Standing at the canter fixed my jumping seat!

Yesterday's lesson was pretty fun since it almost completely entailed standing at the trot and canter. When I was getting into two-point, or jumping position, previously, I was leaning over too much. D had me get straight up out of the saddle at the trot, then lower myself but not actually sit down - what she calls the "hovering posting trot" so that I could get used to how my hips are supposed to feel as I open them. It took me a few tries both ways to get standing at the canter, but suddenly it felt much easier to balance! At which point going over a ground pole was just a small psychological addition to the challenge.

I got to ride Colonel today, who is everyone's favorite because he's so easy going. With him, it was really important to keep my reins short and keep his stride in check because he stretches out more and more as he canters around the ring.

One thing I do need to work on is my common sense when sharing the ring with others who are doing totally different things. I was on the rail cantering clockwise around the ring and someone was cantering counterclockwise on a 20m circle and we met as I was coming off the short side. I was thinking left shoulder to left shoulder, but I guess since she was circling and I wasn't it would have made more sense for her to cut in. In any case, I got confused, we both ended up trotting, and she got the brunt of the teasing because she was a more advanced rider and was "supposed to help me" :) I thanked her later for nothing in particular other than taking the blame.

Halt! Or, How To Be A Square

This week's lesson was also focused on transitions, but this time it involved trotting, getting the canter in a specific spot, going over a ground pole at the canter while standing up in my stirrups, and then coming to a halt with all four legs square. Since this is also a dressage barn we have nice mirrors to let me know how terrible I am at this. You're not supposed to see all four legs in the mirror with a good, square halt, but every time we came to a stop, Chance's left back leg was splayed out a little. It got a little better, but only because I was over-compensating on the right side to to keep him from falling out through the right shoulder. I'm not sure if becoming a being a great rider means not having to over-compensate, or knowing exactly when to overcompensate :)

Oh, and D's solution to getting me better and my downward transition from a canter to a halt was to simply stand in my way so I would have to halt in front of her instead of knocking her down. That got me to learn it pretty quickly.

By the way, standing up in my stirrups is hard! It's not two-point. It's standing straight up. It's either leg swings back or forward. I have to grab some mane to stay somewhat balanced, but I still crumple a little bit.

The ups and downs: working on transitions

I think we've all had those lessons where we are a little disappointed that we couldn't get the horse to canter, the pony spooked and was distracted the rest of the lesson, etc. etc. My lesson with D was running a little late (she's got them back to back and would never rush anyone, so I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often!) so I got to watch the dressage lesson that goes on simultaneously. I think I've mentioned this group before, they are all seasoned riders (hunter/jumper most likely) who seem to be new to dressage. So much of what the instructor is talking about goes over my head. She usually tells one rider to do something differently (that I can't see) and the rider gets it (but I can't see that) and she goes, "Do you feel that?! Much better!" (What? Feel what?!)...In any case, hopefully with time I will be a better observer. Until then, it's still interesting to see what better riders look like! But back to my point. There were a couple riders who were disappointed with their mounts. One lamented that she felt like she will never get to canter. She had, sort of...a bad attitude! I think we spend so much time waiting to get into the saddle (and so much money, sigh) that if it doesn't go well, it's really easy to get down on it. But, no matter what, a bad attitude is not a good look. It might have made more sense to wait until the end of the lesson and take the instructor to the side and ask what she could have done better, if maybe she could have a try on a different horse next time or whether it was in her best interest to keep trying to figure this horse out. Like I said, this was a more experienced rider than me, but in a previous life she had her own horse, so I'm wondering if there are somethings that are new to her, too!

Ok, now about transitions. My lesson was just focusing on transitions. To the point where D told me to ignore any bad riding I was doing when actually in the canter, trot, etc. We really focused on "revving in the engine" - getting energy stored up through half halts to really GO in upwards transitions (not so much speed-wise as response-wise). Downward transitions, I was a little troublesome going from trot to walk. I was riding Chance, the youngster, and he was all amp'd up near the end of my lesson (which was, ironically, because he hadn't had his dinner yet) so getting him down to a walk required planning ahead. Everything required planning ahead in transitions, which is something it's taking me a while to learn. Also, the downside to just focusing on transitions was my steering was bonkers (would have been easier to be a lunge lesson!). There was an obstacle that we kept almost barreling through because I would fixate on it, thinking, "Don't go into the obstacle!" but really my body was saying, "to the obstacle! Tally ho!"

Stretches for getting out of the saddle

I saw an adult beginner struggle to get out of the saddle after a lesson and man, could I sympathize! Sometimes I find my self doing a little leg flapping to loosen up before swinging my leg out. It’s partly to blame on the desk job, but the running stiffens me up, too.

