So I’m back in the saddle and I feel rusty and wussy. The saddle feels great and we are both adjusting to the bigger movement Millie can now do as she has the room to move her shoulders and the space between the withers. Mils feels a little unbalanced but you can’t blame her. No amount of lunging and long reining is going to be able to mimic the change of the centre of gravity a rider creates.
I have been getting straight on the last 2 days and doing my 20min gentle work to get the saddle worn in. Yesterday I noticed I was slipping to the right a bit, and as this is still Millie’s weaker side even though she’s progressed so much with with her shoulder it’s still lagging behind slightly. So I text Julie and asked for her advice. I thought it may be a case of putting a pad in the back but what I love about Julie is that she came back with a great answer which gave me the lightbulb moment. Of course this is what I should have thought.
“As it’s you no, for a day or two try lifting her ribcage that side to fill the hole. The saddle is level, she is weaker and not so engaged, the saddle is the symptoms not the cause. Remain on your left seat bone and encourage her to lift to support your right seat bone. Do in hand work to engage that area before you get on, if necessary get off and work it then get on again. We can artificially support it but if you are strong through your core and can not drop right she should engage in a few days. Does that make sense.”
So tonight I warmed her up on the ground first, I will be doing this until she is even, regardless of how long that takes. Remember, if you were training as a human athlete you would do pre activation and dynamic warm ups before even doing any loaded movement. So this also applies to the horse especially in terms of rehab or correction work.
Once on board I start off on the right to just encourage the lift in the rib cage and the suppleness through the quarters. Any slight improvement gets a little praise and a stretch. The trot work can still feel like it’s going towards a rodeo, I just need to stop the mist clouding Millie’s brain, if the mist descends I could be in trouble. By that I mean when she’s unsure she panics and when she panics she goes into ultimate survival mode and there’s not much I can do.
“Lass die Pfoten weg” is the only thing that goes through my mind when I’m riding. Whilst at the Hanoverian State Stud this was one of the things that was repeatedly mentioned- it’s a sort of funny phrase to not use your hands. On a young horse, on something sharp, on something running away, on something going well… whatever you were sat on you didn’t use your hands! You rode from the leg and let the horse come up into the contact which I’m trying desperately to do. The other thing that came to mind tonight is what Roland Belindo said to me a while ago “stop riding like a working rider, you arnt one, ride properly like I know you can”
Where I’ve just gotten used to that feeling of riding a freshly backed horse I’ve stayed in that position, which is pretty much with short hip flexors and concave’d through the chest- never a good look. So it was time to stretch the hip flexors, open the chest and sit tall with a strong core, the legs strong and guiding leg to hand. And constantly re-enforcing that entire motion.
No hands
Use the leg
Sit tall
Engage the core
Don’t hang
Have an independent seat
A Spook happens, and you start all
Over! A fully completed circle and you start all over.
Constantly thinking about how you can improve yourself to improve your horse so your horse can go at it’s absolute best so you can have a great ride! In that order.
Like Julie said about the saddle, it’s not the root cause. You are the root cause and YOU must fix it.
Every ride I have I try to improve something, always wanting a bit more and always coming away with a little more even if it’s just the smallest reaction or one less spook.
I have come across a few people who say “I’m taking it slow with my horse” yet they’ve been saying this for years. There’s a difference to taking it slow and making no progress. Progress needs to happen everyday no matter how small or big you just need to be determined to want that progress.
And of course it’s not going to go to plan every single time….
jessicagroveptdotcom 