Lesson #3 with Britt

I had another slew of questions about the three day, and started the lesson with those.   The first was how awkward going downhill feels.  Britt said to just keep working on it until the lightbulb goes off for Charlie.  She suggested starting on a small, gradual hill, and just riding a circle until he gets it and gets balanced and has cadence - then move to a hill that's a little bit steeper and work my way up to a real hill.  My second question was where do I warm up for cross country day, and the answer is - nowhere!  You just get on and ride.  No warm up fences in between A and B or C and D.  Third question was my same question to John about this time last year - if I work at it, can I do training level at the end of the year.  Britt's answer was the same - I can work at it, but I might not make it.  She explained that for training, there is a big jump in the technical aspect, and you really need to be able to rock back before the fence and have control over the shoulders for the turns because they are so tight.  And then I had to sheepishly confess that my fourth question was that I really struggled with exactly that since last week.  So we started by working on it with a new exercise.  She also told me that although Novice is a little easier, I probably am not going to have much horse for the Major Beale clinic the weekend after we get back.
Our exercise was to trot a long side, leg yield a few steps, then go straight a few steps, leg yield, straight - so there were three leg yields.  The part I focused on was using the outside leg (my left leg - we were going left) to "turn on" when I went straight.  At first, I just quit using my right leg, but once I started to use the left leg to make the outside frame, Charlie would slow down.  When I added the whip on the right with the left leg, he started to poof up in the shoulders.  Then we added circles - we'd leg yield, go into a smallish circle (15 meters), go back into the leg yield.  This really helped me use my outside rein on the circle.
Then Britt came and held the rein and held my leg and demonstrated the proper feel.  What I think of as contact is barely contact at all.  As soon as I added the actual contact, it made a huge difference.  The hard part was feeling the difference between rounding contact and flattening contact.  So Britt showed me which muscles to watch on his neck to see the difference.  The other tricky part with this was not to pull back to get contact, but to have steady contact, and when he gives, it releases just by his giving.  I don't have to fling the reins forward when he gives.
So then we did the same thing but at the canter, and other than a total out-take moment where I tried to switch the whip, got my rein wrapped around my thumb and the whip, then dropped the other side of the rein and careened around in a wild circle, this exercise was pretty good too.
So THEN we did our steeplechase triple bar.  Last week I set up a 3'1" triple bar without too much of a spread, and a 3'7" vertical since that is the maximum height the brush can be.  The triple bar was an absolute delight to jump, even at 470 mpm, but the vertical gave me trouble, so I only did it twice and decided to wait for the lesson.
First we did the steeplechase fence, and Britt noted that I'm probably working too hard, and so Charlie is tuning me out.  I basically whip him every stride all the way around.  And it was true - he kept going, even when I wasn't whipping him.  She also reminded me of the two whip rule, which was timely, although since I won't have my dressage whip, I feel like I'll basically be whip-less anyway. 
She also demonstrated, after the warm up fences, that I'm working too hard over the fences, flinging myself in half over his neck, when I should just let him close my angle, like you do when you're skiing moguls.  This makes perfect sense, and I have noticed that I fling forward (increasingly) but I couldn't figure out why I was doing it or what to do instead.  So then she talked about what the steeplechase is for (not sitting up before the fence, but letting the fence close your angle), and so we worked on it a couple more times.  It was too much change at once, and I got more stupid over the fence, but it was all good information.
Then we went from the steeplechase fence to slowing the canter and jumping the 3'7" vertical.  The first four fences were horrible, but then I started to get it.  I had to sit up and half halt until about four strides out, then kick to the fence.  It's the first time I've really had to ride two fences so differently, and it was a lot for my brain to take in, but once I got it, the light bulb kind of went off.  It also helped that I did them so badly at first, because Charlie wasn't doing my job for me anymore, and I had to think it through and actually ride the fence.  Britt said not to work on those on my own, but I'm really glad we did them.  I feel like another layer of gauze just got peeled away so I can see a little bit about what's in store.
I'm not sure this is going to be the year to go Training, but I did realize, in asking her about it, that I just don't know - I have no experience at all - what it means to have that connection and why it's so critical over the fences.  But this last exercise really helped me get it, and that gives me something concrete to understand and work on over the winter to get ready for next season.
Britt has a very patient way of explaining things that really helps with the stuff that is totally unfamiliar to me, and I feel like I am getting closer to the point where I am not just being tootled around on Charlie's back but actually starting to contribute a little bit.  At least, I am starting to see how I could contribute, which is leaps and bounds ahead of where I was two years ago and my whole life up to this point.  It is amazing how much I don't know.

