So, that crazy trail ride was now nearly a month ago. Oops! It was darn memorable, though, so I'm sure I can still do it justice.
When I got there, I saw little Sueno was being used in a lesson by a small kid. It was funny to watch, because while he did want to GOOOO, he wasn't trying to take off and was (relatively) responsive to her requests to slow him down. I got the sense that he's one of those horses that alters his behaviour based on the type of rider on his back.
After the lesson, I walked back up and hung out while everyone else grabbed their horses and started to tack up. Sueno had an English saddle on, and I said "Oh, this is fine" at first but thought more about it, and decided I'd feel better in the more-built-up Paso saddle (which was like a horn-less Western). This was a good call, as we shall discover.
The owner of the barn grabbed her own horse, a perlino stallion. He was quite pretty but very underweight, which was odd, though I didn't ask why and wasn't offered an explanation. Most of the horses there, while a bit on the lean side, were still in a healthy-ish range, but this boy had very little muscle or fat on him. Not emaciated, just THIN. He had lots of energy though!
I had assumed it would just be her and I going out on the trail, but her daughter and another girl who was presumably the daughter's friend joined us. All their horses were a bit... high strung, but they all rode very relaxed and easy with the confident way that only people who have ridden their whole lives seem to have. I don't have it, haha. I never have. But I know it and respect it when I see it.
No one but me wore a helmet. Weird, but... Anyhow.
The trail ride.... was FAST. We did a little bit of corto but almost immediately picked up a canter, and stayed in canter for probably 80% of the ride! Most of it was on a sand trail that followed the edge of a wire fence. The footing was pretty good and the Pasos are pretty sure on their feet, though mine tripped a little bit now and then. I didn't really worry about a catastrophic tripping or anything though, even in the grass portions, the way I might now on other horses.
The way out was mainly some easy cantering. I felt good at first and was able to roll back onto my pockets and follow the motion with only a little bounce. My stirrups were too long -- oops -- but I kind of just gave up on them for the most part and relied on keeping my seat balanced on the saddle. And just let myself get jostled and balanced. So be it! It was actually kind of nice -- and probably good for me -- to just let all that go and see what happened. I occasionally grabbed the pommel or stood on the balls of my feet (yeah, I know, I know) to steady myself but just let the ride happen.
The terrain was little rolling hills, sand, bit of scrubby grass. Some trees and houses along the way, and some fenced areas with fields -- although not big open farm-country-type fields. Still lots of trees and scrubby bushes around. There was one fun little hill that we did corto down and cantered up (though the girl were riding ahead by this point and cantered it all). The owner was great and very attentive to me, and let me hang back with her and set the pace for the two of us.
When it came time to turn back, though, was when the ride got a little crazy! The two girls up ahead TOOK OFF on their own and did fast canter or some gallop almost the entire way home! Again, I hung back with Jessica and she let me ride in front or beside her and set the pace.
Now. Most horses, especially on the way back home, would NOT be okay with two horses going faster further up the trail from them. Even Razz once took off on me in a similar situation, during Hunter Pace. So I fully expected him to lose his self-control and blow off my slow-down aids and take off to catch up with them at SOME point. But it never happened!!! He was absolutely amazing! Every time I asked with the reins and/or my body for him to come back to me and slow down, he listened completely. It was honestly one of the coolest experiences I've had in my history of riding. I felt like he and I were having a real conversation and really connecting. It was wonderful! I can't even say it was the result of amazing riding from me by that point, haha, as I finally just one-handed the reins, stood on the balls of my feet and grabbed cantle to stop being bounced and just stay out of his way!
Once I knew I could bring him back if I wanted to, I had an "Oh hell, why not?!!" moment and I actually did let him open up and run pretty fast for a few hundred feet. I could hear Jessica behind me asking if I was doing that on purpose, just to make sure!
