Day Three Post Ride & Overall Summary

Ground work - held the bit in my fingers while Instructor demonstrated various hand positions. Also demonstrated the difference between muscles pushing forward as opposed to bones & "energy" pushing forward.

To the horse. Iris was tacked up in jump saddle, and off we went. Worked on turning left & right by turning one back bone at a time. Started at top, worked to bottom. Both directions. Didn't feel this one, but went along for the ride anyways.

Was told to gather up my reins with (I believe) intent on trying to canter. I gathered up like I normally do, and immediately everything I did was wrong. Told inside rein was too tight, outside not tight enough. I tried to adjust, and Iris pulled the reins from my hands a little, and I allowed it. To "make sure" I was turning the horse with my reins, I was told to drop inside rein, and keep oscillating contact on outside. Iris' nose was to the outside throughout this whole routine. I was told "It has to be her idea to turn. Turn from your center, and she will follow." She did turn, but with her nose out. I could see her outside bridle parts, outside eyelashes, outside nose hairs. The works. Walked the long side still with nose out. At this point, I was asked "does this at least make logical sense to you what we're doing?" I said, "Absolutely not." So she yelled at me that it should make sense, and until I learn how to hold the reins I'm never going to learn how to ride correctly. Mental Shutdown began right here.

Went to the other end of the arena and continued with both reins again. My habit was to put my hands down at her withers, inside rein a tad shorter, and tried to move quietly with her irregular walk. We argued, and Instructor became more persistent that my hands must be up a good 4" higher than they were, and a decent 4" away from her neck on each side. I was reminded again and again that "until I get my hands in the right place, she isn't going to respond, and is not going to know what to do. I must quit trying to turn the horse with my hands." What it felt like was, I was starting the turn with my body, she would turn hers, then, in an effort to keep contact, the inside rein had to come back about an inch. Everytime my hands were uneven, I'd get scolded again. After about 15 minutes of this, the hour lesson time came to an end, and I hopped off, untacked, and the ride was over. I started crying, upset that I've never had an instructor tell me to hold my reins up that high, and in fact, have been yelled at for doing it accidentally once in frustration. It's never been acceptable to ride a horse with reins there, and my muscle memory & habit just aren't going to do it. When I asked "How is this the right way to do it, when I see hands & reins like mine were in the hunter & dressage lower level shows, and those are the riders that do well?", the answer was, "If winning the blue ribbon is all that matters to you, then do what you need to do for first place. But why not school your horse the right way at home?"

We had discussed, and agreed it was a good idea, that she ride Chewie a bit (make sure he knew what to expect), then repeat another lesson with me on him. That did not happen. After she lost her temper & yelled, there's no way I want that kind of attitude atop my sensitive horse. Absolutely no way.

I tried to gather my things & pack up, with full intent on gathering up my emotions & settling down before beginning the long journey home. Twice the Instructor tried to start the conversation again. Finally, after her fourth or so ask of "You look upset. Why are you so upset about all of this?", I realized she wasn't satisfied, and wouldn't be, until there was a big debate about the whole weekend. So I told her, "I thought we had an agreement. I did not realize I was going to commit this much time and this much effort to walk. I can walk my horse at home. I did not plan on driving all this way just to walk." She asked me, "Well, do you think you could do these things at the trot?" I answered, "I honestly don't know. You never gave me the chance to try." She half-heartedly apologized a few times "that the weekend wasn't what I expected", but would then repeat that, "She hopes that after I get home & get a chance to try all of these things on Chewie, I'll realize how much I've learned." I was told I'm welcome back, with or without my horse. I was also told "I'm a talented rider, and Chewie's a talented horse. She sees us going really far in the future. But I need to learn how to walk correctly first and learn how to hold my reins & turn my horse before I can even dream of going into trot or canter."

So, overall, my hopes of having a series of intense lessons at trot with a few confident bursts of canter just didn't happen. Instead, I settled for a lot of lessons at walk, and a few small things I might be able to carry into future rides. Chewie was hauled for two boring lessons, and I feel like I let him down by not letting him show Instructor how bright he really is. She saw one bad morning and automatically assumed he's a "hot, sensitive Thoroughbred."

Back on schedule, with plans for lunge line and ride free in the lunge circle tonight. Round pen still has a puddle in it, which perplexes me, as it hasn't rained in quite a few days.

Chewie and I are both happy to be home.

Day Two - afternoon session

After lunch, worked Chewie. Side reins 5 & 6. "3" was number for the day. Free lunge to start up, and canter work with & without side reins. I figure if he doesn't canter in a lesson, he might as well at least keep it up on the line. Rode a little. What a babysitter. I did a little of the new I've learned (lining up all three balls, intentionally turning in my mind rather than just with reins & legs), and he did well. Asked for a little trot, and he shuffled like an angel, almost like he was thinking about taking care of me, and not trotting any more than he had to. I think it was a fear thing - he was scared what would happen if he moved out, and I was worried he'd take off without me. Instructor noted that, while he wasn't very full-stride, he was picking his feet up, and moving lightly. She said "It looked really good, and you're applying some of what you've learned." Hmm.. that's good.

