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!

Sticking The Landing (gymnastics part 2)

Continuing with the gymnastics work in the lesson this weekend, I started with the usual issue of not having enough impulsion over the very low jumps. The horse I ride maxes out around 3 ft (especially as he's getting older), but doesn't care to jump over cross rails. He perks up when he sees a gymnastic of verticals, but that's usually a few go's in, anyways.

After we had done the gymnastic pretty well, we had to work on straightness going out of it. Of course, I was so focused on what was going on in the gymnastic, I allowed the horse to get in the habit of turning immediately after. This is an old problem that haunts me when I'm focusing on the jumps. In our next lesson, we're going to work on 10 meter circles to become more intentional in all of that.

Sitting pretty for gymnastics

I had a semi-private lesson after a 2+-month dry spell and could not have felt better about it. Was I flopping around a bit? Absolutely. Never underestimate those weird tiny muscles that control your body as you canter (leg flop) or get in 2-point (torso flop). But some consistency will help me improve those this fall.

We did a small gymnastic - worked up to a 2 stride to a 4-5 stride to a bounce, all over jumps no more than 20 inches. We hit some rails a few times due to lack of impulsion, but once we got going, Tony did it easily. Where I failed was sitting up between jumps. I get so focused on the last jump that I don't think about what I need to do to "sit pretty" for a few strides and keep the balance back. It's something to work on in the next lesson.

We also did a post at the canter - sit a stride, post a stride. I was lucky that my horse will keep cantering so long as you don't overly interfere. I did sit a little too hard, and could feel the rhythm break when I did. Again, it goes back to flopping around a bit.

I was also doing an odd thing that seemed to work. Tony is very bad at halting. He resists quite a bit and your half halts will get bigger until you're doing an uneven rein to get him to listen (I wonder, if he weren't a school horse, and someone more advanced was riding him, if a stronger bit might be better - to be able to subtly ask instead of tugging his mouth. ANYways - to get him to halt I would literally look at the ceiling. Something about tilting my head up, he could feel it, and would halt! If anything, it was a fun experiment. Not something that makes sense in the long run, but maybe there's a more subtle tilting of the body that would also work.

I want to start thinking about what I could work on during a practice ride (if I end up having the time), and one of them is controlled posting (having a softer seat?) . Another is not cutting corners at the canter. And also, not standing in the stirrups when jumping; I do find I am on the horse's neck for a second when we land. 

Shameless Icelandic Horse Post

I was in Iceland for a few days and would have loved to do a trail ride, but will have to wait until next visit!

Loved how rides here include the whole herd!

This fellow had a treat dispenser by his paddock so tourists wouldn't feed him the wrong snacks.

The horses are never in stalls. I have never seen so many healthy horses at peace. Some of them were so relaxed they were sleeping on their side - something they only do if they feel 100% safe.

I would have loved to bring a couple of these beautiful horses home! But then, how could I take them from this amazing habitat??

Spontaneous Gallops

I have been having lessons on a greener horse who is very talented, but does not like mixed signals or pulling on the reins. Obviously, this is a great way for me to fine tune my steering. I've been thinking "Leg first, then reins" more than I used to, and it has helped quite a bit. I've also been better about my half halts, but this is still a work in progress.

I am less afraid when he runs to his friends (re: spontaneously gallops away) and sit it better, pull him up, and regroup. He really hasn't bucked or reared, and the gallop always has a clear end goal - getting to his friends. So now that I've realized that, I can keep my head clear and figure out how to improve.

Half halts seem like such a simple thing, but here I am, struggling with my hands. At first, I thought I was supposed to tug. Then I thought, just squeeze. Then I realized sometimes it required more than one half halt to get a job done. Even when I thought I was being gentle, if I became nervous (the horse likes to catch up with his friends, as in, run up to their butts and stay in that safe zone), I would stiffen up and not realize how tight I was being with the reins. But I noticed after we go over a jump, that I can get him to a halt nicely by just slightly wiggling my shoulders. By thinking less about my hands and thinking about my shoulders, I was more subtle and not overthinking anything. I probably look funny, but I figure you have to do something awkward at first to eventually get it right.

He has really nice movements and a great jump. I could sit his trot all day, or go over the higher jumps (those are 2'9" for me) without a worry. So it is rewarding when I successfully get him to do what I want, even if it's just a neat and tidy turn.

I can't imagine riding him in a ring full of horses - just one horse is still a variable for me. But I do think there is progress and I only wish (as ever) I had more time to have lessons. This summer I will only get to 3-4 between travel and the barn being closed on weekends.

Thankfully, I have the barn I volunteer at to get some quality time. This morning I was mucking, sweeping, watering and really just spending time doing something humans around the world have been doing for thousands of years. There's something great about doing that before heading into the office.

Barn Chores in the AM

I started volunteering down the street from my office at a therapeutic riding barn. Once a week, 7-9am I do whatever they need:

• Bring horses out to paddocks
• Collect and re-fill hay nets
• Top off water buckets, sift out any hay
• Soak hay, beet pulp, alfalfa for those who need it
• Muck paddocks and stalls
• Turn on outdoor ring's sprinklers and water flower beds
• Wash out one horse's mouth
• Clean up aisle
• Take recycling to curb

It's funny that, were I younger, I'd be doing this at a barn as a working student, to pay of rides. As it is, I'm fully employed and don't really need to earn my way. It's so important to give back to barns like this that I know have very thin operating margins, and need all the help they can get. We're very careful about how we muck stalls and clean water buckets (don't dump them every day) because water is so expensive in the town the barn is in.

My supervisor retired around age 50 from managing barns of some pretty famous riders, as well as a successful career in Sales. You have never seen someone muck a stall with such efficiency and precision!

It would be great to actually be around during the riding lessons to help out, I've heard it's pretty magical.

At around 8:55, I cruise to the office, use the shower in the gym (lucky to have those!) and get to my desk by 9:30. I feel pretty great from the manual labor and time with animals - the feeling lasts pretty much the rest of the day!