The only moment that was a bit hairy in a ride that seemed like it could have ALL been hairy was when Jessica's horse sort of swerved to the left while she was riding up beside me. Sueno interpreted the swerve as a spook, so shied that way too instinctively. I lost some balance, grabbed mane and had a quick moment of thinking I might come off his shoulder. One of my stirrups shot home -- which was NOT awesome as I was wearing flat-soled Skechers -- but we both stopped while I got myself sorted out, and off we went again. I should mention, this happened before my previously described "Yeeha!" moment, so it obviously didn't put me off from having fun for the rest of the ride!! In the moment when I thought I might fall, I actually didn't feel afraid. The horse was small and the footing was soft sand. It was more of an "Ah, hell, whoops! Here we go!"
The whole experience was REALLY good for me.
-I went fast and didn't panic
-I trusted my body
-I trusted my horse
-My horse spooked a few times, but they were tiny spooks and reminded that not ALL spooks are BIG DRAMATIC CRAZY DANGEROUS spooks! They made me recall that little spooks actually used to be a pretty normal part of riding. I've just been lucky to ride mostly very solid horses these days.
-I let myself ride "badly" and it was completely fine. Sure, I was standing on my stirrups instead of in my heel, I was holding on with one hand, BUT I was kind with my reins and I stayed up and out of the horse's way and let him balance and carry himself. It was GOOD bad riding! And it got the job done!
-I rode in what could have been a dangerous situation on a different horse, but trusted my horse and he came through for me!
-I got a positive adrenaline rush instead of a panicky adrenaline rush!
-I almost fell off and was actually okay, in the moment, with it happening if it needed to
-Riding such a different type and feel or horse, who was so sensitive, made it seem relatively easy to go back and ride a horse I KNOW and who can take leg and voice aids without TEARING off at a crazy run-walk!
-I went back feeling excited and a LOT more confident!
I hope I get to ride another Paso again some day! Or even the same one!
Saturday, February 10, 2018
Saturday, January 27, 2018
Paso Fino adventures!
I'm a sucker for a cute and snorty little horsey with a good engine, and that's exactly what I got on this trip!
I just got back two days ago from ten days in Orlando with my family. When I went on the vacation, I didn't pack a single piece of riding gear. I thought, it's only ten days, and I've been riding a lot lately. I'm sure we'll have other things to fill our time, so I should just use the time to take a break from riding. I had been feeling a bit nervous and reluctant lately with my riding, for a number of reasons, so I didn't think I'd mind the short hiatus.
Well...
There's this thing a lot of riders do when they're passengers in a vehicle. That is: stare out the window at the landscape rolling by, and imagine riding through it. Picking a path, deciding where the best parts for a good canter would be... That sort of thing. And with the sunshine and perfectly comfortable weather in the low 20s, the varied terrain with great looking footing... Ughhhh I lasted ONE day before looking up riding stables.
There were some very questionable sounding places (including one that offered "trail rides" consisting of being plopped on a horse and then silently led in walk circles around the property by someone driving a golf cart) but one of the best reviewed places was a Paso Fino stable! They offered kid and beginner lessons there, so I figured there'd be a) helmets and b) maybe a horse that could gait and also wouldn't kill me!
So I cold-called them, made sure they had helmets, and booked a lesson for the next morning.
I got there and met Jessica, the owner of the place. She was very nice and reminded me of one of the leads in one of the bad horse camp movies Laura and I had watched. (Not in a bad way at all -- just a resemblance!) She immediately said, "So you're a strong rider. I think I'll put you on Sueno. I think you can handle him." Well, ever-confident me, I'm like "Uhhhhhh." And immediately got clarification.
She said he was "naughty," but the two naughty things he did were: root at the reins, and try to escape out the gate.
"Oh, okay! As long as he doesn't try to take off on me."
"Oh he absolutely WILL!"
Oh boy. So I went and got him, and the enormous spoon curb bit wasn't super reassuring regarding the taking-off consideration. However, he was a perfect gentleman to catch, brush, tack and mount (other than being a little mouthy, which was more cute than problematic.)
I immediately got to experience what she meant about him wanting to take off, and also understood the importance of the BIG bit... but neither of these things were actually negative at all, as it turned out, because he was keen, smart, and really listened.
