I bounce, you bounce, we bounce

Our mission to improve Theo's canter continues.  Weeks of focus are starting to pay off.  Trainer D has been laser focused on getting a bigger canter out of him.  She insists on that 12 foot stride every time and Theo is starting to wrap his head around that being his new reality.  We did grid work this week and he was confidently going through the exercise even when it was set a bit long.  When I ask for a canter, he's much more willing to go forward into the transition rather than doing a couple of strides mostly in place.

In my lessons with Trainer D, it's time to ignore what his head and neck are doing and instead focus on a willing, rhythmical, forward canter.  I'm off his back and worried about keeping him straight between my hands and legs.  Half the time I've got my hands halfway up his neck or buried in his mane, working on my still unsteady jumping position.  I'm strong, but I've picked up a lot of bad habits that I now need to break.  With Trainer D's insistence on a real canter, we've moved to a canter that averages 18.5cm in elevation.  We've got multiple rides at that elevation now so it wasn't a fluke.

When I ride in my dressage tack and sit down, that big, bouncy canter collapses.  I go from our new 18.5cm elevation to a 14cm elevation.  Hm, that sounds suspiciously like it's the rider's fault. 

Rider's fault?  Theo is shocked, this is his shocked face.

Today I rode in my dressage gear with the goal of keeping that big, forward canter with my butt in the saddle.  I warmed up by getting up off his back and developing the same canter I use to jump.  Put his head wherever, stay off his back, just develop the big bounce.  Once I had to canter established, I started to sit and establish a contact.  I sat softly to start and gradually added weight as I adapted to his bigger canter.  It takes a heck of a lot of hip movement to keep that big canter with my butt in the saddle.  I really had to focus on not squishing his canter but instead focusing on the up part of the stride.  Kind of scoop like ice cream and suction cup his back up with my butt and thighs, to use a visual from Mary Wanless.  Which frankly sounds very weird when you just type it out like that.  I botched it and had to get up off his back several times but at least I could get a feel for what I was working to maintain.  And get used to the idea that Theo actually can canter with that kind of movement.

Once I got it, I was able to maintain a canter at around 18cm elevation with my tush in the saddle.  There's a lot of work to do there, but it certainly felt a lot better.  I could get Theo on the contact while maintaining the bounce and the three beat canter.  Progress!

Elevation drifted down as he got more tired but he was pretty consistently up in the 18cm range in the canter, half pass work was the last thing we worked on and got us a big dip in elevation

His average elevation dropped to 14cm when I asked for the canter half pass.  That could be strength or I am sitting too heavy and squishing him because I'm overriding.  Like I do.  We'll see what Trainer Z says.

His flying changes are also benefiting from this new routine.  Our right to left change has become steady enough that he's starting to offer it on his own.  I'll hate that later but for right now, a drama free change is a win.  The left to right is sticky and he takes a pretty good bump with the spur to convince him to change.  The massage therapist was out today and working through his sore spots.  He had a very strong opinion about his left hind so not much of a surprise he didn't want to really bounce off that side. 

Tomorrow is our ride with Trainer Z.  I'm hoping she'll be happy with our progress in the canter.  We've developed some trouble with him anticipating in the trot and breaking to canter but what can you do.  There's always something you need to work on.

Return of the data

I finally remembered to charge my Equisense and get it back to work.  For awhile I didn't want to use it because I knew my symmetry was going to be bad and I knew my elevation was terrible with the hard footing.  Today I turned it on for my jumping lesson with Trainer D.

The jumping count is off because it didn't count the cross rail we had set up.  Apparently Theo didn't put enough effort into it for it to count.  And since we were only doing patterns for four or so jumps, with one not counting, Equisense didn't really realize we were jumping courses.  Oh well, not my focus with this tool.

What is up with our regularity though?  Canter makes some sense, we're still settling into our new jumping canter so things waver as he slows in the corners.  The trot was more of a surprise, but kind of the same story.  Go forward go forward go forward is apparently not good for our regularity scores since it's something we fade on and then get reminded.  Ugh.

Symmetry is holding steady in the green so that's lovely.  I made him canter his booty off with 22% of our hour long ride at the canter.  That's a big change from before.  We cantered for thirteen minutes total and it wasn't little canters.  Trainer D was all about the forward.  Pony was tired by the end.

