Destination: Atlanta

March 24, 2011 3 Comments

Atlanta and me, after my first lesson on her.

My friend Cathy just got a high powered job, and found herself insanely busy at about the same time I found myself horseless, and she offered me some saddle time on her fancy mare, Atlanta. I was thrilled and readily accepted.  Atlanta has more training than any horse I’ve ridden.  She’s a beautiful Hanoverian, and I’ve spent the last year admiring her from afar.

Cathy and Atlanta at their first dressage show last summer.

I’ve not been in the saddle much lately, between my travel schedule for work, and getting sick.  Between my fast-deteriorating riding muscles, and Cathy’s leather saddle (I’m used to my grippy suede Isabell) I had my work cut out for me.   We walked and I worked on getting Atlanta to stretch into contact.

Starting to figure things out

After we warmed up, we started to trot.  Christy warned me ahead of time that Atlanta’s gaits are different than the Thoroughbreds I’m used to riding.  She has more suspension and is a bigger mover.   The difference was immediately evident, even though I wasn’t asking her to really move.  I had to post much bigger to stay with her, and her motion pitched me forward.

I felt totally discombobulated trotting. I have a lot of work to do.

I hopped up into a two point to try to get my legs under me, and work on stretching down into my stirrups. It didn’t feel great, but Atlanta motored on.  She’s a forgiving girl.

Working on our connection

We didn’t do much – I’m still getting over a sinus infection am not 100% – but it was a good ride, and a fun one.  Two of my last three rides have been pretty high drama (a spill, and a bolt) so it was really nice to get on a horse I feel safe on.  I’m taking another lesson on Atlanta this weekend and hope to have something more interesting to report.  In the meantime, thanks again, Cathy, for letting me ride your wonderful mare!

Filed under schooling Tagged with ,

A small hurdle, hurdled.

January 5, 2011 4 Comments

Tonight I flat out felt like hell in the saddle.  I’ve been working out, trying to un-do the fitness collapse my two weeks off and a bout of the flu brought.  Today, despite the fact I had a lesson, I did an awful cardio-step workout that kills my legs. Tonight was no exception.  My muscles were tired and sore.

I mounted up and we got to work – but immediately, Christy spotted something weird.  I was curling my leg back, towards Maddie’s flank, as we trotted around in two point, warming up.  She alerted me to the problem, and I tried to fix it, but it wasn’t happening.  I started to post, and that didn’t help either.

We dropped to a walk, and I kicked free of the stirrups and let my legs hang a minute, then started rotating my ankles and stretching.  Ahh.  That felt good.  After a few minutes, I put my feet back in the stirrups, and Christy gave her seal of approval.  Off we went again.

For about 15 seconds.

Clearly, things weren’t working for me tonight.  I started curling my leg again, and things still felt awful.  I dropped the stirrups again.

And then, because one of my resolutions is to just shut up and ride, I said to Christy, “Hey, I want to try something.”  I nudged Mads into a trot.  While I was too busy staying focused on the horse, I think I did hear Christy’s jaw audibly drop and hit the ground.  She’s been trying to get me to drop the stirrups for, oh, months …. maybe even years.  Mads has a trot I can ride without stirrups.   I never contemplated dropping the stirrups on Jag, who had a trot that felt like a pogo stick, it was so bouncy.

Granted, we weren’t doing much of a trot.  But we did four or five little shuffle-y circles around Christy, and called it a night.

I really want to ride more and better without stirrups.  It’s the only way to develop a truly independent seat.   And it’s sound practice and makes one a safer rider.  In particular, I’d like to be able to drop and pick up my stirrups – or adjust them when they slip – with ease.   Tonight was the first step.

So it was kind of a stupid ride tonight, but in the end, I had an important win.

Tomorrow we’ll give another lesson a shot. I’m going to do some yoga and pilates, and gobble a couple Advil before heading to the barn.  Hopefully I’ll put things together tomorrow night!

 

Filed under schooling Tagged with

20 minutes, 30 minutes, 40 minutes …

January 3, 2011 3 Comments

Oh YAY!

I finally got back on a horse tonight – after a two week hiatus since our last ride – a good one which spawned the “Balancing Rein” post.  To say I was happy would be really understating things.   Mads felt great, and we got right to work once I had stretched out a bit and reconnected with all the muscles I hadn’t used while grounded.

