August Riding Lesson

Today, Harley and I had a lesson with our teacher.  The last time that we saw her, we had a bodywork session.  I transferred what I could from that ground lesson into the saddle, which was mainly asking Harley to free up his ribcage and balance over his hind legs more.  I also looked for the slight bulge on the right side of his neck to stay buried in his neck muscles, an indicator that he was not leaning on that shoulder.  Since the horse show, I have also been encouraging consistent suppleness over the back, including while going through puddles, and working on the stretchy trot and maintaining balance and stretch for transitions within the trot and canter.  We have also had some success with counter canter, but I would like to dedicate a separate post to that one.

My teacher has a very endearing way of greeting horses.  She greets each one like an old aquaintance.  The horses love her and always notice as soon as she approaches the barn area.  Today was no different.  When Harley saw her, he pricked his ears and made big saucer eyes in her direction.

"Well hello, Mr. Harley Davidson!"

I hope that she does not mind me quoting her.  It was just so cheerful and cute.  Harley's expression reminded me of my students when they see me outside of school.  It was so adorable.

The first item of the lesson was to assess my horse's willingness to release at the poll and his posture especially on the right side.  This was before we even left the barn, and I was happy that we got the nod of approval.  I was excited to get in the saddle for my lesson.

My Homework:

• Keep my legs forward at the girth all the time.  All. the. time.  As soon as my legs come back for any reason, my posture suffers and I rock forward on my pelvis.  Even just a tiny shift affects Harley's balance and contradicts our work.
• Sit like Jabba the Hut.  This image just hones in on that "plugged in feeling" that I get in the saddle when my seat is soft and inviting for Harley to lift up to.
• Keep my knees open.  I need to make a nice, wide "U" to accommodate and encourage the lift and release in my horse's ribcage.  This makes suppleness of the back possible.  Tightening, holding, or pinching with my knees or thighs (even just a little) makes my horse tighten his ribcage.
• Move my shoulders with emphasis on the moving them down.  As soon as I concentrate, I tighten my shoulders.  This is a very typical human reaction, but tightening and raising my shoulder blades makes Harley tighten his, which stops motion from behind, prevents release in his ribcage, and makes it impossible for him to lift his shoulders.
• Warm up my body by rotating from one side to the other in walk and trot, while moving my shoulders in downward circles.  It was amazing how Harley just followed suit by releasing his own muscles and flowing forward.
• Rotate to the inside while keeping my inside elbow at my side and with an upward feel to my hand and wrist.  This was new for us, because I have working mostly on rotating to the outside to fix a collapse of my ribcage, especially to the left.  This time my teacher wanted me to give Harley the support he needed from the bit to lift his ribcage and shoulders while releasing his neck forward and down.  This exercise felt absolutely wonderful and is closely tied to the next bullet point.
• The bit should work in the corners of the horse's mouth, NOT against the bars.  Pulling the bit down against the jaw stops the hind legs and encourages the horse to compress his frame.  Combine this with driving legs and you have a recipe for bracing in horse and rider.  Balance, freedom of movement, and true collection cannot happen under those conditions, even though I have found that they are very often taught for how to put a horse "on the bit".  I was certainly taught that way!  Intellectually, I understand this concept, but it is still an old habit that I revert to very easily.  I have to keep reminding myself and listening to my horse, because when I am successful in riding him with an upward feel on the bit, he is light in my hand, soft and relaxed in his body.  It does not feel like there is any wasted energy and we feel very balanced.  My horse feels happy to go on forever.  The movement feels efficient.  The horse's muzzle almost feels like it is resting in a little flower basket, which you gently support from above.  This is the same type of upward feel that allows Harley to show off his big trot.  Although the basket feels heavier in that case, his hind legs are not blocked and he can swing forward with his shoulders.

Harley's Homework:

•  Be the engine and keep it running! 

