Mad Men

The Trinity Dressage Weekly Schooling Idea *Mad Men* So one of our favorite shows (although it's kind of lost the plot in the past two seasons) starts again tonight. Funny, but I'm just dying to see how Don Draper copes with life. Or doe...snt . . . anyway, back to dressage. I've been struggling to keep the 'inner show calendar' out of my head lately. It has been invading my workouts, and I must admit that after this long winter, I'm struggling on the patience front to not just hurry up and get back to where I was last fall before my fat fuzzy ponies got to take a break this winter to stand in the snow and watch me freeze my rear off doing everything to care for them but ride them. I do make the tactical (and this year, likewise practical) decision to give them time off during the winter. But we all have to rebuild the foundation in the spring so that it can be relied upon for building further development later on when the strength has been established. Every horse's timeline is different depending on soundness, mental and physical 'throughness' and just plain old ability. But there's an element of pure coercion that has to take place in order to avoid making big cracks in your foundation mortar - cracks that could quite literally lead to a 'springtime breakup' with your horse friend. A) Performance Peak: Most horses, if you're showing and trying to forge ahead in your training, need a plan to 'peak'. and this plan includes an idea of what shows or series you want to 'peak' for. National championships? Regional Championships? The show your boyfriend's mother is going to be at? The show you took a nosedive into the judges stand last year? Whatever it is, plan carefully. Set the timeline, and approach it with an increasing eye for detail as the show draws nearer. But in the meantime, keep your expectations fair. Horses demand fairness. When you stop being fair, they usually pack their bat and ball and go home, and you're left in the dirt at X. B) Mad Men: here's my segue way to the show: The EASIEST way to ruin the foundation you're patiently (!) building is to suddenly sit on your horse like Don Draper and change the rules to suit yourself mid-ride. if you're thinking you MIGHT try a counter canter circle today, or a couple of tempis, or a football field sized pirouette just to see if you're getting ready. . . don't go and start riding the test and demand perfection. It sounds obvious, but we've all done it. You may end up with an angry pony, and that angry pony may bring your right back to square one, which is going to put a little hiccup in your plan for greatness in impressing your boyfriend's mom (unless you can convince her that flying changes are really just big bucks across a diagonal). C) Whiskey and Cigars: Before you demand anything of your horse, see if you can convince him that it's HIS idea. Set him up for success, in a way that makes it easy to choose YOUR idea before you plop him between the letters and shout "DO THIS" with your spurs. For instance when you do your 1st level shallow loop counter canter, be like Don pouring the glass of whiskey, and ask over your shoulder if he'd like one (use your corners a little more and set him up into soft contact and good balance) then when gets comfy on the couch (softens and lets you sit in to the canter) offer him a cigar (establish your canter bending aids so he is sure what you're supposed to be doing) Then you start the pitch, and do the soft sell on the idea (if you just float around on this lead, we can go anywhere we want, and you don't have to lose your balance - see? there's the corner - yes, we are still bending THAT way . . . you made it! Good man. You're fantastic. What a great idea you had there). Bravo. Hand shakes, slap on the back, and he leaves your office wondering how you made that so easy. Yep. Mad Men. Dressage. Beautiful.