May 28: This ride was great! I was reasonably straight, G was going exactly where I wanted him to. It seemed like it all of a sudden clicked in my head and my body -- they were finally working together. I even remembered to breathe most of the ride! When T asked if I wanted to try cantering, I was hesitant just because I didn't know how my balance would be! But she told me that I could basically have G on the buckle and hold onto the surcingle with both hands. And obviously, I know him well enough by now to know that if I am off balance or tipping, he's going to slow down or stop. So, I was like, oh, well if I can hold on with both hands, let's do it! Needless to say, it was absolutely fine and I left feeling super confident and also really appreciative of how amazing her horses are.
June 3: My best friend was still in town after our weekend trip the mountains, so she tagged along. It's been a while since she's seen me ride at all, never mind in a lesson, and even though the lesson was not great (my body was SO tight after sitting in the car so much) -- she was super impressed, not only with T's teaching style and how AWARE she is of every little detail, but she was blown away by the fact that I was riding without a saddle and not falling off! Me too, me too. She cracks me up. Anyway, this lesson was not great simply because my body was not cooperating. It felt like 4 steps backwards from the previous Sunday and was a little disheartening. But T reminded me that it is part of the journey and there were still moments of correctness -- so that is what matters most.
June 16: Yesterday's lesson was fantastic! I spent some time during the week doing some hip stretching exercises. Nothing super crazy, just trying to get my hip flexors to relax and release. It seems to have really helped.
T asked if I wanted to do saddle or surcingle and if I want to ride G or Skylar. I said, I was debating saddle vs surcingle, too. I think I want to do surcingle. She said, ok, then G it is. Sweet! I'm really starting to like him more and more. I got on, and I felt really straight, although I did feel a bit tipped forward. After I did my 2 laps of walk, T had me halt in front of her and she immediately exclaimed that I looked SO much straighter and G was traveling in 2 even paths in both directions and had even halted straight in front of her. Woot!
She asked what I wanted to work on and I said, maintaining the straightness I'm feeling and maybe finding my seat bones because I feel tipped forward a little. So, she had me put each leg (one at a time) over the surcingle handles to find the opposite seat bone and then try to see if I could feel them with both legs around the horse. At the halt I could, so the challenge was to maintain that feeling. From there, we did a bunch of serpentines at the walk, starting with 2 loops from A-X-C and C-X-A, and then we did 2 loops across the school in various places, like E-X-B, etc. Some were better than others, but as a whole, I felt like I really had steering and breathing at the same time down!
When she had me pick up a sitting trot, I first adjusted my seat by leaning over his mane and shimmying my legs deeper around him. I felt really secure and didn't have to work as hard as I have been to keep him going. I also didn't grab for the handles in either direction! T did have to remind me to breathe a couple of times, but for the most part, I think I was remembering, since G wasn't breaking gait. There were lots of exclamations and lots of clapping from T. The first time she asked me to do a thigh release from trot to halt, it was prompt and square and she was pumped!
Our canter work to the right was really solid. G's stride was smooth and confident, he followed my body around the "box" of the arena and I mostly remembered to breathe. But I think I had used up my stamina because the left (which is typically my better direction) was not great. I struggled to keep him going, and started collapsing to the inside, which of course made him break. We finally got around about 1/4 of the arena at a good pace and without collapsing in, and called it a day. She told me I could cool him out on the same serpentines we'd warmed up with while she went to empty the manure spreader. I tried a few serpentines and it just didn't have the same feel because my body was done. So, rather than push it and get frustrated, I dismounted and called it a day.
After I got G cooled out, I cleaned his stall and gave him fresh water and hay -- I needed the extra therapy after my own crappy week plus it 1 less thing for T to worry about, since she was having an even crappier week.
It can always be hard to get back into the swing of things but it sounds after traveling. You are definitely handling it well and it sounds like you are making some really great progress!
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