It was dressage all day in Aiken on Sunday. Boyd and Kim started the morning off with some high powered dressage. Just to set the scene, the weather here in Aiken was sunny and probably in the 60’s all day, and Three Runs Plantation was quiet with about 20 spectators. In addition to the lessons, the riders met with the USOC folks all day, and I would imagine the nutritionist is getting tired of hearing “I wake up in the morning and drink 8 cups of coffee with my Fruit Loops.” I have picked out three of the lessons to focus on, but, as I said from Ocala, we will write about all the riders as the spring progresses:
1) Lizzie Snow and Pop Star “Pop” (Dressage)
As a bit of background on Lizzie, she is originally from Oregon, but trains now in Southern Pines and is on the Developing B list. She and her horse Pop hope to do a few horse trials this spring and then the Young Riders 2* this summer. I know Lizzie from our mutual membership on the USEA Youth Board.
Lizzie’s lesson was all about achieving proper flexion by helping Pop to respect the inside leg. Mark helped Lizzie work through several exercises that really highlight the importance of not falling through the inside leg. The first exercise was walk to canter to counter canter to canter to walk transitions, all while maintaining good flexion and througness in the outside aids. As Mark explained, “the language that horses understand is pressure and the release of pressure.” When Pop would try to fall through the inside shoulder and leg in the walk to canter transition, Mark told Lizzie to apply pressure with the inside leg at the girth until Pop yielded and then release the pressure. It’s a simple concept, but one that often gets lost in our focus on all of the technical dressage movements.
Next up was pretty much every horse and rider’s favorite movement in the history of eventing: trot shoulder-in on the circle. I don’t think I am alone in saying that this is one of my least favorite movements–because it is so good at exposing weakness. Mark stressed that this movement (like all shoulder-ins) has nothing to do with the inside rein, and he emphasized keeping the inside leg at the girth rather than letting it fall back and tell the haunches to go out.
The final exercise was starting to introduce the half-pass to Pop. This was quite a challenge because the line between moving laterally properly and falling through the inside shoulder is so fine at the half-pass, and there are so many other body position thoughts to coordinate. Mark simplified the exercise down to the walk and gave Lizzie lots of homework for the next few weeks.
Throughout the lesson, Mark was very positive and seemed to think very highly of Lizzi’s riding–I don’t think I have ever heard him say ‘good job’ to a rider as many times as Mark did in Lizie’s lesson. Lizzie gave Pop a nice pat at the end of the lesson and I look forward to seeing their progress at events this spring.
2) Allison Springer and Arthur (Dressage)
Allison just arrived in Aiken a few days ago after spending the last few weeks in Wellington. We of course all know about Allison and Arthur, and Mark mostly worked with Allison on dealing with Arthur’s traditional spookiness. Arthur has improved greatly from when I first met him at the training sessions three years ago, where he would spook at everything. Now, when he is passing a crowd of people or something else that looks scary, he just sometimes shortens his neck a bit and backs behind Allison’s leg. When you’re as good of a horse as Arthur on the flat, that little change can make a big difference in the scores. When Arthur would shorten his neck, Mark had Allison follow back with her hands and keep Arthur’s legs moving with her seat and leg. A big key is keeping Arthur’s tempo forward when he starts to look around, which helps him to relax and re-focus. Arthur looked great in all of the movements, and I expect more dressage domination from him this spring.
3) Lainey Ashker and Anthony Patch “Al” (Dressage)
I think Lainey and Allison were having a fashion duel
For many of the horses, Al included, these training sessions are some of the first few major dressage sessions of the year. Lainey started the lesson off by explaining to Mark that Al can get a bit flat in the dressage, but throughout the lesson Mark explained that Lainey wasn’t asking quite enough from him (which again goes back to the first major dressage school of the year). As Mark said, “ok is not ok.” Mark told Lainey she needs to have Al stretch rounder into the contact, and that she needs to accept the resulting heavier contact and need for more leg for now. It’s all about knowing how much to ask. After the lesson, Mark broke out his favorite demonstration and used a bent whip to show how first you should make a horse stretch round, and then you half-halt to balance them onto their hindquarters–thus presenting the perfect dressage frame and elevation as the bent whip tilts back onto its ‘haunches.’
That’s all for now. Word is that the eventers are going to take over Hotel Aiken tonight for the Super Bowl. If you’re out celebrating tonight, keep it safe and don’t let Marmaduke have too much fun–especially if you are on the High Performance list and have fitness evaluations at 7am tomorrow.
Speaking of fitness evaluations, I’m making Jennie a 4 to 1 favorite in the planks because she’s so competitive, Boyd a 5 to 1 favorite in the sprints because he used to be a champion runner, and Phillip a 3 to 1 favorite in the squats because he has ridden a bajillion horses a day for decades. I’m going to try to watch the last few sessions without a camera and pad of paper, and go eventing.
