Now that was one tiring riding lesson I had yesterday. I collapsed into bed with rather wobbly arms and legs at least one or two hours earlier than I usually need to sleep.
For this, I blame Nelson and our instructor. Then again, she did warn us at the start of the class that we’d be really sore tomorrow. Of course, that was after I had booked a private lesson for Thursday. That’ll be interesting. ;P
So, what did we do? Basically, we spent the whole lesson working on lengthening and shortening our horse’s strides. We started at a walk, just getting a feel for the horse’s natural rhythm (at least, I think that’d be the rhythm…). We were then asked to maintain the same rhythm while changing the pace by shortening and lengthening the strides. Nelson, whose unaffected rhythm is a slightly too fast, high-stepping action, proved to be fairly easy to shorten but very difficult to lengthen without the rhythm getting even faster.
The walk, however, was a piece of cake compared to the trot. His trot, too, is a little fast, and where his rhythm is fairly changeable at the walk, it feels like its fixed in stone when he trots. During the first trotting exercise, I didn’t feel as if I was able to affect it at all. He just forged ahead like a little white tank. And I had to stop and take off even my thin coat because I was just soaked, it was so humid. Guess summery temperatures are sort of here now.
Once we moved on to the next exercise, however, I finally got through to Nelson. We were supposed to collect them as much as we could on the short sides of the arena, using the corners to help us shorten them, and then we were supposed to let them ‘explode’ forward across the long sides. Lots and lots of leg to shorten them, but the initial collection after each long side was supposed to come from us sitting more slowly. Surprisingly enough, I found that this worked really well on Nelson. He really responded to my seat when I focused on what I was using it for, and my instructor was quite pleased with it too.
In part, I think it is easier for me to sit correctly on Nelson because he’s a small, square horse with what seems to be a very short neck. Just the right size for my arms, even if my legs are a bit too long. It also helped to be riding just in a tight black shirt, because it really gave me a good idea of my posture when I looked in the mirrors. Can’t freeze through the whole year in just a short-sleeved shirt, though, even if it improves my position. ;)
By the end of the exercise, I was getting good collection and good extension (though sometimes the ‘explosion’ forward resulted in canter rather than trot), and when we switched to a rising trot to let them come down and forward, Nelson showed that his neck isn’t all that short after all. He had really worked hard, and I was pleased to see I wasn’t the only one who was sweaty and tired after the class.
I was less pleased to see what he did when we came back to the stall, however. While I put the saddle away, he pulled my coat down (I was too warm to put it back on, so I hung it across the stall, apparently not far enough back) and ransacked it for candy. I think he managed to open a pocket, actually. ;P Fortunately, he didn’t make a new hole anywhere. But it needs a washing.