dancinghorse | And Lo, There Shall Be Neep

Also, a little egoboo. I had put in for a small but intriguing writing job, which I had done previously with different personnel, and got the usual, politely edited version of "I have no idea who you are but the boss is pushing you (are you a relative?) and it's nice you're interested, so big long-suffering sigh, can you do any of this type of work and if so, not that I expect you be able to, would you tell me what you can (or will) do?"

So I told her.

And got the usual "OMG OMG YOU'RE A REAL PUBLISHED WRITER WITH REAL DEGREES OMG OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW MUCH YOU CAN DO WE'RE SO LUCKY TO HAVE YOU OMG OMG!"

Happens every time.

Then Pook and I had a lesson. Once every 4-6 weeks is doing it for us. I might add an extra one in January before the SRS clinic (Bereiter Florian Zimmermann in Scottsdale, AZ, 28-31 January, S and I are both riding--S on F/Sa and me F/Sa/Su--hauling up Thursday, auditors totally welcome and it's pretty cheap, $15/day or thereabouts, also ride slots still open, those aren't so cheap but consider what you get). We'll see.

I have been having interesting discoveries of the "penny finally dropped after the past couple of millennia" variety--you know, they tell you and tell you and finally after a few eons it sinks in. Like, you know, if he's bulldozing left, pulling that left rein gets you exactly nowhere, so what works? Why, indirection, of course! And outside aids. And with him, the thing that really, really gets through is freeing up the shoulders and getting his butt under and his withers up. Also, he's matured into the ability to leave the arena and not wig out, in fact we were trotting all over the place a few days back and even cantered up the slope to the house--with excellent control and nice half-halts. Collecty boy likes to be collected. Has awfully good lengthenings, too. Wheeeee!

Also I had reread my diary from April, and had been messing with the rockin' Pooka exercise, seeing who else got into it. Capria thought it was easy and dumb, could we ride instead? Camilla had the same objections Pooka did. Ephiny thought it was interesting and has been pondering it since. And Pook finally seems to have got the point.

So we started off on the ground, put your left foot in, put your left foot out, and so on. Me being beside him encouraged too much neck bend and some sideways evasion, so I had to get in front of him, fingers through the noseband above the bit, and not rock my upper body but rather my sacrum (so he would mirror that). And he picked it up fast, with help from S.

Work under saddle was deceptively simple. Bend left through the body. Encourage that fold in the jaw/atlas. Don't look at cheek--stallion has big cheeks, that can be deceptive as to whether he's really flexed in the jaw/poll. No, don't pull the left rein. Out and up if he needs guidance. Don't let him snooker you into crossing the hand over his neck. Keep the outside rein. Right leg at the girth, not two feet back. Seatbones, seatbones, seatbones. Really get those hindlegs under and working. Deep seat first, get it all together, then open the seat and see if he stays together.

The effect was to straighten him, supple him, and bring his hindquarters under and inflate the area in front of the saddle. Classical collection, which I don't have issues with--I got toxified 'way below that; midlevel work is only a problem if I get overly goal-oriented or play old lateral-movement tapes (most of which are pretty well worn out, thank god).

So, collection on the 20m circle, really keep the back up and the hindlegs working and the jaw flexed, don't let him pop into right banana, then when he's soft and round, do a lap of the arena in trot without losing the flexion. That was a challenge, but each lap got better: less bracing in the neck, more collection, better rhythm. He's really taking the half-halts well, rocking back, engaging, collecting, learning to free and supple over the topline and come onto the aids.

Oh, and? This is setup for, among other things, canter departs and piaffe. I have asked for a session of piaffe in hand with F, if he judges us ready--it will really help him get that last bit of understanding about his back end, which will give him, at last, a truly solid and correct canter depart. I think in two months we'll be ready for that. We need to get that left side really soft and through and willing to relax in the jaw, and get him really comfortable with the fact that he has those warp engines back there. He's nearly there. Those muscles he was growing on his muscles? Times three now, and the hindquarters are seriously round.

More hills, yep. And more cool fun stuff that makes him all happy and squoodgy and shiny.