Clinic Day 2: Awareness

I spent Friday night at the home of friends. They are generous with their hospitality and I always enjoy spending time with them. We don't chat often enough but it's nice to catch up when we do get together. My only complaint I have is that many of my horse friends live a long distance away. I slept very well that night and even had a kitty for company.

I was excited for my ride in the morning. It felt luxurious to sleep until 7 and let someone else feed my horse. Carmen seemed happy to see me- it was a beautiful September day- sunny but not hot.

Carmen was a bit girth when I tacked her up. I took her to the outside ring to lunge. She was looking around but listened to me fairly well. The outdoor ring had no fence but there were bushes in each corner. Carmen was quite suspicious of these.

At the start of our lesson Johanna asked if I had any questions. I didn't. She asked me what I wanted to work on and I said that I wanted to carry on with what we were doing and I really wanted to focus on getting my seat in the saddle and using it correctly. I started by walking her around and warming her up while Johanna was quiet and watched us.

I did my best to keep her listening and not worrying about the ring. The sun on the metal sides of the arena was causing it to expand and it was making noises.

looking out the door checking for trolls

A friend had my camera and was taking photos of us. To be honest I was really worried to look at them later- I hate photos of me riding. But to be honest although there were some where I look awful, overall I wasn't as awful as I thought. Except for here- what the heck am I doing?

perched seat, piano hands, could I look more awkward? 

You can tell by Carmen's expression that she is not so impressed either. Johanna was reminding me to breathe (honestly, how can that be so hard?). Johanna is what you would call a 'classical trainer'. Which means that she believes in working slowly, with the horse and that it must be harmonious. It can't be rushed. I cannot tell you how many times I heard the phrases 'calm your breathing.' 'ride with your seat' 'stop using your hands' 'soften your aids'

better. 

We were working on 10 metre circles and then shoulder in up the long side. I know how to ride a shoulder in.

Except I don't. It seems that I know how to use excessive amounts of tension with an over use of hand and leg to do an awkward shoulder in that was in no way acceptable. Johanna chewed me out for using my rein to pull her around on a 10 metre circle. She was right but I honestly didn't realize that I was doing it. I took a deep breath and focussed on using my seat and inside leg to get her to bend. Turns out that I really was not getting enough bend on my circle.

 Getting better with the bend.
And then there is was:

SHOULDER IN

with easy aids and no stress she did it. I actually laughed when we got it (dressage riders are the nerds of the horse world).

Then we tried to trot and the wheels came off- Carmen began to throw her haunches to the inside.  Johanna told me to stop doing what i was doing but I didn't know what I was doing so it was hard to stop. We talked about and I shared that I thought she was being resistant. My friend made the observation that I was tightening my left leg and hip (which you can see in the photo).

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I couldn't feel it. I dismounted and Johanna took Carmen for a walk. 

Carmen explaining her troubles to Johanna

She then got on and rode her for a bit at the walk (no photos because it's not fair to share photos of others without permission). Carmen was good and demonstrated lovely flexibility.  

I was disappointed- things had been going so well and then they were not. My fellow clinicians were very supportive and tried to get me to focus on the positives. I tried but inside I was not so thrilled. I wanted to do better than better.  

Not that I have achievement issues. Nope not me. 

That afternoon I had planned to ride again. I had brought with me a western saddle to try but unfortunately it didn't fit (back to the drawing board). But I put on my english tack and took her out. We lunged for  bit and then I got on. Let me sum up my ride- Carmen was spooky and bolted twice. Both times I managed to stop her and go back to work. I kept focussing on my seat and helping her relax. Finally she settled and listened to me. One cute thing- where the ring was not fenced I decided to walk her in and out of the ring. She was a little weirded out by that- in her mind there was a fence. But she trusted me enough to go in and out. 

I spent that evening thinking about what happened at the end of my lesson. I wasn't arguing that I was tensing but the truth is that I didn't think I was riding different then usual and I hadn't had that happen for a long time. Later that night (well around 3 a.m.) a theory started to form.

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