Body awareness

Over the last couple of weeks, I've started to notice a new awareness of what my body is doing, even when I'm not in the saddle. This is huge because it includes things like driving down the road and going around a corner and realizing, oops, my right side is collapsing, I need lift my right shoulder. The more I am aware of this outside of the saddle, the more I become aware of it while I am riding, which makes it that much easier to fix.

I mentioned this to T and she said, oh, I love it when people do horsey homework out of the saddle! 

So while it isn't a very exciting request when T asks me what I want to work on, the last 2 lessons have been spent building on more of the same: straightening my body, which results in me getting out of the horse's way so he can do his job, and also feeling more secure as a whole.

Since it's been raining for a full week, jumping is out entirely, but I think this is for the best at the moment. I don't really need to be jumping until I am feeling more confident in the saddle as a whole!

Yesterday we started to drill down on my right side collapsing and falling forward in downward transitions. I could feel what she meant once she pointed it out, but especially since we are retraining my body to hold a position that is a bit foreign to it, I don't have the stamina to work on it for long periods. So we have to do a lot of transitions and I have to really concentrate on staying up and back through them. It's hard! But I am really enjoying the work, and Eli has been taking great care of me. It's so cool to feel him straighten his body and automatically go back to the rail when I finally use my body properly.

Next Sunday, T will be doing some continuing education work, so I will get to ride with her assistant, J. T says she is going to brief J on all of her students, and to just remind her that we are working on straightness and not tipping forward through transitions. She is going to keep me on Eli for this so there is some semblance of familiarity, but says she does want to try me on some other horses and I am all for it!