Looking after the horses in the mornings for the next week while my instructor is away.
I haven't written up the last two rides. Partly because I was busy, and partly because there was nothing really standout about them. Don't get me wrong, I'm not downplaying them at all. Riding a horse is always a "standout" experience, but for the purposes of this blog, they didn't offer any major revelations or developments.
Today I rode alone (obvs, coach away!). I had new rubber boots on instead of my usual boots and half chaps, and I thought I'd be fine in them (I was in the spring) but apparently I've become a boot snob because they felt terrible. Okay, okay, I know what's actually happening is that, as my riding is improving, the way I'm using my body is getting more specific, my feel is getting better, and when my equipment is feeling or performing subpar, I really notice it now. At least, let's go with that.
Otherwise, things felt good. And after a while, I stopped really noticing my boots squeaking and sliding around. :/ Though I did notice I wasn't keeping my lower leg on as much as usual.
Didn't do anything particularly fancy today. Bunch of walk and trot work, a serpentine or two, couple of passes over the (straight) trotting poles. Skipped the curved ones because the horse was a bit slow and stumbly today and I didn't want to risk her tripping while I had no one else around.
I did some canter work, mostly focusing on getting my transitions where I wanted them. I wasn't sitting as deep today for whatever reason. (Can I still blame the boots?) But felt good otherwise, even though the horse wasn't as on her game. She wasn't "off" or anything. Just didn't have much pep today and needed a few long walk breaks.
One thing I did that I'll definitely try again was to count my strides up the long side at a regular canter, then push her up and try to cut a stride or even two off that count by lengthening her. I was surprised that, at a slower canter, I actually got 13 strides down the long side. Could get her to about 11.5 by putting more leg on. At this point I was kind of half-seating it but... ahhh, whatever. It's hard to concentrate on more than one thing some days. :D Plus... maaaaybe I'm only used to thinking about strides that way while jumping? Maybe? So my body wanted to assume that position? Eh, whatever. It was fine.
My sitting trot work was NOT in that magical sticky place I found a few weeks back. I hope I can get there again. So, after a few bouncy attempts at it, I dropped and crossed my stirrups and did some sitting trot work that way. Thought not so much about tucking my tailbone. Instead I thought "long hip, squishy butt" which was actually more helpful. By "long hip" I mean letting the joint open and lengthen in the front. The "squishy butt" part I think helped me relax into the motion a bit. Haha, whatever works. I also did have a few "go to war!" moments at the canter today to think more about forward and stop breaking to trot. But didn't REALLY push the canter work today. She just wasn't that into it so I let her have an opinion about it.
I even attempted a bit of posting-trot-no-stirrups though I really didn't get any air. Still, I suppose the motion helps to strengthen anyhow, even if it's minimal. I figured, I'm going into the weekend and won't ride again until Tuesday, so might as well go for maximum soreness/strengthening. My crotch REALLY hates me. It has for a lot of rides this fall. I think I'm keeping more contact with my seat now that I'm riding deeper. Which, while good for my riding is not helping my parts. I have one pair of breeches that is basically the devil. :( Going to look for some with MINIMAL seaming when I go down to the Royal. Maybe some better underwear too. Ah, the Inverness problem...
Friday, October 27, 2017
Thursday, October 5, 2017
Oh dear, catch up time again!
Oops, I've gone nearly a month and haven't been posting about my rides! A summary of them:
- A ride on this adorable Thoroughbred who belongs to one of my coach's students. He's cute as a button, but has this quick, anxious trot when he's going straight on the rail. Relaxes and bends on a circle. Given how "up" his trot is, his canter is quite lovely -- slow and springy and rounded. Really fund to ride. I'll be able to ride him over the winter when he's being boarded just down the road. I have some ideas for ways to get him to relax on the rail during rides, so we'll see how that goes.
-A lesson in North Bay on the big draft cross who was quite nice during my ride with Laura. He decided to be a big slow butthead this time, though, and I spent most of the lesson getting after him to try to canter. I spent, without exaggeration, twenty minutes solid trying to run him into a canter. Unfun. It was a lovely day though, and a nice ride out in an open field in the sunshine, and my fiance took some great photos!
-A ride last week on my usual lesson horse, who was doing great until I think she got frustrated by me trying to canter without stirrups on a circle? Or just decided she was done and had a bit of a tantrum. Her "tantrum" was barging around at super fast trot and strong canter and leeeeeaning on my hands and ignoring my rein aids unless was a JERK about them. All in all a good lesson though, even though I was wearing new, fairly slippery knee patch breeches -- not exactly the best for no-stirrups work!!
