So, as I was hacking out today...
Oliver and I came head to head with a four-in-hand, Friesians too, with people hanging off the sides and the back of the carriage and everything. Needless to say, Oliver was bug-eyed about it, but he really did handle it quite well. He did jig a bit away from them (probably thought they were going to pop up again and surprise us). I tried bending Oliver side to side when he jigged, but he just kept on jigging, and I was getting annoyed, so then I thought, right, I’m going to shorten the rein and push you onto the bit, and that seemed to work, but he kept wanting to look behind him to see if that carriage was after him, so then I put him into a shoulder-in, our very first one, and that solved the problem nicely. I don’t know if it’s because it was harder work for him than jigging, or it got his mind on something else, but after a few steps of shoulder-in, I let him stretch into the contact and he did a lovely free walk along the trail a ways before I gave him a loose rein all together and we walked on home.
It was GLORIOUS today. Temps in the mid 60s, sunny, and this is where it gets really surreal – the trails had actually been groomed. I saw it happening on the way out – there were a few people with rakes combing all the pine straw off the trail and smoothing the footing down. Unbelievable. Only in Southern Pines do you have people out there raking the horse and people trails. Oliver hadn’t been on a hack in a while, so it was good for both of us to get out. We did some trotting, and he offered up this lovely stretchy trot for quite a ways down the trail, which was a challenge to my balance as he got very bouncy, and even picked up his right lead and cantered a stretch, and then cantered in a lovely balanced frame downhill on the way back on his left lead with very little help from me. Oh, and we jumped that fallen tree on the way out to the Woods. I was a little nervous, as I’ve never jumped it before on Ollie, just Sam, and he just pricked his ears and popped it in style. SUCH a good boy.
It has been the week for making huge progress. I had my lesson on Friday, flat. I asked Christan how she warmed him up, and Christan told me that it depended on whether or not he was offering a stretch. If he offered to stretch correctly (and she said he had been doing this more often, so I guess that means I’m doing something right!) she would stretch him right off the bat, but if he was being stiff, she would immediately put him on the bit. I had a revelation about how to keep my lower leg on all the time, and what it means to do that, and keep the thighs open. I was trotting around letting him stretch (he was having a limber sort of day) and I asked Christan, “Is it okay if I turn out my toes at first while I work on this keeping the thigh open thing? I can’t seem to keep my toes in and keep my thigh off him at the same time.” And Christan said, of COURSE it’s okay, why would you want to keep your toes turned in? I told her that ever single dressage trainer I’ve ever had has practically forced my toes in, so that it’s become a habit with me, and she said that if I turned my toes in, I would clamp my thigh against his sides. I know that the upper level riders are able to do it without closing their thighs, but I can’t, and it turned out that when I turned my toes out, it wasn’t like they were sticking out sideways or anything, so it was actually not as bad as I thought. And, when my toes are out, I can keep my entire leg back from the hip and keep my lower leg on Oliver. I thought I had my lower leg on, but not all the time, because when I did start to keep it on consistently, he would squirt forwards away from the leg and hollow. I thought about wrapping my lower legs around him and just holding them there, and if he tried to get quick and hollow, I would close my leg a little more firmly and keep my hands still and just keep doing that until he softened and gave. Oh, and I found out just how much I use my hands when I ride. I don’t think I’m fiddling, but even the squeezing I do with my hands is “knocking him off the bit”, according to Christan. I know I’ve been better about not sponging the rein anymore, but I guess I was still squeezing with my hands too much and I wasn’t getting consistent contact. When Oliver gets quick and hollows, or falls behind my leg, or pops his shoulder, I have to concentrate hard on NOT doing anything with my hands, even squeezing them, and use my leg and push him up onto the bit, and then when he softens, not to allow the reins to get too soft. In short, I have to stop releasing so much, and taking so much, and make everything a lot smaller and more consistent. We had some lovely uphill work, both up and down in the transitions, and got the right lead every time (although it wasn’t too pretty), and I was relieved. I’m still a bit irritated at all the people who have told me to ride with my toes in, thigh on, hands spongeing, blah. It’s all wrong! Sometimes I worry about what would happen if anything went south between Christan and me. I don’t want to go back to the old way of riding, ever. I know it’s wrong, and the way Christan is having me ride is more like what they talk about in the classical dressage books, like Klimke’s Schooling the Young Horse, and others – from back to front, leg to hand.
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