When I don't have any stirrups, I am forced to ride with my leg around the horse- i.e. toes forward and the inside of my calf on the horse. This improved Ted's paces ten hundreds times. He used his back more, he was more controlled, and he had more impulsion, all because I could wrap my legs around him and use my aids almost underneath his ribcage. This is exactly what Joao was talking about in my last lesson with Romeo a few weeks ago.
As soon as I had the epiphany, I took my stirrups back to attempt getting the same feeling and position. Took me most of the lesson, but I got there!
Sooo, Friday Elite Class.
I dread Elite class. I am just not elite level, and Tina (as we should all know by now) is very tough. To make it even worse, I was assigned Saffy. Good God I find that mare so tricky to ride.
I start every lesson determined to do better, and this was no exception. Tina had us warm-up by ourselves, as per usual, and I immediately started getting Saffy off my leg. I had her marching around the arena like mad in free walk, then started walk-trot transitions, moving into a bit of medium trot and leg yields.
She thankfully was having a good day, and wasn't sticking her head up like a giraffe and plodding along. I actually had a bit of horse underneath me, and as the ride went on she got better.
I do find with Saffy that even when I get her rounding and somewhat forward, she tends to tip onto her forehand and lean on my hands. This is where I had her when Tina stepped in. She instructed us in a very simple exercise to improve the trot, but one I struggled with because of said tipping on the forehand. I was to pick up counter-canter on the long side and keep it around the short side without losing impulsion or letting Saffy get strung out.
Took several tries to get it- I needed waaaay more inside leg on the girl during the canter. I must admit I tend to use my outside leg a bit more, and forget about my inside. When really I must use the outside leg to get the correct lead during the transition, and then inside leg to keep the canter going. The outside only comes back on if the hindquarter drifts towards the inside (when actually it's generally the other way around- most horses are almost in a travers position during canter on a straight line)
Once I got it, Saffy's trot was just dreamy. Light, impulsive, round, and I could keep my position effortlessly. Yay!
Tina even gave us a few compliments! Double yay!
I finally had another lesson with Joao this week (been a little while!) and rode the lovely Real. I really like riding Real. He's an advanced schoolmaster, so he is obviously very well trained, but he is also lovely and sensitive and definitely not a boring ride! We did a few crazy leaps around the arena, must admit.
In between the leaping and running we had a fantastic workout. I was sweating like crazy after the ride- Joao is just as good as a personal trainer! No new exercises- did some shoulder-fore, walk-canter-walk transitions, travers etc. But all throughout the exercises we had to try and get the horses working a little better. Real needed more oomph, but less running away, and needed to be a bit more consistent on the bridle.
I am happy to report that Joao was happy with my positioning! Not once did he say anything about my hands! Huge step forward for me. He did say I need to be a bit tougher with the horses and demand a bit more, but the fact he was happy with how I was riding was good enough for me.
Plenty more blogs to come!
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