Lesson #150: Intense Lesson

I had to reschedule my Thursday night lesson because I didn't have wheels to get up to the stable (boooo :( ) but with the craziness that's been going on lately, it was a welcome break. However, when Sunday morning arrived, I was really excited about getting out to ride. Clearly I can't go less than once a week to ride or I start getting withdrawal symptoms. HAHA

It was +ADW, G, one of the advanced riders with her green horse and I in this lesson and let me tell you, it was fast paced. Once Sheri reminded us that the new 'baby horse' needed more space and attention on our part to be more careful and thoughtful, we immediately started the warm up. This warm up was a total wake up because we were immediately pushed into intense continuous change up of (what I call) 'Sheri Says': posting trot, sitting trot, half seat, 2 point, canter, walk, change of direction, transitions up or down from walk to canter and vice versa. I lost track of how long this lasted but I do know that I definitely felt the intensity if the exercise. Later, ADW told me that there were moments where he was sure he was going to slide right off; and I recall instances where I felt like my position was struggling a good deal because the transitions were so fast. Despite this, it was an invigorating warm up and I actually really enjoyed it!

Hi! I'm Stanley C. Panther--little brother of Buckingham. I spent Sunday morning lying here on my kitty pen.

From there, we moved right into the small X jumps and as per usual fashion, started with 1 jump until we worked in all 4. Seeing that each of us are at different stages and different horses, my focus was to maintain control (of the situation) and pace and to use all the core I have to keep me from falling all over Ariel's neck. I'd ride in at the posting trot but often Ariel broke into a canter coming out of the jump; but we needed to recollect and continue at the posting trot, before we were turning for the next jump. The final exercise was to change the two of the x's into horizontal jumps. I did lose control during one run and left Ariel to her own devices and found us speeding around and my eyes falling on the ground and panicking. It was evident and Sheri reminded me that I needed to keep the dominant Ariel in check.

The runs weren't perfect but they are definitely improving and having literally done so much work during a lesson, I really felt like things were moving along and really going well. My biggest problem is still the over-thinking before the jumps... especially once they turned horizontal. I'd catch myself looking down and over anticipating the jump and almost freezing and then the ride out was pretty crappy as if I forgot that all the "in between jumps" is our standard flat work. If only I could turn my fear brain off at the jumps and trust that Ariel would get us over okay, as long as I brought her to the base of the jump and told her where we are going afterwards.

Lesson #149: Remembering to Listen

This lesson shared a bunch of similarities to the last in that the lesson peaked with jumping a mini course. We started with a brief warm up to get everyone limber. Again, I felt like the canter went really well and there was a good level of control on my part. My aim at the canter is to ensure it is relaxed and I don't feel like it's a race around the corners (which Ariel is known to do every now and again). Sheri reminds us that our flat work is imperative for jumping because a jump is merely an obstacle during your flat work (what a brilliant way to look at it!) and unless you have a good grasp of your flat work, your jumping (or anything else) will be an interruption and throw the rest of the session off.

Sometimes I glaze over during flat work. It's a bad habit that I occasionally catch myself doing because my mind's drifted. Have you ever had a conversation with someone only to keep anticipating what they're going to say and prepare yourself to appropriately answer? Well, I've been told time and again that I'm not really listening if I do that. Truly listening means that we need to actually hear what people are saying, then respond appropriately but I get it, who has time to do that these days? But I'm not the first to admit that I do that so often that I don't actually hear what people are telling me and on multiple occasions, it's clear that I totally wasn't listening. In an effort to break the habit of going "auto-pilot", I'll take these warm ups as opportunities to "talk with" Ariel and really listen to what she's telling me, by:

• Looking the direction I want to go, in advance
• Keep Ariel in the corners (which means prep as we move towards the corner)
• Ease off the contact if she's starting to get unbalanced: speeding, raising her head in protest...
• Not letting my eye drop
• Half halt sooner
• Making the effort to change something, if she's protesting

I'd say Deb's progressing just fine. But she could be a wee bit more generous with the treats!

Once we get going, Sheri has us taking single or two jumps at the trot. I do find that going at the posting trot is... distracting? But then I figure that if you can do it at a trot (posting or otherwise) the canter should be easy as pie. After a few goes at that, we are asked to take 3 jumps in a combo of mostly trot, interjected with canter. My efforts aren't too bad and I do remind myself to sit up more and apparently it's coming together just fine so I'm pleased with that! Sheri even mentions that I'm sitting up after jumps more often and that every now and again, things are a little off but overall, I'm moving right along and not falling on Ariel as often. Keep in mind though, that my jump heights have gone right back down to little X's. I don't know when I"ll get back to jumping closer to 2" but I'm perfectly okay with that because a good foundation means steady and sustainable progress!

Lesson #148: Improvement, However Subtle

It's started snowing north of the GTA. I only count "snowing" if the snow remains on the ground and on Thursday, there was at least 3-4 inches. *sigh* This means I might have to cut back my riding lessons to once a week again until the weather becomes more agreeable. Why? I drive up highway 10 and this past winter, I've witnessed some really unnerving situations where drivers end up in the ditches or worse. In the meantime, let's get the tires changed and see how things go from there.

