Against all odds.
This week I had a lesson with Mike, and it was a really great one. It was one of those ones that was just jammed full of interesting stuff - way too much for me to be able to write it all down afterwards - but a few easy homework assignments:
- When Willig dives down from the canter to the trot (without me asking, or hell, even when I ask but I don't ask for a dive onto the forehand), sit back, sit up, plug my seat bones into the saddle, and ask him to trot up into my hand.
- Before the canter transitions, do some "half-steps" and then walk (half-steps = think piaffe) - just a few steps of each, just to get him listening and also I think he rocks back a bit on his hindquarters with these.
- Don't accept less than what he can do.
- For the 1st level canter serpentine - I had the geometry wrong in my head. You don't leg yield over and back, it's just two diaganol lines. You point his head from K to X, and then when you get to X, you swing his hindquarters around (counter-clockwise in this example) and then his head is pointing at H and you just ride another straight line to H. I've been making this way more complicated than it needs to be.
- The funny little "hop" Willig does sometimes when I whip him while we're cantering is his preparation for a flying lead change. That snot-nose DOES know more than he's letting onto.
- We worked on ... I forget the name, but the shoulder-in and then when you turn his neck the opposite way (travers?). So now we can do shoulder-in, haunches-in, and travers. I think we just need to learn renvers.
- Willig did more excellent canter work and excellent leg yielding. This is not due to anything I am doing on purpose, which is kind of frustrating. It's wonderful and fun, but I wish I knew what I was doing differently to be making these things stick.
It was a great lesson! I am so excited about how much we're learning, although I have a tsunami wave of work heading at me, and I am just trying to figure out how I can keep some semblance of riding and the rest of my life together with the limited hours there are in a week.
Charlie with the long sought after cooler
Spring NWEC 2013 Novice
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Peteton - first dressage show of the season
This was a mixed bag. Like the FPEC jumper benefit, I was overall pleased, but at the same time disappointed*. (*Because I am a perfectionist.)
First, the weather was schizophrenic. Sun shining, gorgeous, then dumping rain 10 seconds later. While I love Washington summer, and can't wait for it to get here, this is the time of year I start getting frustrated. It doesn't help when I fail to get away during the dead of winter to somewhere sunny.
Second, Willig was a nut. He was rearing tied to the trailer, then I lunged him and he was leaping around the mounds with a crazy eye, and then I put him back on the trailer and he tried to roll, and basically he tried to dig a hole to China at his spot. Al was on the other side of the trailer and there were like two hoof marks. Willig's side of the trailer looks like someone was plowing to get ready to plant corn for the village for the year.
Third, I had the dogs in the truck, and while they were good and quiet, I was feeling guilty, and also anxious about the temperature (too hot, too cold, too wet).
So because Willig had his crazy eye, I got on him about an hour before my first ride. Fortunately, Shannon was just wrapping up working with Kerry, so she gave me a hard 15 minutes of warm up, which pretty much settled Willig down. Then we walked for about half an hour (at which point he got the "hops" and we had to side pass all the way down the long side because he wanted to be a moron - not showing off if anyone who was there watching is reading this - trying to avoid some bucking/bolting action). And then warmed up.
Now, two things were different. The test was inside, in a small arena, which I had NOT practiced the tests in.
And then, I haven't ridden the tests in about two months - usually I ride them way more than anyone would recommend, so that I have them memorized kinesthetically and can think about other things than the next movement during the test, like riding.
So this was a double whammy because the arena was small, the next movement came up fast, and I was already struggling to make sure I remembered the test.
What was satisfying:
- After Willig settled down, especially after the first ride, he was actually quite nice - much nicer than he's been since pretty much mid-March, when I quit being able to ride so much.
- And most of the low scores were expected: the small arena (it is really hard to lengthen him and collect him up when it only takes him like three strides to do the long side; similarly, it's hard to not lead with the shoulder when you're coming off a 10 meter circle at R and only leg yielding from X to K), and then his lack of bend and "quick" responsiveness are just me not riding him enough.