Experiencing the "corto" gait for the first time was wild. Instead of moving up from distinctly-a-walk to distinctly-a-trot, the walk just got fast and very animated. You could tell it was different gait once it was happening, but there was no distinct gear-shift-moment. Other first impression: I remember driving our lawn tractor when I was growing up. When it was in gear, it stayed forward at a constant speed by default, and you had to put the brake on and keep it on to slow or stop it. Well, he was like that. With no input, he just wanted to zip around in his impressively peppy gait, and there were lots of rein and seat cues to hold him back and keep him back. You couldn't halt him and release the reins, because releasing was permission for GO!
He also had QUITE the accelerator. Any amount of leg was met by shooting forward. On the instructors advice, I made ONE kissing sound and he shot forward to fast I'm just glad I kept my seat! The same thing happened later when I tried clucking. Poor little guy did exactly what he was supposed to but I was so shocked by the sudden acceleration that I caught him in the mouth both times. Sorry buddy!
I was riding with about 80% hands for the first half of the hour, I'm sorry to say, but got a lot more seat and weight involved by the end. Fun discovery I made about myself: if an instructor ever wants me to stop tipping forward, just tell me that leaning forward is a cue for the horse to speed up because I will then sit RAMROD STRAIGHT for the entire ride.
I had some steering issues because I was afraid to put ANY leg on, and he would cut his turns too tightly (we did corto serpentines and figure 8s around bending poles) or drift in or out at the arena corners. I'm not sure how well he listened to lateral leg cues anyhow, though. I did boot him a bit with inside leg once, once I had him figured out a little better, and he shifted over for me, but that could have just been surprise.
His canter was really really fun. It was so smooth that the only way I could tell he'd moved to cantering was feeling a very slight change in rhythm. Forget figuring out what lead! His back barely moved at all. I did have a little bounce at his canter, but I think that was mainly my fault for having my stirrups too long. The first bit of canter I had on him, it was a little faster and more strung out (which is to say not strung out at all by another other horse standards) but the canter at the end of my lesson was so smooth and lovely, I didn't want to stop!
While we didn't actually intentionally work on it, I did get a little bit of largo towards the end of the lesson, too. It had the same rhythm as the corto, but was bigger and faster and covered more ground. It was still very smooth though!
Towards the end of the lesson, just in conversation as she was letting me out to ride back over and untack, she mentioned that they have great trails that they love to go out on. WELL. I asked her, "Do you do trail rides here?" "Well... Not for the public. We just go out ourselves. But... If you wanted, I could take you out, if you can make it back again. You're a really good rider, and I know you could handle it!"
Well. That's another post!
I just got back two days ago from ten days in Orlando with my family. When I went on the vacation, I didn't pack a single piece of riding gear. I thought, it's only ten days, and I've been riding a lot lately. I'm sure we'll have other things to fill our time, so I should just use the time to take a break from riding. I had been feeling a bit nervous and reluctant lately with my riding, for a number of reasons, so I didn't think I'd mind the short hiatus.
Well...
There's this thing a lot of riders do when they're passengers in a vehicle. That is: stare out the window at the landscape rolling by, and imagine riding through it. Picking a path, deciding where the best parts for a good canter would be... That sort of thing. And with the sunshine and perfectly comfortable weather in the low 20s, the varied terrain with great looking footing... Ughhhh I lasted ONE day before looking up riding stables.
There were some very questionable sounding places (including one that offered "trail rides" consisting of being plopped on a horse and then silently led in walk circles around the property by someone driving a golf cart) but one of the best reviewed places was a Paso Fino stable! They offered kid and beginner lessons there, so I figured there'd be a) helmets and b) maybe a horse that could gait and also wouldn't kill me!
So I cold-called them, made sure they had helmets, and booked a lesson for the next morning.
I got there and met Jessica, the owner of the place. She was very nice and reminded me of one of the leads in one of the bad horse camp movies Laura and I had watched. (Not in a bad way at all -- just a resemblance!) She immediately said, "So you're a strong rider. I think I'll put you on Sueno. I think you can handle him." Well, ever-confident me, I'm like "Uhhhhhh." And immediately got clarification.
She said he was "naughty," but the two naughty things he did were: root at the reins, and try to escape out the gate.
"Oh, okay! As long as he doesn't try to take off on me."
"Oh he absolutely WILL!"
