The planets aligned! ha ha.. not really, I just have amazing farriers and God is good. I managed to get Daniel to come this morning rather than this evening to put Dan's shoe back on. I bribed him with a bagel and coffee, but it was totally worth it. Then I spent the morning catching up on life - bills, invoices and reciepts, laundry, dishes, sweeping, and some scheduling. Then I managed to remember my saddle, the bemer, and fill his hay bag and off we went!
We had a good lesson. We mostly just trotted and cantered in circles. The trot wasn't too tricky, but we focused on keeping a steady connection. He likes to goad me into letting the connection bounce around in his mouth. So I have to take a firmer hold in ways... a more steady hold. Maybe shorter reins. BUT... my wrists have to remain soft. In order to have soft wrists and soft elbows I have to remember to hold the reins with my shoulder blades. By squeezing my shoulder blades together and essentially riding the bit from back there, it keeps my wrists and elbows soft and the contact is better. And then I'm not fighting Dan so much as just saying "come to here and stay here". I'm more following but more consistent in my following... rather than us bouncing on and off. He also has to go more forward into that connection. So it did get better! Much better. And he became more up in his withers too!
Then we went to the canter. It's getting better and better. But there's always more to work on. So we started with working on collecting the canter some. With my seat.. not my hand. And yes, I needed that reminder. Yes he knows the game of follow my seat, and even as a baby that was one of the first things I taught him. But my brain forgets that and adds the hand. It was a good reminder that just like the reinback... the hand doesn't get stronger.. it just stays firm and the leg gets stronger. But my poor legs are so weak and already working hard to just keep the canter. So we got the canter, then I close my thighs on him, take my lower leg off, and quicken and shorten my seat while half halting. And... bless him, he did something. He stopped. Ha ha. Not that much half halt! So we tried it a few times and it was hard to keep him going, but... we did manage to get some collection and not always with him breaking at the end. I got better at catching it quicker. Rana noticed that my right leg especially would slide back to keep him cantering. But when it did that, he'd prop and start to throw his shoulders left. Which... in some ways... well, in all ways... GOOD BOY! Because, quite frankly, I'm basically almost asking for a lead change and he's sort of giving me one. In fact, quite a few times he swapped up front or broke and then immediately picked up the opposite lead. So... GOOD BOY... BAD MOMMY! I really need to get control of my body. It helps when I sit on my right seat bone.. that helps keep the bend and helps my lower leg stay more at the girth. But it still cheats. I also need to keep my right hand down. It wants to float up and my right shoulder just gives up. Going to the left was a little better as my left leg didn't want to creep back as much. So, overall, we got some decent stuff but it's just going to take more practice.
When we finished we were talking about how it's just muscle memory and retraining and I asked about how to keep him in front of my leg without having to dig in my spur and how to keep my leg off him. So then we looked at my position and oh my!!! What a hot mess! BUT... for the first time... I can actaully fix it. I may not be able to breathe while I do it, and I may look like I'm constipated with my facial expressions, but my body can actually do it! Rana changed one thing that made all the difference. And I'm not sure that everyone else wasn't wanting me to do that same thing, but the way she broke it down made it work for me! :) So... my knees are pointing out. Nope!! Not good for dressage, maybe for jumping, but not dressage. So I need to roll them in. But that isn't just kicking my heel out or turning my toe in. It needs to start from the hip. I need to roll my femur in so my knees point in. Hard!! Really hard! It BURNS hard!! So I see lots of stretching and practice (and pain) in my future. So then I asked how do I do that without perching on my crotch or clamping my cheeks. (Butt cheeks, not face cheeks, though those got clamped too!). So she had me roll my thighs in... and then scrunch my abdomen... like someone was about to punch me in the gut. Okay.... but then am I not hunched over?? She then said... now just squeeze your shoulder blades together and lift them a hair. oh... Ooohhhhhhhh!!! Holy moly that works. I even looked in the mirror and despite the fact that I was convinced I would look like I was in the fetal position, I wasn't! I was actaully upright. And strong in my core!! For whatever reason, I had always tried to tuck my bum, tilt my pelvis, and lengthen my core. Which made my back so weak and arched. By crunching my stomach (like literally doing a crunch almost) but rolling my shoulderblades back... it makes my back and core strong... and kept my leg in the right position and made my seat in the right position. Or much closer. And I wasn't clamping my butt cheeks! AND.... by doing that... it's so easy to thump him with my leg. No wonder I had to use spur before... the act of taking my leg off to then thump him was hard! This way, my lower leg is already off and it's easy to bop him with it and then relax again and keep my leg off. Game changed!!! Assuming... I can actually do this at more than the halt. Ha ha. Seriously... it's hard at the halt even. Like, I could do it, but not sure I could do it and breathe at the same time, much less ride and do other things. ha ha. But... we're gonna try. Because.. if I can get this... then I should be able to get him more off my leg and seat aids... and not have to keep my spur in his side to keep him in gait.. which means my leg aids can mean more important stuff... and if I can manage to take control of my body parts, then my poor horse might stand a chance at getting a change! I did mention to Rana today that I felt like he would actually happily do a change if someone asked him correctly. He feels like he's trying to figure out if that's what I'm asking sometimes and offers partial changes because he is feeling my body doing things. The problem is that my body has no clue and therefore he can't really get it right because... hello, I'm not asking right. But I also told her that I also kind of wanted to do it myself. Cause... you know... aside from the fact that I had a mini breakdown in the car today, on my way to my lesson no doubt, about the fact that I can't let anyone do anything for me... I still don't want to give up control. Sigh. BUT... she said I could do it. So... we're gonna keep trying. Because you know what?! That's important to me. I don't want to just be able to ride a change.. I want to be a good enough rider that I can get a change on Dan on "my own". So... we'll see. Probably the worst way to do it, but.. that's how I roll. At least today. I may cave before too long. For my ponies sake.
So yeah... now to just hope I can remember it all on Thursday when I get to ride next.
And then since good boys who work hard get pampered, Dan got bemered, and then he got to snack on alfalfa on the way home. :) oh, and... we had a most beautiful sunset to finish off our day! God is so good!
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