Charlie with the long sought after cooler
Spring NWEC 2013 Novice
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Sit up tall
Today was my first jump lesson with Shannon at John Camlin's (Caber Farm). I was nervous, and as we pulled up, he had his stadium course set almost to the top of the standards, which I did not find soothing. I think Shannon could do those on Charlie, but that's still a long way off for me.
Interesting wildlife spotting: a garter (?) snake - a big one - cruising across the arena, which John took and put back outside the arena while Shannon and I rode far away to the far, far side.
We did some warm up, and my main points to remember were: keep him round and "up" (not long and low), going left - bend him to the left, and push him into the outside rein and keep that contact. I had to do some half halts and it was a bit more than I usually do, but Charlie was really responsive and pushing him just that extra tiny bit made a big difference in how "bouncy" he felt.
That same approach also (surprise!) applied to the fences. If I balanced him in the corner, especially using the outside rein, but used some leg and half halt a few strides out from the fence, we'd approach it with more of a "bounce", and he could lift his front end over instead of kind of flop over it. (Not that Charlie ever flops, but the tiny adjustment I made helped make the fence feel a lot more "floaty".)
In addition to the ever-present "heels down" my other big fix was to sit up tall, shoulders back. As the course continues, I hunch more and more over, like I'm rolling into a ball. It was amazingly hard to do, just to sit up tall, so I walked around the rest of the day, reminding myself to stand tall. That's a muscle memory issue I have no excuse for not fixing (other than 36 years of not fixing it) because I don't have to be on a horse to do it!
It was really fun to be there with Shannon on Holly, and I really liked John's approach - gradually building as we progressed, more than I would ever push myself, but not too much (as Shannon aptly described it). Plus, if Holly is ready to compete next year, then we can go together!
We did a cross rail from the trot, then canter, making a figure 8 (from right, from left, etc.). Then we added a 5 stride line, then a 4 stride line, then a 4 stride to a 3 stride, then the 4 stride to 3 stride to 5 stride back to 3 stride.
Charlie was excellent. He's an absolute delight to ride.
John said to keep my eye on training level and keep him working, not just slack because we're only going to do novice next year, and that the number one thing I'll need to keep in mind is to (my words) ride Charlie every step - I let him flop around because he can get away with it (at this level) and I need to start riding him like I'm going to ride Training level.
It made me feel like a rock star, to ride in a lesson with Shannon - like I've finally proven my worth. Even if it's all to her credit - she did all Charlie's training and got me to the point where I could actually ride him.
It was such a great way to spend Tuesday morning.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Pincher legs
Today was a big, fat slice of humble pie. It hurts my pride to even relive the lesson again, but I think it's a necessary step if I want to improve as a rider.
Even though it's only a few tweaks to bad habits, to build new muscle memory, they are making me ride like an idiot who has never been on a horse or even seen someone ride a horse. I am struggling particularly with my big poofy butt that likes to sit out behind me, underneath a horrible sway back which is on the other side of a rotund buddha belly. When I try to put my poofy butt underneath me, I lift my pelvic bone (the third leg of the stool with the two seat bones) up in the air, and lean way back. When I try to suck in my stomach to straighten my back, I lift my shoulders up to my ears. Anytime I think about anything going on with my butt or back, I clench my butt and thighs, making me a pellet rolling around on top of the saddle. It's horrible.
The bright light is at least I quit sticking my tongue out from the concentration anytime Shannon asks me to do something and my left toe is a tiny bit more forward.
And - I have Shannon's help, and hours to look forward to on Willig where I'll have nothing else to do but concentrate on body position. So if I'm ever going to fix it, now's the best possible time. It's just horrible - not only to have to go through this gangly awkward phase, but to question all the hours I've spent on a horse so far and how I blustered my way through so many shows. And why so many horses have forgiven me.
That being said, from when we started today (me sitting still, and moving my body around to try to make it right so I could feel when it was right - which I would immediately not be able to repeat and we'd have to go through it all again), to where we ended, was pretty cool.
