Where’d the “Go” Go? September 25, 2008
Posted by kimayars Uncategorized
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My friend Sherene and I joke about “the pendulum”. Let’s say that you collapse right when you ride. So you work really hard to get straight. Then one day you realize that you collapse left. Your pendulum has just swung the other way. Fixing your “sided-ness” is a lot like a pendulum swinging back and forth. The goal is to zero in on perfect.
Today Tigger swung the other way in the impulsion department. Normally, on a breezy cool day like today, he’s antsy. He wants to go. He is tense. He’s forward. Today, not so much. He actually fell out of trot to walk three times. Very unlike him. So unlike him, I started imagining that he was lame or sick. But no. I’ve been working so hard on slowing him down that he is now too slow. Life is cruel.
After we had a small discussion about listening to my leg the lesson went pretty well. I’m still stiff from Monday which amplifies my crookedness, so we focused on that and getting me balanced in the saddle. It wasn’t too bad as the saddle never shifted, but Tigger is a sensitive guy and being just a little off really affects him.
Paige also said my legs looked way better today. My butt muscle exercises must be paying off (these are the clamshells mentioned in the post previous to this one). Dare I hope that I may be able to lower my stirrups a hole soon? One can dream…
Tigger also had the best canter transition to date. Going to the right, he just glided into it instead of launching into the stratosphere. Granted we have no lift, but his balance is so much better. We can now canter a full 20m circle without dropping out. I was super proud of him.
The only down-side was I got my ass kicked. Controlling Tigger’s tempo is hard work. There are a lot of muscles engaged when trying to steady him. You have to be firm, but supple. Solid, yet soft. Supporting, yet giving. All of that equals one sweaty ride for both of us.
Comments
Well maybe this means Tigger is settling in/down as he’s getting older and wiser! How is the new saddle working out by the way?