Balanced Rider Blog

First Show. Part II.

2010-08-29T09:43:00-06:00

Sunday was a different day. Right from the start I knew he was not happy. He didn't do anything out of line but he wasn't' willing to cooperate for braiding, standing tied, saddling, etc. Watching him I thought of lunging him first then decided not to because lunging ring was away from everything and there were no horses in it. He again was happy to be in warm up ring. I was prepared to allow him to go very forward if he wants to to shake the stress of being inside for so long. He was willing to trot and canter but wasn't keen on running or going strong. I didn't want to ride him for so long that he would be tired and lifeless. However, our warm up was cut short and I was told that I'm next to go when I thought I still have at least 15 minutes. I wasn't given an option to wait until my time. I thought: "Well, that is just my luck today. May be it is for the best." Nope! He almost refused to walk in the indoor ring. He was so upset and so spooky. After a minute of fighting with him to simply go large I told the judge that I will not ride a test and I want to spend my time schooling him a little bit inside. She let me. I rode him as forward as I could and I used whip if he wanted to pull me toward the gate or slow down. I argued very clearly and strongly if I had to and then released instantly to very light contact and quiet seat when he agreed to go my direction. Things improved quite quickly so after I had a nice large round of forward trot without any arguments and even almost came up to the judge's booth I quit and let him walk out on a loose rein. When we were at the booth the judge told me it was a wise decision not to ride my test. Half way down to the gait he picked up trot and by the time I gathered reins he was determent to shoot out of the ring. Well, I was determent to stop him. So, we jumped up and down right in front of the gate still inside. The thought he may rear came to my mind, his front hooves left the ground a few times. Fortunately, he decided to quit and we walked calmly out of the ring. We went back to warm up ring. He was still rowdy and argumental, so I rode him until he quit. Didn't took long, after about 10 minutes he was very cooperative.

Looking back at the whole thing I feel like his behavior in indoor ring overshadowed how good he was rest of the time. Being a young stallion, away from home for so long for the first time in his life, seeing so many horses and so much going on he took it like a trooper. People commented on how quiet he was in the barn, letting horses walk by his side when he stood in the aisle, how easy it was to keep him in control. Stud chain. What stud chain? Never even crossed my mind that I needed it.
On the other hand, the argument we had at the show was the biggest one we ever had between each other. I was wondering when we will have something like that because it was bound to happen sooner or later. Seeing him in action and seeing how much pressure I had to put on him and how he came around and started to listen gave me a great deal of understanding this horse better.

What could I have done differently? I came up with three solutions that would helped made the experience more positive for him:

I shouldn't have entered him in any classes. I think bringing him for the experience would be enough for the first time.
However, he was entered in couple classes and after Saturday ride the only chance to make it better on Sunday was to ride in the indoor arena late Saturday evening or early Sunday morning before the show starts. This option may not be available depending on the showgrounds rules. You need to speak to show organizers if you are allowed in the ring before or after classes.
The last option, is to come 3 hours earlier than his class, lunge him first to shake the stiffness of standing indoors for so long and than proceed with regular preparations for the show. It would made him calmer for braiding and saddling but does not necessarily made him feel better about indoor arena. Unfortunately, I didn't have time for that option.

P.S. Next time I rode him at home he was perfect. I think he was the best I have ever seen him...

Happy riding...

First Show. Part I.

2010-08-25T10:41:00-06:00

The young stallion whom I started last year went to his first 2-day show. Usually it is very wise to take a young horse to a show without entering it in any classes. We decided to enter him in simple Trot-Walk class, one each day. I had mixed feelings about this decision. The priority of course was exposing him to the show experience and not riding the tests. However, because tests were so simple, I thought it does not hurt to have a scheduled regime and certain obligations at the show.

Friday night when horses arrived at the showgrounds I worked the stud in indoor arena which was already set up for the show with flowers and white dressage ring, plus other horses were working in it. He was perfect - calm, curios, a little bit inattentive, but all within easily manageable ride. I was very happy with him.

