Dangit...

Argh... I just want to ride!!!!

So far this week... I've ridden on Tuesday. And that's it. Sigh.... well, today, but only at the walk. And Thursday, but a bareback walk hack on Fleck. 

Tuesday was a good lesson day though. I can't remember everything but I do remember this. :)
We were working on the leg yield and I was crossing the rein over his neck. As soon as Cindy pointed out that I was blocking him and needed to use that rein, but normally and not by crossing over, and that I was blocking him with my seat and needed to move my inside (I think) seat bone forward. And... I did and it worked! 

So yay. But then.. life and work and... argh... So then Thursday I got my work done as quick as I could and headed home to grab Dan to go ride. And... he had his shoe half ripped off. Ugh... and had a small slice in his heel bulb. So... I managed to get his shoe off and put him in the stall. And I took Fleck instead. Which was lovely, but... I sort of needed a gallop. Or at least a nice big long canter. Don't get me wrong, I love riding Fleck and he was great and the sky was amazing!! It was a great ride. But... I was wanting to ride Dan too.

So then Friday Dan got his shoe back on but by the time I got done with work and home it was 8 pm and freezing. Literally. It was 28 degrees that night. 

Saturday was the biomechanics clinic. I was really kind of excited about it. I got there early thinking Dan would be wild and would need a bit more warm up. But.. he was lame. So lame! I sort of saw it this morning but was hoping he'd work out of it quickly. But nope.. he's super sore. So... I did just a walk lesson. Which was very helpful but I was really hoping to do more. I'm just frustrated with life right now. No time to ride. No time to do anything but work and reports. Sigh... And then I finally get to ride and... he's lame. Ugh. 

But anyways.. .The rider biomechanics clinic was very cool. Jason, who is a physical therapist, came and watched us ride. Beth coached a bit and over saw to make sure that he was improving our posture for riding correctly as he's not a dressage rider. It was very cool. He showed us how to engage specific muscles to accomplish specific things. 

We started at the walk and he worked on my pelvic position. He said "neutral" pelvis was where we wanted to be for dressage. Basically we achieved this by rocking the crotch up and lifting the belly button, but not too much. I tend to over compensate. I shouldn't be leaning back. And I want my back to be straight. I tend to over arch. And I need to lift my sternum and keep my nose tucked in a bit but... again, not too much. So then, I also need to keep my toes in. Which means I need to rotate internally at my hips. Which is really hard! I'm really stuck. So Jason showed me a few stretches I can do to help that. I really need to remember to do that because it made a big difference with my rotation. 

Then we worked on turning. Jason said to try to turn by just engaging my shoulder blade. And it works!!! I had almost no contact and was just sitting evenly and I engaged and opened my right shoulder and Dan turned right. It was pretty cool! Then if I engaged my transverse abdominal on the right side, he turned right AND stayed supple and would have gone into the outside rein had I had contact. It was really kind of cool. And he was bent around my inside leg too and not pushing into my leg. Really kind of cool :) 

So we even did it at the trot for one turn each direction just so I could try it. And it works!  

I've got four exercises that I can do to help me in the saddle too. 

1): Slouch to Neutral pelvis to slouch to neutral pelvis to slouch to neutral pelvis to over flexed to neutral pelvis. 
2): lay flat on my back and engage my TA (transverse abdominals). I should feel that muscle pop up when I have my finger poking into my muscle just medial to my hip bone. 
3): Do #2 but then also do kiegels and hold.
4): Get a 6" foam roller and lay on it with it under my spine, butt to head and let my arms flop down and out to open up my pec muscles. Gradually be able to bring my arms farther up (closer to my head).
5): Dead bug! Still on the foam roller... Then put my hands straight up in the air and my knees up. Then engage my TA and bring my left knee to my right hand, meeting mid belly, and hold for a few seconds and then bring my right knee to my left hand.. and repeat. 

So then..  to stretch my hips I basically need to get Mike to lean into my leg while pushing on my butt bone. Not really anything I can do on my own. But I can stretch my piriformis muscle on my own. And man... that really needs to be stretched. It burned!! Basically I lift my knee to my chest and pull on it with my arms. 

So yep. It was pretty cool. I wish I could have trotted and cantered but Jason said he'd help me out again when Dan wasn't lame. 

Poor pony. I hope that he feels better soon. I know he's bored too. He was a good sport about today. Although he was in a sour mood on the ground. Hopefully his sugardine bandage wrap tonight will help him out.