Boost
Had a great lesson on Mico. Christine and I trailered in to the indoor for a tune-up, so we’d have a little boost to our focus for the coming months of indoor winter riding (I’m not saying it gripingly, I know how lucky we are to have an indoor in close proximity to the barn). Christine had to talk me into it; as I’ve been writing about in past posts, I seem to have lost my touch (or any ground I’d gained by the end of this past summer) with Mico. I just didn’t feel ready for a lesson. But then again, it is probably better to have a lesson when your horse is being difficult or you’re stuck on some plateau.
We didn’t do anything extraordinary or groundbreaking, but what we did do is settle down and focus on all three gaits for an hour. Even though Mico was being spooky, we got through it because I was making the effort to concentrate on riding. Actually, I did have a sort of an a-ha moment. Janet kept reminding me to get my lower legs back underneath me (like my old trainer did constantly; I have a bad case of chair seat), and gradually during the course of the lesson, I started to feel my calves more in light contact with Mico’s side. Not only that, but I was able to use my lower leg somewhat effectively at all three gaits. Some leg yielding got us more connected for actual canter work. We actually had a decent transition for the first canter on the left lead, the more difficult one for Mico.
The canter work was speedy and unbalanced, but I was able to keep my leg on even though it was counter-intuitive to do so. I was able to positively affect Mico’s hind legs with my calves on–he didn’t necessarily go faster, but he stepped more through with each hind leg. I have known classical riding theory for years, I understand it with my brain, but it’s taking so long for my body to catch up.
My biggest issues for now are getting Mico light in the front and more up in the poll, now that I know how to activate his hind end, maintaining rhythm, keeping the distance from hands to mouth the same, half-halting more effectively, and working on transitions to help with Mico’s balance and strength.
I was glad Christine talked me into the lesson, it was a great confidence boost and showed me that I can ride Mico. He is a tricky ride.
We didn’t do anything extraordinary or groundbreaking, but what we did do is settle down and focus on all three gaits for an hour. Even though Mico was being spooky, we got through it because I was making the effort to concentrate on riding. Actually, I did have a sort of an a-ha moment. Janet kept reminding me to get my lower legs back underneath me (like my old trainer did constantly; I have a bad case of chair seat), and gradually during the course of the lesson, I started to feel my calves more in light contact with Mico’s side. Not only that, but I was able to use my lower leg somewhat effectively at all three gaits. Some leg yielding got us more connected for actual canter work. We actually had a decent transition for the first canter on the left lead, the more difficult one for Mico.
The canter work was speedy and unbalanced, but I was able to keep my leg on even though it was counter-intuitive to do so. I was able to positively affect Mico’s hind legs with my calves on–he didn’t necessarily go faster, but he stepped more through with each hind leg. I have known classical riding theory for years, I understand it with my brain, but it’s taking so long for my body to catch up.
My biggest issues for now are getting Mico light in the front and more up in the poll, now that I know how to activate his hind end, maintaining rhythm, keeping the distance from hands to mouth the same, half-halting more effectively, and working on transitions to help with Mico’s balance and strength.
I was glad Christine talked me into the lesson, it was a great confidence boost and showed me that I can ride Mico. He is a tricky ride.
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