Groundwork focused on hips & legs. It was an opening feeling to find the hip joints, and use them like I'm supposed to. Also felt good to hold the leg up under my thigh and shake the joints all loose.

Horse dujour - Iris. It was incredible to see her float over the ground with the Instructor riding her, but even more incredible to ride. I had been warned that "if I asked for something a centimeter off, she would be slow & difficult. wouldn't buck or rear, but would just become lazy & beligerent." Hmm.. didn't have any problems of the sort. In fact, as soon as she stepped out to walk, I was amazed. It was HUGE! Chewie only has a walk like that if I force the issue, pushing with all of my leg muscles. Absolutely amazing. I praised her lavishly for her great behavior, and she rewarded me with more of the same. Instructor said a few times during the lesson, "I got on her with a plan, and I'm not changing my mind. I'm telling her she has to do what I want without being mean, and she knows I like her." Well, she ought to. I gave her enough wither scratches & nuzzles, it should have been obvious I thought highly of her. Awesome.

Went into light seat to ask for the trot. It might be easier in my own saddle on my own horse, but overall, it felt like I was sitting on the front of my crotch & squeezing & contracting tummy muscles. "Light seat" from Instructor - Head, Chest, Belly, Pulse, fold over at my center, eyes up & soft, and deliberately thinking "trot, trot, trot". Again, I haven't the foggiest idea if it will work on my horse or not, but it worked with Iris.

Worked on transitions from light seat, to sitting, to posting. My sitting trot wasn't fantastic, but it felt more secure. =) Secure.. Huh... It sounds funny in my head, but it's true. At one point, I lost my right stirrup, the left stirrup was floating all over the place, and I was still doing the transitions. Light seat, back upright sitting, posting, repeat. I could hear Susan from SC in the background hollering "You'll thank me for these lessons the first time you lose your stirrups and you have to concentrate on staying on the horse." She was right. Thank you Susan!!!

Dinner last night at Fish Daddy's near Pflugerville. Mahi Mahi with lemon herb butter, baked potato, steamed broccoli. Very good dinner. Probably the best meal so far of the trip.

Plan for today is a lesson on ground, riding lesson on Iris, and then Chewie independant. I'm thinking about asking Instructor if I can have a lesson on Iris, then a final "will this work or not" ride on Chewie. Will cost more, yes, but I'm willing to fund that adventure. Applying the lessons to a horse that's trained to respond is good, but I'm curious if it will work on my horse that hasn't a clue what's going on.

Day Two - morning session

Feasting on just about the best pizza I've had in Texas at Paisano's in Georgetown. This is worth it, even if I do have a train wreck ride this weekend.

Cleaned stall, cleaned Chewie, back to ground work. Worked on a "body shake", which I don't think ever made sense. Anyways, I was looser at the end - but I think I was loose to start. Laid on the floor belly up, and did some shoulder stretches. Stretch down, stretch up, and forward.

To the horse! Instructor added a wedge pad, and while it might have helped him, it made me feel like my seat was higher than normal, and a bit uncomfortable. We worked on bends & turning. Turning by spinning the top of the belly ball in whatever direction I wanted to go. Worked out pretty good, once Chewie got the idea. A few times I cheated, and looked with my eyes in the direction. He seems to like direction eyes rather than a spinning belly ball. Chewie's overall mind was somewhere else. He was in the mood of looking around nervous "What was that?!? Where did that noise come from?!? The monsters are going to eat me!! I know it! There's a booger on the wall over there, I'm sure the world is going to eat me, and I'm going to protect you Mom! I promise!" His mind wasn't anywhere on me 75% of the ride. To get his mind on me, I kept repeating "soft eyes, soft eyes, soft eyes." At one point, mid-lesson, focusing on spinning the top of the belly ball, his head popped up tense, his back got very tense, and it was all he wanted to do to get away from whatever had spooked him. I started saying, out loud, "soft eyes, soft eyes, center, soft eyes." Instructor praised me during the spook, and after it was over, saying, "You did the right thing, and you got him relaxed. That was very good. You applied the lesson and it went very well." I'm glad nothing bad happened, but there was a thought in my mind of "if I could let him trot it out, and get some of the goobers out of his system, I'll have a horse that will wait it out while I walk & learn things at that gait."

Finished up with riding squares at walk. Total work time for him, 1 hour.

