I kind of was a, um, bad student yesterday. I was on the verge of a major meltdown, freaking out about projects and papers and everything else I feel completely buried under, so I decided to do the logical thing, skip a lab, and head to the barn. I came upon a completely opportune lesson with L, my trainer, who was there after teaching a lab and said as I walked in, "Hey, I owe you a lesson, do you have an hour?"
My good self shook its head: "No, she doesn't, she needs to go to Web Design lab," it said like a true prude. But my bad self (which is really not so bad, and I certainly don't "get down wit it" often) opened its mouth first. "Yes, yes I do!"
So I lessoned on Stella...for the first real time ever...and it was totally freakin' awesome.
I had L repeat everything she had told me to do a dozen times after the lesson was over and we were cooling out so I'd remember it. This woman has a knack for coming up with analogies, metaphors, whatever you need to understand a concept. For years she's been telling me I need to learn to really come deeper through my thigh in up transitions to make it easier for the horse, and for years I struggled to really do it: the transitions were decent but just weren't the ease she described. Today, we found the magical phrase that solved it all, and what I got from Stella was beyond amazing.
I am a super technical person, which is why biomechanics is so interesting to me. I want to know how something works and what happens when it malfunctions. Riders are usually categorized as visual, auditory or kinesthetic learners. I am largely kinesthetic with a solid dose of technical explanation thrown in. Once I feel something properly, I can do it again with little trouble, but it's hard to teach "feeling". So I need an explanation of what I need to do to get to that "feeling".
I had explained to L at the start of the lesson that I wanted to improve bending lines, circles and trot to canter transitions with Stella, and that I knew I was the problem because my tendency is to sit more to the left, leaving space on the right and making it difficult to come through my right thigh. This all equals a crooked horse. And Stella has traditionally had a hard time getting that left lead especially.
So what was the "TA-DA!" moment?
I spiraled in from a 20 m circle to a 10 m circle in counterbend, slowly came back to true bend, and sat the trot. Then L said, "Now, think about bringing the top of your pubic bone down closer to your thigh. Close that angle," so I did. Voila. Instant throughness. Amazing what a little technical information can do.
"Now," she said, "keep this position, ride her inside leg to outside rein, and when you're ready, close the angle a little more and ask for the left lead."
BAM. Insta-canter. No hesitation, no mis-step, no crossfiring, just beautiful, balanced canter. Needless to say I was really, really excited. We got it in both directions, although the right lead was a little more forward and explosive than the left, but I'll take it either way.
Now the challenge will be to re-create all of this wonderfulness on my own, without my eyes on the ground. Wish me luck! I'll be headed out there later day to play with my purchases at the Mass. Equine Affair, something I'll discuss in greater detail later :)
No comments:
Post a Comment