Education and schooling

Emma over at Fraidy Cat Eventing wrote a post recently regarding how you know whether your horse is schooled, or rather, well-schooled. I'm sure the answer here varies wildly among horse people and certainly changes between disciplines. In my world... that of OTTBs working on second careers, I rarely see what I would call a "well-schooled" horse. But Emma's post got me thinking about what that means for me and my horse. And more deeply, what the difference is between education and schooling when it comes to riding (results may vary).

Webster’s defines education as ‘knowledge and development resulting from an instructive process’, or more specifically, the act or progression of acquiring knowledge. Regarding horses, I think that education comes from experience, exposure and being confirmed (or tested) in various disciplines (ie, showing or performing a discipline in front of a judge of some kind). I consider most things that Riley experiences as a part of his education, xc schooling, training rides, lessons, hacking... all of it. If it increases his progression under saddle, I count it as education. Schooling refers to education received, so while they almost fall under the same definition, when it comes to horses, I think they are much more nuanced.

So how do we define well-schooled then? Well schooled is defined as having been well trained or educated sufficiently, and here's where the nuance comes in. What is sufficient? What counts as enough to claim a horse as well-schooled? In my world world well-schooled equates to being "confirmed" in some capacity. As in, my horse is "confirmed on the flat" = he/she can walk, trot, canter in both directions with a rider. Confirmed over fences = jumps willingly/cleanly around a course of jumps appropriate for his education. This is a very basic way of looking at it I understand, and I could go into much more detail within each category, But I'm over-simplifying for a reason.



What I'm trying to get to is that this weekend, I was able to admit that my baby horse (who is just not a baby anymore) is becoming well-schooled. His education is paying off and I got to see the results of that in spades.
 

A, warming Riley up:)

A friend of mine was itching to get back into the saddle, so I offered for her to come out and meet Riley and take him for a spin. Over the years, I haven't really let a lot of other people ride him, mostly because he wasn't (as I mentioned above) "confirmed" in any way. I wasn't always sure what he might do, and although he's a pretty good guy, he does have it in him to be very cheeky when he wants to (ahem, giving a friend a concussion with his snake-spin-bolt move). But lately, I've come to realization that he IS quite reliable under saddle and that if I can't ride him all the time, it would be really nice to be able to share him a little. Especially with someone who is a really great, quiet rider AND can has a good sense of humor when it comes to horses.

I toddled around on him and then let her hop on. He was just lovely for her, though he did test her on the right lead that she very quickly corrected! But what I found out from catching up with her is that she was a jumper rider who has never had a lick of dressage training. So when she got on my horse and asked him to get to work, THEY looked like they had the same education. It was very cool to witness. She complimented me with what I've done with him so far and it just made me very proud of my horse. Proud mama over here. I'm hoping she can come out once or twice a week to flat him.

Looking lovely and balanced.

To ensure Riley's education continues on this track I've scheduled trainer rides once a week for him. Emily is once of the most subtle riders I've ever met and she's been able to really unlock his potential on the flat. What I really love about trainer rides is that she can see what sort of evasions he's coming up with this week and figure out how to help me "feel" for them and adjust as needed. As an echo of my sentiment above, she's giving him education that I can school.

So Sunday we were to put Emily's training ride takeaways and apply them to my ride in the dreaded dressage saddle. For me, being so stiff in my hip joint means that riding in a dressage saddle is a bit torturous. BUT! It actually allows me to unlock the stiffness in my hips and sit up straight. So while part of my body were burning in pain, I embraced the soreness and the hope that I might actually be able to sit up and ride properly. We also tried him in the Micklem and a variation of his usual bit (we upgraded to a sweet, french link loose ring).

We started the lesson with Emily up so she could show me some of the things she worked on earlier in the week. mainly, keeping his left shoulder in check. Because I'm such a visual person, I find watching trainer rides and reviewing videos of my lessons immensely helpful and I was really able to see how by keeping his left shoulder from popping (in both directions) allowed his to really carry himself more straight. And while I could see what she was doing and the results of those aids, I really need to be able to feel it if I'm going to try to fix it myself. So I got on and Emily got to work changing the position of my leg, which ultimately changed my entire position. I'm not sure about all of you guys, but it is impossible for me to collapse forward in a dressage saddle if my leg is in the right place. 

Disclaimer: There may come a point in my journey with Riley where I don't analyze every. little. thing or post approximately one million screen shots from our rides, but that day is not today. 

Because this is our warm up trot.

As you can see, he kinda loved the bit. He was steadier in the Micklem too (because he just wants nice things apparently). He doesn't need a flash, but the Micklem and figure eight does help stabilize the bit (and he's got a chronically flappy bottom lip!) and that's what he seems to like. At times he was getting deep into the contact which is his favorite evasion, but I was able to squeeze him forward into my reins and get him really taking up contact. 

We moved on to some sitting trot work which is generally good on Riley, but way harder in the dressage saddle (I know, weird) but his trot didn't suffer too much and we were able to get some really ncie work. he did take advantage of my lack of balance in a few spots but Emily had me really paying attention to that and squeezing him into my outside rein when he got on his forehand or tucked behind the vertical. 

A little tight in his throat latch, but thinking cap engaged.

Loving everything about this and I'm actually carrying my hands and my reins are a normal length.

I'm posting here, but when he evades the contact I've learned to maintain my outside rein to "give him somewhere to go"

We were both finding the work quite hard, but I was so excited to feel all the subtle changes in his way of going. He's really grown up and his attitude toward work is incredible. he was definitely getting a bit sore from all the dressage but he never got stupid.  We moved onto some canter work, which we did from the sitting trot. You could tell we were both getting a bit tired here and the holes in our collective training showed.

Less than attractive departs -- plus my leg creeping up!

But, I didn't (see: couldn't) throw my upper body at him and instead of giving up the reins, I held my length and wouldn't you know one stride later we were looking much more respectable. In the past, I've been so happy to get the transition that I would forget to do anything else beyond that!

A few strides later -- my leg still creeping, it knows no bounds.

Looking nicely balanced again. Love his ears.

 But if I were to pinpoint a major issue in our training right now it would easily be our downward transitions, and I realize that I am 98% responsible for this. Because my upper body has a tendency to collapse, when we're transitioning down in gait, he sort of falls apart. So it's time to hold ourselves more accountable.

Canter to trot = this does not win the dressage, yikes.

When we changed to his tougher direction is was pretty clear he was getting a bit sore and tight so we didn't over-school him, and we rewarded his efforts with a few big laps around the ring -- we finished up the lesson with a few big sweeping circles of stretchy trot to let him relax over his topline.

Tired pony stretching it out.

I was really pleased with how much he's stepped up in the last few weeks. We've really increased his workload and the amount of real work we expect from him in each session. I'm not surprised that he's feeling a bit body sore so we'll monitor his symptoms for the next few rides so we don't over do it. He'll get a training ride Tuesday (we agreed that the ride should emphasize stretch) and we'll go from there. I think he'd be thrilled to jump the next time I ride him for sure!

I guess I need to be on the look out for a dressage saddle (it's extremely clear that we need one) and a Micklem of our own (black or brown horse size) in case you guys know of anyone with one to sell!!!