Neep!

Another day, another frenzy.  Lessons today.  I overslept--not by much, but enough to feel refreshed.  The horses weren't screaming, which was nice of them.  Lessons were much later than usual because the last lesson, at casacorona,  needed to be in the afternoon, and that worked well--Joni arrived spang on time and I had time for chores, breakfast, and even a shower beforehand.  We like this. 

The wind came up (again) half an hour before Joni got here, and was howling by the time she arrived.  Keed was most distinctly Ayrab-Side-Up.  He had some bad spooks, but there was nothing about getting rid of Joni--he just wanted to get them both out of there.  However they did some decent work, and he has back muscles again--lovely broad double ones--and when he's on the aids he looks lovely.  He has a beautiful canter especially.

Because of the wind, I decided not to do yet another peel-Pooka-off-the-ceiling session, of which we've had too many lately.  Instead I brought out Capria, who is not fazed at all by trivial distractions such as 40mph gales.  To add to the fun, Joni had brought her new springer spaniel, who has Issues and can't be left home alone, and he was at heel through the lesson.  It was his first encounter with horses, and he thought they were just great.  Capria said Stay away from my human and I let you live.

The lesson was an ego-buster of sorts, but that means some very good insights into some of my more annoying tics.  I want to ride with my outside hand (outside = away from the center of a circle or the center of the arena) forward and my inside hand back and preferably pulling the horse's head inward.  This is a bad tic.  Bad, bad tic.  Correct format (once seat is in gear--we've only spent seven years and more on that one) is outside hand stable above the withers and inside hand level with it or, in certain training scenarios, raised or moved forward).  The effect of my tic is to basically drop the horse on its nose--it reaches for the support of the outside aids to maintain the bend of the circle or balance around the arena and gets zip, and meanwhile the inside hand is moving back and blocking the inside hindleg (the one that's working to carry the horse forward in balance).  So we worked on that.  First with 10m serpentines asking for softening to the inside rein (also leg and seat--outside aids in gear) in walk and trot, going to a 10m circle until she softened.  She got that fairly quickly.  I got a sensation of having her really in front of me--in front of the leg as they call that--and round and soft and wrapped around my leg.  Then we did trot-canter transitions on the 20m circle, same parameters (soft bend through the body--the feeling is that the horse is curved right under you, which means the base of the neck is relaxed and the horse is free through the back and ribcage), making sure the hands were Where They Belonged.  And lo and behold, a balanced, non-rushy, non-hysterical canter.

For years I have been dropping Capria just as she starts to collect--letting the reins go.  And she goes thud.  And she hates that.  No wonder she's had such a scrambly, overwrought canter.  Today she not only didn't try to run away with me (and bear in mind the wind was howling), she stayed balanced and stayed in the canter.

Urg.  She has a lovely one if I actually, like, ride her.  And don't give way to the urge to drop her the minute she starts to come round.  (This comes from very old misunderstandings of what constitutes a light hand.  A loose rein means the horse has no support--and when he does reach for it, his mouth gets bumped by the unsteady hand, which then moves it out of reach so he can't get the support he needs to help him balance.  It's like the barre in ballet, which can't move around and slip out of reach, or what's the point?)

 That was humbling.  But also illuminating.  And very important for da Pook, who will get me doing homework tomorrow (minus the canter part, we aren't ready for that yet).

I spent the afternoon wrapping presents.  The shopping is all done, all the orders have arrived, so there we are.  I have the job about half done.  Will finish tonight. Tomorrow is baking day, and Pook will get a ride.