I, one of my first racebabies to have the pleasure of starting. She broke her maiden first time out, and she placed in her 2nd race, which was a stakes.

My favorite thing about riding, and dressaging, is putting a correct foundation on a horse. Once the correct foundation is laid, the horse can then progress in whatever direction it needs to, in order to succeed in life. I love riding young horses. I love the genuine enthusiasm they have for work they enjoy or figuring out how to make the work fun for them so they learn to enjoy it. 

Best thing you can do for a baby racehorse is to teach them a.) forward at all costs (otherwise life on the track will go badly in a serious downward spiral; a backwards thoroughbred is a lethal thoroughbred) and b.) to move off of the seat and legs.

(L) Dezdemona [dezi] - (R) Amber Flame [tori]

And let me tell you how awesome it is to ride 6 days a week (i live an hour & 1/2 from the barn and an hour away from the racebaby farm).

The benefits of racebaby riding:
a.) core strength building! you need to sit up, and sit back and be able to have an independent EVERYTHING in order to "sit your ass back & get tied on".
b.) realization of crookedness. nothing like a squirrely 2 year old tb to immediately inform you of how CROOKED your ass truly sits on a nearly non-existent saddle.
c.) adrenaline rush. i've been feeling kinda crappy on a whole lately, and I feel great the one day a week that I wake up at 4am, to ride both of my mares; but I can't afford to do that every day, not to mention just can't pull that off multiple days in a row.
d.) riding race horses reminds me what it feels like when your horse sucks back and behind your leg. you have to send that horse forward at any cost because it could literally be the difference between life & death for horse or rider if they're allowed to think ONE backwards thought.

Speaking of racebabies... I hopped on my friend's 2010 ottb just for fun (on derby day of all days! lol). I was hoping to light a fire under her, and try to convince her that it's not all that bad riding a baby that isn't always disobedient! (as much as I love and appreciate difficult horses, it's relaxing to ride a horse that does what you ask, correctly, on the first try).

Little baby Jack! (17.2 hh baby...)

HAPPY NEW YEAR (entirely too late, but no one cares ;3 )

So... 2013 wasn't the best year... it was a decent year at least. Dezi baby girl was excellent for most of the year. She's 3 years old and has only been under saddle since April, the fact she is still fairly obedient (much more so than her mother was at 4)... is great!

Dezi was the 2013 SGSDS Starter Horse of the Year for Training Level, with an average of 64%.

Tori and I have been battling uphill for the never ending race to Third Level! We've got our fundamental trot & canter half-pass, still eeking out that darn shoulder-in, love using 6-8m voltes: way better than 10m circles, a lot less time & less room to worry about not having bend, bc if you don't have bend for a 6-8m circle... ya ain't got much of a circle!

We had our first foray into 3rd level... competed in our club's schooling show, and without changes we earned a 54%! The changes come and go... she's not entirely certain WHY she needs to do them, but she's gotten much better at counter-canter. /sigh.


... incomplete thoughts. enjoy. :D

How to get a sponsor: a guide for all riders

How to get a sponsor: a guide for all riders