Hot Dressage
This past weekend, WallE and I had two dressage lessons with Molly Xanthopoulos in the heat of the day. Our first lesson was Saturday at 5:30pm. Prior to our lesson, I spent the day teaching lessons and unloading and stacking hay. WallE spent the day sweating in the pasture. Needless to say, by the time 4:30pm rolled around and it was time to venture to the nearby farm for the lesson, both of us were hot and sweaty (pre-ride). Nevertheless, we loaded in the trailer and off we went.
We got to the lesson venue and were a little early. We sat in the shade, but the air was still and I kicked myself for not bringing the battery operated fan with me from the trailer (at this point it was up the hill and too far away to easily get). It was our turn to ride and I climbed onto WallE.
Soaked in sweat before starting to work, I explained to Molly that we had been working on not riding on the forehand and any exercises to help us would be much appreciated. I also noted that our free walk needed some work. Here are the take aways from the lesson:
Demand a good walk at all times. I have a tendency to let us just mosey around the arena or trail when we walk. Molly explained that there should only be one walk. An energetic one.
Energy matters. In our transitions, she had us work on having the correct trot energy from the first step.
Use the sitting trot through the half halts in the warm up. This intensifies the half halt.
Leg yield to the left. WallE is a left sided horse, so pushing him to the left helps keep him straighter. This helps through the transitions.
The second day, our lesson was at 2:45pm and I took the fan. The focus was much of the same, but it was very helpful to review. Our transitions were loads better and our general rhythm was consistently energetic. Hot dressage is like hot yoga...uncomfortable, but effective.
