Lesson #213: Some Nitty Gritty to Get Excited About

The best instructors are forever students and want to keep learning by keeping people around them, whom they can learn from. On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to take a lesson from my instructor's coach!! *swoon* I wasn't sure if I should since it's considerably more expensive but I justified it as a "special lesson" and that I could use it to learn more about my situation and take the information and address what's keeping me behind.

I'll be referring to him as "A" and give you an idea of how awesome-sauce he is. First thing, he's German trained and has been riding since he was a kid and was vaulting by the time he was 10--if you can do a handstand on a cantering horse... I'd say you're pretty darn good. He has a centred calmness about him so when you meet him for the first time, you're not shaking in your breeches. He also relates to his students through appropriate illustrations on what he is trying to say, so they understand. And for someone like me, his technicality and sheer focus to the lesson tasks just draws me in even more.

We start the lesson with me puttering around doing what I would normally do, so he could get an idea of how I ride, where I am etc. Sheri and J told him that I am trying to sort out my inflexible hips/back and uneven seat. Because we all know, everything comes from the seat ;)

"A", on the walk
"A" immediately gets me back to basics... when Ariel and I walk, I should be swinging my legs, in tandem with her rib cage. Legs don't just dangle there. We work on this throughout the lesson any chance we walk. I am also asked to keep at least 1 metre off the rail... this is to ensure I have Ariel's attention because it doesn't give her the chance to lean on the rail--in short, we're doing what I want us to do. I try to stay straight too... yea, good luck. Ugh.

"A", on the trot
The trot isn't so bad except as the speed increases, so does the difficulty with keeping straight. "A" reminds me that I should be using my seat, not my hands: "Ariel stepped beneath you, to stay balanced. Can you feel that?," he says. For the first time, I notice that because I'm actually looking for it. In short, it's how you use your weight in your seat that is what "seat" is all about. I am asked to take my feet out of the stirrups and trot. Immediately, both seat bones drop and now my job is to get my pubic bone properly balanced too. The three points of our "seat" is what we are balancing on and the stirrups are not meant to act as a balance point (while on the flat anyway). "A" gets technically anatomical and tells me that the horse's 14th vertebrae is where our seat should be aiming to connect, or as close as possible.

I am reminded how unusual this sport is, compared to others where the participant is getting 'traction' through their feet. Here, riders 'contact' (for the lack of a better word) through their seat and their feet are not meant to do much of anything--"A" reinforces this concept when he asks me how much pressure should be placed in the stirrup: practically nothing! Even though we are asked to drop the weight through our heels, we are not meant to use our feet as balancing points even though our brains tell us that when something is beneath us, we balance there. Phew. Overwhelmed yet? When I put my feet back into the stirrups, I am attentive about not putting much weight... and I feel the support coming from my lower legs!

"A", on the importance of correct posture
My posture is one of my biggest issues and "A" asks me to sit and "hold two pizzas, one in each hand to the side". Immediately my posture is fixed and I sit back appropriately and my chest is open. Now, without changing anything else, grab your reins. HA! I'm also reminded that if Ariel disappeared from underneath me, where might I want to land... not on my backside, that's for sure! So make sure your legs are where they need to be.

I didn't get a lot of time to work on the canter but where I did, I was reminded of the same things we talked about above. Easier said than done! Sheesh. Perhaps next time I"ll have the chance to do more at the canter.

"A", on Ariel and Deb
Imbalances in rider or horse are common. It's based on habits that we develop and we unknowingly strengthen (or loosen) something we're not intending. Hence we each have a dominant/strong side that tends to take over. It shows up in riding when two beings who have different imbalances try to coordinate with one another, physically.

Horses are inherently good and do their best to please their rider. That means that as moody as Ariel can be, it's on me to set her up for success. Otherwise there isn't anyone to blame for failures or struggles except me. Mare did fantastic despite everything!

In the end... there isn't a lot of "new" stuff that I wasn't somehow aware of at some point but rather, a way of refining what I have been taught, and a different way to look at these things. I hope that if you ride, that this little review might have been helpful to get you thinking about some of the things that you might be struggling with. And if not, hopefully this has given you a more in depth look at what it takes to get just the basics right.