dancinghorse | And the life goes on

There is hairsplitting elsewhere (linked through

matociquala) about sf versus fantasy worldbuilding, except it's not really referring to worldbuilding, it's Weltanschauung which is a different thing. You can (and I feel should) build your fantasy world as rigorously as your sf world, and while the basic principle (magic vs. science) may come from a different place and your characters may hold a different view of the way the world works, you still had better make sure the world is structurally, culturally, and historically sound.

Had to get that out of my system. Machines or spells, they have to come from somewhere and be based on some sort of rules or laws. Otherwise it ain't worldbuilding, it's hand-waving and you can hand-wave just as easily about robots as you can about wizards. (Excessively easy stereotype alert here.)

Anyway. That's not the real reason you read this blog, now, is it?

First of all, News: Word is, from a reliable source (one of the riders), that the SRS is coming back to the US in 2008, this time to tour the West Coast.

I am so there.

Working here on Shattered Dance, the deadline for which is scarily close. And of course keeping up with the Thundering Herd.

Since I got back from the big Lipizzan meetings, I've been processing the data of what I saw and heard, and internalizing the performances to the point that Teacher is remarking on the changes for the better in my riding. I have the tempo now, the rhythm that the horses need to keep, and the sense of how to sit and coordinate the aids. And the attitude of calm no matter what happens. Big deal there when I'm on Pook and we ride past mare in heat and he suddenly levitates and starts to scream. Sit still, bring horse together with seat, ride on without acknowledging the explosion.

Works like magic. Or, you know, a really well-oiled machine.

He's reached the point at last when he'll accept my aids instead of trying to go his own way. He now remembers to breathe when he trots, which has been an issue all along--he'd go as far as his lung capacity will take him, then wheeze and stop dead. Now he's trotting more freely, but like all young horses, he's not sure how to do it with me on him; so he drops his back and trails his hindlegs and wobbles. We had a lesson today with Teacher to work on this. Solution: Add in more turns off outside aids, so when he starts to scramble, he has to get his inside hind up and under. Then he's balanced. And, he needs to be much more responsive to the leg. I've been afraid to put too much of anything on him because of the explosive potential, which a while back was a serious possibility. But with acceptance of my aids comes willingness to let me get a little firm with them as long as I'm also fair and measured.

In short, he's a normal young horse and he's coming along well.

Keed has been sick for a couple of weeks--cough and cold--so today was his first day back to dressage with Teacher. He was thrilled. So was she. In the meantime he's developed back muscles and tanked up, so he's suddenly much stronger and more able to carry her through the exercises. He looks absolutely lovely when she's got him warmed up and moving on. He still doesn't quite get "hindlegs under, back round, withers up," but he's getting there. (Teacher noted that Pook will get it in about two months, versus keed's two years--the difference between Arab-like general-purpose conformation with a bias toward speed, and genetically engineered, testosterone-fueled dressage machine. Though it should be noted that keed's new and probably last development in his endless series of growth phases consists of the sudden manifestation of dressage muscles. And he's always loved to sit down and lift, which is a Lipizzan trait.)

Capria continues to be my lesson pony as we review basics. She's now demanding lessons and Waiting Conspicuously on lesson days to be brought out and saddled. We're concentrating on wiggly bits--circles, figure eights, serpentines, voltes--and refining constantly. Each refinement isn't just niggling; it's editing and polish on a long and intricate text, aiming for the perfection that we saw in the performances. What do we get out of it? Well, satori really. This effortless, floating sensation in harmony with the horse. Which is a high and a buzz and once we've had it, we want it again and again.

So now Capria is on the aids nearly all the time. Our key is the outside rein, which I've tended to slack with, and making sure she's always balanced and engaged from behind, which is a whole lot of seatwork and concentration on tiny changes in her rhythm, position, and way of going. She's a long horse--a bit of a caboose really--so getting her back up and sitting down isn't as easy as it is for the very compact Pooka or even Pandora who in spite of her years at pasture and lack of back muscles is fairly short and strong. But as long as I provide the support of seat, leg, and rein, she's as capable of the work as any other Lipizzan. In fact she's extremely talented and very strong, and she has a beautiful attitude. If you saw the SRS you saw it: the soft ears and inward-focused eyes and the radiant calm.

So now I aim to get this with Pook and Pandora as well--faster and more effectively because now I know what it's supposed to feel like.

Pandora has had some major breakthroughs lately. At first she was very tense about being ridden--we suspect her owner, years ago, was a tense rider and maybe a little strong for her. The lady who trained her originally did a beautiful job and that's been evident under everything else, but saddling and mounting have been an exercise in release of tension, and she's tended to jig away from the mounting block and take a while to settle down. Gradually as I've ridden her regularly (every third day at this point, 15 or 20 minutes at most--she has a lot of conditioning to gain), she's relaxed into the work. For a while she was overeager at mounting, would try to swing into me, which would knock me off the block, then when I finally got on, would take off at a trot. That lasted two or three sessions, but with groundwork and focus work first, she's standing still until I'm settled in the saddle, then yesterday she walked off from the block, at my request.

She's also, understandably after all these years of being a pasture potato, been very stiff and crooked, with a tendency to be a left-curved banana. The answer has not been to crank her head around to the right (though I have been terribly tempted) but to ride her as consistently forward as possible, ask her right hind to step into that empty left rein while asking with the left leg and rein (good old outside aids) that she move her shoulders to the inside), and try above all to be soft but clear with my requests. She is, for all her mass, a very light and responsive horse, so it does no good to manhandle her around. I have to ride her the same way I ride the others: from behind, with light aids.

We talked about that today actually--how I can no longer mess with the neck and head when the horse, say Pandora, lugs on a rein or kinks her neck. I automatically activate the back end and ask the body to be softer, then shape the result with a quiet rein. This is the road to the master's ride with all the reins in one hand and the whip motionless and upright in the other.

Anyway. Pandora has started to soften, and at the end of the last ride but one, she came evenly into both reins in walk. Huge lightbulb moment for her. Then yesterday she was almost universally even on both sides, in walk and trot, and her trot was more forward and more balanced and Huuuuuuuuge. It was like flying. Wheeeeeee! And the best part was, she came into the ride with soft eyes and calm mind, and she didn't jig or fuss, she walked off from the block and stayed in walk. It was lovely.

Considering she's in heat big time, that's even more remarkable; usually in heat she gets tense and oversensitive in the back. This time she's staying calm and focused. She likes this riding thing. It's what she wants to do.

So. Good progress on all fronts, and good feelings to go with. Now to meet the deadline and survive the holidays and manage a few other things, and life will be good.