Sunday, January 11, 2009

the saddle keeps the leg right, dummy....duh!

now I did know this - it was why i bought the Fhoenix and then the Vogue.

Why, then, was i moving my lower leg slightly back from where it should have been? put that right, seat more secure, horse goes better. Duh!

You'll gather we had another good lesson.

Didn't think it would have been as I had to go back in for the pressure halter to get on - although to be fair, it was blowing hard, going to rain, and I had some polos in my pocket I'd forgotten about but Molly knew were there.

Anyway, i decided my warm up was carry on from friday - move her on forward on a long rein to get her relaxed and thinking forward. Then when RI came in i had her take the halter off, and we worked on trot.

Instructor, having watched this (I have to say I knew part of the crap trot was me) decided part of it was Molly and part of it was me (the legs...). So, put the legs right, and just push her through it - pretty damn uncomfortable as apparently she's skipping all over underneath me trying to avoid working - not assisted by a need to avoid the d*** harrow that's been left in the arena! - and by the finish we had a really nice trot ON THE BIT.

this was all with an exceedingly light contact indeed and hands low.

Not once did Molly argue about any of it, she kept her mouth shut and her head was still virtually throughout.

So very pleased again, and will work on that for the next couple of weeks or so before arranging next lesson.


3 comments:

Jean said...

Good going! You'll know you fully understand when you can recreate it all on your own. It won't take long. When it feels good like that you won't want to ride any other way.

cptrayes said...

That sounds good!

C

Claire said...

it is