Pandora Levels the Field
Aug. 20th, 2006 12:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancinghorseOr, how to make sure your "good rider" stays properly humble and obedient to your every equine whim.
More lessons today. After several days without monsoon storms (but they're hovering just to the east and will be back by tomorrow), everything has dried out nicely. The grass is growing all over the place, making for happy horses, and flowers are popping up everywhere. So are mushrooms. Lots and lots of mushrooms.
After I posted Friday's neep post, my brain suffered a meltdown. Hit hamster-wheel mode and would not stop. I couldn't stand to be in the house any more, and it was too hot to ride anybody even if I could quiet my brain down enough to get that far. So I got in the car and invented an errand run that I would have had to make in a day or two anyway. And that mellowed me out a bit, but ye gods, I need a vacation. Won't get one. Need to stop wanting one. (Dream vacation would be to take a horse and spend a week at a guest ranch/spa. With no worries at all about the crew left behind. But.)
For a clear illustration of what's causing this, this link by way of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kaygo says it all.
Yesterday I deliberately tried to chill--read a book that wasn't one of mine-in-progress, worked a couple of horses, and practiced Inner Quiet. Or a reasonable facsimile thereof.
Today is bright, sunny, and not too awfully hot considering, a beautiful day for a ride. So of course I screwed up the lesson schedule and both S and I were convinced we were riding last. I discovered that after warming up Pandora for half an hour and still no Teacher although her truck was by the barn. I rode Pandora next door to see what was going on--big deal in that we had to Leave! The! HERD!!! and go down into the gully and back up, and ride through a strange gate onto someone else's property. Nice test of The Seat. Pandora looks much calmer than she is. When you're on her, you can feel the bomb ticking. But she behaved excellent well, and with Teacher walking next to us, made it home quite cheerfully.
Lesson went very well. Teacher has been watching DVD's from the clinic, and spotted what I hoped she would: the left veer in canter on day 3 was me. I was collapsing my left hip and the horse was following where it led. All the "more right bend" from H in walk and trot before that was a manifestation of same; the canter brought it out in living color. She also clarified the hand thing (yay!) and tied it in to the seatwork. Key is to get the seat Right Down In There (when the horse isn't doing what I ask, I tend to abandon it) and keep the elbows soft and relaxed, and think "up" with the hands even while carrying them SRS-low. Feels like turning my knuckles upward, or as Torture Lady says, ride over the top of your hands (over your thumbs). In fact the whole front of the horse should be up. Up in front, down behind (your shoulders, tailbone, and the rest of the rear assembly encourage the hindquarters to sit down and carry, while the whole front is open and encourages movement Up). When standing in halt, if I got it all right, Pandora lifted her back and came softly and sweetly onto the bit.
Pandora is a tough customer for this, which makes her the best teacher I've got. If I'm too strong, she happily gets down and lugs. Plus her persistent crookedness challenges both my own crookedness (equally persistent) and my tendency to overemphasize aids. But if I'm doing it right, she's a collectamatic. Light, forward, easy to maneuver. She asks a lot of my seat, and I have to have the rein aids in place or it all dribbles out.
Progress: she's Much softer through the body and neck, and Much more willing to give to the aids. She's also more willingly forward.
Good things from clinic: Lower part of seat is Absolutely there. Seatbones, leg position, got 'em.
Homework for next year: From waist up, need work--collapse of left side notably, also elbows and balance of hands. Hands have been too tense and strong. Need to be Effective without being Aggressive.
It's nice to have Teacher's input on the clinic. I knew she'd zero in on the trouble spots and know right away how to fix them. She'll get my hands sorted out, too--seems to agree with H that that's where I need to focus (with frequent checks of the rest).
So we have A Plan. Though right now, A Nap seems like a better idea.
More lessons today. After several days without monsoon storms (but they're hovering just to the east and will be back by tomorrow), everything has dried out nicely. The grass is growing all over the place, making for happy horses, and flowers are popping up everywhere. So are mushrooms. Lots and lots of mushrooms.