The real surprise was the change in the elevation score.  We were averaging 15 cm or lower for the previous 20 sessions, all of a sudden we popped up to 18 cm.  During our ride we were as high as 19 cm which is average for the Equisense user population.

Looking at our trend of 20 sessions, that's a very big jump.  Our trot elevation looked good, too, though not as dramatic a change.  I was in a pelham today due to my shoulder bothering me.  I'm curious what this will look like when I swap back to my snaffle.  Probably about the same, Theo isn't overly fussed by his pelham.

It's been way too long since I used this tool.  It's really quite helpful when I'm trying to track our progress.  It also gives me confidence that we're on a good path.  I'll be very interested to see what our averages look like in a month when it's all data from the new environment.

Where's the data?

I've had a complete dearth of Equisense data.  No, I didn't lose it or let Theo step on it.  Turns out there's a safety feature where it shuts off when temps get too cold.  It protects the electronics.  This may be a rare occurrence in France, but in NH?  It was always off and I was usually too cold to take it into the office and plug it in to get it to work again.  So for the dead of winter, no data.

It was 40 yesterday so I went ahead and plugged the unit in so I could put it back in rotation.  It should be warm enough for it to stay on all week.

First, glad to see our symmetry, which had been really starting to concern me, bounce back.  We'd been on a slow but steady downward drift for a lot of rides in December.  For this ride, he popped right back to his 7.5 average.  That's a genuine relief.

Our elevation had been drifting down while our symmetry drifted down, but now it's popped back to usual, at least for the canter.  Slightly down in the trot, but he was also trying to see if he could suck behind the contact for half the ride.  Using the topline is hard, mom!  How about I arch my neck so I look pretty and drop my back while not allowing you to take any feel, does that work?

Ugh. 

Our regularity scores were terrible, but I've found protest bucking in the canter will do that.  Theo was having an extreme case of the opinions.  By the end he was stretching into the contact again, but I could tell he'd had other riders for awhile.  He is so good at setting that false frame and making everyone think he's light and soft.  And then he props and threatens if you try to push through it.  Yesterday was a bit of a difficult ride and I explained to him that moving your legs super fast does not equal forward.  I ended up holding my outside rein and kicking until he realized sucking back off the aids wasn't actually going to make me go away.  He's such a smart little puke.  He's not afraid of my hand, he's just learned that if he curls back, I will put my hands forward and kick him.  He can fall on his shoulders when I do that, so yay for Theo.  Now I'm holding my hands no matter what and driving him forward.  He's not a fan.

Thank goodness I have a lesson on Friday.  Dropping behind the contact and behind my leg at the same time is not my favorite evasion.  Fiona was the master of dropping behind all aids and then taking off like a bat out of hell.  I'd like to not have that happen.

By the numbers

I've got a little issue.  My horse has no elevation.

Seriously, look at those numbers.  Look at the averages for Equisense users.  Notice that he is off of the 'normal' range in two out of three gaits.

Then look at Dolce's numbers.

The untrained, unfit, careening around at the canter with no steering or balance pony has the same elevation!  Also note that crazy canter rhythm.  So much work to do with that pony.

I get Theo up to 16.8 cm in the canter during any given session, but that's still well below the 19cm average.  I'd probably have better numbers if I didn't let him warm up on a loose rein to start and then move my elevation up throughout the ride.  In a recent ride, he started at 14.1 cm and ended at 16.8 cm as I increased collection and activity.  That comes in with an average of 15.5 cm.  Sigh.

So should I be concerned?  I don't know.  I need elevation to get that change, but Theo just isn't built to bounce.  He's built to take his weight back, but he's not built to catch a lot of air.  I did get a successful change in each direction today so it's not a kiss of death, but there will be no comments about 'expression' or 'loft' on any of his tests.  Ever.  He gets it done, but he's a bit of a minimalist.

Jumping January will hopefully help.  I've talked to Trainer A and she's busting out the Circle of Hell with raised poles.  I'm averaging around 75 transitions per ride and that's probably the one thing that will help the most with getting his weight back and getting him less earthbound.  We can try to squeak out another centimeter or two, but I don't want to chase a number at the expense of our current calm, happy work.