He got 3rd for 1-1, a decent sized class and just like .1 away from 2nd, and then sort of 2nd for 1-2, but she was scoring 1-3 with 1-2, and I didn't wait to see how the full thing broke out.
The scoring was on the hard side, but he got 58.276 for 1-1 and 57.838 for 1-2.
I'll probably just do 1-2 and 1-3 the rest of the season (I don't think I can remember three tests) and my ambitious goal is 2-1 for the informal stuff at the end of the season and to start working on a level 1 freestyle.
It was also good to have Shannon there because she holds us to the higher, consistent standard (see previous post on Mike's lesson), and then she always has really good suggestions, like: she pointed out that we weren't using the corners as much as we could (and thus, losing easily four strides on every lap around the arena), pointed out what I could do to make better use of my warm up (I get lazy), and also pointed out that once I enter the arena, I similarly shouldn't dawdle around in there, but make the most of my 1-2 minutes before my test starts. The best tip was not to ride him around all held up and squished at the sitting trot, but to let him relax, stretch out his back and topline, and post while I'm waiting to start the test. It was one of those "duh, why didn't that ever occur to me" and I'm so glad she said it.
Also, it was great to be there with Shannon there and with a friend. It makes such a huge difference in the day to be able to share it with someone.
So for Willig to start out on the wild side, I was very satisfied with how he performed during the tests. Reflecting back, a year ago I probably couldn't have even ridden him in one of those moods, and this time, I tried to channel that injury into "sparkle". And I'm not scared of it as much, more irritated, and it makes me ride him better (and then he's grateful for the clear direction).
I also rode the whole test at the sitting trot. Mike had suggested that I post, since my back is back to locked up (my fault for not working on it enough), but then it was easier to ride the small arena sitting because it made me keep him packaged so that we wouldn't overshoot a movement. And I did it! A year ago I could barely sit the trot - and I sat it like I was a tin man with only three joints - and now I can do it! This continues, with my lower leg, to be the thing I'm most proud of.
First, the weather was schizophrenic. Sun shining, gorgeous, then dumping rain 10 seconds later. While I love Washington summer, and can't wait for it to get here, this is the time of year I start getting frustrated. It doesn't help when I fail to get away during the dead of winter to somewhere sunny.
Second, Willig was a nut. He was rearing tied to the trailer, then I lunged him and he was leaping around the mounds with a crazy eye, and then I put him back on the trailer and he tried to roll, and basically he tried to dig a hole to China at his spot. Al was on the other side of the trailer and there were like two hoof marks. Willig's side of the trailer looks like someone was plowing to get ready to plant corn for the village for the year.
Third, I had the dogs in the truck, and while they were good and quiet, I was feeling guilty, and also anxious about the temperature (too hot, too cold, too wet).
So because Willig had his crazy eye, I got on him about an hour before my first ride. Fortunately, Shannon was just wrapping up working with Kerry, so she gave me a hard 15 minutes of warm up, which pretty much settled Willig down. Then we walked for about half an hour (at which point he got the "hops" and we had to side pass all the way down the long side because he wanted to be a moron - not showing off if anyone who was there watching is reading this - trying to avoid some bucking/bolting action). And then warmed up.
Now, two things were different. The test was inside, in a small arena, which I had NOT practiced the tests in.
And then, I haven't ridden the tests in about two months - usually I ride them way more than anyone would recommend, so that I have them memorized kinesthetically and can think about other things than the next movement during the test, like riding.
So this was a double whammy because the arena was small, the next movement came up fast, and I was already struggling to make sure I remembered the test.
What was satisfying:
- After Willig settled down, especially after the first ride, he was actually quite nice - much nicer than he's been since pretty much mid-March, when I quit being able to ride so much.
- And most of the low scores were expected: the small arena (it is really hard to lengthen him and collect him up when it only takes him like three strides to do the long side; similarly, it's hard to not lead with the shoulder when you're coming off a 10 meter circle at R and only leg yielding from X to K), and then his lack of bend and "quick" responsiveness are just me not riding him enough.