Oh boy. So I went and got him, and the enormous spoon curb bit wasn't super reassuring regarding the taking-off consideration. However, he was a perfect gentleman to catch, brush, tack and mount (other than being a little mouthy, which was more cute than problematic.)
I immediately got to experience what she meant about him wanting to take off, and also understood the importance of the BIG bit... but neither of these things were actually negative at all, as it turned out, because he was keen, smart, and really listened.
Experiencing the "corto" gait for the first time was wild. Instead of moving up from distinctly-a-walk to distinctly-a-trot, the walk just got fast and very animated. You could tell it was different gait once it was happening, but there was no distinct gear-shift-moment. Other first impression: I remember driving our lawn tractor when I was growing up. When it was in gear, it stayed forward at a constant speed by default, and you had to put the brake on and keep it on to slow or stop it. Well, he was like that. With no input, he just wanted to zip around in his impressively peppy gait, and there were lots of rein and seat cues to hold him back and keep him back. You couldn't halt him and release the reins, because releasing was permission for GO!
He also had QUITE the accelerator. Any amount of leg was met by shooting forward. On the instructors advice, I made ONE kissing sound and he shot forward to fast I'm just glad I kept my seat! The same thing happened later when I tried clucking. Poor little guy did exactly what he was supposed to but I was so shocked by the sudden acceleration that I caught him in the mouth both times. Sorry buddy!
I was riding with about 80% hands for the first half of the hour, I'm sorry to say, but got a lot more seat and weight involved by the end. Fun discovery I made about myself: if an instructor ever wants me to stop tipping forward, just tell me that leaning forward is a cue for the horse to speed up because I will then sit RAMROD STRAIGHT for the entire ride.
I had some steering issues because I was afraid to put ANY leg on, and he would cut his turns too tightly (we did corto serpentines and figure 8s around bending poles) or drift in or out at the arena corners. I'm not sure how well he listened to lateral leg cues anyhow, though. I did boot him a bit with inside leg once, once I had him figured out a little better, and he shifted over for me, but that could have just been surprise.
His canter was really really fun. It was so smooth that the only way I could tell he'd moved to cantering was feeling a very slight change in rhythm. Forget figuring out what lead! His back barely moved at all. I did have a little bounce at his canter, but I think that was mainly my fault for having my stirrups too long. The first bit of canter I had on him, it was a little faster and more strung out (which is to say not strung out at all by another other horse standards) but the canter at the end of my lesson was so smooth and lovely, I didn't want to stop!
While we didn't actually intentionally work on it, I did get a little bit of largo towards the end of the lesson, too. It had the same rhythm as the corto, but was bigger and faster and covered more ground. It was still very smooth though!
Towards the end of the lesson, just in conversation as she was letting me out to ride back over and untack, she mentioned that they have great trails that they love to go out on. WELL. I asked her, "Do you do trail rides here?" "Well... Not for the public. We just go out ourselves. But... If you wanted, I could take you out, if you can make it back again. You're a really good rider, and I know you could handle it!"
Well. That's another post!
Saturday, December 30, 2017
Have had a few lessons since the last post. Not much time for in-between rides, though, as life stupidly hectic going in to Christmas.
We haven't been doing as much no-stirrups work, though based on yesterday's lesson I probably should do more again. I hadn't ridden in a week and a half because of holiday chaos, and going out of town, so I was feeling a bit rusty.
My last few lessons prior to that one, I was getting a bit nervous at the canter for whatever reason. I think tension and stress from running the store was bringing up my base anxiety, so things that would normally raise it a bit but keep it in a manageable place were instead getting into the yellow, more than usual.
Yesterday, I wasn't feeling nervous at the canter. But I did find myself riding in a bit of a light seat instead of letting myself sit deep and open my hips. I would manage for a few strides, but then revert to hovering a bit. Honestly, I didn't try that hard to sit deep; I was just happy that cantering wasn't wigging me out. It felt good, but I didn't feel like fighting my body at the same time. Take the little wins when you get them, I figure?