None of the judges have mentioned any problems in the past year, we get straight 7s for our gaits.  I don't think this is a limiter for the low level stuff I want to do, but it's something I should at least be aware of.  I don't think of Theo as a flat mover because his back moves so much.  Now I watch videos and go 'oh yeah, he really doesn't move much vertically'.  I never noticed.

Sass monster

It's cold out.  Not like 'aw, I need to put on a coat'.  More like 'omg when will I feel my fingers again?!'.  Theo's 8am lesson today was cancelled because it was 14* out and we generally don't work horses when it's under 15*.  Not good for the lungs and too much risk of freezing sweat.  I scooted out to ride him this afternoon when it got up to a balmy 26* and found that he had pulled a strap of his heavyweight turn out off.  Really?  It's getting down to 10* this week!  You need that!  So guess what I'm doing tonight?

Saturday nights when you're a horse owner.  Wild and crazy.

While handling and tacking Theo I noted he was yanking his head away from me like he'd been beaten to within an inch of his life.  He was also spooking and snorting at things like his own blanket.  He didn't want ear rubs.  My horse didn't want ear rubs.  What the actual hell?  I turned to look at something and he grabbed my jacket.

Well, hello naughty Theo, it's been a long time.  All the other horses are being sassy in the bolting, snorting way that most riders have experienced.  Mi papi has his very own way to celebrate the cold.  He gets slow, distracted, and pissy like a teenager that just lost their phone.  He'll do it, but only because you're making him and he's going to do it so slowly that you'll wish you hadn't started the fight.  And he will temper tantrum if you push the matter.

I had fortunately taken my dressage tack home for a proper cleaning and conditioning.  A healthy dose of lederbalsam combined with full seat breeches is even better than a stick of Saddle-tite.  I put on my new rainbow spurs which are a bit bigger than my usual spurs, grabbed a whip, and told Theo to stop trying to bite me.  Time to manage the sass monster.

The problem with Theo's sass monster is that it's a sullen, pouty beast.  Lunging doesn't get you far.  We taught him to get it out on the lunge, but it's hell on my bad shoulder.  I got on and he made sure I knew that there were scary things in the corners.  All the corners.  Nothing bad, but he craned his head and snorted while walking slowly.  I put my leg on and got the one hoof salute.  Our little jog to let him get his sneezes out barely got his hooves off the ground.  I warmed him up at the walk for fifteen minutes with two coolers on to give him a fair shot to wake up (and get that hump out of his back) but he was not on board with letting the sass out. 

Do we look cold?  Because we were cold!  Two coolers on the sass monster

After his long walking warm up, I got rid of one cooler and we spent a solid twenty minutes putting him in front of my leg.  And back in front of my leg.  And back in front of my leg.  Pretend you don't notice that hump that's STILL sitting right behind you and keep kicking.  I even used the whip which says a lot about how our relationship has changed.  If I'd done that even a year ago, I'd be in the hospital.  I gave him a double tap, he gave me a big buck, then he started to move forward.  Wash, rinse, repeat.  It only took us 35 minutes of 'warm up' but I was able to get in a really fantastic fifteen minutes of work with lots of extra power and bounce from behind.  I love seeing those hocks and stifles working away in the mirror.  We had a whole centimeter more elevation than average in the canter once he was channeling the sass into his work.

For those of you following along at home, his 'big' canter is still 2 cm lower than average for Equisense users.  Sob.

He's recently learned how to stretch over his back in the canter.  It's both terrifying and wonderful.  I feed out the reins while he's cantering and he stretches out very dramatically.  His nose goes to the ground, his back lifts, and my terror spikes because this is also what he does right before he tries to launch me.  He canters around quite happily like this now, but only after he's done some serious business dressage-ing at the canter.  After his transition work, he stretches out all those hard working muscles with great pleasure.  And some serious trepidation from his rider who's trying to get off his back and let him do this very correct thing while seeing her life flash before her eyes.

Love his PS of Sweden exercise rug, it's just enough bling to make us feel fancy while freezing

After our hour of work, Theo was back to being my cuddle monster.  He played with my hair while I was waiting for a clear shot at the door to leave the ring (beginners on ponies are terrifying).  He fell asleep loose in the aisle while I moisturized and rebraided his mane.  Keeping it slippery and braided seems to be keeping it safe from his neck rugs.  The open face sleazy isn't working out that great.  It slides back and then the elastic gets tight and I'm afraid it's going to choke him.  It also started to rub the upper part of his mane.  I cut the elastic band off and use it like a high neck shoulder guard.  He's far more comfortable this way and it's still protecting the half of his mane that's in danger.  A long mane is a ton of work, why was I thinking it would be easier than a pulled mane?