My lesson starts with some lateral bending work at the walk: haunches or shoulder in and leg yields. To get the shoulder in, we're reminded to keep our hips straight, turn your upper body inwards and take the inside leg further back while keeping the other leg just slightly behind the girth. It should look like this while travelling straight forward:

 
The opposite is basically true for haunches in. This move is not easily achieved but we do get it every now and again and we're told that it takes time for the horses as well, to be able to consistently do it. But, we aim to get there and keep at it.

After a trot warm up, I'm told to get into canters and do lots of transitions around as the other students continue to work at the haunches and shoulder in, at the trot and keeping their horse in frame. For some reason, things flow really well today. The trot and the canter were both flowing and relaxed and I felt like I had control of what was happening. Even the transitions were smoother than usual and I was able to initiate (more) accurately the transitions.

The last series of exercises jumps--specifically a course. There is a series of jumps set up from the last lesson that J had with his and Sheri's instructor that was basically a single jump across the center from E to B and then on the ends, 2 jumps on each side that were fanning out so it looked like an extended "X" from above. I was taking a few jumps as singles and at the posting trot and as things progressed, we moved to take 3 of them as a mini course. As I was doing things, I continued to struggle with getting myself back up after the jump. So I had to continually tell myself to sit up sit up after the jump. It isn't consistent enough, yet. But, the fact is, I did manage to canter the mini course and the majority of the times, the ride in and out was pretty good. I have to continue to work on my body position over the jump and after to make it consistent but with time, that would come. The main thing I was happy about this time was that nothing felt like a speeding around the arena at top speed... I was able to tell Ariel where I wanted to go before we got there so our communication was much clearer and she was thus landing on the correct leads, taking off at a good distance and turning the right ways, following a jump.

I'm really excited to continue to work on improving things in my future lessons!

Bear With Me...

Those who come by regularly (thanks!!) will notice the upgrade to the appearance of the blog template. I've been working with Trina of Pish & Posh Designs to get things together but like all good things, they take time to hone and perfect. At this time, the bulk of the template has been laid out and the colour schemes are more or less decided but minor things like the right side column and some of the headers have yet to be sorted out. I also noticed that the hyperlinks aren't as clear as they could be and it's tough to see them compared to the regular font colour used.

Thanks furr your patience! =^..^=

Thank you in advance for coming out and for your patience with all the changes that will be coming along in the next little while.

Lesson #147: Sit Back... Far Back

It was Remembrance Day on Tuesday and certain Canadians get the day off... those working in banks or government. I decided that I would use the day to clean up a few things at home and take a lesson (to make up for one I'm missing in December). I still prefer heading out to the stable during the day because going in the evenings is just more stressful. I always wonder how people who go regularly, manage it. Well, those who have up to an hour drive out, to get there.

Hi Deb, did you know that the last naked day of the season calls for celebration in the mud?

J harrows the arena footing so it's fluffy and light. I start a warm up that I'm going to regret... lots of rising and seated trot. Especially seated trot going round and round and round :| The objective is for me to focus on keeping Ariel straight and off the rail. Sheri tells me that I need to lean back... well, what feels like would be leaning back because I have a tendency to lean forward even at the trot! Which is the exact problem I've been struggling with for several lessons now.

To highlight this, I'm told to tuck my tail bone under me, ensure my navel is facing forward and lift and open my chest forward and sit back as if I feel like I'm going to lean right on over the back of the saddle at the sit trot. Take my feet out of the stirrups. Keep my upper body steady and release my hips and lower body to move with Ariel. Guess what? I'm straight now. It's amazing how far back I need to "sit" in order to be aligned. Next, I'm told to push Ariel into the canter. It initially feels really laboured on Ariel's part and she broke out of canter quickly too. It was frustrating, actually. But, I'm sure it was on me because the last lesson's canters were perfect. The suspicion was that the footing was fluffier so it was like running through the sand. To keep her going and from falling in at the corners, I had to pulsate my inside leg during the "up" in the stride, to keep her going and in the corners--it's definitely a lot of work on my part but it certainly made a big difference in terms of keeping her going and in the corners.

I'm reminded that I started out with nearly no contact in Ariel's mouth and that now that both Ariel and I have progressed in our respective training, I needed to take more of a handle on her mouth and get her "on the bit". I should get a light contact in the reins and continue to communicate with her by that means. It isn't easy because if I jossle the reins, she refuses to accept the contact and raises her head and I'm left with nothing except shortening my reins.

The last exercise starts out as a jump followed by a ground pole that is about 1 stride out. I trot in to take the jump and subsequent ground pole but I can't get over it without either being left behind, having the reins yanked out of my hands or landing on her neck. Sheri reminds me that I need to push Ariel at the base of the jump and then again, in between the jump and the pole. We try a few more times and the first jump is coming together but the ground pole turned jump, isn't. BUT! The last time around, I don't know why or what went right in my head but something clicked and I sat right up after the second jump. Really, the feeling is great, when you get it!

To finish my afternoon, I got the opportunity to watch Sheri and J ride with their coach which was really amazing to be able to watch those who have been riding for a long time, to see what right things they do, and even the wrong things so I know what not to do, in addition to what I should do! :)