My teacher felt that Harley was not committing to his responsibility as the provider of forward motion from behind.  We started in walk and she noticed that my legs were coming too far back as I tapped him nearly every stride.  She also said that I was moving my body quite a lot in an effort to encourage him to keep up his energy.  She fixed my leg position and then told me to "just sit there".  She gave me two sturdy wands and told me to tap him forward until I felt the surge lift me up and carry me along.  She liked the sturdier wands for Harley, because they did not have the flexibility of my dressage whip.  She did not want him to feel the sting of the flexible whip, because that would feel like a punishment to him.  She said that we were educating him.  We did not want to do something to make him tighten or flinch.  I was to think of the wands as conductor's batons.  I had to use them rather assertively until he revved his engine and kept it in gear on his own.  I was surprised that my "fast little horse" was actually being lazy.  He would keep walking for me, but he was not eager to give enough "umpf" to keep his back up or propel his shoulders and neck in front of me.  Once he started to accept that responsibility, the feeling was much different and much more powerful, even just in walk.  This process was repeated at the trot, which was easier.  The natural impulsion of the gait seemed to help a lot.  This is not the first time that we have relearned this type of lesson and I am sure it will not be the last!  It is so tempting to just nag my horse into moving forward and take over his job and he is apparently willing to let me do that.  I think it is just one of those things in dressage that is easy to get sucked into.  Thankfully, the lesson should remain fresh in our minds for a while.  I need to get myself a couple "conductor's batons"!

We combined the inside rider rotation with engine reminders to produce some really nice flowing circles and figure eights.  Harley was level and light in my hands.  His neck was long and I kept the reins pretty long at about the fourth stop (I usually ride from three to just in front of two, depending on what we are doing).  This made it absolutely impossible for me to "hold him together".  The connection had to begin with his engine and then I provided a nice place for his back with my seat and a delicate basket for him to rest his muzzle.  This lesson was challenging, but it felt like we came a long way since our June lesson.  I worked on completely different aspects of my posture and position.  Once Harley's engine was running, the ride felt almost easy.  I say almost, because it would not have been if my teacher had not been reminding me to keep my legs forward, my knees open, my wrists up, my elbows bent, and my horse responsible for his engine.  This is why I take riding lessons after twenty-five years in the saddle.  There is just so much to learn and always something to improve.  Riding is so much more than walk/trot/canter, posting diagonals, leads, halt, and reinback.  It is such a wonderful puzzle and so very rewarding.  A horse like Harley and an enlightened instructor makes it an absolute pleasure.

My teacher was kind enough to take some photos to help with the learning process.  This is a good shot of my position with my leg at the girth and Harley walking with energy and a released poll.

This is a fun trotting picture.  We are connected and in a level frame.  I am carrying the basket for Harley's muzzle and he is lifting his back.

A Bodywork Lesson

More than two weeks ago, my teacher visited the farm to give my friend and I a lesson.  This was during the super-busy-crazy-week culminating in the Sunday horse show in the pouring rain.  Since my lesson was scheduled for a Saturday and Harley had worked very hard under saddle that week preparing the tests, I decided that an actual riding lesson was not on the cards.  Her lessons never wear us out, as she is a very horse-centered instructor and not the type to push us physically for an hour in the heat of July, but she does always give me lots of things to think about and new habits to start formulating as I practice.  She adores groundwork and asserts that the most efficient way to change postural habits in a horse is through ground exercises and bodywork.  So over the years, Harley and I have participated in a number of ground lessons and some bodywork sessions.  The weather being as it was, bodywork in the barn sounded like exactly what we needed to balance out a nonstop week and relax before strutting our stuff the next day.