He had to spend the night in the stall and he stays outdoors at home. I was worried about his state of mind and arrived early to make sure I have plenty of time for warm up if he is very hyper, tense, etc. He wasn't. A little bit nervous when I took him for a walk, called to his buddy a few times, spooked at dumpster and was apprehensive of other horses, nothing major. I didn't even lunge him and mounted right away. He was very willing to go to warm up ring, was happy to stretch his legs and was curios about mares around him but didn't try to come up to them or behave like a stallion at all. Everything went well until the time we entered indoor arena for our test. As soon as other horse left and we were left alone he got scared and upset. He was spooky, stubborn to go close to the judge's booth, eyeing flowers and people. I knew right away we will not make a smooth test. We managed to finish it, though he tried to pull out of the ring and refused to go to the judge's short side at all. We got 47.6% and managed to pull three 6's for free walk, his gaits and rider's seat. I was amazed actually that we got that much considering our long sides looked like counter shoulder-ins all the way, our circles were egg shaped toward the gate and none of our diagonals were of proper length due to cutting arena 10 meters prior to the short side :) Outside he was normal again and obediently walked back to the barn. I was worried of him spending so much time inside so I took him for a walk after my student finished her rides. We walked around all show grounds inside and out, grazed and watched other horses perform. Considering he is a stallion he behaved like a gentleman, I was very pleased with him. It looked like he was taking show life style much better than I expected.

In the next blog I will tell you what happened on Sunday and the conclusions I drew from the experience.

Happy riding...

First year under saddle

2010-07-31T23:36:00-06:00

Last year I was hired to start a 4-year-old Trahkener stallion. When I saw him for the first time I thought that there is a mistake and the horse is 2 years old not 4. However, he comes from the line of very late maturing horses and even now at 5 he still looks like a 3-year-old and still has growing and maturing to do. Because his owner wants to keep him at her property I work with the horse only twice a week. At first I wasn't sure it will work. However, the stallion is very kind and easy going. He seems to be OK with such light schedule and though he progresses slower than a horse which will work 4 times a week he still coming along nicely.

I started working with him in May last year and it took me 2,5 months of ground work to get to the point when he was ready to be ridden. I did similar work with him as I am doing now with Santo. Check out my blog on Santo's ground work. The stallion is easier to work with, calmer and more straight forward plus I have a fenced arena at my client's place. By the middle of August I started putting my student on his back. My student acted as a passenger, staying very quiet and calm. At first I was leading him around, then lunging. My student started to give him command to go and stop with me supporting her from the center. Because he knew all these commands everything went smoothly. After about 8 lessons like that I decided it was time for me to ride him. At first he was confused about idea of me disappearing and than asking him to go from his back. However, after only a few moments he figured that out and started walking around. At this stage of his training the goal was to teach him to accept the rider, accept simple commands of going forward, stop and turn which he already knew from ground work. So telling him what to do was easy, plus I could use a whip on him right away because he knew what it meant. All the preparatory work made transition to riding very smooth and uncomplicated avoiding drama and stress.

By November my client started to trailer the stallion to neighboring indoor arena. It was very good decision instead of giving him a winter off which would made him forget almost everything he learned during the summer and I would had to start all over again this spring. Trailering and working away from home taught him many new lessons. I could continue his education and expose him to strange horses working around him, to cavalleties, and etc. I always warmed him up either on the lunge line or long-lines. When he started consistently cantering on the lunge line both directions just from the voice command, when he was balanced and alway picked up the proper lead it was time to start cantering under saddle. Again, no drama, no confusion, I used the voice command and he went right into canter and simply continued large around arena with no emotional roller-coaster, speeding up or bucking. He picked up correct leads and made smooth balanced transitions. His first ever canter under saddle looked better than many horses look after years of cantering without proper education.

Now, August approaching and it marks a year under saddle for the young stallion. He will be going to his first show in August 21/22. We took him to Sharon Merkel-Beattie for his first lesson and he performed beautifully, worked very hard and was attentive most of the time. Sharon was impressed with his kind temperament and willingness to work. For more details about the lesson click here.
As you can see his career as a riding horse is all set. He is very nice to be around, calm, friendly, enjoys attention. He has accepted to be ridden and very solid at walk, trot and canter. It is time for him to start more serious work.

Happy riding...

