The title of this post kind of sums up this week’s riding lesson and it is going to be my new mantra…I think it would also make a fabulous book title as well.  It is a sobering realization that Ike’s success in the world of dressage is completely dependent on my ability to master the elusive half halt.  Before my riding career is done, I would love to say that I could execute a correct half halt and that I was able to be an effective rider at something other than Intro and Training Levels.  The half halt is the necessary skill to claw my way out of these lower levels.

I have written quite frequently about my struggles with learning a correct half halt.  Could probably be the poster child for How Not to Half Halt.  You know you are doing it wrong when your trainer screams, “Stop pulling on the reins and squeeze your fingers!”  “Stop squeezing your fingers and release.” “Close your legs as you squeeze your fingers.  Your lower leg is not on your horse.” Oh, yeah.  Yes, I do realize that I need to perform these movements as part of a correct half halt, but when the 1200 pound freight train ignores my gentle squeezes, the mind goes blank.  The arms, fingers and legs then start doing whatever they please until my blank mind reboots.

Another key point that I need to add to the list of skills to master is the ability to keep my reins at an equal length so that when I do half halt, I do not cause my horse to end up crooked.  Then I also have to make sure that my dominant hand doesn’t do more than my other hand whereby making Ike even more crooked.  Lots of crookedness plus my blank mind equals one very unattractive picture.  Think of a worm wiggling down centerline.  Pretty, huh?

With less than two weeks until the show, we schooled the movements of the tests during my lesson as well.  Lots of reminders from Ms. C to half halt my outside rein to help straighten Ike.  Yes, there was a lot of crookedness on centerline, on circles and on my long diagonals.  The centerline crookedness was subtle – Ike was slightly flexed to the right.  Worst part was that I couldn’t tell that he was, but I bet the judge will see it.  On circles, I need to make sure to let go of my inside rein a bit and utilize my outside rein to turn my horse…just don’t let that outside rein cross over the neck.  Arrgghhh!  So much to think about to be an effective rider – no wonder my brain likes to reboot regularly to help clear out the clutter.

Fingers crossed that one of my reboots doesn’t occur as we head down centerline nine days from now!

As I watched someone at work hunt and peck at their keyboard today, I started thinking, “How is it that they don’t know the basic skill of typing?”  When I was in high school, I thought it was a silly waste of time to sit at a typewriter (I’m showing my age again) and learn where to put my fingers.  QWERTY was one of those things you memorized in order to pass your typing test, not a really bad computer password that is easily hacked.  Now, I am so very thankful that I spent that time learning to type.  These days, it seems like one of those necessary and basic skills that everyone should know, but I guess I am wrong.

It also seems that in riding, as in the rest of life, people sometimes bypass the basics in order to rush up the levels to learn the “tricks.”  I mean, who doesn’t want to ride one tempis on the long diagonal or a canter pirouette at X?  But without the basic skills for you and your horse, don’t you really miss the point of dressage?  Where is the harmony between rider and horse if you are constantly butting heads to maintain a trot or canter rhythm?  The classic dressage training scale (the one below was published by USDF) is pretty clear where we need to start.

Without good rhythm and relaxation, can you really find a steady connection?  If you are riding your horse front to back instead of developing the thrust from behind, do you really have impulsion?  I am still a dressage neophyte, but even I know that without the basic skills, you are going to have holes in your education that will come back to bite you later.  A tense rider leads to a tense horse which translates to short, choppy strides and a hard back.  And depending on your skill set and your horse’s age/talent/mental state/physical limitations, some might take a bit longer to establish those basic skills.

Ms. C and I spend hours working on the basics with Ike.  She stresses that we need to teach him to use his back correctly, maintain contact, and develop the push from the hind end.  She is always asking me what I think of Ike’s rhythm in each gait and expects that I will use my half halts effectively to adjust when Ike gets too quick and rushed.  “Why aren’t you half halting?” “Um, I don’t know.”  Yes, yes, the newbie’s mistake of going on cruise control instead of constantly monitoring the situation and making minor adjustments to establish a better rhythm with a steadier connection.

As with every young horse and clueless rider, some days are better than others.  Some days we seem to click and all flows.  Other days we struggle horribly and I go home exhausted and demoralized after fighting with Ike to establish a steady connection.  He likes to hang on the bit sometimes and it takes all my strength to half halt loudly enough for him to pick himself up.  Ike also likes to snatch the reins from my hands rather than accepting contact.  We are all over the place while cantering: big boy runs through the contact one day and then canters like a First Level horse the next.  It is this inconsistency that forces us to remain at Training Level for now and basically, I am okay with that.

Yes, it is true.  Show season in Virginia gets rolling the first weekend in April.  Yikes!  It seemed like I had a lot more time to prepare for the season to come.  I am still trying to work my way through my list of pre-season show preparations (the trailer is inspected and partially cleaned), but ready or not, it is time to dust off the USEF and USDF cards, dig out the Coggins, and write the checks.

Reality is setting in that I have committed myself to the licensed shows to try to qualify for the USDF/GAIGs Regional Championships.   Uh, was that the right thing to do?  My last foray into the licensed show world was a debacle of epic proportions.  I wasn’t even trying to qualify for regionals; I just wanted to get enough scores for All Breeds.  Cigar had other plans.  We made it to enough shows to get the necessary number of scores, but when you have to excuse yourself from the ring for your horse’s misconduct at least once at every show, then getting the needed scores is darn near impossible.  Thank you Cigar.  You might as well have just eaten the money that I spent on that class…I shouldn’t say that – he probably would have eaten the money (Note to new readers:  He did eat a $50 bill before one of my lessons and never gave change.  Stinker).

So, although our first planned shows aren’t until the last weekend of April and the first weekend of May, entries open next week.  That means that I need to decide what tests to ride.  One thing I have decided is that even though the shows are both two-day shows, Ike and I will only do one day each weekend.  He is just turning 5 on April 30th and I think it would be unfair to expect him to do two full weekends back-to-back.  He might be big, but he is still a baby in so many ways.

Now back to the decision of which tests to ride – Training Test 1, Test 2, or Test 3?  We need two qualifying scores (63% or greater) from Test 3 in order to qualify.  Test 3 does have the most canter work with the dreaded canter turn onto the long diagonal with a down transition at X.  While we ended last season with scores for Test 3 in the high-60’s, I fully expect our scores to be lower at the licensed shows.  I think the game plan right now is to do Test 1 and Test 2 at the first show, and then Test 2 and Test 3 the following weekend.  Once we see where we stand after those tests, I can decide how to proceed at the next show in June or go back to schooling shows if Ike decides to follow in his big brother’s footsteps.

Keeping fingers crossed that Ike can bring some glory back to the family.