As much as I was a bit locked up, I suppose, it didn't feel like real TENSION. More like my body had temporarily forgotten how to get that awesome open-hips feeling. Or was too tired to bother. Either way. I'm not too worried about it this time. It's been coming back to me more often than not, lately, so I'm sure I can access it again once I get myself reoriented. What a crazy few weeks.
Had a cute moment with the mare the other morning. Went out to check the trough and she came up to me, frisked me all over with her lips, tried to pull the gloves out of my hand that was holding them, then started licking my other hand the way Syd does. Maybe a salt thing? Either way, it was uncharacteristically affectionate for her. Usually she's just tolerantly indifferent.
Oh, I didn't particularly notice it yesterday, but one funny thing that's been happening lately: she has mostly stopped walking off with me once I've mounted! Not that it's a BIG problem with her, but she usually takes a few steps and has to be halted. Most recent rides, she has actually just stayed in place and waited for a cue to walk! Woohoo!
One nice thing: I was discussing my fear of spooking with my coach, and brought up the day that M was extra spooky and I was worried I might come off. I said I was impressed that I HAD kept my seat. She said "You have a great seat," in a "well DUH" tone that I took as quite a compliment. :)
We haven't been doing as much no-stirrups work, though based on yesterday's lesson I probably should do more again. I hadn't ridden in a week and a half because of holiday chaos, and going out of town, so I was feeling a bit rusty.
My last few lessons prior to that one, I was getting a bit nervous at the canter for whatever reason. I think tension and stress from running the store was bringing up my base anxiety, so things that would normally raise it a bit but keep it in a manageable place were instead getting into the yellow, more than usual.
Yesterday, I wasn't feeling nervous at the canter. But I did find myself riding in a bit of a light seat instead of letting myself sit deep and open my hips. I would manage for a few strides, but then revert to hovering a bit. Honestly, I didn't try that hard to sit deep; I was just happy that cantering wasn't wigging me out. It felt good, but I didn't feel like fighting my body at the same time. Take the little wins when you get them, I figure?
As much as I was a bit locked up, I suppose, it didn't feel like real TENSION. More like my body had temporarily forgotten how to get that awesome open-hips feeling. Or was too tired to bother. Either way. I'm not too worried about it this time. It's been coming back to me more often than not, lately, so I'm sure I can access it again once I get myself reoriented. What a crazy few weeks.
Had a cute moment with the mare the other morning. Went out to check the trough and she came up to me, frisked me all over with her lips, tried to pull the gloves out of my hand that was holding them, then started licking my other hand the way Syd does. Maybe a salt thing? Either way, it was uncharacteristically affectionate for her. Usually she's just tolerantly indifferent.
Oh, I didn't particularly notice it yesterday, but one funny thing that's been happening lately: she has mostly stopped walking off with me once I've mounted! Not that it's a BIG problem with her, but she usually takes a few steps and has to be halted. Most recent rides, she has actually just stayed in place and waited for a cue to walk! Woohoo!
One nice thing: I was discussing my fear of spooking with my coach, and brought up the day that M was extra spooky and I was worried I might come off. I said I was impressed that I HAD kept my seat. She said "You have a great seat," in a "well DUH" tone that I took as quite a compliment. :)
Thursday, December 7, 2017
A general summary instead of a specific recap, because I've been delinquent!
Having kind of let all my ride reports here slip -- whoops!!! -- I'll do more of an overview of what's been happening lately, what I've been working on, what's been working, and where I know I need improvement.
We've been doing a bit more lateral work lately. This was kicked off by me admitting, after being asked to practice some shoulder-in in my free rides, that I hadn't actually done shoulder-in (though I did try to kind of wing it). We've done a couple of lessons that included leg yields to the track, shoulder-fore, shoulder-in, and haunches-in (travers?). The mare is funny about it; she doesn't want to do it at first, and will try to get away with just bending her neck and popping her shoulder. Or just being really sluggish about it. But once we get going she starts to anticipate and does it without asking. Oh boy! She also tends to get worked up and starts charging around in a FAST trot. Could be worse!!
