Educational Ride!

 Yay! Today was the clinic with Jessica Bortner-Harris. I adore her. She's so fun and real and helpful!! 

 

I rode Lyric first and then came home and got Dan and took him separately. It's only a 10 min haul and it was so hot. We got there early enough to let him graze and finish drying off and then get tacked up and then have a walk about. He didn't care about the guinea's although they weren't really doing much more than sitting in the shade. He didn't mind the goats but he did look. And he was curious about the mini horses and said hi. He was brave and we walked through the woods and found another "snake pile" but he didn't even flinch. He also grazed right up next to the fire truck. :) 

 

So then it was our turn and we rode in the covered thank goodness. We started off and she noted that I was frozen in my upper body. "You shouldn't look like a beefcake in dressage Holly". ha ha. Basically I was trying too hard to be perfect and was setting myself into a pose instead of staying supple. So my veins were popping and I looked like a "beefcake". But she did admit that I wasn't holding him too tight.. I was just.. holding myself. But it was locking my upper body, which was locking his front end. I need to roll my shoulders so they don't freeze up. And I was way too perched, so I needed to tuck my tailbone under. (Okay, to be fair, I have been better about this but it still hurts from kayaking so it was a bit tough to tuck it under because it's sore!). That then straightens up my sternum and chest. And then, I was collapsing in my right rib cage but to fix it, I just had to get loose in my shoulders and focus on turning my sternum towards the inside ear. And think about keeping my weight on the right knee, not in the foot. Balance off my thighs vs my toes. And shift my leg back. Which... I need to ponder. That seems wrong but I think I get what she's getting at. So then we did spiral in and out and she was telling me that I need to make my body do what I want his body to do. So my shoulders should point the way his shoulders should point. And my hips should move how I want his hips to move. So, when we're spiraling in, I need to swing my outside hip to his inside ear. But then when we spiral out, it needs to be quicker, so my inside hip needs to swing to his outside rib cage, not his outside ear. Ahhhh.. that was so cool how it worked!

 

So then we cantered. She said to use my calf to lift his barrel up. (Like Kim said). And she said in the words of Will, act like your holding the saddle up without the horse. ahhh... all the pieces are all intertwined. :) Anyways.. she also said that Dan has a lot of pushing power but gets protective of his neck, so he gets kind of stuck up and down in the front. In order to help him "spread his wings" and open and use his shoulders, I need to open mine and not block him, but also use the outside rein half halts. She had me think about pirouetting his shoulders around the circle in each canter stride. So lift and roll back my inside shoulder to get him to lift and roll his out and back. AHHHH. It was amazing!! He got so soft and fluffy and lifting his back. We can't hold it long, but.. it was awesome!

 

Good pony! He was tired. When we got home he ate dinner and then hung out in his stall under the fans til it cooled off. Poor guy. Sorry dude! But he had fun at Falconwood and chatting with the other horses and kids. He met Katya and she squealed at him twice. :)