Frame by Frame

Riding a horse is a dynamic balancing act. While other activities like gymnastics and yoga both test the athlete's balance in both a static and dynamic manner, riding a horse requires the balancing act of rider and mount be in sync with one another. While you're balancing yourself, you're also trying to coordinate your balancing act with that of the horse in a way where you don't interfere with their movements.

This is the first clinic I've participated in, where I'm actually riding. Because I only take lessons, it feels like another lesson with more "go". I got there early so was watching the previous session of girls going. These are the girls who have been riding for many more years and have a supple young body that can bend and move in more directions than mine can. They were jumping up to 3'3". Amazing.

My session turned out to be a single session with just me working on me stuff. It was really nice b/c I didn't have to worry about the other girls (who could be my kids :S) zipping past me flying over the jumps with ease. We started with flat analysis:

• I was asked to post trot on a 20m circle while being filmed. We discovered that I post with my upper body and not my hips... it looked like I was literally bobbing up and down. Focus: post with a loose hip and maintain upper body and still heels/legs.
• Next, canter on the 20m circle. The discovery was that not only is my seat out of sink and going against Ariel's motions but that I was leaning forward and my heels were penduluming back and forth causing the tipping. Focus: drop the weight into the heels and relax my hips.

I have the opportunity to "fix" these mistakes but it requires focus to release my hips and swing them back and forth in both the posting trot and canter. Next, over fence exercises:

• I start with an X jump followed by a canter pole. It is relatively clean and I have only one hiccup getting over it. The discovery here is that my heels aren't actually sinking enough and do come up and my leg swings back a bit. It isn't a major cause for concern but I focus on pushing my heels down coming into the jump.
• Next, add the vertical jump in place of the canter pole. This doesn't go too well. It is messy and I have trouble keeping a straight approach (I look a bit drunk :P). The landing isn't pretty but it isn't particularly messy either. The focus here is push weight into heels as we come into the jump
• Now, the second pole is raised and things start falling apart. My landings are poor and I end up on Ariel's neck often. Upon review of the videos, we discover that my legs swing back significantly and then I am pitched forward and hence the landing is messy and I'm even left behind in some situations. The focus is the lower leg position upon the landing.
• We continue the same jumps but try something different: come into the line in a half seat and nothing changes. There is improvement but I continue to have trouble with the landing and my leg position; it's as if I am trying to jump for Ariel instead of just staying still and letting her come up to me. J says, "think of your position needing to be in a position where if I snapped my fingers and Ariel disappeared beneath you, you'd land on your feet and not your face or arse". The focus here is most definitely keeping my legs, seat and weight over the same axis.

I really enjoyed this clinic because of the ability to review all my positions in each frame. The videos were slowed right down into frames where I could see exactly where things were going awry and what was happening. I have been wondering for some time now, why the bigger jumps cause me to fall on Ariel as opposed to landing appropriately. And now I see that my leg position is likely the cause to many of the errors that I am making. Perhaps another ride on Bons is what I need to "remind" my body where my leg and seat position need to be.