Stuck like glue

Last week's surcingle lesson was more of the same from the last few weeks. We have been building on this quiet confidence I'm developing and slowly (re-)teaching my body how to turn right again. Turning right is proving to be difficult, but I think I'm slowly getting it. 

There are a few key things have come to light:

1. If I remove my right leg from the horse, my horse can turn right as soon as I ask. So, I need to figure out how to stop blocking him with my right leg and driving him left with my right seat bone, while NOT removing my right leg from his body.
2. If I hold my left arm out over his mane as I try to turn right, I am able to better unlock my right side and actually turn my body and my horse!
3. I do not have that same success when I hold my right arm up over my head -- I still find it hard to get around myself and turn my horse.
4. All of this is way easier to the left, where I have relatively few issues turning! To the left I feel more centered, more balanced, less grippy in my thighs, and it's slightly easier to find my left seat bone. When I try to replicate that feeling to the right, I get a pretty great turn!
5. I'm trying to slowly do more trotting without holding the grabs, because I feel like I'm having difficulty turning around the grabs when we trot figures. Particularly to the right.

This week, my normally flea-bitten grey mount was nearly bay with mud when I arrived. (Yay...thanks, Tosh.) I got a really good arm workout currying him, and eventually managed to get him reasonably clean. (There's not much I can do about stains!)

My face when I saw Tosh, and how I looked after currying the mud off of him.
He, on the other hand, looked pretty pleased with himself.

As if the mud wasn't enough, the hair was coming off of him in sheets. Needless to say, I consumed a lot of horse hair and dirt! 

As usual, I gave Tosh the option to lunge and he was pretty low-key since he'd been out all night. Once I mounted, he scooted a little but then took a deep breath and we walked off by ourselves to warm up. 

Right away, I could feel how stiff my body was, so after we'd walked 2 laps in each direction, I stopped him to stretch my hips and turn my body for a couple of minutes. When T asked what I wanted to work on, I said, I think more turning, trying to see if we can get my circler back in the habit of circling, especially to the right. I told her I was feeling kind of stiff because I'd spent the majority of the previous day lying on the couch with my dog, enjoying the silence of my husband being out of town! She offered to stretch my legs to see if it would help. I think it did help quite a bit. We got a couple of decent releases on each side, and Tosh seemed to appreciate that. 

Then she asked if there were any shapes in particular I wanted to work on and I said serpentines, because then we get the basic arc of a circle but have a chance to straighten out and get everything sorted out again before I can lose stamina in the middle or at the end of a circle.

Since one of the babies was lunging at C, our warm-up took place on the A half of the arena. She sent us off to do a Jacob's ladder pattern and told me not to worry about being round in the turns, to just focus on getting my body right. We set off on a loose rein to K and began the pattern. 

Those right turns were HARD. My ongoing issue is keeping my right shoulder up and back and my right leg stretched down and also "off" the horse so he could turn around it. It did get easier as it went, but man. I don't struggle nearly as much with the same exact turn to the left. 

Eventually, the baby was finished and we utilized the entire arena. First she had me Jacob's ladder at the trot up to C and back to A. Then we walked for a minute before she had me Jacob's ladder to C, with serpentines, instead of straight lines -- at the trot. Good grief. I think it rode as well as I drew it the first time (ie, very, very badly).

BUT, on the way back from C to A in the same pattern, I had an epiphany at my V-L-P serpentine when T asked me to really focus on how it felt turning to the left and to try to feel that same thing to the right. The result was that my right arc in my K-D-F serpentine was literally my best right-hand arc ever.

After that nearly perfect turn, she decided we were done doing figures and asked if I wanted to canter. I did! We were halted at F on a long rein. She told me to take 3 deep breaths and on the 3rd exhale, to ask for the right lead. Guys, this horse is incredible. I can't even. It's SO hard to wipe the huge smile off my face when we're cantering around! The depart was perfect, my body felt soft and relaxed, so the pace felt amazing. But more importantly, I was able to keep him on the rail with just my body and waiting to look for my next marker with my eyes (something I have been struggling with).

After a couple of laps, we did a thigh release to halt and then did a turn on the haunches to reverse. We walked half a lap to C and then she told me to take 3 deep breaths and ask on the 3rd exhale again. We had another great depart and I promptly forgot to breathe once we were cantering. Oops! But even so, everything felt amazing and I was grinning like an idiot. 