He got 3rd for 1-1, a decent sized class and just like .1 away from 2nd, and then sort of 2nd for 1-2, but she was scoring 1-3 with 1-2, and I didn't wait to see how the full thing broke out.
The scoring was on the hard side, but he got 58.276 for 1-1 and 57.838 for 1-2.
I'll probably just do 1-2 and 1-3 the rest of the season (I don't think I can remember three tests) and my ambitious goal is 2-1 for the informal stuff at the end of the season and to start working on a level 1 freestyle.
It was also good to have Shannon there because she holds us to the higher, consistent standard (see previous post on Mike's lesson), and then she always has really good suggestions, like: she pointed out that we weren't using the corners as much as we could (and thus, losing easily four strides on every lap around the arena), pointed out what I could do to make better use of my warm up (I get lazy), and also pointed out that once I enter the arena, I similarly shouldn't dawdle around in there, but make the most of my 1-2 minutes before my test starts. The best tip was not to ride him around all held up and squished at the sitting trot, but to let him relax, stretch out his back and topline, and post while I'm waiting to start the test. It was one of those "duh, why didn't that ever occur to me" and I'm so glad she said it.
Also, it was great to be there with Shannon there and with a friend. It makes such a huge difference in the day to be able to share it with someone.
So for Willig to start out on the wild side, I was very satisfied with how he performed during the tests. Reflecting back, a year ago I probably couldn't have even ridden him in one of those moods, and this time, I tried to channel that injury into "sparkle". And I'm not scared of it as much, more irritated, and it makes me ride him better (and then he's grateful for the clear direction).
I also rode the whole test at the sitting trot. Mike had suggested that I post, since my back is back to locked up (my fault for not working on it enough), but then it was easier to ride the small arena sitting because it made me keep him packaged so that we wouldn't overshoot a movement. And I did it! A year ago I could barely sit the trot - and I sat it like I was a tin man with only three joints - and now I can do it! This continues, with my lower leg, to be the thing I'm most proud of.
When Mike takes it up a notch, we both get sore
We had a couple weeks off from lessons because Mike was showing in southern California, and the timing worked out "well" because they were two terrible weeks for me with almost no riding. (In theory, that would be good timing, in practice, I ride more regularly and show up for my lessons if I have them, no matter how busy or terrible I think my week is going. So I've taught myself that I need to have at least a lesson every other week - I try to do Shannon even weeks and Mike odd weeks so that I actually end up with a lesson every week.)
So we didn't get to work on most of what he had us doing the last lesson, and then the first informal show was coming up fast (next post) and I hadn't even ridden test 1-1 or 1-2 in a couple of months.
While Mike had us do some of the 1-2 movements, and gave me feedback on how to improve those, what he really did was start holding us to a higher standard. Now, as the title says, when Mike decides to hold us to a higher standard, my abs get sore, and Willig seemed to be a bit sore the next day too) (although not two days later, for the show, when he had a crazy eye).
This is really hard to ride, because I have to think about what feels like everything every second, and here we go back to riding with Bob ... if I would quit trying to control it (i.e. think about everything every second) and just ride it, for god's sake, I could be present and in the zone instead of a freaking control freak.
That being said, it gets amazing results.
So some of the things I'm now thinking about (the next layer of the onion):
- No more puttering around! When I ask for something, Willig better respond. No beating on him with my legs, no clucking, no whip-whip-whipping. I ask; he gives.
- No more lollygagging. We were weaving in and out, couldn't hold the 20 meter circle to save our lives, his head was tossing or grubbing, and Mike is just like "are you ASKING him for that or is he just doing it because he feels like it?" (Hint: I am not asking him to grub while he weaves like a drunken sailor on and off the rail.) I'm the rider, and I need to be the boss.