There has also been a LOT of no-stirrups work. We kind of skipped No Stirrups November because the horses took so long to get settled and stop acting like wingnuts. So I guess it's No Stirrups December instead. I had two lessons that were almost entirely no-stirrups posting trot. My muscles definitely felt it, but it wasn't actually that bad. I did have to cry uncle eventually in both lessons, but it wasn't the muscular effort!! My dang crotch was getting so chafed that when I had to pee after my lesson, it burned so badly I could practically see through time. :O We've done about 90% rising trot stirrupless. Only a little bit of sitting trot and just the tiniest smidge of canter. I haven't been doing much canter work lately, as the horse has been sore and hasn't had her arthritis meds for a few weeks, so I haven't been pushing it, especially as she tends to get stumbly when she canters while sore, and I do NOT need a wreck to happen while I'm riding there on my own.
A nice side effect (unless the not-nice side of burning while peeing) of the no-stirrups work has been a much deeper, more controlled, connected, open seat while I ride. (I know the full-seats certainly don't hurt with that either.) I can sit the trot a lot better, and I feel like I can use my seat and thighs more effectively to control speed and begin my transitions. I've also been incorporating a lot more thigh into my sense of what "seat" is. Previously my butt seemed like it was my seat and that my legs were separate entities. Now it's all starting to work together more cohesively. My few Lauren lessons, with emphasis on using my thighs in a supportive way, and her "exercise position," really helped to clue me into that. Especially the exercise position. It really made me realize how much more my hip could open. I started following the motion of the trot and canter in a way that let me move with the horse instead of feeling like I was trying to counter the motion.
Another funny thing that was a good reminder, recently: someone posted this video in a thread giving advice to a new rider. Be the chicken!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLwML2PagbY
Which is also reminiscent of the advice, "shoulders like a queen, hips like a whore," but a little more G-rated.
I should also add in here that I had one lesson on the cute Thoroughbred that I rode once back in September. He's got a softer mouth than my usual mare, so that was a nice little break for my hands. And good to know I can still be soft too. He tends to go around a bit crooked, the one way, so we were doing a very slight shoulder-fore when I was on the right rein with him. It went really well and felt great. We just did walk-trot, which was fine for me while I get to know him. Yay for comfort zones! Sometimes it's good just to stay with them, haha.
This morning I had a nice ride on the mare. She broke from canter a couple of times, but not in an asshole way, and it was otherwise a pretty great ride. I worked -- with mixed results -- on trying to push out and collect her trot. We average 7 strides between the letters on the long sides. I got her collected to 8 a couple of times, and pushed her out to 6 a couple of times. Mostly we stayed at 7 though, even if I did try to change things. It's interesting to try, though, and feel what my body does to communicate. Kind of a tightening and slight lifting with my thighs and set to collect her. And a deep, open, knees-off, forward push to lengthen. But like I said, the results are... currently mixed.
I need to keep working on my turns to the left without stirrups. It does force me to get that shoulder back and turn my torso to keep my balance. This is good. I've gotten much better but the dang shoulder continues to betray me.
We've been doing a bit more lateral work lately. This was kicked off by me admitting, after being asked to practice some shoulder-in in my free rides, that I hadn't actually done shoulder-in (though I did try to kind of wing it). We've done a couple of lessons that included leg yields to the track, shoulder-fore, shoulder-in, and haunches-in (travers?). The mare is funny about it; she doesn't want to do it at first, and will try to get away with just bending her neck and popping her shoulder. Or just being really sluggish about it. But once we get going she starts to anticipate and does it without asking. Oh boy! She also tends to get worked up and starts charging around in a FAST trot. Could be worse!!
There has also been a LOT of no-stirrups work. We kind of skipped No Stirrups November because the horses took so long to get settled and stop acting like wingnuts. So I guess it's No Stirrups December instead. I had two lessons that were almost entirely no-stirrups posting trot. My muscles definitely felt it, but it wasn't actually that bad. I did have to cry uncle eventually in both lessons, but it wasn't the muscular effort!! My dang crotch was getting so chafed that when I had to pee after my lesson, it burned so badly I could practically see through time. :O We've done about 90% rising trot stirrupless. Only a little bit of sitting trot and just the tiniest smidge of canter. I haven't been doing much canter work lately, as the horse has been sore and hasn't had her arthritis meds for a few weeks, so I haven't been pushing it, especially as she tends to get stumbly when she canters while sore, and I do NOT need a wreck to happen while I'm riding there on my own.
