A lack of communication

I was really looking forward to my lesson today... even though it's REALLY cold out for Atlanta. I got to the barn, saddled up, and lunged her to check that limp. It was there, but not as bad as Wednesday and she warmed out of it a bit. So I thought we were in for a great lesson!

Not so much... as it turns out. There were alot of great things about it! My legs are in much better position, Secret is trotting the ground poles in a much better rhythm, I'm not overthinking them and letting her figure it out, my two-point is much better, and we are finally learning to lengthen stride at the walk/trot to a more forward gait. The monkey wrench in the gears was that there was one corner that I just couldn't get her into. So my trainer tells me to stop dropping my outside hand, to push with my inside leg, and pick up my inside hand. I kinda got the last two, but I'm dropping my outside hand. AND, Secret never did get into that corner, although my trainer assures me that we got closer each time. It just frustrated me SO much! She is so good and she tries so hard that I just HATE it when I can't communicate what I want clearly. Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!

So, the things I have to work on this week: keeping my reins even, not dropping my hands around turns, and looking UP. Here we go!

Sometimes you have to go through some ugly stuff to get to the good stuff.

The title is a Clinton Anderson quote and I take no credit for it!

But, I will say that its very true. After a very ugly lesson on Sunday, I was determined to work on some stuff on Monday (especially since it was a holiday!). It was pretty quiet at the barn and I had the arena to myself so I set up my ground poles then went to get my horse. After tacking up I lunged her to look for any soreness from the day before then I worked with her on side-passing again before mounting up.

During the exercise we worked on my posting, my two-point, the ground poles, tight corners, and side-passing.
--> There is not a whole of progress on the posting front, but I think my legs are slowly getting better. It's just going to be a slow process.
--> My two-point came a little easier than the day before though its still not pretty.
--> The ground-pole exercise saw alot of progress. Secret figured out alot quicker where to put her feet so she could trot through, I was able to reliquish some control and trying to micro-manage every step, I was able to keep my eyes up and ahead, and overall the two of us were looking pretty good over those poles towards the end!
--> The tight corners still need ALOT of work, I'm thinking we may have to put some cones down.
--> The side-passing surprised the hell out of me. This was the first time we'd tried it from the saddle. I took her back to the same wall where I'd asked on the ground, I put my leg on and laid the rein on her neck and, once again, that heffer side-passed like it was no big deal! Meanwhile I was jumping up and down screeching on the inside.

Once again, there remains alot to work on, but with progress and positive reinforcement like that it really motivates me to put in the extra effort to ride after work during the week. I'm actually excited about schooling my horse again and it feels great!

What happens when you don't ride between lessons.

So, along comes Sunday and my lesson and I STILL haven't ridden since the last one. My trainer calls and says she wants 6-8 ground poles in the arena to use during the lesson. Well, we had had an ice-storm the week before and the ground is still slick. So I have to move the ground poles from the outdoor arena to the covered arena. This sounds simple enough, but after I had moved four of them it proved to me alot more work than I had anticipated. There I am again, standing in the arena panting for breath trying to find the energy to groom and tack my horse. Not a good omen.

Fortunately for me, a little girl taking her lesson ahead of me arrived 30 minutes late and started her lesson 45 minutes late. So, when my trainer arrived and I wasn't ready, I blamed the 7yr old! :-) It also bought me 30 minutes to catch my breath!

When I first started taking lessons and was riding school horses I had done some ground pole work. BUT, my horse, my green horse, had never laid eyes on such before. Being the trail horse that she is, she wasn't afraid and was more than happy to walk over them. It wasn't until she had to trot over them that there turned out be a problem. Baby girl didn't know where to put her feet!

Then, with her starting and stopping and stumbling it became even harder for me to post. I also have a control problem, so my trainer was hoarse from yelling at me to look ahead and not down at the poles. As if all that weren't enough, then she wanted me to work on my two-point position. That was going OK, not great just OK, until she told me that my abdominal muscles should hold my body upright and not my spine. Ummmm... just FYI, a horse trainer should not argue muscle physiology with a muscle physiologist. God knows I love my trainer and she is a scary smart woman. She knows her horses and understands alot of the physics behind the movement. BUT, when it comes to muscle physiology I will always have a deeper understanding because I spent six years of my life getting a damn PhD! So, I get what she's trying to tell me, but in the heat of the moment I really need a better metaphor, otherwise the scientist in me rears its ugly head.

So, up-side of this lesson is that I know what two-point is supposed to fee like so I can practice it, my horse gets that she needs to figure out the poles on her own and is happily working on it, and my legs were better than last time. The down-side, I really NEED to PRACTICE two-point even though I feel silly doing it, I still need to work on my legs, and I need to make a committment to riding between lessons. Again, another successful lesson!