Another wonderful lesson! I love when Debbie attends trainer clinics, as she always comes back with a new "pearl of wisdom" to share with her students.
Lendon Grey shared some tips on the rider using their core to stop their horse more square and to help riders work on their position. As part of our warm up at A, B, C & E she asked me to do a situp with my abs, squeeze my thighs and let out a large breath as I said the word whoa, and only use rein if needed. Since G will whoa on verbal command in the arena, I asked her if I could just breathe out instead, and she said okay. G was super!! He stopped square without me touching my reins on the second attempt, and the third, fourth and fifth! About the sixth time I did slightly squeeze my outside rein to help keep him straight. Boy was it a cool exercise. Seems simple, but to be able to feel yourself sitting taller and your body aligning shoulder/hip/heel was neat. Having G stop more square and walk off with his hind leg first 90% of the time was even better. He used to always start off with the front leg. Getting your horse to stop with their hind legs underneath them is the key. The squarer the stop, with the horse rising in the withers; means walking off from the stop correctly. Debbie said of the three students she worked with that morning, G was the best student of them all. She was so pleased that he "got it" so quickly.
After working shoulder-in (which he also did great at) and leg yields we began to work on canter transitions. So picture the arena is 28 degrees, the wind is blowing, the arena doors are rattling; and then the farm truck pulls out front to pick up hay. That's when I lost G's concentration, and I felt him starting to get rattled (G is all about food - farm truck = lunch hay). Before I knew it he spun out on me. Not once, but twice. I rode them both out without losing a stirrup or my seat. Debbie was so pleased ~ not with G's performance, but with mine. She said the two spins G delivered would've unseated many riders. So woohoo, that means my seat is getting better and those core exercises are helping. I actually didn't think the spins were so bad, but I guess when you don't lose your balance they aren't such a big deal, lol. We decided at that point that we would forget about the canter and work on some relaxation exercises. Working 20 meter circles, spiraling in and leg yielding out. It made a big difference and G came back to me in a matter of minutes.
Another successful lesson under our belt!
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