Lesson #2 with Mell (Dressage woes)

Our second lesson with Mell wasn't as positive as the first. I'd been working consistenly on my homework from Mell, teaching Mara to give/drop her head to a vibration of the inside rein.


That was going well. I was confident that we'd be there in 2 weeks, rather than the 8-10 Mell says it takes to teach this. I actually used it on a trail ride this week when she was gawking at things, and it worked.

Warning: If you read this post, you probably won't want to take riding lessons. Just like all those blogs that serve as warnings against ever owning a dog again....*ahem*

Disappointment

Mell said, "She's responding to your request, but she's often either ducking behind the vertical, or pulling straight down to the ground. Now she needs to learn where, exactly, you want her head, because she's guessing." I was bummed because although I knew Mara was tucking/curling her neck randomly, I wasn't fixing that instinctively.

I'm mad that after 5 years of dressage lessons, I seem to have forgotten some very basic things. I really try to read Karen's Slow Dressage blog every day too. Mell instructed me to give the inside rein away, forward and down, when Mara tucks, to give her a better place to go. (It's funny how often in my lessons the last few years I've been told to give the inside rein completely to the horse. How do I steer then? Oh yah, with my body.)

Simple Serpentines

Have you heard of these? I hadn't. Wiki calls it a shallow serpentine. My first thought was, "Well that sounds dumb, let's do a proper serpentine!" but I tried it. You have to a series of three bends, for example, in a corner you have a left bend, straighten, start a right bend to get around the cone, then straighten, then end with a left bend again in the far corner. Mell had to set up cones because we have no letters in this arena and I don't like to have to guess where X and B and E are. (For heavenssake if you have an arena, you need to put up dressage letters!)

Immediately Mell said Mara is shuffling her body through the bends, dragging her hind legs behind her, and not crossing over or pushing from behind.

Leg Yield

To remedy this Mara has to learn to leg yield. I guess it's an effective way to get me in better touch with my aids.

I am having a really hard time feeling if Mara is crossing her legs properly, that is why I'm hesitant to practice this without a professional watching. Baasha was so easy, he was so noodley.

At this point it got pretty frustrating for Mell, because as she explained human physiology, I wasn't able to follow/understand the words, and I wasn't able to feel what she was explaining.

She was trying to tell me the difference between moving one of my shoulders back, and moving a shoulder forward, and then turning my head over my shoulder. She even got me off the horse and put her hands on my shoulders and pushed me forward, twisted, and I could feel a difference, but I'm not sure how to apply that, really.

Cute Mara just stood in the arena, abandoned, wondering what on earth was going on. Or perhaps she is smart enough to know that she's not the only being taught new things.

Then Mell took Mara in hand and, by pushing her hip into Mara's girth area, she was able to get a couple good steps of leg yield from the ground. I think I might try that.

Attitude

At one point during this lateral groundwork, Mara threw her head straight up and started chomping on the bit, tossing her head violently in frustration. Mell shook her head sadly and said, "My goodness, she is a MARE" and said a few other things that I had to ask what they mean - idioms for strong-willed or something. Mell said, "She is difficult, isn't she? If she thinks something is unfair or difficult, she fights first and thinks about it later."

I didn't know what to say to this, except, "She was inexpensive."

Mell considered for a moment and said, "OK, if Mara starts to fight like this, don't keep asking, let her go forward a bit, then ask again. Eventually she'll get it, but you can't fight back."

Frustration

The language barrier is really hard. They use "Anlehnung" instead of contact which I have no idea what the difference is.  I mean, there's a perfectly good word for contact in German - Kontakt. At least, from my perspective.

Also, there are two different words for "bend" and I have no idea what the difference is. There are two words for circle, depending on the size.

Mell says several times per lesson, "You look confused" to which I have to say, "I have no idea what you would like me to do" or "I don't know what that means."

So I've got this handicap, and I seem to have forgotten how to feel what a horse is doing below me, altogether.

One good thing I'm thankful for about Mell, she knows her stuff. Everything she says about the development of the horse is 100% in agreement with my beliefs. 1. Reward the horse regularly with breaks, 2. Use lots of praise, 3. The horse must come through - rear to front, and 4. Don't fight, ever.

What is that sound called that horses make?

I learned the German word -- schnäuzen-- for ? in English, when a horse blows through its nose. You know, that noise horses make more often than any other noise, when they clear their noses? Do we even have a word for that? (Aarene, it's the sound Fiddle makes when she's warming up.) The thing is, Mara hardly ever blows, she's simply too tense. Every time she does it, I praise her. During this lesson she did it several times, meaning she was relaxed. Mell looked at me curiously when I said, "This horse never does this, she never really exhales." (Funny, last week when my man and I took a walk with Mara, when we got home, my man said to her, "OK Mara, you can breathe out now" and I had to laugh; even he notices it.)

I just wanna go down the trail. 

I finally found a good trainer, and I have this little fear that she's gonna actually quit me, because of these issues.

Logically I know I will learn the terms.

One day I'll get my feel back.

I'll have to put that on my Christmas list.