My lesson ended up being a solo one because of cancellations during the holidays. I rode Tank, who would love to go as slowly as possible if I let him. I did let him, as it turns out, until D told me to use the stick with a little more force. The truth is, I know I'm supposed to let him have it if he isn't responding, but he isn't my horse and I always feel with the lesson horses that I should get permission first. As silly as it sounds, politeness is a tough habit to break.
There's always something that is left unsolved by the end of my lessons, and that day it was keeping Tank from breaking the canter while I was in half-seat position. When I'm sitting the canter, I can keep my leg on him to make sure he keeps going. My leg is not as secure in the half seat. Something I will have to think about. Any suggestions would be helpful!
There's always something that is left unsolved by the end of my lessons, and that day it was keeping Tank from breaking the canter while I was in half-seat position. When I'm sitting the canter, I can keep my leg on him to make sure he keeps going. My leg is not as secure in the half seat. Something I will have to think about. Any suggestions would be helpful!
i'm struggling with this as well. for me, the horse breaks because i catch him in the mouth and he takes that as a signal to stop. other times, it's literally because i'm not driving enough with my seat and legs to get him to move forward and so as soon as i give a little tug on his mouth, he breaks. since you're in a half seat, you're going to depend solely on your legs... so i guess if it's balance, then you could work more on balancing in the seat at other gaits? like bareback etc.
ReplyDeleteLove this point! I was getting hyper-focused on the exact thing I can't do - canter in half-seat. But you're totally right, it's always a million different smaller skills that make it happen.
Deletefor sure! i think that often times we discount the boring things like riding bareback and no stirrup work or flat/grid work. i went back to working on grid/flat work b/c i was having trouble with things like balancing, transitions and (finally) jumping. one of the things that our instructors require competitive (not schooling show) riders is to be able to take a low course bareback, before they show. it's a good test for how well you can do at possibly the most difficult so that the rest seems simple...
Delete