On the bright side, I am too green to need dressage shows yet, so I will have to get my thrills through clinics and/or spectating at the 'too-expensive-for-me-right-now' dressage shows.
As for clinics, my first one is coming up this weekend!!!!!!
Savvy and I have been very slowly, but steadily progressing in our lessons. Nothing anyone would notice besides me and my coach, really. I am surprisingly developing new 'good' habits like correcting Savvy's bend in corners effectively and quietly. The list of things we are still NOT doing is massive, but I am choosing to be positive!
I am really excited about this upcoming clinic. The clinician, Muriel Chestnut, is my elusive unicorn: Classical dressage mixed with natural horsemanship. I have never met her, but upon reading about her on her website, http://www.enlightened-dressage.com/home.html I am feeling very lucky for this opportunity!
My biggest worry at the moment is clarifying my goals enough to answer the dreaded (shouldn't it be simple?!!) question of what I would like to work on. So far, my only answer is "all of it."
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| Like this - can I do this please? (Pic of Karen Rohlf and her lovely horse Natilla) |
Seriously though, I have a one-hour spot on each day of a three-day clinic. We do have the difficulty with right bend, but I feel my coach has already given me a great plan for that. Canter is still not fully installed, but that feels more of a practise issue, as in needs more practise. I don't want to limit the experience with a bad choice of direction - does that make any sense?
I have two more days to think about it. Perhaps I should just state how new we both are to dressage and leave it open to whatever the clinician thinks best. Wish us luck!
Good Luck! Sounds like a neat clinician and I'm sure you will learn a ton.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely a great opportunity to learn -- 8am to 4pm full of bookings each day and I am staying for all of it! I have a feeling my notebook will be full by the end!
DeleteI am jealous of you being able to ride with her. I follow her on FB and she seems very cool. Have a great time.
ReplyDeleteShe sounds like such a well-rounded, open-minded horsewoman. I can't wait to meet her!
Deleteooooh fun!!! don't stress too much about answering that question either. i mean, yes it's a good idea to have a general idea of areas you'd like to work on - but sometimes just telling a good clinician about where you are in your training, and letting them watch as you warm up for a few minutes will be enough for them to get a pretty good idea of how they can match their expertise and specialties with your training.
ReplyDeletemaybe i would think of: covering pretty much the whole spectrum on the first day - and then drilling into the details on the next two days? anyways good luck and have fun and take pictures!!!
Thanks! Your right, the clinician should have no trouble finding a starting point with me and Savvy. I think maybe by day two, I will be in a better position to be more specific for sure.
DeleteI hope you have fun at the clinic!
ReplyDelete