Spring!

After the snow ride on Wednesday, the sun came out and things warmed up. By Thursday afternoon the snow was completely gone from my ring.

My friend Karen, who's also a Level 2 Centered Riding Instructor came out to visit on Friday. She offered to give me a short lesson and I immediately jumped on it. The day was glorious: sunny and warm. I took the blankets off the horses and begged them to not roll in any mud. They were non-committal but in the end stayed mud free.

Before she came I brought Carmen up into the ring to do some of our work with the flags and stuff. The best way to describe her was 'sun drunk'. You know what I mean- when the sun first comes out and we just soak it up. She was so very mellow. I hopped on when Karen came. At first Carmen was a bit tight but so was I.

so very tight 

I share the above photo not for critiquing but to illustrate where we are starting. I do like that my rein is loose, so that even though her neck is retracted I'm encouraging her to step into the rein and lengthen her frame. My leg could be looser for sure.

The thing that I really hate love about Centered Riding is that it so very nitpicky  focussed on the little tiny adjustments to our seat that impact how the horse carries herself. Karen showed me how tight my leg joints were and, after doing some hands on to loosen me up,  had us walk a circle around her and asked me to use my seat bones to help her step under herself. She said that I should let Carmen move the bones forward but not backwards so that she doesn't trail her legs out behind.  Which translates to this:
seat bones? Oh, there they are. 
What are they doing? 
Okay, I guess they are moving. Now how do I restrict the back. 
*Carmen halts* Oops, too much
Oh, is that it? Maybe. Oh yeah, I can feel that. 
Shit, where'd it go?

The thing is, though, that as soon as I did it, Carmen stretched out her neck and stepped under.  We were all over the place in terms of pace and we worked on me using my core to rate her pace and not the reins.

better

We played with some shoulder in down the long side. Karen asked me to keep my elbows 'attached' to my hip (not holding but lined up) so that I wasn't pulling on the rein. I found that it really helped use my body correctly for the bend and kept her shoulder from popping out. When we went down the far side Carmen's attention was captured by the robins in the field and stopped to look. I let her look and then we walked off. That was the big spook of the ride. 

We then did a little trot work. The goal was to keep her slow and to let her move my hipbones and not sue my waist to absorb the shock. This is really hard for me. My hips have been so stiff for so long. It required a lot of getting it, losing it, going back to walk, get it back, pick up trot. Which was fine because I actually was able to feel it when it worked. As Carmen began to anticipate the trot transition I had to dial it back to just breathing to get the trot and it was so cool.

The subtlety of riding well is hard. 

Karen had me experiment with lightly lifting my pubic bone. When I did that I could feel her lighten in front. As we were trotting I could feel that the canter was right there so I lifted my front and lightly touched her and we lifted into the most lovely of canters. It was a great transition and I had to smile. 

my hands could be level but they are giving and I'm sitting up

We did a couple circles and then I asked her to come down and then back to walk. That's where we left it. 

In all the riding was about 30 minutes- which is perfect for us just getting back. I loved that the freaking out and defensiveness was not there. At least not after the first few minutes. 

Now we just need to get in shape. Also, you may notice that I'm wearing my new ensemble. It was so comfortable to ride in. I am happy with my purchase. 

The rest of the visit was fun too. We went out for dinner and I am not sure that we stopped talking. Karen stayed over and we were both in bed by 10. I slept really well and, based on how she looked this morning, so did Carmen. 

Yay for spring.