This Tuesday we had our last regular lesson for this semester. We often do something a little unusual for those occasions, and this time we had a little contest. It consisted of several different parts; most canter strides between two points, most steps backing up, most lateral steps between two points, smallest circle at a trot, most trotting strides between two points and fewest trotting strides between two points.

We had all been assigned horses we hadn’t ridden for a while, so I was on Fleur. It was rather fun, actually, and it sure made me do very careful corners to get the most strides in when that mattered. ;) Fleur, having a very short stride, did well at those, and I also did pretty well backing her up. Lateral was okay, the circle was passable, but the final bit of trotting (fewest strides between two points) resulted in cantering since she was really charged up by then. I think I may have come in second or third (one of the other girls did amazingly well, and looked so focused it was kind of funny), but we ended up being very late so I had to leave before the results were handed out.

Yesterday, I finished up the semester with a private lesson. I didn’t ride for our unusual instructor, though, because she called in sick this morning. Instead, I rode for the head instructor. I haven’t ridden for her for some years, so it made me a bit nervous. Murphy, of course, was quite happy and eager to get started during the warm-up. He really loves being alone in the arena. However, once she showed up, it got a little trickier. I wasn’t quite sure what to ask her to focus on (I had planned to ask my regular instructor to work on whatever she felt I had had most issues with during the semester), but decided to ask for more work on my position.

Boy, did I get that. She worked me very hard about my hand position (particularly on the right, I tend to tilt my hand so the palm is more downwards, which comes from my elbow getting too straight, and I often open up my hands too much when I want to be soft), and she was pretty tough on my legs too. She did spot some good things that the regular instructor hasn’t nagged me about lately (a fresh eye is always good), but I did struggle a bit with the amount of instructions. I get a little tense and a wee bit stressed when constantly being reminded about something, so at first I started getting stiff and contorted. Eventually, however, I was able to take in the corrections more calmly, and there was a marked difference towards the end as I finally started to keep my elbow bent more naturally. But I may still have to try riding with a whip held across each hand and secured by my thumbs to keep from dropping one hand or pushing too much against the horse’s neck.

Because we focused so much on me, I did not get quite the result I would have wanted from Murphy, though she was very pleased with his trot towards the end. And he certainly got a work-out; when I gave him long reins as we finished up (after 50 minutes instead of 30, yikes), he just stopped right off. So, I got off and lead him for a bit before taking him up and putting a blanket on him. He was very soft and sweet. Good lesson, all in all, except for the incredibly soreness when I came home. I think I rode without stirrups for about 40 minutes, and I am bruised and chafed.

I got my Murphy back this week. Though initially, he came without a saddle. ;) He was in the lesson before ours as well, and the kids all rode bareback, which is a pretty common little fun thing for them to do towards the end of a semester. I wasn’t too keen on that, though, so I ran back up to the stable to fetch his saddle. He objected very little to having it put on.

We left the lateral work and focused instead on shoulder control. Most of the lesson was spent riding correct corners, with the inner shoulder kept well beneath the horse’s body. Any inwards leaning or movement through the corners was strictly forbidden. And, as so often is the case, focusing on a seemingly simple but very basic element made a hug difference. When you only ride once a week, it is difficult to get as thorough and as careful as someone who rides more regularly, but lessons like these serve as excellent reminders of how important it is to do the basics right. Paying attention to each and every corner really makes a difference, and concentrating on those sort of things as opposed to specifically working on getting the horse into the correct form often yields a better result with the form for me. You don’t try to do too much, so everything gets less forced.

I also rode Murphy without the help reins again, and was once more treated to how different the end result is compared to when I do use the help reins. I can get him into about as correct a form either way, but where he always remains a little tense with the help rein he comes out soft and slithery without it. The help rein produces a false sense of stability, and without it its clear that a relaxed Murphy is rather eel-like. But very happy to work, and lovely to work with.

I was eagerly looking forward to jumping Murphy this Tuesday, given how well the preparatory exercises went last week. But, alas, it was not to be. The farrier had been there during the day, and three of the horses were sore-footed, including Murphy. Bah, I say.

Gamir, of course, is a very good replacement, but I had already jumped him plenty this semester. Plus, he was in a foul mood in the stables, and it continued down in the arena with much bucking as soon as I started taking the reins. He was clearly rather stiff and unhappy. Fortunately, jumping is pretty much certain to eventually win him over, and its a good way to loosen him up and get him to start using his back and hindlegs without putting any pressure on him.

The exercise was similar to last week’s, in that we jumped a diagonal line. There was no actual lateral movement between the jumps, but we were supposed to ride for the correct canter either between the jumps or after the last jump. Of course ... Gamir does this more or less on his own, so it wasn’t exactly like I could apply much of what I did with Murphy. However, this meant I got to practice doing less and thinking less once again, which my instructor says resulted in some pretty uncomplicated, smooth jumping, where my knees stayed down (they crawl upwards whenever I concentrate on using my legs ;P).

