Crazy Weekend
Let's see, I ended my last post dreading a lesson. I ended up not going to that lesson. Like a total weenie I called up on Friday morning and said I wasn't feeling well. In all honesty, I decided that I didn't trust my instructor. She threw rocks at the horse I was riding to make him canter when I just couldn't get it done, fer Christ's sake! I think I would prefer someone who could take things step by step with me right now. Perhaps I could contact her again once I have my basics more firmly under control.
So, on Friday I went out to see Laurie, a friend of mine from work. She has three beautiful horses and a mini who is just adorable. We played with them a bit and then went to Mel's Tack shop down the street to browse. Then we went down to see Ms. Breezy. I cleaned her up and got on for a few minutes as Laurie watched. It was really nice to have someone knowledgeable on the ground that could give me an idea of what we looked like. Basically she said we looked good but that I needed to get some more go from Ms. B. I knew that but having someone else say it makes it that much more real. It was also cool because she was able to tell me as soon as something looked good and so I was able to feel it.
We went back to her house and I met her husband, Marty who is very nice. We messed around with the horses a little bit more and chatted. Laurie let me borrow a few books and then we said our goodbyes. We had spent five hours just doing horsey stuff! I had such a good time that we are planning on getting together this week, too. She is going to be having a lesson on her mare Krystal and I am going to out and watch and maybe schedule a lesson for the next week on Breezy! Fun!
One of the books that Laurie lent me is called "Riding With Your Mind : Essentials," by Mary Wanless. It is awesome! Virtually every question I have asked or have thought about asking about riding and position is answered. Basically, there is no such thing as relaxing on horseback. You must maintain a level of static tension or tone to be able to support yourself in the saddle. And....! You don't kick with your heel! You use your lower calf to give the horse a thunk!... More or less, depending on the animal of course. Also, I figured out why I could never find my right seatbone. I was always pushing so hard into my right stirrup to get my heel down that I was putting all my weight on my left seatbone to compensate.
So on Saturday I went out and had one of the best rides I've had in forever. I concentrated on bearing down and feeling both seatbones at the expense of the wierdness I felt with my right foot feeling floaty. I made a strong effort to keep my thighs against the saddle to support myself instead of having all my weight pushed down to my heel. Strange that I haven't been doing it all along, I remember vaguely that that is how I used to have my leg. I really got sucked into thinking that everything should be relaxed.
By bearing down and having my legs on, my canter transitions felt enormously better. I was not left behind at all. Yay!
A quick note: I went out on Sunday and it threatened rain so I only got to walk around for about 15 minutes. I am sure that Breezy enjoyed that. I got home at 5:30 to find that my washer had exploded and ruined a lot of the laminate flooring that we had put down only six months ago. Nice, eh?
So, on Friday I went out to see Laurie, a friend of mine from work. She has three beautiful horses and a mini who is just adorable. We played with them a bit and then went to Mel's Tack shop down the street to browse. Then we went down to see Ms. Breezy. I cleaned her up and got on for a few minutes as Laurie watched. It was really nice to have someone knowledgeable on the ground that could give me an idea of what we looked like. Basically she said we looked good but that I needed to get some more go from Ms. B. I knew that but having someone else say it makes it that much more real. It was also cool because she was able to tell me as soon as something looked good and so I was able to feel it.
We went back to her house and I met her husband, Marty who is very nice. We messed around with the horses a little bit more and chatted. Laurie let me borrow a few books and then we said our goodbyes. We had spent five hours just doing horsey stuff! I had such a good time that we are planning on getting together this week, too. She is going to be having a lesson on her mare Krystal and I am going to out and watch and maybe schedule a lesson for the next week on Breezy! Fun!
One of the books that Laurie lent me is called "Riding With Your Mind : Essentials," by Mary Wanless. It is awesome! Virtually every question I have asked or have thought about asking about riding and position is answered. Basically, there is no such thing as relaxing on horseback. You must maintain a level of static tension or tone to be able to support yourself in the saddle. And....! You don't kick with your heel! You use your lower calf to give the horse a thunk!... More or less, depending on the animal of course. Also, I figured out why I could never find my right seatbone. I was always pushing so hard into my right stirrup to get my heel down that I was putting all my weight on my left seatbone to compensate.
So on Saturday I went out and had one of the best rides I've had in forever. I concentrated on bearing down and feeling both seatbones at the expense of the wierdness I felt with my right foot feeling floaty. I made a strong effort to keep my thighs against the saddle to support myself instead of having all my weight pushed down to my heel. Strange that I haven't been doing it all along, I remember vaguely that that is how I used to have my leg. I really got sucked into thinking that everything should be relaxed.
By bearing down and having my legs on, my canter transitions felt enormously better. I was not left behind at all. Yay!
A quick note: I went out on Sunday and it threatened rain so I only got to walk around for about 15 minutes. I am sure that Breezy enjoyed that. I got home at 5:30 to find that my washer had exploded and ruined a lot of the laminate flooring that we had put down only six months ago. Nice, eh?
posted by shortround at 10:23 AM
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