Lesson with Sharon

2010-07-06T08:44:00-06:00

On Wednesday June 30th I took two lessons with Sharon Merkel-Beattie, an Equine Canada Level 3 certified dressage coach and Grand Prix rider. The first lesson was on a 5-year-old Trakehner stallion I have started last summer. And the second one was on a 7-year-old Trakehner Appendix gelding, usually ridden by my student who is away right now and I am working with the horse. He is showing Training/First level. The following are comments that was common throughout both lessons:

Ride forward - Oh, boy, that was WAY more forward than I was asking from either of horses
Keep the base of the neck straight - even if it means riding with counterflexion. Put the shoulders in front of the haunches. After accomplishing that ask for inside flexion without losing the straightness of the base of the neck
Turn with your seat, minimum hands. 3-loop serpentines with no stirring from hands
Use the bucking strap to know position and level of quietness of your hands, to give stability to outside rein
Change the horse with your seat, do not let the horse change your seat

First lesson, young horse:

Do not shape the neck with hands, keep contact and ride toward it
Hands low without pulling, long reins
Keep the neck long and out by keeping reins long, do not seek contact, let the horse find it by presenting the bit to it and riding toward it
Outside rein connected regardless of flexion
Ride large and forward, make it fun for the horse
Ask for more in trot to develop pushing power
Exercises were simple - circles, ovals, going large, diagonals. The emphasis was on straightness, forwardness and contact, beginning of connection from back to front

Second lesson, First level horse:

To get the horse through his back gallop forward for warm-up
Plug in, more core control - it was great to hear that from Sharon. I was so pleased that she is aware of such things, a few years ago she didn't use these comments during teaching. Good thing I knew what I had to do to get it.
Feel the horse coming up under your seat - when he finally came through after a few minutes of galloping around it was incredible feeling. His withers came right up under me, it felt like we were flying. I think I know how surfer feels when he catches a wave.
Power from behind is like electricity charge. If you have it you can connect the horse like turning on lights. No electricity, no light. If electricity there but connection is not constant light goes on and off.

Exercises: Trot:

Leg-yield head to the wall on inner track - gives a horse more room to move and rider has to ride straighter
Leg-yield from the quarterline to opposite side of the arena - change of direction and of flexion creates an extra challenge for both horse and rider
Shoulder-fore in the long side - to engage inside hind, to straighten, to enhance pushing power from behind

Canter:

Canter on inner track in shoulder-fore - same as in trot, inner track makes it more challenging
Diagonals - keep the canter the same quality as on a wall, do not allow the horse to drop on the forehand, transition to trot before the wall, wall is helping to make transition more balanced
Medium canter on the long side, shortening through the short side - this is to encourage coming through the back and more jump, shortening by using seat aid mostly - sitting deeper, straighter and not following the canter stride in it's entire length
Big ovals - turning with the seat, straight part on the long side in shoulder-fore, keeping base of the neck straight

Happy riding...

Taking time

2010-06-27T19:04:00-06:00

Santo has been with me for 5 months since he arrived at the end of January. I didn't do too much with him during February and March due to winter weather, luck of footing and my trip to Frances. However, he has been working regularly 4 times a week for 3 months now. All the work I am doing with him now is ground work. I haven't even sat on him once. For many people it will look like a waste of time. So many horses "broken to ride" in 30 days. I met such horses. I had to retrain them. Not fun... Very often people are so preoccupied to get on a horse's back that they miss out on giving a horse very solid foundation from the ground. Taking time to do so safes so much drama and enormously speeds up training when it is time to ride. I will tell you later in this blog what Santo has learned during these 3 months. However, more important fact is what I have learned about Santo during this time.

The time I'm taking to do ground work with Santo gives me an opportunity to get to know him - his temperament, his level of energy, his level of tolerance, what makes him happy, what makes him upset, what he does when he is nervous, how much I can pressure him and when it is time to back off and find another way. He is challenging me constantly to find better ways of explaining things to him because I can only put very little pressure on him and only when things are very simple. If I make it just a little bit complicated he gets confused and upset, he gets frightened and stops thinking. He is very smart and learns things very quickly as long as I present new knowledge to him one piece at a time. And he is teaching me to make these pieces smaller and easier to digest for him. It is a great pleasure to watch him, learn from him and teach him. He is more complicated than a warmblood and he is much more fun than a warmblood. I will start riding him very soon and I'm looking forward to it.