So, in the spirit of that, no more analysing of this week’s lesson. I need to focus on feeling instead of thinking ... at least in some scenarios. I do need to think to outsmart Murphy and stay ahead of what he might try to do to avoid work, but I need to tense up less when I focus on something specific. That way lies nothing but bad leg placement and stiff shoulders.

Murphy turned out to be his usual charming self this Tuesday, so whatever it was that bothered him last week it was nothing major. Which is always a relief for a worrier like me. :) He was even perky enough to sink his teeth into my coat while I was getting him ready, so definitely his usual, feisty self. He did look slightly apologetic about that, though, but nothing like good old Sammy (now a happy retiree together with another former riding school horse), who would look downright ashamed if he ever managed to actually hit anyone when snapping with his teeth.

Other than not being able to go out and eat or anything such, having my birthday fall on a Tuesday is very nice, since I get to go riding. That’s always a fabulous birthday present, and even more so when I get to ride Murphy. Though, he did end up worrying me a little, as he seemed to have a bit of a problem (which I will have to cover before getting into the lesson talk).

It started with him having to pee a while after we started riding, and my instructor thought he was standing oddly while he was peeing. He also peed an awful lot. Then, he ended up dropping three small piles of poop during the lesson, in addition to the somewhat larger up in the stables. I noted this to the instructor, wondering if he was having some kind of constipation issue, and she said she’d give him something after the lesson. He was fine during it, no oddities. Then, up in the stables, she gave him the medicine and thought she noticed an odd bulge on one side of his neck ... except he seemed to have it on the other side too, and it was hard to tell if it was just the angle of the neck or an actual issue. However, since he was eating and seemed perky, she wasn’t too concerned ... but of course I am a bit of a worrier.

Almost time for another lesson, so I better write up a report on the last one. ;P Not very accomplishy of late.

It was actually a bit of a tricky lesson to talk about, though. I was on Murphy again, and we continued to work on lateral work. Lots of it, in fact. The idea was to cram in as many leg yields as possible per lap, and on as many different lines as possible. This works wonder for getting Murphy nicely together, but it also confuses me like crazy.

I just can’t seem to get a solid grasp of angles and lines for lateral work. If we do a single line several times, I can sort of work it out over time. But doing different ones all the time? That way lies madness. I just couldn’t figure out how much to lead in the front quarters, which way he should be moving to be on a specific line, and how I should be seated and where I should look. Its my left-and-right problems times ten.

So, I had a hard time getting into good riding because I was too preoccupied with figuring out how to do things. That said, actually thinking less about getting the horse to work in the right form and so on can make it better, because you fiddle too much when you think about it. So Murphy came together rather well and seemed to be enjoying himself. In fact, an additional problem was that he seemed to catch on to what to do faster than I…

I am not terribly efficient of late, but that should be rather evident. I don’t do well with deadlines these days, even small ones kind of sap my energy for everything else. However, the riding is the best therapy for just about everything that bothers me, and I think it helps my riding to do these write-ups, so I keep trying.

This week, I was back on Murphy. Much rejoicing. There was also an illegally cute new horse in the stables, that I am really hoping I will get a chance to try. 8-year-old Heddvig is a “North Swedish Horse” (I have no idea if Wikipedia is correct in this translation of “Nordsvensk”), a medium-heavy draft breed. She’s black, with a looooong curly mane and a thick, curly tail, and she’s about as broad as she is tall (she’s probably around 14 hands), with massive legs. Adorable, like a little troll.

But, for this lesson, it was all Murphy. We started a new theme, lateral work, and we started by stripping it down to as simple an exercise as possible: simply ask the horses to obey a lateral aid and don’t worry about how they do it, its just about having them do it. Of course, it didn’t turn out to be all that simple once we got started. Murphy would respond pretty well (almost too strongly) to the initial aid, and then he’d just stop moving laterally unless constantly reminded. And that was what she wanted us to get away from, the “nagging”.

Initially, when I tried hard not to “nag”, I did better about not pushing the horse sideways as I tend to end up doing. But once I tried to correct for his lack of movement after the initial burst, I was back to pushing again. It will definitely take some work to find the “just enough” spot for lateral aids. I think I managed to keep my legs a bit more relaxed, though, but it was mainly due to being able to ride without my stirrups for most of the class. I wish I dared to do that on more horses, even if I ended up sore here and there after the lesson. ;P

Last week of canter-work, and another week with Gamir. He gave away a little secret this time. He dislikes being saddled, and will often snap and kick when the girth is tightened. That is, if you do it in the stable or in the arena. But today we ended up waiting outside the arena for a bit, so I tightened the girth there. Gamir stayed still with his ears forward all the time. Its interesting how tied to specific situations and/or places that sort of behaviour can be.

