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Mar. 18th, 2009 07:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickThe weather today was unexpectedly nice so I got on the red idiot after work. Trys was home from her work, so she hopped on Wren, and Cass came along on Flint. We went across the road and worked on our (humans) equitation. The horses were not particularly amused. I did find that I got a hell of a lot better walk out of Nick if I rolled my hips. Surprise, surprise, this is the same thing that Pony Lady has been telling me since forever. However, when Trys says it, it sinks in better, go figure. I got Nick overtracking by a fair piece, which was nice... but damn, that's a lot of hip motion. A lot.
Now all I need to do is to remember how that feels, repeat it about three billion times so that it's permanent, and then we're golden. At the walk, in a straight line. You have to start somewhere.
As soon as I ask for a trot, head comes up, back goes hollow, and we're all helling down the road. *sigh* No. No. DO NOT WANT. Bugger. I can usually get her back at the trot, but the part between "walking along merrily" and "trotting along looking good" is a very bad thing that, if it were better, would be called a transition. In the non-consolation prize of my life, going from "trotting along" to "walking along" also looks like shit.
Clearly what I need is the all-walking, all-straight-line dressage test. Enter, walking, at A. Halt at X. Salute. Walk to C, track right, exit at A. Yeah. I could maybe do that. Maybe.
Wren was a bit pressed about the whole thing -- she'd not been out riding since last fall -- but she didn't unseat Trys or anything. She settled down a lot over the course of the outing, too, which was nice. I don't think she'd ever been on an equitation trail ride where the riders stop and make circles and stuff. She seemed confused by all of that.
For the trail section of the ride, we walked up the hill to the buckwheat field and then down again. Nick is *much* better than she used to be about putting her head down and doing a relaxed, flat-footed walk up hills like a good horse. Wren didn't have a clue about proper hill climbing, but she's low mileage and young. She'll get it eventually.
Anyway, it was an outing. Trys's equitation has some of the same problems that mine does. The overlap isn't total, but there's enough that I can offer useful information sometimes. She has the same feet-too-forward thing that I do. She doesn't have the tight hip joint problem. She looks down as much as I do but her upper body doesn't collapse forward like mine does. (I'm working on it. Every ride, every time.) She needs to steer more with her shoulders, which I have actually gotten slightly better about since taking up lessons. So, y'know, we can provide visual coaching some. It's not thirty-dollar-an-hour coaching, but it's better than nothing and may help us get more mileage out of the thirty-dollar-an-hour coaching. Guided practice, how I loathe thee. I need thee, I depend upon thee, and I loathe thee just the same.
Now all I need to do is to remember how that feels, repeat it about three billion times so that it's permanent, and then we're golden. At the walk, in a straight line. You have to start somewhere.
As soon as I ask for a trot, head comes up, back goes hollow, and we're all helling down the road. *sigh* No. No. DO NOT WANT. Bugger. I can usually get her back at the trot, but the part between "walking along merrily" and "trotting along looking good" is a very bad thing that, if it were better, would be called a transition. In the non-consolation prize of my life, going from "trotting along" to "walking along" also looks like shit.
Clearly what I need is the all-walking, all-straight-line dressage test. Enter, walking, at A. Halt at X. Salute. Walk to C, track right, exit at A. Yeah. I could maybe do that. Maybe.
Wren was a bit pressed about the whole thing -- she'd not been out riding since last fall -- but she didn't unseat Trys or anything. She settled down a lot over the course of the outing, too, which was nice. I don't think she'd ever been on an equitation trail ride where the riders stop and make circles and stuff. She seemed confused by all of that.
For the trail section of the ride, we walked up the hill to the buckwheat field and then down again. Nick is *much* better than she used to be about putting her head down and doing a relaxed, flat-footed walk up hills like a good horse. Wren didn't have a clue about proper hill climbing, but she's low mileage and young. She'll get it eventually.
Anyway, it was an outing. Trys's equitation has some of the same problems that mine does. The overlap isn't total, but there's enough that I can offer useful information sometimes. She has the same feet-too-forward thing that I do. She doesn't have the tight hip joint problem. She looks down as much as I do but her upper body doesn't collapse forward like mine does. (I'm working on it. Every ride, every time.) She needs to steer more with her shoulders, which I have actually gotten slightly better about since taking up lessons. So, y'know, we can provide visual coaching some. It's not thirty-dollar-an-hour coaching, but it's better than nothing and may help us get more mileage out of the thirty-dollar-an-hour coaching. Guided practice, how I loathe thee. I need thee, I depend upon thee, and I loathe thee just the same.