Tonight's ride was quite lovely. Despite the fact that I've been incredibly stressed out, and pretty inactive, this week, my body was cooperating and things were really clicking. My hands were VERY steady, my legs were mostly quite stable and doing what I asked them to, and I was nice and sticky in the saddle at all my gaits. I had some good stretches of canter with NO bounce at all. The horse was fairly light in the bridle most of the evening and really listening to me. Stepping under and rounding and stretching. I was able to ride some pretty small canter circles on her tonight, and did one half of a canter serpentine with flying changes. (Tried to ride it back to the top of the arena but broke on the first turn. Picked it up and got the final change though.) My left shoulder is apparently now mostly fixed, but my left elbow is still wanting to stick out and get ahead of me, so that's the next fix. I also need to keep my pelvis a bit more tucked in canter, but it's not too bad. It gets worse if I'm nervous.
I came up with an interesting visualization for myself tonight that helped immensely. And that thought was, "Go to war." Where I was coming from was this: people with no training and no riding background used to have to join the cavalry and ride into the most horrible, terrifying situations, and still keep their minds on their mission, on the enemy, on everything BUT how the horse or their own equitation might fail them. So, the effects of this line of thinking: look up, ride with purpose, stop micromanaging, and trust the horse to get you through. It really helped me to relax and focus on the bigger picture of my tasks tonight instead of getting fretful and closed in. I'll keep this approach in mind on future rides because it made such a difference!
"Go to war!"
Editing next day to add: I did some really nice leg yield at the trot last night too, from the quarter line to the rail. Nice and (fairly) straight and smooth. Leg on behind the girth on the "sit" part of posting, and reins and knees keeping the shoulders straight. Worked well! The horse was nice and forward and willing, too, which makes a big difference. Had to give her a little tap with the dressage whip once or twice to encourage her to listen to my leg more, but she did and was great! Felt really good. Today my inside and upper-inner parts of my thighs are feeling that ride most. It's a pleasant kind of sore. The kind that makes you feel strong.
- A ride on this adorable Thoroughbred who belongs to one of my coach's students. He's cute as a button, but has this quick, anxious trot when he's going straight on the rail. Relaxes and bends on a circle. Given how "up" his trot is, his canter is quite lovely -- slow and springy and rounded. Really fund to ride. I'll be able to ride him over the winter when he's being boarded just down the road. I have some ideas for ways to get him to relax on the rail during rides, so we'll see how that goes.
-A lesson in North Bay on the big draft cross who was quite nice during my ride with Laura. He decided to be a big slow butthead this time, though, and I spent most of the lesson getting after him to try to canter. I spent, without exaggeration, twenty minutes solid trying to run him into a canter. Unfun. It was a lovely day though, and a nice ride out in an open field in the sunshine, and my fiance took some great photos!
-A ride last week on my usual lesson horse, who was doing great until I think she got frustrated by me trying to canter without stirrups on a circle? Or just decided she was done and had a bit of a tantrum. Her "tantrum" was barging around at super fast trot and strong canter and leeeeeaning on my hands and ignoring my rein aids unless was a JERK about them. All in all a good lesson though, even though I was wearing new, fairly slippery knee patch breeches -- not exactly the best for no-stirrups work!!
Tonight's ride was quite lovely. Despite the fact that I've been incredibly stressed out, and pretty inactive, this week, my body was cooperating and things were really clicking. My hands were VERY steady, my legs were mostly quite stable and doing what I asked them to, and I was nice and sticky in the saddle at all my gaits. I had some good stretches of canter with NO bounce at all. The horse was fairly light in the bridle most of the evening and really listening to me. Stepping under and rounding and stretching. I was able to ride some pretty small canter circles on her tonight, and did one half of a canter serpentine with flying changes. (Tried to ride it back to the top of the arena but broke on the first turn. Picked it up and got the final change though.) My left shoulder is apparently now mostly fixed, but my left elbow is still wanting to stick out and get ahead of me, so that's the next fix. I also need to keep my pelvis a bit more tucked in canter, but it's not too bad. It gets worse if I'm nervous.
I came up with an interesting visualization for myself tonight that helped immensely. And that thought was, "Go to war." Where I was coming from was this: people with no training and no riding background used to have to join the cavalry and ride into the most horrible, terrifying situations, and still keep their minds on their mission, on the enemy, on everything BUT how the horse or their own equitation might fail them. So, the effects of this line of thinking: look up, ride with purpose, stop micromanaging, and trust the horse to get you through. It really helped me to relax and focus on the bigger picture of my tasks tonight instead of getting fretful and closed in. I'll keep this approach in mind on future rides because it made such a difference!
"Go to war!"
Editing next day to add: I did some really nice leg yield at the trot last night too, from the quarter line to the rail. Nice and (fairly) straight and smooth. Leg on behind the girth on the "sit" part of posting, and reins and knees keeping the shoulders straight. Worked well! The horse was nice and forward and willing, too, which makes a big difference. Had to give her a little tap with the dressage whip once or twice to encourage her to listen to my leg more, but she did and was great! Felt really good. Today my inside and upper-inner parts of my thighs are feeling that ride most. It's a pleasant kind of sore. The kind that makes you feel strong.
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