I studied public health in grad school and can't help but break down these types of problems. So, here it is:

The muscles that are tight are likely the right quadricep and the right iliopsoa (one of the major hip flexors) because swinging your leg out requires swinging to the side (hip flexors) and back (quadriceps). It might also make sense to have a looser left hamstring. Obviously, you wouldn't just do stretches on one side! You should repeat each stretch for each leg.

To stretch the quadriceps, start with the standard "stand on one leg, bend at the knee and hold your foot" stretch. To make this stretch meaningful, I've found it helpful to focus on dropping your weight into the knee of the bent leg. It may help to hold onto something with your other hand to really do this. Focusing too much on balancing can distract from getting a good stretch. If you want to take it a step further, you can get in a lunge position, drop the knee to the ground and grab the foot. This will allow you to also stretch your hip flexors. After sitting in that stretch, you can grab opposite knee with opposite hand and twist for added hip flexor stretch (see picture below).

Photo credit: www.popsugar.com

My personal favorite way to stretch the hip flexors is leg swings. Holding onto the top of a chair, you can swing each leg left to right to get things loose and warm.

Leg swings. Photo credit: Www.womenshealthmag.com

To stretch the hamstrings (along with your hip flexors), sitting down and sitting down and spreading your legs out and reaching for your right toes, middle, left toes works well. You can loop a theraband around your foot and lie down, and pull your foot up, too.

 Photo credit: www.athletiek.com

Photo credit: www.brighton90210.com

If you’re like me, you don’t have time to do these stretches before the lesson, but doing them in the morning is worth your time. Definitely, doing these stretches after a run is also important so you don’t get sore and stiff!

Firsts: Hand gallop and ground poles course

Someday I'd like to look back on this blog and think it'll answer other beginners' questions on how they can expect to progress in lessons. That's always the question in the back of my mind between lessons - "What will my instructor give me next and when will I get to do XY and Z?"

I thought I would get to try going over a little jump yesterday, but my instructor wanted me to feel really comfortable at the canter, standing up in stirrups and everything. Her solution was to have me go beyond the canter and hand gallop! Granted, I was on good old Chewie (the biter with grazing reins) and although he's pretty naughty, he's very safe for a first hand gallop. We had the ring to ourselves since it was a make-up lesson. As I described it to my boyfriend, it felt like I was driving a mini-jet around the ring! Amazing!

We also tried a standing still to canter transition. I'd never done it before, but it was no problem because Chewie's kind of a rock star with his willingness to canter.

After that, D set up 5 ground poles and explained a course to me and how to memorize it. The terms I learned were:

Line: 2+ jumps in a row
Single: One jump
Outside: jumps along the rail
Diagonal: jumps set up on diagonal lines
Up: Going away from the in-gate
Down: Going toward the in-gate

The first course was outside single up, diagonal down, outside double up, trot all the way around the perimeter and finish with diagonal up. (Or something like that)

The second course involved a bending line, which I did totally wrong, and she explained it was more like two lines. She also explained how it can be easier to remember a course by abbreviating, and sometimes just knowing the first jump is enough to figure out what makes sense for the rest of the course.

Then she went into some details about what a hunter course would look like (lots of pretty lines, using the rail) versus a jumper course (efficient turns) versus equitation (uhh...similar to hunter? I forget).

As you can tell, my memory is not perfect with my lessons. I should probably write stuff down right after, especially since I only ride once a week and am apt to forget things.

I should point out that the lesson didn't end perfectly even though I woke up this morning feel stoked about it overall. By the end of the lesson Chewie's will power increased and mine waned so that going through that last course, he would flat out stop abruptly (I probably could have anticipated that and willed him on better), or when starting the course by trotting a warm-up circle, he would wobble all over the place...

Therefore, things I need to work on:

• When Chewie is trying to get out of going straight, he gets wiggly, and then I get wiggly to try to correct him, when really I need to have a firm seat and close off any openings for where he can go with my legs and reins.
• When warming up with him, I need to establish my authority with some walk to halt transitions and look for a burst of energy into the trot to know he's listening.
• For the course, I need to not turn too soon (I think my perception is off on this) to get the correct line to the trot pole. Planning ahead and finding a spot on the wall that is inline helps.

One last exciting thing! D asked if I had my own riding crop. I always use the ones at the barn. We have two indoors so sometimes I have to go hunting around for one in the dirt, by the stalls. You guys, this is going to sound really materialistic but I am so FREAKIN excited to go buy my own crop. Any opportunity (re: excuse) to buy something from Dover/Smartpak/local tack shop gets me amped! Was also thinking of getting some treats for the horses since that has been ok'd. So excited!