We had a lesson with Christy,  who threw down the gauntlet by saying “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could pick up where we left off?”  I made non-committal noises.   I usually ride like a sack of freaking potatoes after time away from the barn.   That said, I had taken some measures against complete atrophy while I was away.  When I wasn’t laid up with the flu, I worked out,  and did lots of squats with my toes turned slightly inward, to stretch and strengthen my hip muscles – those same muscles I’ve been working on developing in the saddle to support my new, improved seat.

And it paid off – somewhat.  My legs felt good and looked great, according to Christy.  I wasn’t poking my toes out to the sides — I was keeping my leg softly against the side of the horse.  That was good.   However, after the first set of trot work, I was starting to feel winded.  I stole a glance at the clock!  7:20! I had been riding just 20 minutes!

Oh, Lord. I was going to be a long night. I couldn’t believe it.

But at least we were managing to pick up close to where we left off.  We practiced spiral in and spiral out, working on managing Mads when she leans on one rein.  Christy had me soften the inside rein repeatedly while really holding the outside rein.   We had some nice moments, but this still needs some work.   I need to use my leg more actively to get the mare into the outside rein, and be faster with releasing when she softens on the inside.

Anyway, I kept sneaking glances at the clock.  Christy caught me this time. It was just 7:30, and I could feel my face reddening and my shirt growing more damp under my fleece.

By 7:40, I was done.

I suppose this is good from the standpoint that at least we know I’m really riding, using my whole body, and not merely going along as a passenger. And I now ride like this out of habit.   So that’s cool.

But man, it’s discouraging to be so wiped out after such a short ride.    Onward and upward.  The mare got a few extra alfalfa cubes in her mare mush.  Hope she’s ready to go tomorrow!

My plan for the rest of the week?  Cruise around in two-point and do lots of posting tomorrow night, and really try to get some endurance back.  Subject myself to Christy for lessons on Wednesday and Thursday.

Filed under dressage lessons Tagged with

Muscles

December 5, 2010 Leave a comment

We're both working for this nice trot

Today I’m taking a day off from riding, and I’m glad.   The muscles that I’m retraining in my legs are exhausted.  I felt this yesterday, when Christy and I met for an early afternoon ride.  We had the arena to ourselves, the air was cold and crisp, Mads was really forward (I left her quarter sheet off, to encourage a little extra spunk).  One problem.  As we were trotting around warming up, before I was even asking Mads for anything more than a little stretch here or flex there, my legs were tired.  Really tired.  At first I thought that I’d get warmed up, and I’d be okay.  But “okay” wasn’t forthcoming.

As we were warming up, before we even moved off into a trot, Christy – in her weird, mind-reader, prescient way – was talking about a book about equine physiology she’s considering adding to her library.   Among other things, she’s interested in learning the physiology of muscle development and how to build equine muscles correctly.  Any sort of muscle development requires that the muscle be overloaded.  Soreness – a result of minute tears in muscle fibers (“microtrauma”) – is part of the process, an indicator that you are in fact working – and stressing – the target muscles. If it’s not getting a bit sore, you’re not using (and developing) the muscle.  I’m no sports physiologist, but I’m pretty sure my body was telling me to give it a rest. It was a short and unfulfilling ride.

The discussion of muscles got me thinking about Friday’s ride, during which Mads read one of my aids (pushing with my inside hip flexor) as a canter cue, when I intended for her to just bend.   I’ve long been gently bending this light and responsive mare at the trot simply by pushing gently with a hip flexor, making kind of a scooping action with the seatbone on the same side. It’s a small aid (or, at least, it is when I use it as described. It can be much stronger) and when I do it on the long side of the arena, I can bend Mads gently one way, then another, and then back again, keeping contact with her mouth steady and unchanged.

So why was my subtle cue now eliciting a canter? Well, it probably has everything to do with my new, improved leg position.  If I’m riding in a correct position, more of my leg is against the horse.  In my old toes-out postition, my leg wasn’t in much contact with Maddie’s side – really, just my heel and upper thighs.  Now, however, when I ride with my hip angles open, my whole leg rolled (for me) inward, and toes pointing forward, my entire leg is in contact with the horse.  So that subtle cue I had been giving was amplified.

Just one more thing to think about as I rebuild my seat.  I have to re-define my aids, as well.

Filed under schooling Tagged with ,

Newer posts →