I took a half day Thursday to get some bridal related things done and to vote for the new provincial leader of Ontario. It was really productive and I got to the stable early too.
When I got in, Sheri said "guess what you'll be doing today!.... Riding bareback!" haha I wasn't sure if that was going to be a good thing or not b/c the last times I've ridden bareback, I remember being rather uncomfortable in terms of the withers being um... in the way. But, lucky for me that Ariel doesn't really have much withers so it's a little easier to ride. That said though, I saw the student who part-boards Ariel and she was cantering circles and jumping cavalettis on bareback like it wasn't a problem at all. I really wasn't sure that I would be able to accomplish much of anything close to that.
Sheri points out that this should help with my crazy right side that falls in and does all sorts of uneven things because let's face it, Ariel hates my crazy right side. When we got on, I found my seat and Sheri pointed out that all her Trillium competing students are required to jump an entire course bareback before she would allow them to compete at that level. Needless to say, I'm way far from it and I doubt I'll be even remotely close to getting there. It's okay though, we start at the beginning and take the baby steps and see what I am able to do.
I'm asked to just walk around and loosen my hips to the motion of Ariel's back. At first, Sheri says she sees no movement at all in my hips or lower back; she tells me to loosen up and just breathe and relax. I feel my hips tip side to side and I feel like I need to push my heels down but Sheri tells me just to sit deep and let my legs dangle. She says that while my hips are tipping side to side, it isn't the action I'm looking for: my hips actually should travel like walking feet. Each hip should "take a step" forward with Ariel. Sheri tells me to swing my legs in tandem with Ariel's front legs as if I'm walking the same pace as Ariel. I feel a little silly, I admit but continue to do as she asks (all at the walk still). Next, she tells me that my hips should eventually flow in that manner because that's what Ariel's body is doing. In essence, the objective is to ultimately have your seat mould to the horse's back and motions.
I struggle a good portion of the start of class just at the walk, to get what she's taking about. I don't know how she might have seen it but at one point, she asks me to move into the sitting trot while letting my legs swing back and forth with my hips 'taking those steps'. I seriously am starting to wonder if my body is even capable of doing that.
I'm reminded to grab Ariel's mane if I feel unbalanced or nervous so that I don't tumble off. The first little while, I have no idea what is expected of me (still) and we do short bursts of the sitting trot and I just bounce up and down and when I lose balance, I clamp down with my knees--not what we want. She continues to remind me to let my hips loose and to sit tall and let me legs dangle downwards while just going with it.
During one of the bursts, my body manages to let go (somehow!) and my legs are doing exactly what Sheri was telling me to do! Literally, my mind is going "okay, breathe, relax and sit up tall... okay... wait! I think it's happening!!" When I stop, I see Sheri smiling and she says "you got it!!" I was so stoaked when I realized that I was capable of doing this task! Now, on the right side too... this became more challenging at the get go because both Ariel and myself have trouble on the right side. For me, I know it's because my right seat bone doesn't drop enough so I have to make an extra effort to drop that right bone even more than usual. It definitely feels weird but eventually, it too comes together and I manage to get the right motion with my hips! :)
This is certainly a challenging endeavour but the best part is that I think my right hip actually stretched open enough and dropped a bit because the tightness I've been feeling lately has eased up considerably and I don't feel that tightness in my side, front and back! What an awesome thing to do... take a lesson and a massage simultaneously :P
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