Not too much to report today, since we had a theory lesson, and the weather was much too unpleasant for me to stick around for the “open house” evening starting after our lesson (and which was the reason we switched to a theory lesson for this week). Hopefully, they had some people show up anyway, but it was not the best day for it weather-wise.

We talked about the order of priorities when riding, and ended up getting rather caught up discussing pace, rhythm and length of strides. One of my weaknesses, since rhythm and I aren’t on speaking terms. Its always helpful for me to sit down, from time to time, and discuss various terms and concepts, because sometimes the way something was described can make all the difference. Our instructor is quite good at trying to fit the explanation to the person.

Its fascinating how much of riding is a mental thing.

Good lesson, but still, ‘bah’. Didn’t get Murphy (got Gamir), and what’s worse, someone else got him. I watched jealously. ;P Its a bit lik watching someone chatting with your boyfriend/fiancé; even if its nothing serious, you kind of wish they wouldn’t get along. At least I do, heh.

I did, however, have a pretty good lesson myself as well (I was concentrating on my own riding whenever I was actually doing something other than just waiting for my turn). Gamir is a very well-schooled jumper, and he is of course far superior to Murphy for me to work on my own technique on.

We were supposed to have another week of dressage, but we ended up switching around a couple of classes to put in a theory lesson earlier than planned. So, this Tuesday we jumped, and we’ll do the same next week. I am hoping for Murphy then, though Gamir was pretty well suited to the exercise we did this week.

The setup was pretty simple, just a fairly easy three combination down one side of the arena. Since we were doing this in relation to the canter work done during the dressage lessons, the focus was on getting just the right canter for the distacne between the obstacles. She had it setup so that it didn’t quite fit most of the horses unless we either shortened or lengthened their strides.

With Gamir, that generally means lengthening, because he’s not a long-striding horse naturally. But since I knew from the get-go that this was the focus, we didn’t really have any problems with the distance. Well, not once we actually jumped at a canter. To start with, we came in at a trot and were supposed to get a canter only between obstacle two and three. I suck at that.

For the most part, though, I managed to avoid some of my common problems. I didn’t work too hard, and I managed a pretty good pace and a decent length of stride. However, we kept getting the wrong canter after the last jump. But, my instructor felt I was approaching it just right, and that Gamir just wasn’t responding correctly. He did feel a bit stiff at the start of this lesson (and he had looked hopelessly uninspired during the class before ours), so I think he may have been a little off physically even though he felt perfectly limber once we had warmed up.

Another week of galloping on Gamir, and my legs are feeling it. Actually, they’ve been feeling a little less useful than usual these last few lessons. I am not sure if I have strained something or been lazier than usual with exercise between my lessons. Neither quite seems to fit, but my legs start feeling heavy and worn out a bit too quickly of late. But, enough complaining. ;)

From Fleur last week to Gamir this week (or rather, Gamir last week and Fleur the week before that, since I am late again). I suspected that this meant we’d be focusing on cantering (since Murphy’s canter isn’t exactly the best, and Sammy is getting a little too old to do canter-focused lessons), and that turned out to be the case. Gamir has a very good canter. In fact, he’s almost a little too easy to work with, but it gives me plenty of room to concentrate on my own problems.

Yesterday’s lesson was interesting in several ways. There was a slightly surprising change of horses, as we stayed with the circles theme, but I was still moved from Murphy to Fleur. This time of the year, though, she’s pretty good. Not as lazy as during the summer, and not as skittish and full of energy as when it gets really cold. Not that it was warm yesterday, especially not as we ended up riding in the paddock to have a lot of extra room. But after feeling chilly initially it ended up being quite refreshing, actually.

Oops. I forgot all about last week. Though, we didn’t actually ride, so there wasn’t that much to report. We had a theory lesson which consisted of our instructor riding one of the regular lesson horses. She discussed (and demonstrated) obedience and preparation (mainly for corners, circles and other curved paths), and also gave some tips on how to ride a dressage program, since that’s part of our goal for this semester.

It was very interesting to watch the change in the horse’s movements and carriage as the lesson progressed, and also to see just how many things he would ttry to see if he could get away once she put more demands on him. Remaining consistent in what you ask of the horse, even when it tries all sorts of tricks to avoid work, is one of the hardest things. Especially for those of us who just ride lessons once a week. Getting the right feeling for how much pressure to apply, and whether you are doing it right and the horse is being contrary or if you’re actually doing it wrong, is darn hard.

And that sort of played into today’s lesson, at least for me.