Caveletti and Adjustability

In my lesson on Wednesday, we did more trotting poles, eventually turning them into cavelettis with one side of the pole slightly raised with a block.  Indy really had to use his stifles to think about going up for the raised pole, which was harder for him.  I had to work to get his trot both slow and animated, posting lower yet stronger really helped me do that even though it initially was hard to post low with such a bumpy trot!  It's surprising how adjustable Indy is, because on first glance it appears that he has good gaits that are very consistent but don't look like they'd be easy to adjust.  But he's really responsive, so it's easier than it looks.  It was a really good lesson.

They just know, sometimes...

Had a really bad day but a really wonderful lesson today.  Got on completely miserable, but somehow over the course of the ride I began to feel a bit better (at least for a few minutes).  Indy is so wonderful for rides like this, he's really quite happy going around basically on the buckle and does just about everything right.  We trotted him over some poles today, which I haven't done literally in years (the last few horses I've ridden I have not jumped or done any pole work with).  It was fun, I could really feel Indy's stifles pop up when he really got moving over the poles and picking his feet up.  He really seemed to enjoy this new exercise, really pepping up but not in a bad way.  Another interesting exercise Mia had me do after she was satisfied with the pole work was changing my diagonal on the up beat instead of sitting into it - with his very, very bouncy trot it does help to do that!  I just have to remember to do that, changing on the down beat is so automatic now. 

I swear Indy knew I needed a really good lesson today and was happy to oblige!  But really he's just an all-around good boy who tries his best.

Horse Personalities

It's hard to talk about horse personalities without feeling, well, a tad new-agey. I don't want to fall into the trap of anthropomorphizing too much, but it's interesting to think about. Indy is fascinating to me because there's *something* about him that is inherently trustworthy and kind, without being dull. He is forward, yet contained under saddle... and his personality kind of reflects that. I've seen both ends of the spectrum, horses that are too uppity and those that are way too dull, and he's a nice mix of the two personalities. He has a lot of Ghost's best qualities, which I'm really appreciating right now. I've been doing a bunch of lunge lessons and he's wonderful for them - really, he's so rhythmic that I find him a ton easier than some other horses and great for me right now. He's super-forgiving, too, which is always nice!

Off the lunge!

Had a good ride on Echo before the session yesterday, he's fun and relatively uncomplicated.

Today I had my third lesson on Indy and finally (eventually) got off the lunge at the trot for the first time. Thankfully his trot is rhythmic and steady, because it's huge! I think he has the longest legs of any horse I've ever ridden, hence the long stride. But I really do feel secure on him (we moved the thigh blocks around on the Wintec and improved my leg position) and am having a lot of fun. Also love the fact that people were using farm equipment and moving large piles of gravel around the arena and he didn't bat an eye. Definitely can't beat that!

visualizations

Had a really good lesson on Radar today! Both he and I are feeling and performing better, which definitely helped things. We worked on establishing the difference between being straight and bending through the corners, and how I need to ride differently to get the bend. Radar is oddly enough extremely responsive to seat aids (who would have thought?) and this really works for him. It's seriously like a light bulb goes off when he figures out "oh, I can do that!" Favorite image of today was once again the pissing dog. Love the idea of a Grand Prix dressage rider talking in those terms! But I swear, it gets me off my outside seat bone! Also got the same lightness in my seat through thinking about pliés (to get my thigh in the right position) and the concept of raising my pelvis. Ended with some sitting trot, and it felt really good from the work I'd done earlier. It was nice to have a good lesson on Radar, it reminded me why I do enjoy him.

Lunge Lessons!

So I haven't had proper lunge lessons in about three years, as none of the horses I rode did them very well. I've been having fun this week and last doing them on Indy, a huge (well, he's 16.1 and I'm 4'11"!) breeding stock Paint (looks like an Appendix QH!). He's great for lungeing because he sort of has one gait -- very helpful at the trot. His trot is super bouncy, which I kind of like for posting -- you don't have to work to post like you do on some horses. Was really able to work on isolating my core and rotating my seat bones beneath me to sit evenly and felt a lot better than the last few weeks. Hopefully I won't be asked to sit it anytime soon! But he's fun and really, really sweet. His personality is funny, though -- he alternates between being really aloof and totally in your pocket. But he's enjoyable to be around, which is always my top priority.

A change of pace

I've been riding Lacy for one and a half weeks now, and it's really interesting having to change my ride to properly ride a different horse. Lacy is so much more responsive than Radar and the other horses I have been riding -- you really have to be exact with her to achieve the response you want. She's really responsive to seat aids, which has been really fun for me. I've been working on turning her precisely from my seat, and it's really easy for me to tell when I'm giving the correct aids or not by how she responds. With Radar you can kind of muddle through, be a tad too heavy and still somehow have it turn out like you want. With Lacy, you have to be exact and precise with your aids. She has a trot that is so easy to sit (I actually haven't posted on her yet!) and it's once again all about learning exactness and applying the correct aids. It's fun to ride a "new-to-me" horse again!