Lesson report with pics

[pboy]

Here comes another boring long lesson report!! The 'we' refers to me and my YO, who is also my instructor, as she schools him once a week while I'm abroad with work.

So far with Indio we've mostly been working on getting him stretching into an elastic contact, encouraging him to take the left rein more (his stiff neck means he tends to naturally flex left and slightly tilt his head in that direction, while leaning on the right rein). He's getting better at this and stronger, so we've been working on more lateral suppleness through lots of figure of eights and serpentines. Now we're starting the next stage, which is strengthening his back end in preparation for asking for more engagement.

Today we worked on the following in walk and trot - on a 20m circle, slowing the tempo so it's very very slow but insisting that Indio keeps the even, light contact as that means he's still carrying himself. Then do a small circle in the slow tempo, back onto the big circle and back to the normal walk / trot. The slow work uses different muscles and is apparently great for building up the second thigh and hindquarters. Indio certainly found it difficult to start with and would also get 'stuck' in the slower tempo, so we did lots of back and forth until it was smooth and he was carrying himself. His trot felt fab and Ali reckons he'll have a great medium trot one day. He also ended up with a lovely swinging walk with a good couple of hooves overtrack. Clever boy!

I did one canter on the left rein, which was quite nice, then onto the right rein. He's been going back to his old habit of getting the wrong lead on the right, and I'm trying to discipline myself to keep my weight down the inside stirrup and keep the trot really balanced to help him out. We had a few difficult transitions then he suddenly 'got it'. In the penultimate one, he struck off on the left leg, brought himself back to trot and corrected himself! He did a few strides of absolutely gorgeous canter and Ali was delighted, she said he suddenly looked really engaged and uphill (and Spanish ), a great omen for the future!

Here are a few pics. I have the video which I'll add to the members section:

[brigadier]

that trot int he second pic looks lovely, you can just see the head tilt but in the last two pics he looks straighter- tricky with stills as you only capture a moment so could be completely wrong. I do envy your shoulder and upper arm position!! Off to look at the vid now.

[pboy]

Thanks Brig!! I've had to work hard on that (and everything else ). Let me think of the exercises that have helped...

I think these were a few 'lightbulb moments' for me:
- Equi-Pilates session where the teacher said that you can't expect to be able to maintain a position on the horse if you can't do it off the horse! She had us squeezing our shoulder blades down and together repeatedly, and told us to do it while brushing our teeth each day. I do it all the time (even while writing this ) now and I find it a lot easier to keep my shoulders back
- Riding sensitive TBs in HK! If you didn't keep an elastic contact they'd stick their head in the air and rush. My instructor told me it's no good focusing on keeping my hands still as the horse is moving. She described the shoulders and elbows as being the 'suspension', like on a car, that absorb the movement. Try it with a full mug of tea - if you tried to carry it with stiff shoulders and elbows you'd spill it. Even better try carrying a mug of hot tea while in a car over a bumpy road and you'll soon learn to keep bent, supple elbows
- Another visualisation that I read online somewhere was to imagine you're keeping the bit as still as possible in the horse's mouth. Again, it's only possible if you keep your shoulders and elbows supple and your elbows bent
- Lunge lessons to strengthen the core and loosen hips so you can keep your upper body stiller. I still have a long long way to go on this one!!

And lots of practice of course! If I think of any of the other helpful tips I've had I'll pass them on.

[pboy]

I was just looking at the YouTube yoga vid and remembered something from the session.

Once Indio had worked out how to go from slow to normal trot while maintaining self-carriage, he would fart every time he did it. Clearly the exercise was working his core muscles!! I was always given the tip to never be at the back of a yoga class for that reason

[brigadier]

You've just changed the way I brush my teeth!

[pboy]

Jun 8, 2015 19:40:10 GMT brigadier said:

You've just changed the way I brush my teeth!

Do you also swap hands halfway through..? That was a William Micklem tip to make you more ambidextrous! I find it easy...because I have an electric toothbrush:D. Much harder with a normal one!

[brigadier]

I obviously need a different toothbrush also!!

[fleabitten]

Well done for sticking out the slow exercise - ive done it before and its very tricky!

[racaille]

Some great tips here - and I'm off to try the toothbrushing exercise!