What Santo has learned in these 3 months? Notice: All the work is done in outdoor arena 20x40 m with no fence around it.

Stands quietly tied for grooming and tacking, gives his feet willingly, willingly moves all directions for a couple of steps if asked
Accepts grooming from a high mounting block where I'm much taller than his head and I lean over him to groom the other side, from both sides
Understands actions of a long whip and is not afraid of it
Leads well from both sides, turns, stops, backs up, executes figures such as volte, serpentines, spirals, leg-yields, squares (with me on inside or outside of the turn)
Leads well on trails in the forest and rural roads with occasional cars passing by, listens well even if nervous
Well established on a lunge line in walk and trot - no pulling, understands voice commands, goes large, lengthens his trot stride if asked, spirals in and out, executes square figure, halts on command. Understands voice command for canter, however, still having difficulty to make a clean transition, tries very hard though...
Leads and lunges over poles, cavalletty, tarp, plywood board
Accepts things attached to a saddle or surcingle that are swinging, jingling and bumping on his sides
Is learning about actions of the bit at halt and walk
Started to learn long-lining, lines are attached to halter's side rings, willingly walks forward, changes directions, still a little bit apprehensive of me following him with a long whip in my hand
Accepts me jumping up/down by his side holding the pommel, pulling on the stirrups and on the saddle imitating forces during mounting

Besides all the stuff Santo has learned and can do, he accepted me as his leader, he trusts me, his attention has improved dramatically, he understands his work and he accepts it and willingly comes to me to be caught. Most of the time there is no argument between us, just quiet methodical work. He can be a pest sometimes as any young horse, however, days like that are rare.
Usually only one new thing added to a working session which can be as insignificant as introducing spiral on the lunge line or it can be quite a big step like introducing canter which cannot be broken into smaller steps. All these tiny new lessons accumulate in time and before you know it a horse has learned so much. In a few years no body will care if I started riding him in June or August of 2010. However, taking this time to laid a proper foundation will help Santo to be a better horse throughout his career as a riding/show horse.

Happy riding...

Regala

2010-06-12T14:18:00-06:00

If you are wondering why am I not writing anything lately it is because summer is here. Summer in Alberta is very short and I have so much to do I feel like a hamster running in a wheel. With teaching, training horses and remodeling our house I cannot have enough time to sit down and write something worth putting up online. Hopefully, this crazy schedule will slow down a little bit, or I find a way to organize myself better.

This blog is about my new baby horse. I created her myself. This is my first attempt at breeding. Her dam, is a QH mare who belongs to my friend. My friend has a small herd of QH mares and I thought that this one is the best regarding movement and temperament. The sire is Merlin I, purebred Andalusian stallion from Swan Creek Andalusians, a neighboring Andalusian breeding farm. They have three stallions there and Merlin is the oldest one. I liked his movement and I liked his babies. I knew he will improve the mare's conformation shortcomings such as short back and thin neck and I was hoping that her incredible balance and his suppleness will combine to create a wonderful horse.

Her name is Regala. Regalo means "gift" in Spanish. And Regala is a female version of the word. She is a filly, of course. She was born on May 29th which was horrible, cold, windy and snowy day in Alberta. She is one day old in the picture. Already, she is a a good size and very solid. She is very curious, social and active. I'm very excited about her and I cannot wait for her to come home in December. Her and Santo will have fun playing together. I think he will be very happy having her as his little "sister".

Happy riding...

Aftermath of my trip.

2010-05-11T16:31:00-06:00

Since I came back from my trip to Denver (read about it in my April 2010 blogs) I was raking my brains for the reasons: Why I let my attention get away from the seatbones? I came up with several factors:

I was visiting Frances in March after long season of winter riding. For me most of winter riding happens outside in the fields and in deep snow. I shorten my stirrup leathers for the winter season and ride mostly rising trot and canter in the lighter seat: not two-point but not fully plugged in neither.
I was riding a lot of green or young horses. These horses do not understand the seat aids well and young horses require actually lighter seat because their backs are not strong enough.
Because I didn't really need very deep, connected and subtle seat I neglected it's training: riding without stirrups.
I was working without any eyes on the ground to tell me what is going on.

