Dressage lesson with Karita: straightening a horse

It had been way too long since I had been to a proper dressage training session! Today I had my lesson with Karita Kotikulma with Rama. I had one of the best experiences in my life whilst riding Rama during my lesson, when at the end of the lesson we attempted some extended trot!

Ramazzotti's sire: Flemmingh

After warming up in trot and canter in a very relaxed way with a long and low neck, we worked on getting Rama to straighten and to become more active from behind. At first, we started on a 20m circle on the left rein in trot with a round neck and very soft contact, asking for Rama to bring his left hind leg more underneath him. To help him, Karita told me to try to imagine as if I was doing shoulder-in on a circle, so that the neck is set slightly inwards, and the left side is activated. I used my whip near his hind leg to gently as Rama to really step under with the leg. Although this made Rama much better from behind, he still felt like he wasn't properly straight. Because of Rama's slightly crooked hip, he needs some help getting his body to really even out and straighten. Using the whip on Rama's shoulder whilst still asking him to put his inside hindleg underneath him, Rama became a different horse! Since he was able to become even and straight, Rama was able to lift his front legs up high!! Amazing. We then repeated the same on the right side, but I kept my whip on the left side, where I was able to use it on his shoulder whenever it felt like Rama was falling against it and not lifting it as much as the other leg.

After a short walk break, the same idea was repeated on both reins but this time in canter. During the canter, Karita asked for me to shorten my reins because Rama was naturally collecting so much that my reins were far too long! With the same exercise, Rama suddenly became much lighter and his gait became bigger and even more expressive. Even though Rama already has a big canter, with this exercise he just felt so much better! It felt really really good, and I cannot remember the last time that I have had such a great time riding.

Again after a short break, we went back to trot, asking for shoulder-in on both reins along the long sides. Once again, we focussed more on getting Rama to step under with his hind leg instead of getting a perfect shoulder-in, as that will come with time once Rama is stronger. Although the right rein is easier for both of us, I was very pleased with the left rein as well. Rama was going so well at this point that Karita decided that we should try some extended trot along the diagonals. Our first attempt wasn't very good, because I didn't straighten Rama enough and I was concentrating too much on getting him to go forwards and extend his stride. But oh my goodness, the next three extensions were  mind-blowing! After getting Rama to lift his left shoulder and straighten his whole body, he was able to lift his front legs really high in front of him, with his hind legs active as well! These will be the highlight of my week!

The main homework for riding Rama is to continue stretching and practicing lateral movements to work on his back, to get him to become more flexible (and 'bendy') Hopefully, the lateral movements, such as shoulder-in and leg yields, will become a little bit easier. We should also work on small circles, as this will bring us more flexibility and quicker turning ability. Karita was impressed with how easy it is for Rama to collect and shorten so easily, when considering that Rama is still building up his muscles and is not yet at his full strength. Karita is coming again next Thursday, and next time mum will come take some photos and video of Rama if the lesson goes as well as it went today!

Rama and I have another lesson on Saturday morning with Ville Vaurio at 8.30am(!!) I have no idea how either of us will be awake enough to be able to actually do anything, and it's also supposed to be incredibly cold again, -16℃! Hopefully the camera will work!

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Henri is competing this week and next week in Vidauban, France at the Spring Tour Dressage 2013 with no less than five horses! Today he competed with three of his horses, and did quite well. In the FEI Preliminary 6 y/o class, with Rosamunde Henri placed 2nd with 74%. In the St. Georges class (for 7-9 year olds) he was 7th with Amador with 68.5%. Unfortunately with Antonello in the Inter II class, the pair only got 63%. Hopefully the rest of the competition goes well!

Exercise, escape and exhaustion

It’s been a killer of a day. Our night hellcat kitten Max decided to keep me up since 5am, and my day has started from there. Our farrier came to shoe our three boys today, starting at 8.30am. Normally we start our normal day routine of turning out and mucking out at this time, so you can imagine that we had to start an hour earlier - a shock for both us and the horses who were all sleeping when we went out after 7am… 

Joey being very careful with Vallu's foot!

