riding
Penny has given me a new challenge/long term goal! Or at least medium term goal. Ultimately, she wants me to be able to slip my foot out of the stirrup and then back in, all while at a canter without needing to stop or slow down or look.
Just to be clear, in case it isn't already, that is VERY difficult. I started working on that just at a walk and had a difficult enough time already. It involves a lot of power in one's entire upper body that I just don't have yet, plus you have to maneuver your foot back into a moving stirrup. Add in my impaired proprioception and you have a recipe for Holy Crap That's Difficult. Penny tells me I shouldn't think in terms of being "bad at it." Just in it being something to learn. Which, ok, I can see her point.
After getting kind of ok at it at a walk, I started trying it at trot. That was a complete mess. I mean, I did it, but not exactly prettily. And I ultimately had to lean on the saddle, which is ok when learning but ultimately I should be able to do it without that particular prop.
I started getting a rough technique of finding the stirrup, and sliding my foot in via turning my toe in really hard. That seems to work pretty well, and when it doesn't work that generally means my foot is in front of the stirrup. One thing this taught me is that I think I never really appreciated how much I rely on pressure from the stirrups to help me know where my feet and legs are.
Oh, and of course, this also means moving my legs in some very weird ways while moving, just to get my foot OUT of the stirrup in the first place. After spending years perfecting making sure my legs stay exactly in the correct position, and considering wiggle of an inch or two to be way too much movement, this is a challenge on its own merits. But then, I did, over time, learn how to kick independent of posting (basically, my upper leg and lower leg are more or less supposed to be able to operate independently), so I suppose it's good to be able to choose whether or not to have my leg move, and to be in control of it.
So that's my challenge. oofta.
Just to be clear, in case it isn't already, that is VERY difficult. I started working on that just at a walk and had a difficult enough time already. It involves a lot of power in one's entire upper body that I just don't have yet, plus you have to maneuver your foot back into a moving stirrup. Add in my impaired proprioception and you have a recipe for Holy Crap That's Difficult. Penny tells me I shouldn't think in terms of being "bad at it." Just in it being something to learn. Which, ok, I can see her point.
After getting kind of ok at it at a walk, I started trying it at trot. That was a complete mess. I mean, I did it, but not exactly prettily. And I ultimately had to lean on the saddle, which is ok when learning but ultimately I should be able to do it without that particular prop.
I started getting a rough technique of finding the stirrup, and sliding my foot in via turning my toe in really hard. That seems to work pretty well, and when it doesn't work that generally means my foot is in front of the stirrup. One thing this taught me is that I think I never really appreciated how much I rely on pressure from the stirrups to help me know where my feet and legs are.
Oh, and of course, this also means moving my legs in some very weird ways while moving, just to get my foot OUT of the stirrup in the first place. After spending years perfecting making sure my legs stay exactly in the correct position, and considering wiggle of an inch or two to be way too much movement, this is a challenge on its own merits. But then, I did, over time, learn how to kick independent of posting (basically, my upper leg and lower leg are more or less supposed to be able to operate independently), so I suppose it's good to be able to choose whether or not to have my leg move, and to be in control of it.
So that's my challenge. oofta.