- Work on my sitting trot. I haven't been working on it, and I'm locking my back up again, so I need to go back to work without stirrups. Mike kindly (praise the lord!) said we weren't doing it during the lesson, and that's good because it wasn't just my abs that were sore the next day, even without being without stirrups.
What does this all boil down to? Consistency.
- Then taking his movements up a bit. When I ask for a canter, no lifting his head, no falling on his forehand, no rushing, no hurrying, no waiting 3 strides before doing it.
- And similarly, asking for him to be on the bit - no head up in the air, no grubbing. A nice "waterfall" neck.
- And also, asking him to bend to the inside. He's not physically deformed. Do it, Willig, do it.
- Then asking him to actually move. Impulsion.
- And then asking him to stretch down on that stretchy circle. The half-ass "stretch" isn't good enough anymore.
So I loved it. I love that Mike is making it harder and not letting us just get away with a plateau, and I love that he's able to ask for harder, explain, patiently ask again, and then not gloat when I grin with pleasure when we catch on.
He said we're approaching the next level of stuff, and that we can do it (renvers, travers, flying changes) and at "flying changes" I started laughing, and he pointed out that last year I never would have believed I'd be where I am right now. And he's right.
I'm super excited. I love these lessons because they make me want to work harder in between so we can go even further the next lesson. It's just my damn job and rest of my life, all those hours I'm not riding ...
So we didn't get to work on most of what he had us doing the last lesson, and then the first informal show was coming up fast (next post) and I hadn't even ridden test 1-1 or 1-2 in a couple of months.
While Mike had us do some of the 1-2 movements, and gave me feedback on how to improve those, what he really did was start holding us to a higher standard. Now, as the title says, when Mike decides to hold us to a higher standard, my abs get sore, and Willig seemed to be a bit sore the next day too) (although not two days later, for the show, when he had a crazy eye).
This is really hard to ride, because I have to think about what feels like everything every second, and here we go back to riding with Bob ... if I would quit trying to control it (i.e. think about everything every second) and just ride it, for god's sake, I could be present and in the zone instead of a freaking control freak.
That being said, it gets amazing results.
So some of the things I'm now thinking about (the next layer of the onion):
- No more puttering around! When I ask for something, Willig better respond. No beating on him with my legs, no clucking, no whip-whip-whipping. I ask; he gives.
- No more lollygagging. We were weaving in and out, couldn't hold the 20 meter circle to save our lives, his head was tossing or grubbing, and Mike is just like "are you ASKING him for that or is he just doing it because he feels like it?" (Hint: I am not asking him to grub while he weaves like a drunken sailor on and off the rail.) I'm the rider, and I need to be the boss.
- Work on my sitting trot. I haven't been working on it, and I'm locking my back up again, so I need to go back to work without stirrups. Mike kindly (praise the lord!) said we weren't doing it during the lesson, and that's good because it wasn't just my abs that were sore the next day, even without being without stirrups.
What does this all boil down to? Consistency.
- Then taking his movements up a bit. When I ask for a canter, no lifting his head, no falling on his forehand, no rushing, no hurrying, no waiting 3 strides before doing it.
- And similarly, asking for him to be on the bit - no head up in the air, no grubbing. A nice "waterfall" neck.
- And also, asking him to bend to the inside. He's not physically deformed. Do it, Willig, do it.
- Then asking him to actually move. Impulsion.
- And then asking him to stretch down on that stretchy circle. The half-ass "stretch" isn't good enough anymore.
So I loved it. I love that Mike is making it harder and not letting us just get away with a plateau, and I love that he's able to ask for harder, explain, patiently ask again, and then not gloat when I grin with pleasure when we catch on.
He said we're approaching the next level of stuff, and that we can do it (renvers, travers, flying changes) and at "flying changes" I started laughing, and he pointed out that last year I never would have believed I'd be where I am right now. And he's right.
I'm super excited. I love these lessons because they make me want to work harder in between so we can go even further the next lesson. It's just my damn job and rest of my life, all those hours I'm not riding ...