A nice side effect (unless the not-nice side of burning while peeing) of the no-stirrups work has been a much deeper, more controlled, connected, open seat while I ride. (I know the full-seats certainly don't hurt with that either.) I can sit the trot a lot better, and I feel like I can use my seat and thighs more effectively to control speed and begin my transitions. I've also been incorporating a lot more thigh into my sense of what "seat" is. Previously my butt seemed like it was my seat and that my legs were separate entities. Now it's all starting to work together more cohesively. My few Lauren lessons, with emphasis on using my thighs in a supportive way, and her "exercise position," really helped to clue me into that. Especially the exercise position. It really made me realize how much more my hip could open. I started following the motion of the trot and canter in a way that let me move with the horse instead of feeling like I was trying to counter the motion.
Another funny thing that was a good reminder, recently: someone posted this video in a thread giving advice to a new rider. Be the chicken!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLwML2PagbY
Which is also reminiscent of the advice, "shoulders like a queen, hips like a whore," but a little more G-rated.
I should also add in here that I had one lesson on the cute Thoroughbred that I rode once back in September. He's got a softer mouth than my usual mare, so that was a nice little break for my hands. And good to know I can still be soft too. He tends to go around a bit crooked, the one way, so we were doing a very slight shoulder-fore when I was on the right rein with him. It went really well and felt great. We just did walk-trot, which was fine for me while I get to know him. Yay for comfort zones! Sometimes it's good just to stay with them, haha.
This morning I had a nice ride on the mare. She broke from canter a couple of times, but not in an asshole way, and it was otherwise a pretty great ride. I worked -- with mixed results -- on trying to push out and collect her trot. We average 7 strides between the letters on the long sides. I got her collected to 8 a couple of times, and pushed her out to 6 a couple of times. Mostly we stayed at 7 though, even if I did try to change things. It's interesting to try, though, and feel what my body does to communicate. Kind of a tightening and slight lifting with my thighs and set to collect her. And a deep, open, knees-off, forward push to lengthen. But like I said, the results are... currently mixed.
I need to keep working on my turns to the left without stirrups. It does force me to get that shoulder back and turn my torso to keep my balance. This is good. I've gotten much better but the dang shoulder continues to betray me.
Friday, November 24, 2017
Winter barn recap part one
Whoops. I continue to neglect this blog pretty badly. Not my intention at all. I've just been doing so much that finding the time to sit down and summarize things hasn't been the most appealing use of my time, even though it's rewarding and useful.
I had a couple of bad weeks. My usual lesson horse turned into a weird spooky explosive beast my second ride on her during my horse-sitting week. It was a windy cold day with random loud gusts coming through and rattling leaved and gates and things. Still, she doesn't usually react much to that sort of thing. Well, she spooked twice, jumping and shying suddenly, while I was still just leading her into the ring. Shouldn't have been a GREAT surprise that she gave me a pretty nasty big spook under saddle, but usually she goes into work mode right away when I ride her, so I had kind of counted on that happening. Well, it didn't. I walked her a few more minutes after surviving the BIG SPOOK (a multipart shy-and-run that I'm pleasantly surprised I sat through) then hopped off and lunged her, where she continued to randomly have little explosions at seemingly nothing. And then it poured rain the rest of the week and the footing went to crap, so that was my last ride attempt for close to two weeks.
Other fun things during my horse sitting week included the two geldings getting buddy sour and becoming next to impossible for me to lead into the barn. My coach's horse panicked in his stall and it got dangerous in there, so I had to let him bolt out of there to avoid getting hurt, and long story (and a couple bad decisions) short, I wound up with TWO loose horses and a broken stall door.
After that week, we moved the horses up to their winter accommodations with the indoor arena. This was extremely hard on them for some reason. More so than most moves. The mare stress-colicked after my second or third ride on her there, and the other three horses have been anxious, most especially my coach's horse who has taken the last two and a half weeks to finally settle down enough to be rideable.
