Lesson #57: Bliss

We visited a little slice of heaven on Friday (Oct 18, 2013) in place of our regular weekly lessons at Greyden. This facility is stunning: the stable is built into the rolling hills of the property and is bright, clean and solidly built. The indoor arena is also HUGE. I don't know the exact dimensions but I would happily guess that it is twice the size of Greyden's. It didn't take a lot longer to get there but the route we took is slightly different. Our instructor's specialty is dressage herself but she also teaches hunter-jumper. All the disciplines that I really want to work towards because I'm interested in (what I'd consider) the highest level of horsemanship: eventing. Not only do you have to be an incredibly proficient rider in several different areas but the relationship bond between horse and rider must be unshakeable.

I know. Are you swooning like I am? I've been on cloud nine since Friday and haven't been able to stop thinking about our experience. I even got up on a Monday (MONDAY!!) morning with pep in my step on my way to work. Sure, I fell asleep and missed my stop but who cares? I'm feeling like a million bucks! I even greeted my coworkers with a cheery "good morning!" to which they grumbled or ignored me. Again, not something I do but I didn't care what was going through their minds b/c I floated in. So, onwards to my lesson!

When we arrived, I was assigned a chubby Appaloosa mare named Ariel. She's a cremello colour which almost looks white to me; and she's got these bright blue eyes and spots on her extremeties. It's nice to be riding a horse that isn't a pony; she's approximately 15.1 hh which is perfect (though I do love a 16hh+ horse) for me. But, like most animals, she's got a mischevous glint in her eye and dirt all over her back, loin and croup. Time to get working.

We put ourselves together and walk into the arena to put ourselves together and mount our steeds. We're reminded that because these horses are not "schoolies", they are sensitive to aids and we do not need to excessively ask. We have our usual warm up of trotting around this big arena and wow; Ariel only needs a teeny squeeze and off she goes. I consistently forget about my diagonals and have to be reminded to check. I should actively check regularly and see if I can feel when I'm riding incorrectly. That said, we do quite a bit of trotting around and I start to realize that I'm pretty unfit and I tire and my legs and my cardio systems remind me that I need to continue to work on that. Cycling Sunday mornings, here I come!

Next, the canter. I've been experiencing issues with getting Trinket to canter in both the indoor and outdoor rings lately. I shift my outside leg back and she takes off like an F-16. No pulling down, no deeking about and no dropping down in speed. We canter around several times and I can hear the air whistling past me and I continue with a giant smile on my face. Since the ring is large, I don't feel like the walls are too close to me and we both comfortably lap around several times. To slow down, I remember that I should be sitting up straighter and making myself slightly more rigid and gently squeezing my reins to tell her that I intend to slow down. There is no fighting: she drops out of the canter and we're back in the trot and I barely have to pull back before she slows further to a walk.

Our final exercise is a small x-jump which we take at the trot but these girls and guy actually jump over the jump even in trot. My 2-point is weak here and I find myself either leaning onto her crest or pulling on her just before the jump. I'm reminded that when she jumps and I'm in my 2-point position, she'll come up to me so there is no need for me to lean so far forward--just stick my butt back and out. I still need to find my 'sweet spot' here as I progress forward. One day this will just come together and I'll be moving forward to getting into a showing/competitive state. Until then!