Fall no. 5

I think this is fall number 5 for me. I could kind of see the train wreck before it happened, and yet somehow, the fall still caught me by surprise.

I was working on jumper turns over very low jumps. Our new indoor is smaller, so all the turns felt somewhat tight, although I in theory had enough time in between to get organized (get back to the track, get balanced and find a rhythm). The problem is, I just don't seem to multitask well with jumps, so as I was heading over a second jump, I was thinking about the third jump, not the turn. We didn't go that nicely over the jump and then Tony cut the corner and swung his head down. He swings his head down when he doesn't like the jump much. That combined with a tight turn throws me off. It's thrown me off before, and by golly, it didn't it again.

This time I landed on my feet, which promptly buckled, so really I landed on one knee. Big bruise, but I was able to get back on. She proceeded to drill the idea into me at the walk, which is a little embarrassing, but I was mentally and physically fatigued at that point into the hour (think - legs actually shaking), so I think the result doesn't show the lesson learned.

Fall no. 5 felt like 5 steps back. On a horse I'm used to. I could think of a million excuses, but really, there's nothing to do but push forward. Naturally, the following weekend I wasn't able to ride because I came home from a work trip on red eye Saturday and ran a 10k on Sunday.

So, just to review: Fall off a horse, next day fly to San Francisco and work long hours at a conference. Come home on a red eye Saturday. Run a 10k Sunday. Then take a breather and reflect on why you fell off the horse when you should be doing work at your desk Monday morning. Learnign to ride as an adult, in a nutshell.

Circles are hard

Drawing a circle is hard, so I don't know why I would assume riding one is easy.

The 10 meter circle is a great example of how pulling the horse's head in the direction you want to go will only get you so far.

First 25%: We're doing it! We're doing a circle!
Second 25%: We're looking a little bulged in the outside shoulder, but if I use some outside leg, we're stay on track!
Third 25%: We are definitely falling out of the circle, I think we might be going the opposite direction now.
Final 25%: Horse has had it with my pulling, will not listen to me for the next 5 minutes.

Linda talked me through the different levels of steering. First, you have a horse you can turn by light half halts of the inside rein and turning your body the direction you want to go.

Then you think about your legs, and add outside leg behidn the girth to keep the hind in, and inside leg at the girth to...I actually don't remember. Just sort of frames them up and balances I guess.

Anyways, then you do proper leg position, half halts of inside rein and the correct with half halts outside rein. This looks like over correction when I do it because I'm still learning. It looks like the horse turns his head in, then straightens it out before he bulges his shoulder too much. The more advanced version of this would look like the horse's head is straight and the body is curving. So there's no bulging at all.

I was barely getting it. But that wasn't even my biggest challenge for the lesson.
I was actually having trouble asking for the canter. I was riding Calvin, who has a very bouncy trot, and I, embarrassingly, couldn't sit the trot in an organized way to give clear aids. I will have to think on this a bit. I love how there is usually a conversation somewhere on the internet that discusses the exact issue I'm having. It makes the time between lessons a bit more productive!