Now that I felt the difference between having the seatbones engaged and not I would try my best not to let this feeling and ability to slip away. Even though now I am not taking lessons I can videotape myself on regular basis and analyze my own ride. During summer I use my husband as eyes on the ground at home. Through years he learned a lot to be very helpful. Unfortunately, during winter riding I cannot really recruit him due to cold weather and far distance to the fields. I reevaluated all of my students and was able to help them to connect to their horses better. All of a sudden I can see when a seatbone is unplugged much better than before. I guess I wasn't really looking.

The other problem I was really thinking hard about is how I made a mistake about my left side weakness? I always new that I like to collapse my left side. Even when simply standing I would load my left leg and drop my left shoulder, this was my habitual posture if I had to stand for a long period of time. I knew my seatbones were not loaded evenly because Colonel's saddle pad had uneven sweat spots under my seatbones, always bigger spot under left one. This plus a few pictures of myself sliding to the right during left canter made me think left seatbone is heavy one and right I cannot plug in. Thinking about all of this lately and doing some subtle exercises on and off the horse I came up with the following explanation:

A few years ago seeing myself dropping left shoulder I decided I need to shorten my diagonal from left hip to right shoulder, thinking this will level the shoulders and stuff my left side. Well, I have been working on that, exercising more upper portion of my right external obliques and lower portion of my left internal obliques. I think I do not need to do the extra work anymore, obviously I overdid it :)
Even worse, I think I shouldn't have done extra work at all. Instead, I should have focused entirely on my left side, all obliques. My left side was weak always, the entire side. Recently, after my trip and image of pulling my right shoulder toward my right hip that helped me to stay centered, I realized if I do not pay attention I carry myself with slight shift to the left in the upper torso. Since I realized that all the balancing exercises where I had trouble of keeping myself level became so much easier to execute. The shift is small, it is about an inch at the head hight, however, on a horse, on a circle, during canter it becomes a major disturbance in my balance either direction.
Left seatbone always was worth. It was hard to see 10 years ago because my right seatbone wasn't good neither. They both were juggling on the saddle and pictures would show me slipping to the right because my left thigh is not strong enough and allowed me to drift off the saddle. When I started learning about the seat and plugging in my seatbone I erroneously worked harder on plugging my right one thinking left does not need that much. I always felt more effective in right half-pass then left exactly because of my left seatbone, which would slid off and allowed a horse to lose the bend. Now I see it very clearly.
Weak left thigh is complicated by tight left hip joint. This I knew from the start and I have been working on stretching it. It is better than before and closer to right one but still they are not equal. Which means organizing my left side is always going to be my issue and I must first make sure it is in order before focusing on my right side.

If you found this a little bit too much and complicated I don't blame you. I think even a year ago I wouldn't be able to go so deep into this stuff and dissect myself into pieces. The more I know the more Frances helps me find the roots of my problems. Visiting her is like going for the major system update :)

Happy riding...

My trip. Part III.

2010-04-26T21:21:00-06:00

The Sunday show itself was a great experience plus Frances recorded my tests and I was able to evaluate myself afterwards and discuss with Frances my mistakes and asymmetries. I was very happy to have a chance to ride on Monday before my flight. This gave me an opportunity to work on the things I didn't like in my riding during the show. The fact that I had to bring all my stuff to the barn and change there to go to the airport didn't bother me a bit. Washing my boots in Edmonton's airport wasn't a fun procedure but airport personnel was very positive and provided me with all the necessary ingredients. It took me only 5 minutes.

I rode 2 horses. One was the Saddlebred/Friesian cross I showed on Sunday. I lengthened my stirrup leathers and focused on plugging my seatbones in. Before I allowed this horse to drop me to the left with my seatbone sliding off and my lower leg sticking out. Plus I focused on shortening my left diagonal from left shoulder to right hip. Correcting my left side helped me to become more effective in straightening and bending him to the left. It was funny how I tell these things to my students all the time and now Frances was repeating them back to me.

