Back to school

[glenatron]

The last week or two the swamp at our yard has returned to it's summertime status of arena, so I've done bits of schooling with Iris. After reading this piece on skeletal injuries I was very conscious that we need to work on our correctness a little, so for the last few days I have been working with real focus on softness and balance.

As ever Iris comes through beautifully- she is starting to learn to release her poll, which gives the chance for softness to start reaching through her body ( I have an idea that relaxation in a horse stops at the first brace, so if they are resistant in their mouth it won't reach back to their poll, if they are tight in the poll they won't be relaxed down their neck and so on ) and that smoothness to start permeating her movement. I've also been working on straightness around corners and on circles. We have an ongoing dispute about whether she can turn without leaning like a motorbike, but all these things get so much better with time.

I am also acutely aware that I am not really a good enough rider for her, so I'm applying my attention closely to the feel I get through my seat when I ride, what happens to bounce me around and cause me to lose connection with her and what I need to do to correct it; almost always more relaxation in the back and don't let heels creep up - both pernicious and beginnerish habits I should have long since shifted. Unfortunately I don't learn to change a quarter as fast as Iris does, so it's very much an ongoing effort, but I am confident that if I can keep my focus and remain mindful in my riding, I will improve, if gradually.

Today, as we trotted smoothly and softly through racing clouds of fallen leaves torn from the trees by the winter's first real gale, it felt like we have some pretty awesome places to be. My responsibility is to ensure we reach them.

Comments

[joycemocha.livejournal.com]

Self-awareness in a rider is the beginning of wisdom. One thing Gregg's always said to me is to ride with a back as soft as butter--and it helped to have some time on a former world champion Western Pleasure horse (for two years running) who won based on his jog and lope. Key to getting his good jog and lope was having that soft, soft back (well, and being as stubborn as that old coot was--not a generous boy at all, he made you work for it).

Thing is, she'll make a better rider out of you even as you make her a better mount.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

She certainly will.

The other thing I remembered as we rode out today was my last-but-one instructor telling me in addition to relaxing my back that I needed to sit a little more back on my pockets. Tried it out on the trail and as if by magic I was far better able to absorb her movement- suddenly my back was doing way less work and my abs were doing more - so I think I have been a little bit perched on my seatbones lately...

[re-vised.livejournal.com]

I find my equitation has taken a backseat for many years, and I have formed some habits (although not to horrid) I'm rather unhappy with. I do like horses that keep me on my toes, which it sounds that Iris does. :) She seems to be blossoming into a beautiful girl.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

My equitation is always on a back seat relative to my horsemanship but sooner or later I risk having a horse who goes beautifully and letting her down by riding poorly...

[re-vised.livejournal.com]

That's how I feel, too...

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that moment when the horse becomes light and soft, there's just nothing to beat it...

I'd sort of reached a plateau in my riding when I first had Charm and was really struggling to make any progress, even though I was having regular lessons at a competition yard. One thing that helped my seat a lot was spending the winter watching DVDs of dressage-to-music, in conjunction with reading articles on the sequence of the footfalls and the timing of the aids.

You'll have a strong grasp of equine biomechanics anyway from the horsemanship, but watching footage of really good classical riders like Carl Hester can't hurt!

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

What I am aiming for is what Zorro had figured out, which was always being light and soft, and then taking that further so that we have light and soft and lifted the whole time. I know it is possible, but it is a long term project and will take a lot of work.

I spent a lot of time with a pair of walking sticks, walking about using the sticks as front legs to get the timing of footfall. I think if you aren't using that you can't get a horse truly soft on the aids because you end up asking them for stuff when they can't possibly do it.

I could certainly watch more good riding, I will probably put some videos on the Christmas list. Usually I can just point people at the Eclectic Horseman shop and it's not likely to work out badly. One problem I have is that there is a lot of dressage I am not keen on, but I like Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin- I think they ride really nicely.

I should probably phone my old instructor and get some more proper classical lessons too. I think I could use that. Also I rather suspect this sitting too far forward is related to a lot of lessons building up to jumping over the last year, so I was in a forward seat more of the time, which is a little different.

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

...there's a lot of dressage that I'm not keen on...

Absolutely. The last time I went to spectate at the Regional Dressage finals, I saw a rider whose legs were flapping constantly against the horse's side and who had the horse horribly overbent. But the horse was big-moving and flashy, the rider received huge applause from the crowd of knowledgable dressage types, and ended up winning the class. I pretty well gave up watching at dressage competitions after that.