Hard Work: Lesson Recap 5/2

First off, thank you all so much for your help on my last post! I'm going to go ahead and get Katai her HID this year since that doesn't need to be renewed but otherwise  I'm going to stick to opportunity classes. If for some reason she blows me away at these first two shows I may reconsider but otherwise it will be a nice cost savings.

Then, at some point here I may change the lesson recap posts just because there's enough similar information that I might do every other lesson or something. Not sure if people are enjoying reading them but I'm getting bored writing them ;)

At any rate this lesson felt like a lot of work. I'd skipped a couple of weeks of core workouts and then done one the weekend before this lesson. Then Jane had me work a lot on sitting trot and do a lot of canter AND she was making me use my core correctly... I'm pretty sure that's why I was dying by the end of the lesson. Katai also got a good workout and had slightly sweaty ears and some good sweat on her butt muscles.

The themes were that Jane wanted me to keep the bend and roundness really consistent (certainly not my specialty).

SQUIRREL

and make sure that she really stepped and pushed forward with her hind legs. Typically I can do one or the other but not both however in my lesson this week I was actually getting both as long as Jane didn't want me to do anything else.

Jane really pushed me to challenge Katai's balance again. First with much steeper leg yields in sitting trot where we did a zig zag from quarter line to quarter line which meant Katai going very sideways with her short little legs. I messed this one up royally before getting a good one. Then we moved on to shoulder fore and shoulder in. Jane wanted me to really focus on keeping her active in the trot and giving her space to move forward with my reins while keeping her round.

It's really tough with Katai because as soon as I use my legs to ask for something she tightens up through her back and completely loses the roundness which is a tough balancing act for someone who's just learning how to do some of these movements. We're getting there though and I'm still feeling steady improvement with each lesson which makes it fun.

Finally we worked on shallow serpentines at the canter. We've worked up to doing them to the center line rather than just the quarter line and as long as I remember not to cross my inside hand across her withers to "help" her get back to the wall we were doing pretty well. We also worked on trying to get some 10 meter circles at the canter. By the point we got to those Katai was already pretty tired so she struggled a bit but I'm so happy with how much longer she's able to maintain a decent canter!

It was a really good lesson even if I did feel exhausted by the end. It certainly made me realize that it's time for me to keep upping my fitness game and to do the same with Katai. I REALLY need to get her comfortable on the quiet(ish) gravel road so that I can get her out and work up to more trot and canter sets. It would be really good for both of us!

She's Back: Lesson Recap 3/6

I'm so excited to say that I have my pony back!

and yes, I'm making you all wait for the clinic recap. I'll have it up soon I promise.

She was really amazing and wonderful and all of the unicorn things that she's capable of during this lesson. I think that both L and I had started to worry a little after how much she struggled at my last lesson even though we knew that she'd had a month off and just needed a little time.

On Sunday though she brought her pony game face (which was good because in my sick condition I certainly didn't). I think I'm also starting to figure some stuff out about my body and how to use it properly which is always helpful. I've always felt like there are really two main groups of riders, those that subtract energy from horses and those that add energy. I never would have said that I'm the type of person to really light up a horse and make them hot but in thinking back on the horses that I've ridden and the lessons I've taken I think I'd have to add myself to that category.

Don't get me wrong, Katai is already hot enough without me adding anything but I started to realize this when L climbed on and rode her and she was immediately quieter. This especially surprised me since in my experience instructors tend to make horses hotter since they're just asking for more. This really made me think that it was something about me.

Then I got the other piece of the puzzle when I was noticing, and hearing from other people at the barn, how Katai reacts to other people. With me she's nice and calm and hen I go into her stall she'll come right up to me. If I'm in there with her for long grooming her or something she'll fall asleep. With other people she's hot, can be reactive, and gets a little nervous. Also, on the lunge she's always really quiet. I can get her to go from a canter to a walk just by slightly turning my body and I have to really ask to get her to go faster most of the time. That told me that it was something that I was specifically doing with my position and not my energy.

I've been trying to figure it out and I think I've finally got it. I'm aware that when you post it needs to come from the upper part of your leg and that you basically use your thigh and knee as a lever to lift yourself out of the saddle with the horse's help. Heck, I used to post bareback all the time when I was growing up so it's something I'm really comfortable with. However, I figured out that this is not what I've been doing with Katai, I've found that I was really using my stirrups and basically standing up from there. I'm sure that this has translated into more squeezing and tension. I think I've figured out that I started doing this because of where her smaller frame puts my leg. With a full sized horse you have relatively more horizontal surface area, more of a table top if you will, that makes this a little easier. On Katai with her smaller barrel my leg hangs straighter down from my hip so I've got less back under my upper leg. I think that this led to posting from my feet rather than from my thighs.

As soon as I remember this now and do it correctly she instantly slows and relaxes and listens better. Now I just have to make it a habit!

On Sunday I was really making myself stick to this so I was getting a slower and more reasonable trot. Of course it helped that with my cold I felt like a floppy bag of potatoes -said no dressage rider ever.

I also had much better control of her shoulders and much more flexibility through her body even to start off.

L had me warm her up and then after a walk break we started doing shallow serpentines into canter. L want's me to do this because as soon as Katai starts thinking canter she gets extremely stiff through her body. The goal with this is to really bend her in both directions and then as soon as we hit the wall to ask for the canter so that she's already looser through her body.

L also diagnosed that when I'm doing 10 meter circles to supple her she's stiffening and diving for the wall when we're just past the half way point. As soon as she said that I was able to appropriately ride her at the same bend through the circle and had a much more supple pony.

Then, seriously this pony is too smart, after we had done two of this exercise to the left and taken a walk break we went to do it to the right and as soon as I started the shallow serpentine Katai cantered. Yep, after doing the exercise twice in her life and changing directions she still knew what we were doing. I'm going to have to really up my confusion game!

In that light we went back to trot and did another shallow serpentine only we turned the middle loop into a 10 meter circle. Pony's mind was blown. Finally we did one more serpentine at just a trot and then did one into the canter.

L gave me a couple more ideas of exercises to work on and then let us call it quits a little early. She said it was because we're still bringing Katai back after her break but I think she was just tired of listening to my coughing ;-)

Finally, I'll leave you with a sneak peek from the clinic!