It was time for an emergency lesson (my husband joked, "Someone get this woman on a horse, NOW!") on a skilled horse. Meet Connor's best friend and pasturemate, T:
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| Swoon. |
He's my trainer's imported Lusitano. I have no idea exactly how far up the levels he's trained, but it's far. The amount of subtlety and core activity required to ride this horse is incredible. Every piece of your body means something to this horse, and he listens for and reacts to even the slightest movement. It's one of the coolest things I've ever felt.
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| Also an XC machine, in addition to being a kickass Dressage horse. |
But that doesn't mean he's easy to ride if you're an adult amateur with body awareness issues like me, which was entirely the point of riding him.
He told all of my positional sins to my trainer like the greatest tattletale that ever lived. I was being called out on things that I didn't even know were problems. "He's going to react and reward you when you do things right, and Connor can't do that yet." She was right.
I couldn't get him on the bit or through for the life of me until we were on a 20m circle going right and my trained told me to push my torso up closer to my left elbow - this was a push in the forward and outside direction. Turns out, I have an outside shoulder problem that negatively affects the connection. I also have a turning right problem, a using-my-shoulders-instead-of-my-triceps problem, and a keeping-my-hips-moving-during-lateral-movements problem. He told on me for everything!
We had only planned on doing the one emergency lesson, but the results were so good (she said I was sitting straighter than ever before at the end) that she wanted to do more. So Connor is getting some lunge work in the meantime, and I'm developing feel for an educated horse that will help me translate it to him.
Hopefully this pushes us off of our plateau!
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| Gratuitous photo of my barn mate's baby Husky. |
30 comments:
Experienced horses are worth their weight in gold! Lucky you - have fun :)
Ermahgerhd baby puppy!
Lessons on experienced horses Are the best.
yay for tattletale ponies. sounds productive - if not a little overwhelming. hope these lessons lead to big breakthroughs with Connor!
Wow he's lovely!! Being able to just focus on yourself can be really rewarding!
Experienced horses who are also tattletales are the best! (Well, other than when they aren't making you feel like the worst rider who ever lived.)
So he's sound now? Awesome!
Schoolmasters are the BEST, except when they tell on you and point out all your flaws. Sigh.
Oh, sounds like a super lesson! Where are the pictures?
More experience horses are always SO HARD to ride, but you learn SO MUCH that it's totally worth it.
Yes they are! Thanks.
Isn't she the cutest? Yes they are!
Fingers crossed!
Yeah, he's amazing. It's a nice feeling, since I haven't ridden anything but Connor in 3 years.
Yeeaahhhh...haha. It's a good thing.
Oh yeah, has been for a long time.
Sigh indeed. It's an ass kicking I needed, though.
Nobody ever is around during my lessons, or comes with me to lessons, so there probably won't ever be pictures, sadly.
That's pretty much it! It was hard but I learned a lot, and hopefully will going forward as well.
Oh wow, that's awesome. What a treat and good learning experience!
Awesome! Tattletales really help, even though it's so hard when you didn't even know you were wrong. :)
Lessons on broke horses are amazing. I had one of those moments when I was working for my trainer's sister, any non-straightness in the rider at the canter prompted a lead change. I was changing all over the place!
Cool horse!! That's great you have a horse like him around to figure out things on.
Sounds like a really cool horse.
Cross country Lusitano- awesome!
Sitting on a proper school master is SO, so helpful when bringing up a greener horse, for all the reasons you described! Jealous of your amazing opportunity, hopefully you get to repeat it soon!
Yeah, it was great!
Haha, yes they do!
Wow, I bet that felt ridiculous! But I'm sure you took a lot from it too.
Yeah, he's amazing, we're quite lucky to have him (and my trainer, who's the reason he's so great).
Yeah, he's neat.
Thanks, I think I will!!
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