Monday, April 11, 2011
Saturday, April 09, 2011
Road to Kentucky Benefit Show
Today was the Forest Park hosted benefit show for J and her fellow pony clubber to raise funds for their super exciting trip to Kentucky later this year.
Willig was a half-ass rock star. Some of the jumps were a bit more than we're used to (ok, a lot more, like the one that was two trees), and without Shannon, I probably would have chickened out and made more excuses not to ride (I've had the shittiest shit week, which means Willig only got ridden once, by J, during the week) and just watched and then went off and did other things. Instead, I was Shannon's shadow for the first couple hours, which gave me the confidence I needed to finish off on my own.
Here's how I tackled it:
- Lunged. He bucked. A lot. But I kept him working until he cut it out and then went just a little bit longer. He also fell down in one of his tantrums.
- Led and Looked. From the ground. I spent a while (a boring while) doing this. Instead of walking the course by myself (all 14 (!) fences - I'm getting too old for this!), we led him and Holly. He was a cool cucumber, which usually means he's bottling his fear up for once I'm on him and the monsters no longer have me on the ground as the tasty treat (while he makes a getaway).
- Lollygagged. (Just to make another "l" word.) We "schooled" the ground pole course together, at the walk, then at the trot. This took forever, but was very, very reassuring to me. It was also, quite possibly, my lowest point as a jumper, so it was very nice to share that moment with Shannon. You pretty much can't do anything less than this and still be "jumping". I guess you could carry the horse yourself.
- More lollygagging. Then we stood around in the warm up arena for a while, just so he got used to the activity.
- Cross-rails. We just tackled these like with the last lesson - ride every step. He was a little more nervous about it trotting (it's easier for him to shoot out sideways) and the long lines, when he could see several fences in a row, made him want to rush. So we walked the last long line. He just stepped over each cross-rail. Ironically, we placed 1st. The time they wanted you to aim for must have been "tortoise".
- 2'. This was easy breezy. It was fun. He knew what to expect, I knew what to expect, but I rode every step with a death grip on my hands. I could hardly flex them when we finished.
- 2'3". Then my confidence tubed, because they put flowers and flags and cones and brush under every stinkin' fence. Since Mr. W has problems with a single cone, I was pretty sure the good afternoon was about to be shot. But I gritted my teeth, clamped onto those reins, and ... we did it! Hooray for us! Except for one refusal (the combination "rainbow") where he did a classic Willig run out abruptly to the right, which I did NOT feel coming at all. But thanks to how he's been teaching me with numerous examples of what to do and what not to do, I yanked him hard to the right, which was ... right into fence #6, which surprised both of us, so he ... jumped it. And then I was still yanking right, so we ended up making this tiny 10 meter circle with a jump at 3:00, and then at 12:00 went over the fence he refused the first time. I could hear the spectators laughing. They said it looked like it was on purpose (it wasn't).
So I'm really super pleased with how he did. A week off. A change in his own home. A LOT of stuff to look at and going on. And just one refusal, and we rode it. Good job, Willig!
Now if only every show let you have that kind of build up ... and was conveniently located at home.
This day was definitely the high point of my week. And they did a great job organizing and running it, with their creative and fun course. And they had a good turn out, so I hope they raised some good money for their trip.
Willig was a half-ass rock star. Some of the jumps were a bit more than we're used to (ok, a lot more, like the one that was two trees), and without Shannon, I probably would have chickened out and made more excuses not to ride (I've had the shittiest shit week, which means Willig only got ridden once, by J, during the week) and just watched and then went off and did other things. Instead, I was Shannon's shadow for the first couple hours, which gave me the confidence I needed to finish off on my own.
Here's how I tackled it:
- Lunged. He bucked. A lot. But I kept him working until he cut it out and then went just a little bit longer. He also fell down in one of his tantrums.
- Led and Looked. From the ground. I spent a while (a boring while) doing this. Instead of walking the course by myself (all 14 (!) fences - I'm getting too old for this!), we led him and Holly. He was a cool cucumber, which usually means he's bottling his fear up for once I'm on him and the monsters no longer have me on the ground as the tasty treat (while he makes a getaway).
