A new level… August 25, 2008
Posted by kimayars Arena Work (Horse)
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I will fully admit that my riding lessons are kind of a social hour. I’ve pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I will never be more than a casual rider. My lessons are a way for me to improve my riding, get caught up on the latest gossip, and give my horse a little bit more exercise than he normally receives. But today was different. Cindy really pushed us. This is getting serious.
Don’t get me wrong, I had a GREAT time. Tigger was AWESOME. There are many lessons where I leave with the feeling that I really worked my butt off. Today Tigger worked his butt off too. He wasn’t sweaty, veiny, or blowing hard at all. But I felt like we were hovering on the brink of his physical capability. For the first time since I’ve owned him, I pushed him. Hard. Here’s how it went down…
We started off with our usually flexing, circling, changing directions, ya ya ya… to get warmed up. Normally, when make our first trot transition, he gets all rushy and I have to bring him back down to a walk and start over a few times until he gets the idea. He can be an enthusiastic little bugger. This time I used an analogy given to me by Paige last Thursday, and did a small little half-halt when my butt hit the saddle on the down-beat of the post. Tigger still had the energy he usually had, but it was going UP, not OUT. Ergo, no rushing.
He was still pretty stiff, so Cindy showed me how to do some very slight flexions, making sure they come from the poll and not the neck. Once I got the feeling standing still, we progressed to the walk, and then the trot. The idea is not to “shuttle” the bit across his mouth, but instead to answer the slightest bit of stiffness with a subtle flexion. This was perfect, it was an excellent progression from what we had been building on the previous week. In fact, for Tigger it probably worked too well. I immediately saw where Cindy was going when she started telling me to let the reins out. Because the suppling exercise had worked so well, he was taking contact and reaching forward. She was going to take this opportunity to seek out “the big trot”. Being a bit excited about experiencing “the big trot” under saddle, I was more than eager to follow her instructions.
After a few minutes of pushing him forward, then softening him, pushing him forward, and softening him, it all started to come together. His suspension in the trot was nothing that I had felt before. It literally was like we were floating. I wish I knew what it looked like from the ground. But for the first time I also felt him struggle. He tries SO hard, I could actually feel him start to waver. He just doesn’t have the muscle conditioning to hold it for long. But it’s in there, and it’s wonderful.
The other direction wasn’t as successful, I only got four strides of “the big trot”. Much of that is due to my right hand being much more rigid than my left. Going to the left, my right hand is the outside rein. He’s far more cautious to take contact on the outside because previously there had been no give, no elasticity there. We spent the rest of the lesson working on that elasticity, encouraging him to fill that outside rein. But he’s beginning to trust it, and that’s a start.
After the lesson he got a tennnis ball massage and a couple of extra treats. Tonight my calves are sore, evidence of how much I was pushing him forward into the contact. He was so tired he didn’t even chase Zandee when I turned him back out on pasture. Sherene said he was very quiet at dinner time tonight.
I hope he knows what a good boy he was today. Maybe horses don’t have that concept. I’m certainly proud of him. I’m hoping to do something fun with him on Wednesday, although I’m not sure what. All work and no play makes Tigger a tired boy…
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