Cob Jockey

Reading about Megan's rides with the Equicube lately reminded me that I've had one sitting on my tack locker for a year. The last time I rode with it was 11 months ago, when I learned I couldn't ride my horse straight while holding it, because it forced me to ride with even reins and apparently I did not do that on a regular basis. Which kicked off the whole Pilates/biomechanics/learning to use my abs/full training hero's journey you're all familiar with.

But now that I have the ability to use my core and my body is a lot less crooked, I wondered what I'd get out of it now.

Good pone

To be honest, while I was riding with it, he went so poorly I wondered if I was making a mistake.

What is even happening lol

Now that I'm so strong in my core by default, holding the cube wasn't really that hard or tiring, but it was curious to note which muscles were tense but not contributing to supporting the cube or riding in any way, chiefly my "underneath" muscles as MW calls them, so the pelvic floor and glutes. When I relaxed those muscles but kept my core engaged, I was able to follow his motion a lot better.

Love what the cube does for my hands in posting trot

Once I sat the cube down though, from the moment he stepped off it was like "...whoa, the cube actually did something." The contact felt solid but elastic, just the way it did at GP trainer's, when I imagined I was still holding the cube. I suddenly realized if I put leg on and "held the imaginary cube", he lifted his back and came together in the best way.

Even more interestingly, when I relaxed my underneath muscles, I had effortless down transitions. Something that's been happening lately that I haven't written about is that I've had a hard time halting him since he came home from GP trainer's (lol) which is obviously a "me" problem and not a "him" problem.

I think with that much tension in my underneath, I was driving him forward and his back down with my seat even as my hands and torso motion were saying "stop".

One more week working on this and I think I'll finally be ready for a video lesson with my GP trainer. I needed some time to internalize and work through getting to know my "new" horse before I rode with her, and I feel like I'm almost there.

When I rode the Haffies, Jen kept getting onto me about my right hand/forearm raising and coming to or across the neck, especially when I was turning left - something I'd never noticed before.  But, like anything else, once I realized it, I noticed I was doing it a lot. Next I had to figure out WHY I felt I had to do that.  I tucked that in my brain for later.

Right Arm, where u going?

Then I got my own Equicube, after trying JenJ's.  On Griffy, I found it hard but not impossible to keep him straight and steer while holding it.  Cube straight = horse straight.


On Connor, that concept went to hell in the most fascinating way.  With the cube dead straight, his neck was curved out from the base of the neck on the right rein (or in on the left rein), even though he was weighting the inside fore more, and I could not get him to go straight.

I didn't really know why until the vet looked at him for chiro and said, "His neck is an "S" shape if you look at it from the top.  The bulk of his muscles are on the left side of the neck near the poll, and in a knot at the base of his neck on the right side."


Well, s***.  That's my fault.  I'll cut through my diagnostic process and tell you what I've figured out:

- I have a hard time activating my left shoulder/sliding my left shoulder blade into the pocket at all times, not just in the saddle, which means that I'm constantly giving that left shoulder/left side of my body forward.

- Since I'm not plugged in with the left shoulder, my core isn't supporting me on the left

- Combine those things with an lack of self-awareness and the Equicube making me actually look at whether my reins are even or not, and you get...I think I've been riding with my reins for two different length for a while. And crooked feels even to me, because my torso is crooked.  Intentionally holding the reins the same length feels crooked to me.  My brain's whole perception of straight on the horse is wrong.



Connor's always been a tough ride to the left and had a real problem shortening his left side and engaging the left hind.  But now I've created a horse that's still a tough ride to the left AND has developed muscles that will make it even harder for him to do what he should be doing on that side.

And like anything else, I created it, and now I get the pleasure of solving the puzzle of how to un-create it.  Both the human and the horse.

Guess who started taking private Pilates lessons yesterday?

This is not Pilates ^