- Lollygagged. (Just to make another "l" word.) We "schooled" the ground pole course together, at the walk, then at the trot. This took forever, but was very, very reassuring to me. It was also, quite possibly, my lowest point as a jumper, so it was very nice to share that moment with Shannon. You pretty much can't do anything less than this and still be "jumping". I guess you could carry the horse yourself.
- More lollygagging. Then we stood around in the warm up arena for a while, just so he got used to the activity.
- Cross-rails. We just tackled these like with the last lesson - ride every step. He was a little more nervous about it trotting (it's easier for him to shoot out sideways) and the long lines, when he could see several fences in a row, made him want to rush. So we walked the last long line. He just stepped over each cross-rail. Ironically, we placed 1st. The time they wanted you to aim for must have been "tortoise".
- 2'. This was easy breezy. It was fun. He knew what to expect, I knew what to expect, but I rode every step with a death grip on my hands. I could hardly flex them when we finished.
- 2'3". Then my confidence tubed, because they put flowers and flags and cones and brush under every stinkin' fence. Since Mr. W has problems with a single cone, I was pretty sure the good afternoon was about to be shot. But I gritted my teeth, clamped onto those reins, and ... we did it! Hooray for us! Except for one refusal (the combination "rainbow") where he did a classic Willig run out abruptly to the right, which I did NOT feel coming at all. But thanks to how he's been teaching me with numerous examples of what to do and what not to do, I yanked him hard to the right, which was ... right into fence #6, which surprised both of us, so he ... jumped it. And then I was still yanking right, so we ended up making this tiny 10 meter circle with a jump at 3:00, and then at 12:00 went over the fence he refused the first time. I could hear the spectators laughing. They said it looked like it was on purpose (it wasn't).
So I'm really super pleased with how he did. A week off. A change in his own home. A LOT of stuff to look at and going on. And just one refusal, and we rode it. Good job, Willig!
Now if only every show let you have that kind of build up ... and was conveniently located at home.
This day was definitely the high point of my week. And they did a great job organizing and running it, with their creative and fun course. And they had a good turn out, so I hope they raised some good money for their trip.
This cow looks like she could kick W's ass
Horse dreams dashed, German teen turns to cow Luna
When Regina Mayer's parents dashed her hopes of getting a horse, the resourceful 15-year-old didn't sit in her room and sulk. Instead, she turned to a cow called Luna to make her riding dreams come true.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2014686063_apeugermanyjumpingcow.html
When Regina Mayer's parents dashed her hopes of getting a horse, the resourceful 15-year-old didn't sit in her room and sulk. Instead, she turned to a cow called Luna to make her riding dreams come true.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2014686063_apeugermanyjumpingcow.html
Monday, April 04, 2011
Oh! That's what "ride every step" means!
For the last several months, during both of my lessons, I have heard the words, but have felt kind of cloudy. I try to do what Mike or Shannon are saying, but it doesn't seem to make total sense (or I feel like I'm already doing it) or have much effect. But the last couple of lessons with each of them, it's like each lesson a major light bulb has gone off, and slightly embarrassingly, over really mundane stuff.
In yesterday's lesson with Shannon, after the last lesson's break through on keeping the contact, she was telling me to quit moving my left hand so much. I was pretty sure I wasn't moving my hand, but then suddenly, I felt it. Every step, I give just a bit. And then take it back. And so if I focused on that and planted my hand in place, Willig could relax. And like Shannon said, he's actually nice in the sense that he's obvious about when I'm doing it right, so I get rewarded for riding properly by almost immediately feeling the improvement.
I haven't been riding much or hard (still moving and getting the house ready for sale), so he's been a bit of a handful. He's harder to bend, less responsive to the aids, and gets skittish. But that made for a great "learning opportunity" on how to ride that during the lesson, and once again, Shannon didn't disappoint.
