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June 10, 2021

Lesson Wrap-up: Edges

I didn't have a lesson last week due to GP trainer's show schedule, but that was a good thing. I needed time to process that lesson on my own, clearly.

I was also working through something we had discovered in my Pilates lesson two weeks ago (I still take a private lesson once a week with my instructor even though I have the Reformer at home). We were doing a symmetrical movement series that engaged the upper abs, and by the end of it, my left upper abs were completely smoked while my right ones weren't tired at all.


A dramatic reenactment of one of the symmetrical movements just for blog media, lol

I pointed that out to her, and she had me do a couple of diagnostic exercises to see what was going on, including this one:

And to my complete surprise, even though I was focusing on it, that same smoked left side did all of the work in both directions. I could feel a pillar of strength on the left and nothing on the right, no matter how hard I tried.

So I played with it in the saddle, realizing quickly that that pillar of strength on the left feeling is my position of strength in the saddle, along with being slightly tipped forward. And every single time I engaged that right upper ab (in my head this feels like puffing out the right side of my "cereal box" as MW would say), Connor immediately lifted his long back muscle on the right to meet my seatbone and suddenly I could find his "edge" (more MW), on that side. I've never felt an edge on that side before.


How about that neck coming out of his withers, eh!


Connor has always had slightly underdeveloped back muscles on the right. Tara, saddle fitter of half of blogland, spotted it in conformation photos! So the idea that my underdeveloped ab muscles directly correlated to his underdeveloped back muscle was fascinating.

I played with it over the last two weeks and made some stunning progress. Like, finding self-carriage and feeling his withers grow in front of me. And in my lesson with my GP trainer last night, she was gobsmacked. We went from a cowboy up my-second-level-horse-can't-turn lesson two weeks ago, to her saying "There's your flying change canter!" and "Wow, that trot!" and "I don't want to change a thing, I think we need to quit here, this is amazing!"

Not from my lesson, and obviously we need more impulsion here but that wasn't the point. Look at how he thinks about plowing forward and decides instead to lift his breastplate and weight the left hind

"I really like the way you're mentally approaching riding these days," she said. "When he tries to pull something on you, you have a toolkit to deal with it and you just do it. And I wish more of my riders would work on their Dressage out of the saddle like you do."

Playing with renvers, which we need for 3-1

Feels good, man, feels good.

15 comments:

  1. Very cool that you not only figured out the problem but were able to change it!
    My left hip felt tight going into my lesson last weekend but I figured I can muscle through it. Turns out Cupid could barely pick up the left lead with me riding like that!

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    1. Wow! It's amazing how much we can block them with the slightest things in the saddle.

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  2. That's so awesome! Also - stellar turn on the haunches - you can see him considering his options for the first maybe 3 turn strides and then he's like "nah - I can do it right".

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    1. Yeah! Good catch. That was actually more me than him. I was riding fairly passively for the first 3 strides and then started half-halting every step as I was coming around to the camera, and he shifted his weight back in response.

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  3. You're putting in so much hard work. I know the results are going to keep getting better and better.

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    1. I hope so! We have a lot of opportunities to prove it over the next couple of months.

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  4. Replies
    1. Oh good, it's hard to know how much of this biomechanics stuff is interesting and how much is mind-numbing, lol

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  5. My tight hamstrings are crying watching that first video, haha. Sounds like you had a really huge breakthrough!!

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    1. I still have tight hamstrings too! That's as far as I could take that, lol. It's actually interesting, you can see my abs making the movement happen as I get closer to the limit.

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  6. Personal limitations in dressage can seem downright mystical sometimes. I love how you are demystyifying it! Thank you for sharing. So impressed with the dedication it takes to work out on your own. I totally lost motivation without group fitness.

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    1. I am the same without group fitness when it comes to CrossFit, but it's easier with Pilates for some reason. It really doesn't feel like working out to me, it feels like playing, and then I feel better immediately after I'm done. Very motivating!

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  7. Fascinating. All this work is paying off big time.

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  8. Connor looks absolutely amazing!

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