all I do is keep him moving forward. I hold the rein with my thumb, and my bottom two fingers wiggle gently all the time, which is what I was told to do by Ferdi Eilberg when my friend went for a lesson with him. The shape he makes is entirely natural, he was bred to do it.
Jean commented:
Ace has a natural carriage that's hard to beat. As I noted above the more you can engage that hind end into that front the better and better he will be. Looks like he should move up a level or so...not sure how your levels compare there in Britain to ours, but aside from the flying changes, he's going in a third level frame. (Training, First, Second, Third, Fourth, then FEI--Prix St. Georges and up is the order of levels here.)
[I think ours compare as follows:
Training = prelim
First = novice, the first level that you earn BD points at
Second = elementary
Third = medium/advanced medium
Fourth = advanced medium/advanced]
This is something I have been thinking about a lot, because Ace will shortly be ready to start moving up the grades. The fact is that he is already in Elementary carriage, and therefore I plan to teach him lengthened strides and 10m trot circles as soon as I can and put him up to Elementary as soon as he is able to hold it all together for a longer test. Strength is the only real issue with this, which I shall be building up with longer work sessions and more hacks on the hills.
Elementary requires sitting trot which I must also start to work on. Walk to canter he already has and canter/walk is good enough for the level of simple change required at Elementary, which allows a couple of trot strides.
I have finally managed to shrink a file small enough to upload to youtube, so here it is. The cadence looks quicker if you watch it on a bigger view (buttons at bottom left of the rectangle)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOA2GPCnM6o&feature=youtu.be
I would love everyone's opinion of seeing him actually move. The tail flashing is just his foible. He does it less the stronger he gets and most judges these days ignore it, thankfully. He is also trying very, very hard to spook at E/S and at K, and I manage to stop him most of the time. The shift right at the halt is also normal for him and I ride into it with a heavy aid on to keep left, but it does not always work!
C
PS In case you think this is a terribly inaccurate test, it's P13 and not one of the transitions is actually on a marker, they are all before, after or between.
PPS I can see that I have sat left on the right canter and I do not know if he put me there or it's me, I'll be checking that one out.
He really is a lovely boy. He's a nice mover and really elegant, as you've noted.
ReplyDeleteThere is a little unsteadiness still there as he occasionally pops up out of the contact, but that is entirely to be expected at this stage. Watching, I get the feeling you can get more engagement from him that would help that. What I am suggesting is that he push through more to your hand, with a bit of the feeling that he wants to push his nose out as he strides through. I just think I'd like to see him lengthen his neck a little at this point.
That could be what the judge wanted. Because he stretches down in such a nice way in the walk, he certainly isn't unwilling to reach for the contact so that's beautiful.
His overall frame and carriage are, as you note, well above the level he's showing-it is like a US training level test. And you do a great job of riding those "almost spooks"--was it that white sign in the field???
Darn impressive and he does look like he has the potential to take you far in dressage. (Former eventing lady...*VBWG*) Lucky you to have found such a talented boy with such an obviously good attitude.
I am always interested in your tests. Here in the US, the horse has to halt for a salute at the beginning and it's scored. You can post at training level, but sitting trot is required at first--except, I think on the lengthened trots. (Haven't shown in a while.) All the transitions are not at markers in training either, so that's not too different.
Jean his Daddy carries his neck short and high and he looks to me as if he is moving more like him every day. I can ask him to go longer, but he will also go deeper and behind the verticle and that should score badly. Dad is here, rider is HUGE by the way
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXSl-jEGGH0
Our tests also used to have a halt at the start but now that only begins at Elementary and one or two of the hardest Novice tests. The idea at lower levels is to allow the horse to flow, not stop it as soon as it has started.
C
Am no dressage diva.. but he is very very elegant.. beautifully light on his feet.. He is much more "up" than "out in front" than your typical continental type. Personally I prefer the up with plenty of suspension. If you post any more vids like that WFP will be after him ;)
ReplyDeleteHe's very lightweight for a warmblood NH, but he will get a heavier before he is finished maturing. His feet have suddenly got a lot bigger, so there is more substance on the way! He's very uphill built - that was deliberate, I looked for one like it to save me the rouble of having to ride to creat it! And I also chose for suspension, because that's my preference too. He lengthens and shortens easily, it is all beginning to come together now :-)
ReplyDeleteC.
Who's WFP???
WFP = William Fox Pitt maybe?
ReplyDeleteHe's gorgeous, and incredibly light on his feet, but I don't get the feeling he could manage ele yet.
Like Jean i'd like to see him in a longer frame at this stage. He's incredibly up and tight in the neck but at the same time still quite unsteady in the contact. I'd be asking for a longer more swinging frame which should hopefully also open up his trot, which although showing fantastic natural cadence is very tight and choppy. There looks like there's a whole additional foot of stride to be had there.
But i'm no dressage diva. That's just my uneducated opinion :)
Cassie.
Cassie he isn't tight in the neck, it's a family trait the way he carries his neck, just like his father and his brother. I know he is not ready for elementary, he's not strong enough, but he will not get the proper scores that he can get until the level that we are competing at matches his natural head carriage.
DeleteThe general comments he gets are along the lines of "fabulous trot, when his canter matches he will be super" so I think maybe the shrinking of the file from 350mb to 27mb for Youtube has made it look different. I think you can see from the still photo that there is no shortage of stride length.
Don't forget also that I sent him on faster than his natural rythm in this test to satisfy this judge's perference for a higher speed.
C
Cassie, when I said, "longer in the neck" I didn't mean lower. Ace is built to carry himself as he does. As his hind end strength develops Caroline has to be careful that he continues to step through to the rein and not curl up so she has no way of channeling the energy.
DeleteSpeaking of, I think he's going to have some super lengthenings. The extended canter is really going to be "interesting," to say the least. Wonder if the dressage judge will be ready to leap out of the box for safety the way one said she was going to when I lengthened PJ in one test. She never thought I was going to be able to stop him--collect up again--which I actually did with ease. *G*
yes sorry William Fox Pitt ;)
ReplyDeleteI have had people telling me he'd make a wonderful eventer. It's not going to happen!
DeleteC
I think SH has got the aspect ratio wrong on the conversion to a smaller file. He isn't that long in the leg and on my bigger version the trot looks much longer. I'll see what I can do about it.
ReplyDeleteC
Aspect ratio was incorrect. Tight neck and short trot now disappeared :-) Please watch again.
ReplyDeleteC
I love it, his way of going is just gorgeous, once you have the consistency he'll be unbeatable. thanks for uploading it. :D
ReplyDeleteThanks Tracey, I'm pretty biased but I think once we have consistency he is probably capable of scoring high 70s just because his movement is so darned attractive. He fills the eye, and when we warm up he normally has people staring at him.
ReplyDeleteThe unsteady head is just a baby thing, he's not like it at home. The loss of rythmn was his attempts to spook at ES and K, and anticipation of a canter transition left.
He's getting better each time out now, and he is such a pleasure to ride :-)
I'm a lucky girl!
C