The two positive signs were that when I'm riding on my normal schedule, I'm actually making my life easier - i.e. he's overall more fun and enjoyable to ride (kind of a surprise, because I've assumed all my habits are so bad that I just make them worse between lessons). And second is that I CAN ride him when he's being skittish and has low responsiveness - I have acquired the skills and tools!
The big break through on the flat was that moving left hand and needing to think about "planting" it.
Then we went outside to jump. I asked for it, purely because I 100% didn't want to do it. We haven't been riding much outside, I certainly haven't jumped him outside, and I haven't jumped him at all on my own since my last lesson.
And so Shannon sent us right to the far end (the scary end), put us on a trot, then canter circle, and right over this 2' vertical. And she said (second breakthrough): pretend like this is the show and this is your only chance.
So even though he wanted to look and be a bit silly, I rode. every. step. And while it made me tired, he responded beautifully. On the second or third lap, the poodle came out, and when Willig didn't react, he started barking! And nothing from Willig! Just an ear flick. Because I was riding every single one of those steps.
He had a period where he tensed up his shoulders and got ready to bolt (when we changed directions) but I could feel it coming (because I was paying such careful attention) and so we skipped the jump for a few laps, but then he was like "oh, ok, we're not doing that today?"
So instead of dawdling around out there for 40 minutes, trying to work up the nerve to head towards that end, Shannon just sent us straight out there and created yet another breakthrough moment.
Now, Willig is Willig, but this was huge for me and how I'm thinking about things. I'm still very much a passenger-rider, and I need to become the driver-rider.
But wow. I can do it! I just need to keep changing those old bad habits.
In yesterday's lesson with Shannon, after the last lesson's break through on keeping the contact, she was telling me to quit moving my left hand so much. I was pretty sure I wasn't moving my hand, but then suddenly, I felt it. Every step, I give just a bit. And then take it back. And so if I focused on that and planted my hand in place, Willig could relax. And like Shannon said, he's actually nice in the sense that he's obvious about when I'm doing it right, so I get rewarded for riding properly by almost immediately feeling the improvement.
I haven't been riding much or hard (still moving and getting the house ready for sale), so he's been a bit of a handful. He's harder to bend, less responsive to the aids, and gets skittish. But that made for a great "learning opportunity" on how to ride that during the lesson, and once again, Shannon didn't disappoint.
The two positive signs were that when I'm riding on my normal schedule, I'm actually making my life easier - i.e. he's overall more fun and enjoyable to ride (kind of a surprise, because I've assumed all my habits are so bad that I just make them worse between lessons). And second is that I CAN ride him when he's being skittish and has low responsiveness - I have acquired the skills and tools!
The big break through on the flat was that moving left hand and needing to think about "planting" it.
Then we went outside to jump. I asked for it, purely because I 100% didn't want to do it. We haven't been riding much outside, I certainly haven't jumped him outside, and I haven't jumped him at all on my own since my last lesson.
And so Shannon sent us right to the far end (the scary end), put us on a trot, then canter circle, and right over this 2' vertical. And she said (second breakthrough): pretend like this is the show and this is your only chance.
So even though he wanted to look and be a bit silly, I rode. every. step. And while it made me tired, he responded beautifully. On the second or third lap, the poodle came out, and when Willig didn't react, he started barking! And nothing from Willig! Just an ear flick. Because I was riding every single one of those steps.
He had a period where he tensed up his shoulders and got ready to bolt (when we changed directions) but I could feel it coming (because I was paying such careful attention) and so we skipped the jump for a few laps, but then he was like "oh, ok, we're not doing that today?"
So instead of dawdling around out there for 40 minutes, trying to work up the nerve to head towards that end, Shannon just sent us straight out there and created yet another breakthrough moment.
Now, Willig is Willig, but this was huge for me and how I'm thinking about things. I'm still very much a passenger-rider, and I need to become the driver-rider.
But wow. I can do it! I just need to keep changing those old bad habits.
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