Soon, soon running braid ready

Tomorrow his other rider is working him.  Hopefully the 35* heat wave and my hard work today will keep the sass monster under wraps.  It takes a special relationship to manage him on those days.  Or a certain level of YOLO.

Joining Club Equisense

I wanted an Equisense the first time I saw one.  Data?  On my horse?  Over time?  GIMME.  GIMME NOW.

I'm a data scientist as my career field, I'm a bit passionate about this sort of thing.

When I saw that 50 Equisense were going out at 50% off for Black Friday, I stayed up until 2am to snag one.  It was 8am in France.  I managed to snag one and it arrived on Monday.  Can't say enough about the fast shipping and excellent packaging.  Super sharp customer service and a really well done marketing email strategy.  But that's just me being a digital marketing nerd.

I also got to brush up on my French because some of my emails showed up in French.

I downloaded the app, charged my Equisense, and got it connected to my phone with no trouble.  It took me about five minutes to get the app set up with my account and get the sensor connected.  The sensor velcroed on to my girth with no trouble.  Since I only need to charge it about once a month, it will live on my girth and get charged in the barn office when needed.

I was very cautious about getting excited for my first session.  I've found these types of devices to be a bit tricky/moody in the past.  My Fitbit can be troublesome at times, for example.  But it really was super easy.  I opened up the app, hit record, and stuffed my phone in my pocket.  At the end of my ride, I hit stop.  That was it.  When I was done, I got this:

Oh, blessed data.  How do I love thee, let me count the ways.

Starting from the top, woohoo all green on symmetry!  With Theo's unevenness behind, I was delighted to get a 7.6.  Having his hocks done and really working on that symmetry has been paying off.  We've got a lot of work to do, but it's not a disaster and he doesn't have a hind in red so I'll take it.

We were specifically working his walk to start so the long section of walk makes sense.  We have to change his warm up about twice a month to keep him from finding new and creative ways to evade doing actual work.  Right now, lots of transitions within the walk and getting him into his working frame while still walking.  We were also focused on the way he was stuck in his neck to the left, so a lot more time in that direction.  He did stretch and there was a huge pop out of his neck during a break, so whatever was stuck, it seems to have worked itself out.  Dressage:  Yoga for Horses.

His tempos are improving.  He used to have a 99 bpm canter and a 77 bpm trot.  I'm excited to see the cadence slowing while he's still covering the same amount of ground.  He's more relaxed and powerful.  I have no idea if the elevation is good or bad, but hopefully we'll see it trend up over time.  Our regularity?  Well, we got a 7 in the trot, that's not bad considering we were doing lateral work.  The walk got a 5, that's all on me.  I was trying to get the swinging walk from my seat, we had a lot of misfires.  That canter score?  Ouch.  We have a lot of work to do in the canter.  Which we knew.  It's good to have a metric to improve.

To be fair, we were dodging a lot of traffic and only cantered 1.5 minutes, but yeah, we have some canter work to do.

He felt freaking amazing by the end of our ride.  I was giggling and goofing off, enjoying my horse that now has self carriage and can be sensitive to the aids.  No more praying he keeps cantering during the counter canter, no more exhausted kicking as he drags himself on his shoulders, no more aching upper body as he insists I carry his head for him or acts like a giraffe.  He has passed up any other horse I've owned and has even passed up Miss Thang.  Fiona was freaking talented, but I never got here with her.  Theo is most definitely not talented, but he is very educated and willing.  This is what it feels like to ride a Second Level horse.  I can't even imagine how much fun he'll be when he gets to be a mid-level dressage horse.

I'm happy with the numbers we got and the sensor was so very easy to set up and use.  I'm really looking forward to building up his history and being able to track his performance over time.  It really took my ponynoia down a notch to see this first set of numbers.  He's not dying, he's not lame, he's fine.  We have a lot of work to do, but he's fine.  We're going in the right direction.

I will post so many charts.  Everyone will be so sick of my charts.