June 10, 2016

Lesson Wrap Up: Yep, That Was It

My lesson last night pretty much definitively proved that my loose left shoulder has been holding us back.  It was so refreshing to come out, and in my warmup, get him to the place he needed to be for us to do real work.
Also I got out super early and clipped and detangled him.  It's just so nice spending time at the barn in the summer.

My trainer said, "So what was so great about Tuesday's ride?" I told her what I figured out, and she chuckled and said, "So...exactly what I've been telling you for years?"  After six years, she and I have that kind of relationship where she can honestly (and with a smile on her face) tell me something like that, but it's totally true.  I'm a slow learner.  I have learned this before.  It didn't stick.  It will now.

I mean, if we're being honest, I really just figured out the inside leg to the outside rein for probably the 17th time on this blog. Thank goodness for blogging, so I can go back and reference things like the lesson with T.

Freshly detangled.

We spent most of the lesson spiraling in and out on the right.  She noted that my shoulder made a huge difference in the overall picture of me, and that it also solved my wayward left hand problem.  For my part, it's very easy to be aware of now: if he went from going really well to falling apart, 100% of the time (at least last night) I had given that shoulder forward.

He's aaaaalmost done shedding.

When we switched to the left, it was clear things weren't quite so figured out.  When I asked him to soften and follow the left rein, my trainer noted that his whole body went right.  So on a left circle, we counterbent him, and asked him to just follow where his nose went.

It's a work in progress - but we're making progress.

9 comments:

  1. So awesome! I have to re-learn stupid things all the time, too. It's what makes riding addictive, IMO. And glad that my pony isn't the only one who isn't done shedding yet! ;)

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    1. It does make riding addictive! Yes, his legs and his saddle pad patch are aaaaaaaalmost done.

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  2. At least you were able to carry it over into a lesson I usually plumb forget :P

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  3. I'm pretty sure "re-learning stupid things" is 99% of riding after your first five years.

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  4. I feel like this is an issue you've discussed on this blog previously, and I believe I either commented, or commented in my head, that I have the exact same issue. And weirdly enough I just started dealing with it, yet again, in my own riding. It's shocking how much a flimsy outside rein can screw things up. Boooo for janky arms that won't participate!

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  5. I love when you realize that a problem you're having (your left hand) stems from another problem, and fixing one thing fixes the other!

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  6. Part of me gets frustrated when I have to learn the same lessons repeatedly... But then again that just seems to be the way it goes. (And sometimes I maybe forget a thing for every new thing I learn or remember haha)

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  7. I thought we were done shedding, and then yesterday I was covered in pinto mare hair. Thanks for that second winter coat? Haha

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  8. My left shoulder needs to take a lesson from yours. They've all gone rogue I swear

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