Watched Instructor ride one of her horses for about 40 minutes. She's a Paint-Trekhaener cross, Iris. Her movement is large, fluid, and slow. It's almost like she calculates every single footfall. Pretty neat. Iris worked on many many transitions, little figure eights with half circles at canter. It was incredible to see her gather up, walk to canter, 8-9 strides, and back to walk. Pretty cool. Iris ended with cavaletti, while Instructor demonstrated a light seat. Pretty cool to see the horse love her job, and stay in that same fluid trot. Most absolutely more energy in the trot, and a bit faster. That mare loves to jump, and it shows.

Plan for the afternoon is to lunge Chewie on side reins (give him a job & make him work for it), and be ready for another ground less & ride on Iris at 3.

more updates later. For now, I must continue to enjoy this fabulous slice..

Day Two - Pre Work Thoughts & Musings

Hotel breakfasts are fun. There's wireless here, so while I gobble down some carbs to motivate me through the morning ride, figured it was a good chance to update. Put up the update from last night, as the connection isn't strong enough from the room. I've noticed the people watching in town is nearly as fun as the riding. There's a bike race or something going on in town today, as I noticed a few biker-pants wearing guys scurry out of the breakfast area. They looked at my full seat breeches funny, I looked at them funny. And, of course, then there's always the peeking eyes of folks reading over my shoulder. Amusing, because unless you love horses, there's not much to see. That combines up nicely with the other single-sitting folks pondering life as it is, reading up on local news.

Yeah, people watching is just about as much fun as riding horses. However, it's nearly time to muck stalls, and that's a chore I can't get out of. Here's hoping Chewie was kind enough to poop in the paddock, and keep my work to a minimum.

Day One

Up super early. Dogs off to the vet, and back home. Hooked up trailer, gave Chew a bath, and off we went.

Traffic was minimal to non existent. Toll 130 passed Austin turned out to be a super saver on my stress level.

Arrived to find a small place, many horses. Particularly surprised no fence around the arena. Makes fine for dressage, but quite stressed for jumping at any decent leve, I’d assume.

Got Chewie settled in his stall / paddock. Surprised by two great danes, one of which had her nose in whatever I happened to be doing.

Worked for an hour ‘on the ground’. I was asked to imagine a blue marble at the top of my neck, a pink marble just behind my heart, and a bowling ball settling into my pelvis. Getting myself where I was supposed to be landed me in what felt like leaning forward, looking down. Instructor seemed to be happy, but I didn’t notice much change in me. Maybe deeper breathing, but the overall equitation just seemed wrong.

Tacked up, and then the famous “this doesn’t fit right, you need to buy ____ to protect his back from injury.” Each instructor thinks I need to go out & buy something.. doesn’t seem to matter who it is, they all have their opinions. Opinions are like ____, everybody has one. Anyway, moving on, Chewie was tacked in his normal stuff, and while there may be “uneven contact” or “bridging”, his overall attitude lately hasn’t reflected any discomfort.

She lunged Chewie at walk, for, oh, about 3 minutes, then launched me up there. He spent a few minutes nervous & concerned, probably from my own nerves & concern. We repeated the same centering drills, with Chewie at the walk. Centering the head & chest were easy. Getting in my mind the image of a bowling ball settling in my pelvis is very difficult. I’m just not feeling it . worse, when it’s “right”, I can’t feel any change in him. I can feel when I think I’m right, and he shortens his stride. Instructor was quite happy when he fully halted, which seems wild. If “halt” is what we’re going for, I can get that much easier than with anything she’ll try to teach us. I’ll exhale sharp, put on the air brakes, problem solved. He stops.

Had an average dinner that was pretty good. It’s nearly after 9, and, starting the day at about 5am, I’m exhausted.

Maybe more in the morning when I can translate the lessons in my sleep.

Clinic Update

I've got guts... but also determined to get over my fear if I kill myself or drive my horse crazy...

I've signed up for a Friday to Sunday private clinic from that website linked previously. Last weekend in February. Just me & my horse, with instructor's lesson horses as appropriate.

I deliberated on this for nearly two weeks.. Just couldn't work up the courage to admit that a boot-camp style weekend may be the only way to conquer the fear. This nit-picking around isn't going to get it done.

I've used up work gift awards in exchange for hotel gift certificates. That should just about cover the two nights. All that'll be left is to commit to eat well while I'm there...

Tomorrow morning I'll put up a summary of tonight's ride.

Schooling Session

Warmed up free in the round pen - 10 minutes

Side reins (5 on outside, 7 inside) - 15 minutes

Worked on walk-frogs, trot with reins & stirrups - 25 minutes

Chewie was incredibly slow. I believe this is from his temper tantrums Friday (refusing to be easily caught, galloping around the pasture) and Saturday (refusing to be caught a second time for yellow-spray on his neck-cut after the long bath & dry time). Needed Lots of leg to keep him in a forward trot.

Considering a Private Clinic .....
Http://www.satori.com