My teacher usually begins with my horse's neck and poll.  She asks him to telescope his neck forward and down, open his throatlatch area, move his neck laterally, and nod so that he has released his poll.  From there she usually moves to his shoulders, ribcage, belly, and works her way to his hindquarters and tail with breaks to let him "think" and feel what his body is doing.  She describes the work that she does with him not as "exercises or massage", but as movements or postural changes to make him more aware of his body.  Bodywork, as she demonstrates it, is all about body awareness.  I have seen her do work with several horses and one of the things that she stresses is having the horse stand balanced over all four feet.  Since most horses are inclined to stand with more weight on the front end, Harley being no exception, she encourages the horse to rock his weight back to his hind end and she does "exercises" (I need a different word for it!) to help the horse realize that he has a hind end and he can use it.  Harley is, in my opinion, notorious, for standing with his back dropped.  While standing in the aisle, he will belly-lift until the cows come home and nearly to the rafters, but once I stop asking him to hold his tummy muscles in, he just lets them hang.  Of course, I encourage him to engage his abdominal muscles and, therefore, lift his back under saddle and I can see him lift on the longe and in the long lines, but he is not one to stand at rest with lovely posture.  This is at least partly conformational, as he is built somewhat downhill behind the wither (a saddle-fit challenge, I might add), and partly habitual.  My teacher tells me that when he stands with his back dropped, he is standing on the forehand.

However, on this particular day, after a few minutes working with him, she stopped and asked me,

"What has changed with this horse?"

I had already told her about the show and that we were preparing the tests and then I told her that I had been working on our homework from our June lesson: riding Harley with an emphasis on letting his energy from behind lift his shoulders in front of me, uncollapsing my left side, keeping my outside elbow and making sure to keep my inside hand lifted to correct my tendency to drop it.  It didn't feel like completely new stuff for us, so I was not sure what could have been terribly different.  Then she showed me Harley's back and explained how it was more lifted than usual.  She also demonstrated how released he was in his neck and more so in his shoulders than on previous occasions.  She said that he felt distinctly better, maybe the best he had ever felt.

Cue huge smile.

That is always something that I like to hear.  And, believe me, my teacher does not dish out gratuitous praise.  For example, previous not-so-pleasant-moments in our training past have included: too much padding under the saddle, an ill-fitting (although newly purchased and expensive) saddle (which initiated an arduous saddle search), unbalanced teeth and the necessity for a new equine dentist, bracing riding habits in me, and incorrect postural habits in me and Harley.  It would not be an exaggeration to say that there were way more things to fix than things that were going well, but I remained optimistic in between periods of discouragement and never gave up on my horse.  He is just too darn cute and smart and sweet not to tackle every hurdle in our path and, gosh darn-it, he is MY horse.  It is moments like the one where my teacher proclaimed him "wonderful" that keep me going and feeling like all our time and hard work has been with purpose and justification.  Man, that felt good!

Please allow me to clarify that "wonderful" does not equate with perfect, so there are still improvements to be made.  My teacher showed me a spot on his neck on the right side where he is still holding a bit of a brace.  This presents itself as a small bulge at the base of his neck.  The bulge is actually one of the large, lower vertebrae, indicating that he is also not completely releasing his right shoulder and ribcage.  I confirmed that the right is his more convex side under saddle.  My teacher showed me how to encourage him to first telescope his neck and then very gently push the bulge back into alignment.  We were not adjusting his skeleton like a chiropractor, we were adjusting his posture and this released the muscles he was holding and corrected the problem.  After a couple repetitions, Harley could maintain the corrected posture on his own for about ten seconds and then he would "slouch" and the bulge would reappear.  With practice and reminders, he can learn to release those muscles with more consistency.  Now that I am aware of this, I have been able to feel when they are released under saddle and when he is not carrying his right shoulder or giving in his right rib cage.  Ironically, this is the side that is easier to ride and I *thought* was easier for him to collect, but now I am wondering if he was propping himself up with that right shoulder.  This happens to be the direction where he is more likely to flip his head going into the canter, an indication that he is dropping that shoulder into the transition.  Aha!  Now it all makes sense.  Since then, I have been asking for a definite release going right when traveling on curved and straight lines and into the transitions.  I believe that I am noticing a difference, even though I still find him easier to ride going to the right.  I also looked for these things in the long lines.