My first ride, after my anxious week of horse sitting and the horses being so UP at the new place, was just walk and a liiiiittle bit of trot. Even though the mare has always been really solid, I was very shaken by the spooky day. I confess, I got on and she was still so perked up and anxious, that as soon as she whinnied back to the other horses, I just walked her a few more steps and hopped off. :/ I did make myself get back on again, after hand-walking her around a bit, and it went slightly better but it was still pretty fraught for both of us. It didn't help that the horses were outside in the paddock JUST outside the arena and I was worried that SOMETHING would happen. I've since done my rides with them waiting in the barn BEFORE they go out. Much more peaceful!!
The ride before she colicked was a peaceful walk-trot and the first time since the big spook that I was actually feeling more like myself riding her. The colic episode was bizarre and scary, and I had no idea what was happening. She kept craning her neck out and curling her lip, and would lie down on her side with her head elevated off the ground and her lip curled and her jaws crossed. And not move at ALL. A couple of times I wondered if she was dead and/or having a stroke. It didn't help that there was blood in her spit, which in hindsight I think was from scratching her mouth while giving her a dose of bute.
Turns out that was all pretty normal for her when she has an episode, but I hadn't seen those specific colic episodes so it was definitely scary.
I'll resume my recap in the next post, but I'm happy to say things got better from there.
I had a couple of bad weeks. My usual lesson horse turned into a weird spooky explosive beast my second ride on her during my horse-sitting week. It was a windy cold day with random loud gusts coming through and rattling leaved and gates and things. Still, she doesn't usually react much to that sort of thing. Well, she spooked twice, jumping and shying suddenly, while I was still just leading her into the ring. Shouldn't have been a GREAT surprise that she gave me a pretty nasty big spook under saddle, but usually she goes into work mode right away when I ride her, so I had kind of counted on that happening. Well, it didn't. I walked her a few more minutes after surviving the BIG SPOOK (a multipart shy-and-run that I'm pleasantly surprised I sat through) then hopped off and lunged her, where she continued to randomly have little explosions at seemingly nothing. And then it poured rain the rest of the week and the footing went to crap, so that was my last ride attempt for close to two weeks.
Other fun things during my horse sitting week included the two geldings getting buddy sour and becoming next to impossible for me to lead into the barn. My coach's horse panicked in his stall and it got dangerous in there, so I had to let him bolt out of there to avoid getting hurt, and long story (and a couple bad decisions) short, I wound up with TWO loose horses and a broken stall door.
After that week, we moved the horses up to their winter accommodations with the indoor arena. This was extremely hard on them for some reason. More so than most moves. The mare stress-colicked after my second or third ride on her there, and the other three horses have been anxious, most especially my coach's horse who has taken the last two and a half weeks to finally settle down enough to be rideable.
My first ride, after my anxious week of horse sitting and the horses being so UP at the new place, was just walk and a liiiiittle bit of trot. Even though the mare has always been really solid, I was very shaken by the spooky day. I confess, I got on and she was still so perked up and anxious, that as soon as she whinnied back to the other horses, I just walked her a few more steps and hopped off. :/ I did make myself get back on again, after hand-walking her around a bit, and it went slightly better but it was still pretty fraught for both of us. It didn't help that the horses were outside in the paddock JUST outside the arena and I was worried that SOMETHING would happen. I've since done my rides with them waiting in the barn BEFORE they go out. Much more peaceful!!
The ride before she colicked was a peaceful walk-trot and the first time since the big spook that I was actually feeling more like myself riding her. The colic episode was bizarre and scary, and I had no idea what was happening. She kept craning her neck out and curling her lip, and would lie down on her side with her head elevated off the ground and her lip curled and her jaws crossed. And not move at ALL. A couple of times I wondered if she was dead and/or having a stroke. It didn't help that there was blood in her spit, which in hindsight I think was from scratching her mouth while giving her a dose of bute.
Turns out that was all pretty normal for her when she has an episode, but I hadn't seen those specific colic episodes so it was definitely scary.
I'll resume my recap in the next post, but I'm happy to say things got better from there.
Friday, October 27, 2017
Horse sitting
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...
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...
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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