Hi Everyone!! Hope you are enjoying some beautiful Fall weather! We have had excellent weather this week!! I put some pictures up of me and Royal Rubin. "Rudi" is one of Heike's Grand Prix mounts. He is a 12 year old stallion by Rubinstien. I am lucky enough to ride him quite often! There are a few pictures of us having some fun after a good ride!! Here are the links. Enjoy!!
Royal Rubin:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/MTB-Dressage/129309447103592?ref=ts#!/album.php?aid=30115&id=129309447103592&ref=mf
Rudi and I having some fun!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/MTB-Dressage/129309447103592?ref=ts#!/album.php?aid=30123&id=129309447103592
Check out MTBDressage on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/MTB-Dressage/129309447103592?ref=ts#!/pages/MTB-Dressage/129309447103592
MTBDressage.com is coming soon!!!
Please let me know if the links don't work for some reason!!
Thanks for reading!
-Meaghan
Friday, September 24, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
A New Tool for the Toolbox
The Bridge!
I was riding one of the young horses and Heike made a comment that I should really try to keep my hands closer together; create a little imaginary box right in front on the withers and keep my hands INSIDE. Normally when I ride young horses I end up having my hands a little lower and wider, which is fine sometimes, but eventually they have to accept the contact from a slightly closer and elevated hand. Sometimes I try to micro-manage every little moment and correct it before it happens. Sometimes this works out great but other times I get in the horses way and become a bit too busy. Not busy as in moving my hands around in gigantic movements as if I were painting an elaborate piece of art but simply just giving to many little aids in to short of time. Remember: give an aid, give the horse a chance to react, and then repeat if necessary.
The bridge is a great way to feel how slight your rein aids can really be as well as how much more support you can give with your leg and weight aids. It allows you to feel if there are any crooked points in your position and/or your horse’s body. Maybe you have been compensating with your right rein for what your right leg should have been doing?
To make the Bridge take the left rein in the left hand and lay the rest of the rein flat across the withers, then take the right rein in the right hand and lay the rest flat across the withers. Now take the extra part of the rein in each hand. You should have two layers of reins in each hand. This creates small “bridge” on top of the horse’s withers. The forces, in a way that doesn’t negatively affect your horse, to keep your hands steady and only using a slight motion of the wrist for your rein aid. I know it sounds confusing and it will probably feel impossible for the first few rounds but stick with it and really try to feel how your leg and seat aid should precede your rein aids!
After we have mastered the bridge we can move onto riding with only one hand!!
Thanks for reading!
-Meaghan
I was riding one of the young horses and Heike made a comment that I should really try to keep my hands closer together; create a little imaginary box right in front on the withers and keep my hands INSIDE. Normally when I ride young horses I end up having my hands a little lower and wider, which is fine sometimes, but eventually they have to accept the contact from a slightly closer and elevated hand. Sometimes I try to micro-manage every little moment and correct it before it happens. Sometimes this works out great but other times I get in the horses way and become a bit too busy. Not busy as in moving my hands around in gigantic movements as if I were painting an elaborate piece of art but simply just giving to many little aids in to short of time. Remember: give an aid, give the horse a chance to react, and then repeat if necessary.
The bridge is a great way to feel how slight your rein aids can really be as well as how much more support you can give with your leg and weight aids. It allows you to feel if there are any crooked points in your position and/or your horse’s body. Maybe you have been compensating with your right rein for what your right leg should have been doing?
To make the Bridge take the left rein in the left hand and lay the rest of the rein flat across the withers, then take the right rein in the right hand and lay the rest flat across the withers. Now take the extra part of the rein in each hand. You should have two layers of reins in each hand. This creates small “bridge” on top of the horse’s withers. The forces, in a way that doesn’t negatively affect your horse, to keep your hands steady and only using a slight motion of the wrist for your rein aid. I know it sounds confusing and it will probably feel impossible for the first few rounds but stick with it and really try to feel how your leg and seat aid should precede your rein aids!
After we have mastered the bridge we can move onto riding with only one hand!!
Thanks for reading!
-Meaghan
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
August!
Well....other than being a complete blogging slacker, there has been a lot going on this past month! August flew by!!
My friend Eliza, of www.elizasydnordressage.com came to visit in the beginning of August! We met up with another good friend of ours and went to Verden for the World Young Horse Championships! There were some incredible horses. I was completely blown away by the 5 and 6 year old classes! The breeding of some of the horses combined with world class training made it a complete pleasure to be an auditor! We also watched the Grand Prix, and the Special. For the first time I was able to Sune Hansen, the rider from Blue Hors ride. He was an absolute delight. He is a tall slender (not to mention gorgeous looking) man with a flawless position. He and his horses moved with such grace. His aids were nearly invisible. Although he has a few mistakes in each test, costing him the win, his rides were breathtaking. He is now the new picture in my head of what I want to look like on a horse and how I gracefully I want to ride. I am really excited to see how well he does at the WEG in Kentucky!
The weekend after Verden, my friend Pia and I drove to Munster to see the final class of the German Championships which served as the final selection trail for the WEG team. Isabell Werth was the clear winner, but the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th, spots were really close. I was most impressed by Matthias Rath's freestyle. His horse is known for having serious issues in the final piaffe, but he made a point to do 2 sets of piaffe in the final moments of the freestyle to show the judges that he has what it takes to make the team. He proceed to do almost 18 perfect steps of piaffe right in front of the judge at B while petting his horse. It was awesome!!! The competition arena is set right in the middle of the city with a beautiful historic castle as the backdrop. Wish I could figure out the picture situation!!!!!
After watching the Germans fight it out for their WEG team we raced home and quickly tuned into useflive.com (which had incredible live coverage of the US National Championships) and watched the Americans fight it out for our WEG team! It was an awesome weekend filled with some exceptional Dressage!! Not to mention got me super excited for the WEG.
Always more to come….
Meaghan
My friend Eliza, of www.elizasydnordressage.com came to visit in the beginning of August! We met up with another good friend of ours and went to Verden for the World Young Horse Championships! There were some incredible horses. I was completely blown away by the 5 and 6 year old classes! The breeding of some of the horses combined with world class training made it a complete pleasure to be an auditor! We also watched the Grand Prix, and the Special. For the first time I was able to Sune Hansen, the rider from Blue Hors ride. He was an absolute delight. He is a tall slender (not to mention gorgeous looking) man with a flawless position. He and his horses moved with such grace. His aids were nearly invisible. Although he has a few mistakes in each test, costing him the win, his rides were breathtaking. He is now the new picture in my head of what I want to look like on a horse and how I gracefully I want to ride. I am really excited to see how well he does at the WEG in Kentucky!
The weekend after Verden, my friend Pia and I drove to Munster to see the final class of the German Championships which served as the final selection trail for the WEG team. Isabell Werth was the clear winner, but the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th, spots were really close. I was most impressed by Matthias Rath's freestyle. His horse is known for having serious issues in the final piaffe, but he made a point to do 2 sets of piaffe in the final moments of the freestyle to show the judges that he has what it takes to make the team. He proceed to do almost 18 perfect steps of piaffe right in front of the judge at B while petting his horse. It was awesome!!! The competition arena is set right in the middle of the city with a beautiful historic castle as the backdrop. Wish I could figure out the picture situation!!!!!
After watching the Germans fight it out for their WEG team we raced home and quickly tuned into useflive.com (which had incredible live coverage of the US National Championships) and watched the Americans fight it out for our WEG team! It was an awesome weekend filled with some exceptional Dressage!! Not to mention got me super excited for the WEG.
Always more to come….
Meaghan
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