Finally progress
Dear sweet mother of god, I got it back. I rode Clover last night and had a pretty good ride, farted around, didn't try anything too adventurous but I did work at all three gaits and managed some bending lines and transitions. Katrina's really lightened Clover up and made her responsive to the aids, bless her soul. No, I haven't found religion, unless you consider regaining your seat on par with finding God.
I already know I'm going to Hell for a myriad of other reasons. Avert your eyes if you're offended.
Anyways, I braved it again on Mico tonight; Katrina rode him last night and softened him up for me with her kinder seat. I just concentrated on the things I've been working on in lessons with Michele: straight, square, breathing, hands up and together. Things were going better than they have been. It wasn't until I started to spiral in and out of a 20 meter circle that it clicked again. I flashed back to Monday, during the lesson I had gotten Katja to bend and moved her shoulder and haunches in and out on the spiral, and magically (ok, not really) I transferred what the lesson had reinforced for me--what I already know in my muscle memory--and reproduced it with Mico. Hot damn.
I rode out of the circle and across the diagonal to change rein, testing to see if I could keep Mico between the aids. For the rest of the ride, we got some good work. I did some more spirals, circles, transitions, bending lines--nothing too strenuous, and I quit early on a good note. The next test will be to see if I can do it again, to ride normally on demand.
It just goes to show that this prolonged, painful episode of forgetting how to ride, of losing confidence, is all in my head. And now I know I can expect to struggle with this for the rest of my riding life, something I'll have to accept and try to guard against. Starting lessons again was definitely the right thing to do, switching between Clover and Mico to give my seat a break, the change of seasons all contributed to this change in fortune.
I already know I'm going to Hell for a myriad of other reasons. Avert your eyes if you're offended.
Anyways, I braved it again on Mico tonight; Katrina rode him last night and softened him up for me with her kinder seat. I just concentrated on the things I've been working on in lessons with Michele: straight, square, breathing, hands up and together. Things were going better than they have been. It wasn't until I started to spiral in and out of a 20 meter circle that it clicked again. I flashed back to Monday, during the lesson I had gotten Katja to bend and moved her shoulder and haunches in and out on the spiral, and magically (ok, not really) I transferred what the lesson had reinforced for me--what I already know in my muscle memory--and reproduced it with Mico. Hot damn.
I rode out of the circle and across the diagonal to change rein, testing to see if I could keep Mico between the aids. For the rest of the ride, we got some good work. I did some more spirals, circles, transitions, bending lines--nothing too strenuous, and I quit early on a good note. The next test will be to see if I can do it again, to ride normally on demand.
It just goes to show that this prolonged, painful episode of forgetting how to ride, of losing confidence, is all in my head. And now I know I can expect to struggle with this for the rest of my riding life, something I'll have to accept and try to guard against. Starting lessons again was definitely the right thing to do, switching between Clover and Mico to give my seat a break, the change of seasons all contributed to this change in fortune.
Comments
Post a Comment