Dressage for the NQR Horse

NQR = Not Quite Right

Jetta got her shoes on over a week ago, and I was hoping it would be the end of her lingering lameness...I was wrong. :(  It's not like she's head-bob lame, and probably anyone that doesn't know her as well as I do wouldn't even see it, but I see it...and hear it with every stride she takes.  So, I've been taking it very slow with her, letting her just be a horse.  An occasional longing session thrown in, not asking for anything stressful though.

Yesterday I read a great post on COTH about dressage for the Not Quite Right horse, and how it can be very beneficial even if they are "off."  I realized that all that posted were right!  So, since Wednesdays are my half days at work, I cleaned and tacked up the Princess and took her into the arena.  I swung my leg over and asked her to move forward at whatever gait she wanted...just go forward.  She chose canter.  LOL!!!!  I let her have it for a few strides, but quickly reined her back to a walk.  She had the nerve to shake her head at me!  So, we did a lot of walking, with me getting her moving laterally.  I know her shoulder is probably still stiff, so we worked a lot at walking circles, really getting her to soften on the bit and give into the requested bend.  Courtney King-Dye, before her accident, wrote a really great article in Dresage Today about getting the intro-level horse to bend and really described riding into the outside rein.  It was really really nice to actually put some of it into practice!

So, I now have goals!
1. Get Jetta moving off of the quietest of aides.
2. Get Jetta freeling giving to the bit and getting on the bit.
3. Increase the action from behind.
4. Focus on being correct, not on how fast we can get there.


The funny thing is that while Jetta was pretty off at the trot while going counter-clockwise at first, she was completely sound by the time we were done!  And, we only worked for 30minutes, most of it walking!  Interesting!