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I did not have a good ride before I left. I was stressed from work and strapped for time, and things of course went poorly. I did some reading and some thinking afterward though, and then I went on vacation, which was rejuvenating even if not exactly restful. I played in the waves with my dad and my son (Dad and I got knocked on our butts by large waves- very fun). The sea claimed a pair of my sunglasses but it was worth it. Went deep sea fishing and caught a great white shark -- a young one, about 2 feet long (I'm rather glad it wasn't larger).
So tonight I got out to the barn late because the hubby got home late from work. Phoebus looked like a refugee- totally filthy. I groomed him for about a half hour which I think he really enjoyed, although I did not. His eyes got all soft and he was like "I totally love you.". I got on expecting to be stiff, and we spent a lot of time walking while I got reacquainted with the saddle, and explored my thoughts. Peggy has been talking to me about outside leg/hand, and I've been reading some stuff too and thinking about it- I kind of knew what she was talking about, but I didn't thoroughly understand it. Through a glass darkly- now I know in part, but then shall I KNOW...
Where is the hind leg? Specifically, the outside hind leg? I feel it when we are going to the left. It swings my seat and hip as he steps. We start going to the right. Where is the hind leg? It is not there. I cannot feel it. So it must not be energetically stepping up and through. AH HA. I ask with the leg, I ask with the whip, still I don't feel the leg. But the answer is revealed- I cannot simply ask, I cannot simply tell, I cannot simply PASSIVELY allow. I must ask AND ACTIVELY ALLOW. I think about how it FEELS when the hind leg steps up and through. Viola, there is the hind leg. So it's nothing I haven't really been told, but it's something I didn't really GET. It's not an easy thing to get or keep- just steps here and there, but it's more blocks to build with.
I had been reading about problems with horses taking leads, and I know the order of the feet in the canter stride- outside hind, diagonal pair of inside hind and outside fore, inside fore. It was a hard thing for me to memorize, harder to visualize. But it's giving me insight and understanding. Anyway, some of what I read said that the horse must push off with the outside hind into true canter, so if I can control the hind legs, I can control the canter. But I can't control them if I don't know where they are and what they're doing, hence all the very helpful walk work. It's easy to blow off the walk and only work on trot and canter, but sometimes I just get kind of desperate and need to slow something down so I can make sense of it, and then I suddenly remember how important the walk is. I also noticed incredible crookedness- part of this is the leg again- in the horse and probably myself. The week off did me a LOT of good in that respect because I get accustomed to riding crookedly and again- it's pretty hard to get the solution if you don't even understand the problem.
Tonight I rode the way I want to ride. It was like someone flipped on my "good rider" switch. Phoebus was extremely light in the bridle, because I didn't even care about it. It didn't matter. I felt his legs under me, his hind legs almost like they were my own. I did use the bridle, but almost as an afterthought, just as a nuance most of the time. I made the hind legs do what I wanted, and everything else fell into place. I stopped trying to make nice nice with the bridle when Phoebus did his hollow-back-nose-in-the-air trick and softly set my hand and drove him into the bridle, and felt him get round from back to front. NEAT. The right lead was there, there, there. We only blew it once at the beginning. It still scares me, but I'm on to something. He's still going to fight me, and I'm still going to get depressed and frustrated. But these good rides though are better than anything I've done before, and they're coming more often.
And I'm chock frigging full of epiphanies. Too bad they don't last longer. ^_^
So tonight I got out to the barn late because the hubby got home late from work. Phoebus looked like a refugee- totally filthy. I groomed him for about a half hour which I think he really enjoyed, although I did not. His eyes got all soft and he was like "I totally love you.". I got on expecting to be stiff, and we spent a lot of time walking while I got reacquainted with the saddle, and explored my thoughts. Peggy has been talking to me about outside leg/hand, and I've been reading some stuff too and thinking about it- I kind of knew what she was talking about, but I didn't thoroughly understand it. Through a glass darkly- now I know in part, but then shall I KNOW...
Where is the hind leg? Specifically, the outside hind leg? I feel it when we are going to the left. It swings my seat and hip as he steps. We start going to the right. Where is the hind leg? It is not there. I cannot feel it. So it must not be energetically stepping up and through. AH HA. I ask with the leg, I ask with the whip, still I don't feel the leg. But the answer is revealed- I cannot simply ask, I cannot simply tell, I cannot simply PASSIVELY allow. I must ask AND ACTIVELY ALLOW. I think about how it FEELS when the hind leg steps up and through. Viola, there is the hind leg. So it's nothing I haven't really been told, but it's something I didn't really GET. It's not an easy thing to get or keep- just steps here and there, but it's more blocks to build with.
I had been reading about problems with horses taking leads, and I know the order of the feet in the canter stride- outside hind, diagonal pair of inside hind and outside fore, inside fore. It was a hard thing for me to memorize, harder to visualize. But it's giving me insight and understanding. Anyway, some of what I read said that the horse must push off with the outside hind into true canter, so if I can control the hind legs, I can control the canter. But I can't control them if I don't know where they are and what they're doing, hence all the very helpful walk work. It's easy to blow off the walk and only work on trot and canter, but sometimes I just get kind of desperate and need to slow something down so I can make sense of it, and then I suddenly remember how important the walk is. I also noticed incredible crookedness- part of this is the leg again- in the horse and probably myself. The week off did me a LOT of good in that respect because I get accustomed to riding crookedly and again- it's pretty hard to get the solution if you don't even understand the problem.
Tonight I rode the way I want to ride. It was like someone flipped on my "good rider" switch. Phoebus was extremely light in the bridle, because I didn't even care about it. It didn't matter. I felt his legs under me, his hind legs almost like they were my own. I did use the bridle, but almost as an afterthought, just as a nuance most of the time. I made the hind legs do what I wanted, and everything else fell into place. I stopped trying to make nice nice with the bridle when Phoebus did his hollow-back-nose-in-the-air trick and softly set my hand and drove him into the bridle, and felt him get round from back to front. NEAT. The right lead was there, there, there. We only blew it once at the beginning. It still scares me, but I'm on to something. He's still going to fight me, and I'm still going to get depressed and frustrated. But these good rides though are better than anything I've done before, and they're coming more often.
And I'm chock frigging full of epiphanies. Too bad they don't last longer. ^_^
