Last Place for Chase Me Charlie (shrug)

I went back to my usual lesson on Sunday for the first time in what felt like a month. I wouldn't say I was that rusty, but in there are things I still need to work on.

I rode a very promising future eventer type that is proving to be a wonderful teacher in dressage and jumping - even as he's learning, himself.

He's been doing this thing lately where he drops his head too low when we're working on the trot. That was sort of a first for me, after learning on him how to get his down, only to find he's going to far with it now! Minor issue, but recorded for posterity.

We worked on jumping. I think the biggest thing I need to work on is getting the horse straight to the jumps. Not because just doing this alone will solve all my problems, but it's universally important on all horses. Especially when my instructor gives us a course to try that involves jumper turns, I need to not exaggerate those turns at the cost of a crooked approach.

Once I'm straight, we are fine going over the smaller jumps assuming there's impulsion so we don't rub. I was in a lesson with one other person (and by person, I mean a girl that is maybe 18 years younger than me) and our instructor set up a Chase Me Charlie. Each bar added was 9 inches. The other student had no problem on the pony getting up to the 4th bar (3 feet) - she was just working on something improvements like sitting up too soon after the jump.

I, however, did just fine at 3 bars (2'3") but we kept refusing at the 4th. I saw 'we' because I was either
1. Leaning forward sub-consciously before the jump and throwing off the balance or;
2. Not having even leg pressure going in.
I would also occasionally throw in something weird, like overcompensating with too much right rein when I needed a tiny adjustment.

I guess it was a bit of a mess. Needless to say, I lost. I am so looking forward to jumping 3 feet for the first time, and I may have temporarily led myself to believe that was going to be the moment. But you can't take a summer off from jumping and then magically be better at it.

Slow, infrequent, but steady improvement is the theme of this blog, after all.

Shootin from the hip

Yesterday I did a 2+ hour lesson on centered riding with Icelandic horses. I'm going to try my best to capture everything we went through - it was a lot, but everything was what I was missing up until now.

My instructor own a small barn with 3 (soon to be 4) Icelandic horses. There was the older schoolmaster, who had eventing history. There was the young spry guy she described as more of a ferrari, and one boarder.

We started with understanding the bit. Feeling with my hands what it felt like in the horse's mouth. How doing an opening rein (rotating palm up firs, then open out) felt like a smoother turn than a direct rein. Practicing myself by holding the reins and seeing how she reacted holding the bit as we walked around. I also felt (from both sides) how even the way I pick up the reins can feel jostling.

 It was something I don't think many instructors would have an adult rider try out. One of the first things, of many, I'd never gotten the chance to do with my quick, hop-on-the-horse-and-go lessons.

We moved on to grooming, and I realized how much I missed on a horse, both in terms of area as well as finding bug bites and skin ailments to treat.  The horse I was grooming, Star (he had a real Icelandic name and I'm the lame-o who couldn't memorize it) was very comfortable with being brushed all over, so I actually got to brush him in places I thought would make a horse uncomfortable. I'm not squeamish with that stuff, so it was a good experience for me.

We tacked up - we used an Icelandic saddle. Super comfy and sits a little further back on the horse to accommodate the Tolt.

We went into an indoor arena and she hopped on and showed me how she steers, how she tilts her pelvis forward and says "walk on", how she moves her pelvis is larger figure eights to get a fast walk, how she rolls her seat in, but keeps her back at the same vertical to as for a tolt. For walking, hands followed the head movement (the minute they didn't, Star would stop). For the tolt, they held a little more pressure.

Then I hoped on and we worked on the opening rein discussed, looking with my head and shoulders, with a direct rein to straighten out the body. It's something that needs a little bit more work to get used to. There was absolutely no leg squeezing, just relaxed and neutral.

It seems so simple, but it tripped me up a bit! It's certainly something that the sooner I get back to and work on, the better, but it's a more expensive lesson (well, it was a great value at 2+ hours for $100, but that's not something I want to spend week on top of my regular lessons). My thinking is to get out there a little over monthly based on my work week schedule.