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My pony is canter-licious
Nov. 16th, 2007 09:03 pmHer departs bring all the boys to the barn....
So I got on and my butt was all cranky, my hips were all stiff, and Trudi didn't really want to stretch at the trot. Bleh, I thought. I grappled with my legs, we warmed up w/t/c, and then we did some bending to the outside to the right, because it felt like her left side was stiff, and this helped. It actually dawned on me how much I have not been maintaining the quality of the gait whenever I was thinking about doing a "movement" and that that's not really helping my horse progress. I've had this problem before, but I obviously forgot and it has resurfaced. So I started paying more attention to the energy and quality of our walk.
Oh, the left hind is getting a bit lazy? *little bump*
Oh that's better, but now the right...
*little bump*.
Is the back starting to drop? *little bump*. My legs were actually draped around the horse, instead of just hanging, and I felt a HUGE difference when I actually MAINTAINED a QUALITY walk, for the laterals, across the diagonal, on a circle, etc. We brought the shoulders to the outside, and lo, it was good. We brought them to the inside, and it was also good. I felt it bring her all together, she got taller and shorter from nose to tail, and she was HAPPY. Even though I can usually feel crookedness a little, I don't usually know when we're straight. But, I could at least feel that we were straighter after the laterals.
And then we did some canter transitions, and they were GREAT and FUN. I never thought I could love canter transitions. They've been the bane of my existance for like 10 years. No joke. These were the same fantastic ones as last night- both leads.
This both thrills and terrifies me, as mentally I can't say I completely understand how to do it, like each little nuance of position and aid- but my body and my horse somehow KNOW it, and that part is AWESOME.
So I got on and my butt was all cranky, my hips were all stiff, and Trudi didn't really want to stretch at the trot. Bleh, I thought. I grappled with my legs, we warmed up w/t/c, and then we did some bending to the outside to the right, because it felt like her left side was stiff, and this helped. It actually dawned on me how much I have not been maintaining the quality of the gait whenever I was thinking about doing a "movement" and that that's not really helping my horse progress. I've had this problem before, but I obviously forgot and it has resurfaced. So I started paying more attention to the energy and quality of our walk.
Oh, the left hind is getting a bit lazy? *little bump*
Oh that's better, but now the right...
*little bump*.
Is the back starting to drop? *little bump*. My legs were actually draped around the horse, instead of just hanging, and I felt a HUGE difference when I actually MAINTAINED a QUALITY walk, for the laterals, across the diagonal, on a circle, etc. We brought the shoulders to the outside, and lo, it was good. We brought them to the inside, and it was also good. I felt it bring her all together, she got taller and shorter from nose to tail, and she was HAPPY. Even though I can usually feel crookedness a little, I don't usually know when we're straight. But, I could at least feel that we were straighter after the laterals.
And then we did some canter transitions, and they were GREAT and FUN. I never thought I could love canter transitions. They've been the bane of my existance for like 10 years. No joke. These were the same fantastic ones as last night- both leads.
This both thrills and terrifies me, as mentally I can't say I completely understand how to do it, like each little nuance of position and aid- but my body and my horse somehow KNOW it, and that part is AWESOME.