After I posted Friday's neep post, my brain suffered a meltdown. Hit hamster-wheel mode and would not stop. I couldn't stand to be in the house any more, and it was too hot to ride anybody even if I could quiet my brain down enough to get that far. So I got in the car and invented an errand run that I would have had to make in a day or two anyway. And that mellowed me out a bit, but ye gods, I need a vacation. Won't get one. Need to stop wanting one. (Dream vacation would be to take a horse and spend a week at a guest ranch/spa. With no worries at all about the crew left behind. But.)
For a clear illustration of what's causing this, this link by way of
kaygo says it all.Yesterday I deliberately tried to chill--read a book that wasn't one of mine-in-progress, worked a couple of horses, and practiced Inner Quiet. Or a reasonable facsimile thereof.
Today is bright, sunny, and not too awfully hot considering, a beautiful day for a ride. So of course I screwed up the lesson schedule and both S and I were convinced we were riding last. I discovered that after warming up Pandora for half an hour and still no Teacher although her truck was by the barn. I rode Pandora next door to see what was going on--big deal in that we had to Leave! The! HERD!!! and go down into the gully and back up, and ride through a strange gate onto someone else's property. Nice test of The Seat. Pandora looks much calmer than she is. When you're on her, you can feel the bomb ticking. But she behaved excellent well, and with Teacher walking next to us, made it home quite cheerfully.
Lesson went very well. Teacher has been watching DVD's from the clinic, and spotted what I hoped she would: the left veer in canter on day 3 was me. I was collapsing my left hip and the horse was following where it led. All the "more right bend" from H in walk and trot before that was a manifestation of same; the canter brought it out in living color. She also clarified the hand thing (yay!) and tied it in to the seatwork. Key is to get the seat Right Down In There (when the horse isn't doing what I ask, I tend to abandon it) and keep the elbows soft and relaxed, and think "up" with the hands even while carrying them SRS-low. Feels like turning my knuckles upward, or as Torture Lady says, ride over the top of your hands (over your thumbs). In fact the whole front of the horse should be up. Up in front, down behind (your shoulders, tailbone, and the rest of the rear assembly encourage the hindquarters to sit down and carry, while the whole front is open and encourages movement Up). When standing in halt, if I got it all right, Pandora lifted her back and came softly and sweetly onto the bit.
Pandora is a tough customer for this, which makes her the best teacher I've got. If I'm too strong, she happily gets down and lugs. Plus her persistent crookedness challenges both my own crookedness (equally persistent) and my tendency to overemphasize aids. But if I'm doing it right, she's a collectamatic. Light, forward, easy to maneuver. She asks a lot of my seat, and I have to have the rein aids in place or it all dribbles out.
Progress: she's Much softer through the body and neck, and Much more willing to give to the aids. She's also more willingly forward.
Good things from clinic: Lower part of seat is Absolutely there. Seatbones, leg position, got 'em.
Homework for next year: From waist up, need work--collapse of left side notably, also elbows and balance of hands. Hands have been too tense and strong. Need to be Effective without being Aggressive.
It's nice to have Teacher's input on the clinic. I knew she'd zero in on the trouble spots and know right away how to fix them. She'll get my hands sorted out, too--seems to agree with H that that's where I need to focus (with frequent checks of the rest).
So we have A Plan. Though right now, A Nap seems like a better idea.
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no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 09:58 pm (UTC)I think it's called Burnout.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-21 01:14 pm (UTC)Hey, are you going to WFC in Austin?
no subject
Date: 2006-08-21 04:44 pm (UTC)After November 15th, you won't know what to do with yourself. Voice of experience. My next set-in-cement-shoes book deadline is June 1st. I do have plenty to do, proposals to work on, and a book to finish that's yay late, so life is full, but the Deadline Monster is curled up asleep. It will wake up in about 6 months and bite me on the butt.
If you can take a month off, do. I'm planning to keep the holiday season as open as I can (freelancing as it comes in, but no book projects). A brain break is a good thing.