Second one was an Andalusian gelding who belongs to one of Frances students. He is a gorgeous horse and has a very opinionated personality. He lets rider know right away if she did something wrong. The owner was very kind to let me ride him and Frances was very interested to see gelding's reactions to my asymmetries in order to better help her student. Esteban helped me to understand importance of plugging in my seatbones to slow him down and keep him in balance. This horse taught me importance of plugging in my seatbones to keep him moving forward. Every time I lost even a tiny bit of connection with him he would slow down and even stop completely. One time he almost reared. Ruthlessness of this horse showed me very quickly how I must stay vertical and plugged in or I will be in trouble. I'm very grateful to him for such effective lesson. I'm not saying that riding difficult horses is the only way to learn but if challenge is not overwhelming it is a great way for sure. I continued to work on my asymmetries and because this horse has his own asymmetry issues putting it all together was quite a task either direction. One of the things Frances made me work on is bending him on a circles or during shoulder in by swiveling my hips into direction of the turn without unplugging my seatbones. The feel of narrowness between seatbones, good plug in into the saddle and hips turning the whole horse was a true bulb going on in my head. I realized that when my left seatbone isn't truly on a horse this technique doesn't work well and I end up losing the horse's straightness and bent to the left. When left seatbone is engaged inside leg becomes so much more effective. Keeping torso vertical in a forward/back and left/right planes helps to bring a horse under me and to feel when he is starting to drift away. I asked Frances:
How do I know if I'm straight and vertical?
Frances answered:
Horse will tell you, he will be light, balanced and easy to ride.
Again, I was struck by simplicity of these words. I think I appreciate these words even more today than during the heat of the lesson even though this incredible horse gave me a taste of his true potential when he was light, balanced and easy to ride. It was during a shoulder in to the right in trot where all the puzzle pieces clicked together to create a beautiful picture...

Happy riding...

My trip. Part II.

2010-04-09T14:44:00-06:00

One of the horses who helped me with my seat this time was Esteban. I encourage you to read my article "Meet Esteban" from my last visit to Frances in 2008. Please click here. Esteban has matured since then into a magnificent stallion with the same kind nature as I remember him. I wish I had read my blog myself before I left for the visit. It would be very helpful to review my old problems and see if I am still making same mistakes.

Plugging my seatbones in was a major brake through in riding Esteban. I was riding him in a snaffle and usually he is ridden in double bridle. In the snaffle he has a tendency to become strong in canter if not ridden with effective seat. At first I had too much thigh on him and very little seatbones. This made him flat and fast. The more I rearranged myself to be connected from top to bottom the more I could engage him and lift his back. Our transitions from canter to trot/walk started to look more fluid. Other problem I had is leaning forward in canter. I have tall torso and I always have trouble keeping it stacked vertically. I think working on my seatbones helped me to keep my torso vertical. Esteban showed me that my idea of being plugged in didn't even came close to what he expected of me.
On Sunday, while riding First level test 4 I lost my seat on the right lead and our lengthening of canter got out of control. I couldn't show transition to working canter and the next movement - shallow loop in counter-canter - was out of balance. During the test it is extremely difficult to ride movements and work on your seat at the same time. Still I had a blast and got first place with 67%. I got 8s for 4 movements such as leg-yield, lengthening of canter left lead :), 20 m circle in trot stretching long and low and medium walk. And I got 5s for 2 movements: transition to working canter :) and canter circle 15 m to the right. The comment was the circle was "too big", which is again my mistake of leaning to the left in my torso and taking the horse with me. Getting ready for the show was a big catalyst to get my seat organized. I had to make things happen and the urgency of it made me work harder and listen to the horse with greater focus. Esteban is an amazing horse. He is a breeding stallion and I had to warm him up in the 20x20m space with 4 other horses, one of them was mare. He didn't even look at them, what a gentleman!

On the last day of my visit Frances rode Esteban and I got to watch. They were incredible, light, forward and balanced at the same time. I have asked Frances how she checks her balance and symmetry. Her explanation was very simple: "Same amount of weight in each seatbone, in each stirrup and each rein, same space between ribcage and pelvis on both sides." After I thought about it I realized that simplicity is what makes it difficult. We start looking for more elaborated ways and get caught up in so much noise forgetting basics, forgetting the big picture. Now when I ride I try to remember this simple rule and it helps me find my left seatbone that likes to float away, get my right thigh on the saddle because I feel my right stirrup more loaded and I know I lost my thigh connection. Put my calfs gently around the horse and feel him respond and soften the rein contact. No and then I glance down on his neck and check that my nose right above the top of his mane, which means I'm centered in my upper body.