After finishing our morning stables, our weekly Pilates lesson commenced. Normally, we have had 15-30 minutes of theory before starting any movements, but today we had a full hour of working out. Now that all of the theory is starting to sink in, each time the lesson is becoming harder and more intense because I know how to make each exercise as functional as possible. We did familiar movements again, but they all felt much harder. 

Before our Pilates lesson, mother and I decided to bring in Vallu and Rama so that no catastrophes would happen, and because it was such a sunny and warm day, we kept both Nelli and Basse out. After coming back from our lesson, we turned Vallu and Rama out again, and went back in. We only had an hour of peace before Rama’s escape from his paddock. Because last week Rama decided to jump out of his paddock (where the fence was 1.2m high!) the fence was raised to 1.5m so that he wouldn’t jump out. Today he decided to put his head in-between the middle and the top fences and then push his way out from the paddock. Ensue panic and a very rushed exit from the house towards the cantering horse!! Luckily Rama allowed me to catch him rather quickly when mother was getting some nuts and treats for him, and all the other horses then came in as well.

After lunging Rama, in order to give him an easier workday so that he will be fresh tomorrow for our lesson with Karita, exhaustion set in… With our evening stables done (with Nelli and Vallu being walked in-hand for 15 mins each) dad and I went to rake the arena in preparation for tomorrow’s lesson! Back home after 10pm, and another day in paradise done!

 

Photo post

Niilo decided that I didn't need my gloves! 

Rama thinks that playing with the fence is so much fun!

Nelli

I can nearly do the splits! 

Vallu ♥

Basse

Monday fun!

Today was a great start to a new week! All of our horses stayed out for about five hours (Vallu and Rama might come back in after only a couple of hour if it's a bad day!) it was a beautiful sunny day and both Rama and Basse went really well.

Happy boy :)

 Since Rama had a day off yesterday, I did some very basic work with him, allowing him to stay long and low in the warm-up and only asking him to become slightly higher once he had properly warmed up. Because of the lack of work yesterday, it caused Rama to be slightly stiffer, which meant that he deserved a longer warm up as well. After about 15-20 minutes of long and low in trot and canter around the arena, we started to work in a bit of a higher outline. We also attempted some leg yields in trot, with the result that I finally figured out how to exactly ask him for leg yield! Rama has always been ridden by men, so the aids given by a short stumpy woman are a little bit different! By putting my leg more backwards that I'm used to, and by applying a little bit more force, Rama suddenly went wonderfully well sideways! You just have to know what buttons to push to make it work. Now that I know how to properly ask him, hopefully the leg yields will become much easier and better.

 Rama is a great horse to ride since he is just such an easy guy, who is happy whenever he is working. One of Rama's best qualities is how soft his mouth is, and how easy it is for him to be in a higher, more collected outline. Now that Vallu is on his walking holiday for five more weeks, mother has been very kind and generous by letting me have lessons on Rama, and hopefully we will be going to one or two competitions soon. I have two lessons with Rama this week, on Wednesday and on Thursday. Thank you mother! ♡

Basse and Satu on today

Winter wonderland

Best day of the week! :) It's amazing what a bit of sunshine can do to your day! After our two hour long Method Putkisto Deep Stretch lesson, I rode Vallu in walk again after which I had a bit of fun with Basse outside in the snow.

Basse did a one round around our own outdoor arena (where there was about 3ft of snow!) before we went over to Equstom and did some trot and canter work around their fields. Considering that Basse hadn't been worked the day before, and it was a little bit colder today than on the previous days, this wasn't by far my best idea! Luckily I trust Basse and I know him so well after 7 years of riding him that nothing happened, he was just very fresh and a little bit out of control - hence my stronger than normal hands. He also wanted to turn left instead of going straight!