What isn't so cool is that I can't say (yet) why or how to repeat it. What happened at the end was all of a sudden, I felt like I was in the right place. I was relaxed, didn't have to fight or struggle or squirm, and could just ride. I could do transitions and sit and go around in a circle and not need to mess with anything. So it was great to feel that - like a glimpse of nirvana - to remind me of what I'm working toward. And it's great to know I can do it, I just have to figure out what got us there and how to stay there on my own. So thank god for Shannon's patience (and Charlie's), and many long hours of work appear to be ahead. But it's for a good cause - I don't want any pictures or videos of my left toe pointing out NW next year, and I want to help Charlie do the best job he can. (Speaking of, I'll probably drag him down a bit while I work on this - thank goodness for Willig to pick up some of the slack and spare Charlie a bit - so that will be depressing once I realize it's happened.)
So the light bulb moment when the humble pie smacked me in the face? After the still body, I said I couldn't do the leg aid right, that it seemed like what Shannon described as the correct aid was to pinch my legs together underneath. Like that crane game where you pick up the toy? And Shannon said "like draping down and around?" and suddenly every single time I've read that in every book and article came and slammed me in the face. I am a classic leg lifter - I pull that heel up and back towards the saddle pad and kudos to all the horses who figured out that meant the same thing as "down and around". It felt completely and utterly foreign to me.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Bends and turns
Today in my jump lesson we did some work without stirrups (brutal is the only word I can apply to how it felt and looked), and then worked on some bendy turns on a small course. While none of these jumps were perfect, when Shannon first picked the first line (hard right, roll back left, angled vertical, hard right) I took the "stay quiet and show her she's a lunatic for asking us to do it" approach. But much to my surprise, it actually flowed pretty well. We did it a couple more times, adding in a combination after another roll back, and interestingly, the hardest part was that in the combination, just like in past lessons, I drift very, very far to the left between the first and second fence (a 3 stride line I've ridden now many times), and it took me three tries and one of the ground poles on the side of the fence before my left leg even tried to scoot Charlie right - even then, we still went over the edge of the pole.
Charlie is a very sweet, honest jumper, no matter how brutal I look and feel.
And I think I forgot to say from my last lesson - included in my basics is: LEGS FIRST. No more hand aids first! I practiced this on Willig yesterday and today, who is very responsive to me stopping my seat using my core, but even hopped up on sedi-vet, he managed to spook twice today.
The year's wrap up
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Back to Basics
Today I asked to start the lesson with a focus on the most basic body position because one of the themes I've noticed through the lessons is that I make a lot of stuff up - things that it seems like I should have been taught when I started riding, never asked about, and have faked my way through it so far. And now that faking is starting to catch up with me - I can't get Charlie truly collected if I don't use my core as the brake.
So I sat on Charlie at the halt, and we went over correct position of my heel, toe, leg aid, seat, hands, arms, and shoulders. Then we did it at the walk, and then we tried to do it at the trot. At the trot and canter, it became wildly apparent how ingrained my bad habits are, particularly for my toe (likes to point out to the side instead of forward), leg aid (I like to scrunch my heel up into Charlie's side, instead of squeezing with my leg in its correct position), and right hand, although actually I think this is the left hand (left hand likes to turn sideways (knuckles up) and inch forward, which is why Charlie always looks bent to the right - my right elbow is next to my hip, but my left elbow is way out in front). What's embarrassing about this last one is I've been looking down and seeing how I've got both hands on the same place on the rein, but not noticing how my left hand is like 3" further forward than my right.
So we worked on walk/trot/canter/transitions with and without stirrups (the final five minutes without stirrups pretty much turned my legs to jelly) and my toes and lower leg (pointed forward, long and down) pretty much ignored my brain the entire lesson. There is a lot to work on there!
My goal for the winter is to retrain my muscle memory on all these aids, so that I have nice lower legs, nice aids, even hands, and use my core as the half halt and brake. I'm going to work on these every ride, and on Willig rides, and also do at least 5 minutes without stirrups each ride and using the mirror to help remind me to stretch that leg long and get my toes forward. And then I'm going to practice coming from a trot to a halt without any hands at all, to teach my core how to do it.
It was a good lesson, but kind of humiliating because I couldn't even make my body do some of the things - so that also prompted me to finally buy Beth Glosten's book - I suspect part of the problem is tight hips from all the sitting I do in a terrible chair at work, and so I'm going to add that into my routine also for the winter and hopefully that will help too by next spring. I don't want to handicap Charlie at all for next season!
Monday, September 10, 2012
Saturday, September 08, 2012
The beginning and end of Charlie's xc course
Yes, that is a spook at the end, where I made the circle - some animal rustled in the bushes (LOUDLY) just as we were going past.
Friday, September 07, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)