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Sep. 14th, 2007 09:17 amMy horse is 10 kinds of awesome. Was strapped for time last night, so I did a quick n' dirty grooming job (basically picking out the feet and brushing off spots where stuff goes on the horse) and hopped on. Much better about going off the leg, and I didn't need to use my reins much for steering/slowing/bending. Trudi was pretty stretchy and reaching, and we had one HUGE spook where a cat teleported in from somewhere and materialized just in front of us, then ran down the wall to zip out into the aisle. Trudi threw each leg in a different direction and ended up in a sprawling crouch with her belly only about a foot off the ground, but she did not try to take off or spin. I made myself ask for the trot on a long rein again immediately after and she was pretty good about it and more trustworthy than I would have guessed. She moved on pretty obediently and with a lot less fuss and a minimum of small aftershock spooks in the corner.
Worked a bit on riding her in shoulder fore, especially going to the left as she really likes to bring her haunches in that way. I figured out that it was easier for her to maintain if I kept my inside leg on lightly at the girth- it's like it gave her support- then my outside leg was back and bumping now and again to keep her coming forward. I know about the concept of inside leg to outside rein, and I'm sure that was happening too, but what felt like was just my leg hugging her side and sort of telling her "I'll help you". Same thing for the circles, with the added bonus of actually remembering to ride her as though her body was bisected by a line and I needed to keep half of her on each side of it, AND my seat was deeper AND my upper body wasn't having nearly as much trouble with falling behind.
The canter transitions were EASY. Holy crap, you read that right, they were EASY. I didn't have to think about timing or anything, I was just sitting deep, and I'd halfhalt, and Trudi would pause, and I'd cue and she would just step right into it. So cool. I even upped the ante a little and went OK, half circle trot, then we're going to canter HERE, then we're going to trot again HERE (Usually we just do what feels right at the time and wait till she feels ready). I gave her more massages when we were done, and now I'm sort of afraid to ride again because I'm thinking it can't possibly keep being that good. :)
Worked a bit on riding her in shoulder fore, especially going to the left as she really likes to bring her haunches in that way. I figured out that it was easier for her to maintain if I kept my inside leg on lightly at the girth- it's like it gave her support- then my outside leg was back and bumping now and again to keep her coming forward. I know about the concept of inside leg to outside rein, and I'm sure that was happening too, but what felt like was just my leg hugging her side and sort of telling her "I'll help you". Same thing for the circles, with the added bonus of actually remembering to ride her as though her body was bisected by a line and I needed to keep half of her on each side of it, AND my seat was deeper AND my upper body wasn't having nearly as much trouble with falling behind.
The canter transitions were EASY. Holy crap, you read that right, they were EASY. I didn't have to think about timing or anything, I was just sitting deep, and I'd halfhalt, and Trudi would pause, and I'd cue and she would just step right into it. So cool. I even upped the ante a little and went OK, half circle trot, then we're going to canter HERE, then we're going to trot again HERE (Usually we just do what feels right at the time and wait till she feels ready). I gave her more massages when we were done, and now I'm sort of afraid to ride again because I'm thinking it can't possibly keep being that good. :)