By this point, another baby had been brought in for some lunging, and as we came around by C in our second lap, she decided to buck as we passed her. Tosh leaped to the right (probably a slight exaggeration on his part, but hey, he was protecting us). By some miracle, I continued to look around my corner, tightened my hold on the grabs, jammed my heels down, and stuck with him like there was glue on my breeches. I'm pretty sure if I'd been in a saddle, I would have zagged while Tosh zigged. As it is, I'm really proud of myself for sticking with him. It felt HUGE because he's a big horse, but according to the eyes on the ground, my butt never moved from his back. 

The even bigger victory is I was kind of laughing about it and celebrating as I asked him to whoa. We finally collected ourselves and came back to a halt by F  before turning to face T, who was also chuckling, since she knew I wasn't freaking out. T and I agreed that if I had been in a saddle, I probably would have been a goner. But both of us were super proud of me for not getting anxious or upset, for just going with the flow, sticking (literally) with my horse and bringing him back. 

Finally, as Tosh turned to boop my right foot (something he never does), T said, I think Tosh is pretty embarrassed by all of that but he really hates losing his person, so I'm sure he's glad you stuck with him. I'm not going to get onto him for protecting you and getting you out of there. But I think we're going to end on that note and let your body and brain remember that huge win.

Where did this body come from?

Last week, I rode in the surcingle for the 3rd or 4th week in a row. It was a great lesson, although I still struggled with tipping to the right in my turns to the right. As has been the theme the last few weeks, I was able to correct and/or prevent this issue pretty regularly in the canter, and am increasingly able to feel it and adjust in the trot, but I definitely struggle way more in the trot. It seems to be a strength and stamina thing, so it is coming along, it will just take time.

This week, I opted to ride in a saddle to check in. I mounted on time for my class, but T was running a bit behind because the young horse in the class before mine was working through some issues with not wanting to go where he was told. No problemo. Tosh and I stayed at the C end of the arena to give them space, and practiced our turns and some figures while we waited. 

So, when T asked what I wanted to work on, I said more of the same, but also, I noticed while Tosh and I were warming up that I am starting to swing my weight to the outside when I'm turning right. I think it's happening because I am trying to take my right leg off of him to give him space to turn. All of which is an improvement over tipping to the right, but obviously is still not the desired outcome! She chuckled and agreed, then sent us off to the right at a working walk to see what we were dealing with that day. 

Right away, she told me my shoulders looked lovely. We did some really nice circles where I focused on keeping my seat in the middle of the saddle while keeping my right leg soft and allowing him space to move around it (this still means removing my right leg from his body completely). We did a serpentine to change direction and my shoulders stayed up and back, my body turned, Tosh's body turned...it was really amazing! As we came around by A, tracking left now, she told me to pick up a rising trot. I kept my legs soft and said, Trot-trot, Tosh. He trotted off and I immediately picked up the correct diagonal. (This isn't unusual tracking left, I do get it in stride 99.9% of the time heading left!) We did more figures, large circles, medium circles, all the while she kept telling me how good my shoulders looked, my hips and legs were good, etc. At one point, she said, I don't know where this amazing body came from, but I love it! I giggled and tried not to lose it!

Trotting to the right was a lot of the same, soft, relaxed, and straight. I also got my diagonal in stride--which mostly happens for me when I am truly straight and correct! 

After a couple of laps at the trot, she had me halt in front of her and asked how it was feeling. I huffed and puffed for a second and said, it feels really good! My legs are protesting the posting after riding in the surcingle for so many weeks, though! She said, well, having a tired body is clearly working for you!

She sent me off to walk a lap and then pick up a sitting trot -- to the right it felt good (Wait, what?) but sitting trot to the left had me feeling like I was perched and bouncing a lot, causing Tosh to have a tight stride at first. I was finally able to relax my thighs and back for a few strides and that felt MUCH better. 

Finally, we cantered to the right first and I never once felt like I was tipping in (or out, for that matter!) -- it was incredible! I also worked quite a bit on not looking too far ahead of me -- so as I approached M, I looked at M until we had to turn the corner, and then I looked down to where T was sitting until we had to turn before looking at K, etc. This really helped me keep my body up and back and use the entire arena, both of which I really struggle with when I get tired and when I look too soon for the next marker. 

To the left, again, I got a little tight for some reason, but once I was able to relax my body and breathe, the fluidity came right back. Yay! When we halted, T asked if I wanted to work on anything else and I said, nope, I don't want to fall down a rabbit hole and undo something!

So, we ended after having beautiful, balanced work at all gaits, in both directions. I don't know who that straight, relaxed body belonged to, but I sure hope it sticks around!