Happy riding...

My trip. Part I.

2010-04-01T21:07:00-06:00

My trip was fantastic. I would say even better than I was hoping for. I have got to do everything: riding - everyday, except stormy Friday, 3-4 horses/day, teaching - Frances invited me to work with her students plus Frances became my student couple times which was a lot of fun. To top all this fun Mariah Farm where Frances works had a schooling show on Sunday and I had a chance to show 2 horses. The intensity of immersion into learning and soaking in everything was unbelievable. Spending time with my dear friend - conversations over a glass of wine, discussions on Andalusian/Lusitano horses, dinner party and even shoe shopping, was absolutely priceless.

The Seat

Coming to Denver I was excited to show Frances how effective I have became with my seat and I couldn't wait to ride her horses whom I rode last time 2 years ago. What a humbling experience it was when things didn't go smoothly during my first rides. None of the horses wanted to bend to the left for me, there was a substantial drifting to the left on a right rein. I had a hard time controlling trot tempo of a lovely tall 5-year-old Friesian/Saddlebred horse Frances has in training to sell. When Frances started to translate to me horse's reactions I couldn't believe it. The things she told me were opposite of what I perceived as my usual asymmetries.

I was leaning to the left. Of all the pictures I have ever seen of myself I was always leaning to the right.
My left seatbone was sliding off the horse. Really? I thought my right had this problem.
My right thigh wasn't snug enough on the saddle. I always thought my left thigh had this problem
My left thigh was rotated inward too much ! That was big news to me. I didn't even think it was possible.
My calfs were too far away from the horse and too far back.
I was leaning too much forward, especially, in rising trot and canter. Coming back home to my own saddle I realized that partly leaning forward was because Frances saddles did not fit me - the twist is too narrow and the seat is longer.

Leaning to the left -Good thing Frances recorded my riding of the Friesian cross to send to potential buyer. Looking at the video made me see my seat and see exactly what Frances told me. My upper torso shifts itself to the left even though my seat stays in the saddle. The shift was quite substantial, I couldn't believe my eyes. I always collapsed to the left, my left shoulder always was lower than right one. I have worked and worked on this problem and I went too far. Now I have opposite problem. I'm collapsing to the right. The best way to fix this for me is imagine I have a diagonal stretching from my left shoulder into my right hip. I tighten this diagonal. This brings my upper torso over my hips and makes me vertical. Riding horses back home I started to see how easily I can loose the proper alignment and shift my upper body to the left. When I remember and tighten "my diagonal" I can instantly feel more effective and balanced, especially, on the right rein. On the left rein I am able to bend horses better when "my diagonal" is tight and my left seatbone plugged in.

Left seatbone, left thigh and left calf - This took some time to figure out. At first, Frances was after me to get my left calf on the horse's side. It was sticking out, I didn't even feel his side. Working on that, Frances told me not to rotate my thigh inward so much. It wasn't easy. I have been working on this rotation for so long it became a habit. However, this much rotation unplugged my left seatbone. It took couple days and several horses to finally get it all organized. I was able to ease up on my rotation and get my seatbone forward and closer to the center of a horse and the connection I felt was instantaneous. From there I put my thigh and calf on the horse only rotating enough to keep snug connection and my toes pointing forward and just slightly out. Before my left toes were pointing inward. Frances was amazed at my ability to rotate inward so much. I need to remember about moderation :)

These were my two biggest mistakes. I must say I really got too focused on the thighs and muscle power, forgetting about checking my overall balance and symmetry, plugging both of my seatbones into saddle and keeping them there. The seat must start at seatbones and then come down the thighs and not other way around. The seatbones must be plugged in and be level at all times! The thighs rotate inward without compromising seatbones. The thighs stay on the saddle giving the feel of snugness at the top which spreads down to the knees. Calfs gently hug the horse's sides ready to be used at any moment. More in the next blog...

Happy riding...