Lesson #2 with Britt

We had two primary things we worked on today, after a barrage of questions I had about the logistics of the three day.

First, we worked on a circle at the trot, then at the canter, and worked on bending each direction without Charlie's shoulder bulging out.  In other words, instead of bending at the neck (and the circle getting smaller), Charlie stayed on the same track and bent through his body to make a "macaroni" shape.  This meant I had to use the outside rein as a half halt, and then when the bend flipped "backwards", the inside rein became the half halt.  It took me a little while to catch on, but once I did, I could feel him balance instead of bulge out.  Doing the small canter circle - where the circle is coming from his shoulders - it helps to count 1-2-1-2 to keep the rhythm and not let him slow down.

The second thing we worked on was some fences, using the same feeling to get on a straight line to go over the center of the fence.  First, instead of just turning my head, I need to also turn my shoulders towards the fence.  Second, the impulsion comes before the turn starts, not on that final few strides in front of the fence.  Third, use that same bending hands - like wheelbarrow handles, but thinking of having like a short broomstick handle connecting my two hands - to use to push his shoulders around the corner instead of pulling his head around the corner.  This is also outside leg.  Fourth, then, once we come around the corner, inside leg turns on to keep him straight so we don't keep drifting on the angle out of the corner.  And fifth, once he is heading towards the fence, I can quit working.  Kicking at the last minute doesn't help - the impulsion came from before we started the corner.  This is just counting and keeping the rhythm.

Britt showed me to use my leg 1-2-1-2 and then if I need to a BIG 1- BIG 2 - BIG 1- BIG 2, but not a steady anaconda squeeze.  It really helped to have her do the movement so I could feel the difference between what I am doing (and not feeling) and what she meant.

Pilates with Beth

I had my second dual mat session followed by a lesson with Beth Glosten today.  Like our prior mat sessions and riding lessons, it was tremendously useful.
The quick version of what I need to think while riding is the feeling of a rope around my waist pulling me to the right.  The second "clue" for correcting my position is when my right leg starts to curl and stick tight to the saddle.  That is my reminder that I am too far to the left, and I need to put my weight back into my right leg, which lets it relax and then be a useful aid.
The more complex version to fix my funny sashay twist is this:
1.  Use my left hamstring, plus the push up in the posting trot, to push my left hip up.
2.  Keep my left toe from moving forward, to keep my leg underneath me.  Using the hamstring properly kind of solves this one on its own.
3.  My hips need to make a plane with an angle that feels like it is with the left hip back and the right hip forward.  This is easiest to think about pushing the right hip forward (instead of pulling the left hip back).
4.  Then my left oblique muscle needs to shorten/engage.  This is the hardest one to do.  This one helps to think of the criss cross from the left hip to the right shoulder.
5.  Continuing to move up, my left shoulder comes back and my right shoulder comes forward.  This makes my sternum ride in the same plane as Charlie's.
When I manage to get all 5 of these together, the sashay gets dramatically diminished, and there is less wiggle in my spine.  But as soon as I drop one (usually the oblique, which then very quickly results in the toe moving forward), the sashay is back with a vengenance.

It sounds simple, but I think it is going to need some real concentration before I start to get the muscle memory and don't have to think so hard about it.  It is one of those things where I have to stick my tongue out while I am going around (I actually had my tongue out while I was typing it!) because I am concentrating so hard.
The oblique is really tricky.  I don't have very good control over it, so sometimes it responds and sometimes it doesn't.  What was useful was that it was the same way in the mat session, so it isn't just when I'm on Charlie.  Beth also gave me some great exercises to work on at home, to help strengthen it and feel it.
The good news is I can feel the sashay, which I couldn't the last time I visited her, and when we rode around with one stirrup dropped and then the other, there wasn't nearly as dramatic a difference as last time.
We did a bit of work on upper body, getting my shoulder blades together and then pulling down my back, and then sitting leaning forward just a bit.  I very quickly round up when I am concentrating on other things.
We also did some work at the canter, and Beth said the same as my dressage tests, the left canter is not as good as the right.  But she showed me how it was a lot of extra wiggle in my spine, and when I got everything lined up, all of a sudden it was amazing.  It was like I had Charlie's shoulders up between my legs so I could have turned him right or left or forward or back, and I was just completely stable and perfectly in place.  It was divine. 
I'm really glad to be so fortunate to be able to work with someone who can help me with these weird little quirks.  I want to get them resolved so that we can keep progressing and don't get hung up later because I ignored the problem.