Back to school

[glenatron]

The last week or two the swamp at our yard has returned to it's summertime status of arena, so I've done bits of schooling with Iris. After reading this piece on skeletal injuries I was very conscious that we need to work on our correctness a little, so for the last few days I have been working with real focus on softness and balance

Comments

[joycemocha]

Self-awareness in a rider is the beginning of wisdom. One thing Gregg's always said to me is to ride with a back as soft as butter--and it helped to have some time on a former world champion Western Pleasure horse (for two years running) who won based on his jog and lope. Key to getting his good jog and lope was having that soft, soft back (well, and being as stubborn as that old coot was--not a generous boy at all, he made you work for it).

Thing is, she'll make a better rider out of you even as you make her a better mount.

[glenatron]

She certainly will.

The other thing I remembered as we rode out today was my last-but-one instructor telling me in addition to relaxing my back that I needed to sit a little more back on my pockets. Tried it out on the trail and as if by magic I was far better able to absorb her movement- suddenly my back was doing way less work and my abs were doing more - so I think I have been a little bit perched on my seatbones lately...

[re_vised]

I find my equitation has taken a backseat for many years, and I have formed some habits (although not to horrid) I'm rather unhappy with. I do like horses that keep me on my toes, which it sounds that Iris does. :) She seems to be blossoming into a beautiful girl.

[glenatron]

My equitation is always on a back seat relative to my horsemanship but sooner or later I risk having a horse who goes beautifully and letting her down by riding poorly...

[re_vised]

That's how I feel, too...

[puddleshark]

Yeah, that moment when the horse becomes light and soft, there's just nothing to beat it...

I'd sort of reached a plateau in my riding when I first had Charm and was really struggling to make any progress, even though I was having regular lessons at a competition yard. One thing that helped my seat a lot was spending the winter watching DVDs of dressage-to-music, in conjunction with reading articles on the sequence of the footfalls and the timing of the aids.

You'll have a strong grasp of equine biomechanics anyway from the horsemanship, but watching footage of really good classical riders like Carl Hester can't hurt!

[glenatron]

What I am aiming for is what Zorro had figured out, which was always being light and soft, and then taking that further so that we have light and soft and lifted the whole time. I know it is possible, but it is a long term project and will take a lot of work

[puddleshark]

...there's a lot of dressage that I'm not keen on...

Absolutely. The last time I went to spectate at the Regional Dressage finals, I saw a rider whose legs were flapping constantly against the horse's side and who had the horse horribly overbent. But the horse was big-moving and flashy, the rider received huge applause from the crowd of knowledgable dressage types, and ended up winning the class. I pretty well gave up watching at dressage competitions after that.