My teacher worked on Harley's ribcage, asking him to move it from one side to the other and showing him that he can stretch the area between his shoulder and hip, by gently pressing those two points away from one another (especially on the left side).  Harley clearly liked this feeling and dropped his neck while enjoying the stretch.  This was all done without any kind of tie, so that Harley could move around, object, or express himself, as this feedback is very important information.  One of the last "exercises" was asking him to touch the end of his tail with his nose.  On the left side this is a piece of cake.  That is his concave side!  On the right, he could do it, but it was clearly more effortful and he did not really want to reach for his tail.  If I ask him to practice, he should get move flexible in his ribcage and stretch his left side more.

Carrot stretches are often the recommended practice for this type of stretch.  I just want to mention that I have done some carrot stretches with Harley, but they do not elicit a slow, mindful stretch in him.  He is too enthusiastic about food and will wrap his body in a pretzel very quickly to get what he wants.  My teachers says that this movement is "spastic" and not really the release we are going for, so I mostly abstain from carrot stretches.  Every horse is different.  I know they do a lot of good for many horses.  We asked him to reach for his tail by holding the noseband on his halter and holding his tail toward his nose.  He understands that he is supposed to seek a release from the pressure by reaching in the direction we are asking.  He stays calm and relaxed with this technique.

The last thing in my lesson had to do with counter canter, but I will have to share that another time.  And, yes, there was counter cantering, but not by Harley!

Wait and see...

July 2012: A nice picture demonstrating good neck posture.  The bulge that my teacher showed me is completely absent here.  Look at Harley's chest and move your eye up the jugular groove.  The bulge was a few inches above the groove in the area of his lower neck that is in shadow.  Since he is walking here, I believe that this photo also demonstrates that his posture in motion (dynamic) is better than his standing posture (static).  I am also loving his crest muscle.

June 2012: I am not sure if this picture is really showing a neck bulge, but if you look at the lower portion of his neck, just above the jugular groove, there is a little bit of a bump that looks somewhat out of place.  He is also not demonstrating a lifted posture made obvious by the resting hind.  Clearly, he is more interested in the carrots which are walking out of the talk room then the camera or standing nicely.

A few moments later, he is happily eating a carrot, and giving us a good look at how he does the horse version of a slouch.  He is letting his ribcage hang between his shoulders and hips like a sling.  It is okay, though, because he is still cute and lovable.

From our June ride and photo session: This is from our warm up (first ten minutes), but he is already moving nicely in a level balance.  His tummy muscles are engaged and he is just about stepping into the tracks of his front feet.  I like the soft arch to his neck and the reach into the bridle.  If you look just behind the saddle, his back is visibly lifted.  I think Harley is just one of those horses who looks better while in motion.

Harley insisted that I tell you that "Carrots do not stretch", but he is still more than willing to reach for them.

Dressage Homework #4

This is the last homework assignment from our June lesson. 
I hope to see my teacher again in July!


Do the "untwist"!
Going to the left, I need to practice the following exercise:

1. Rotate to the outside of the circle.  My right shoulder must not be visible from the center of the circle.
2. Raise my left hand and make sure that I have not tilted my wrist.  For this exercise, a dead giveaway is the placement of my whip.  It should hang vertically in front of my knee (Whoa.  Talk about instantaneous feedback.  My whip was very informative after I realized where it should be.)
3. Stretch my right elbow back.
4. Bend both elbows and let my lower arms float up.  Imagine that they are filled with helium, but my elbows are heavy with cement.  I should be able to jiggle the bit in the CORNERS of my horse's mouth, not against the bars of his jaw.  Holy Mackerel, did that make him light in the hand!

Before the exercise, I am collapsing left.  My left shoulder is lower than my right, although Harley is still looking nice.

Untwisting to level my shoulders: I could turn my shoulders out and pull my outside elbow back even more.

My wrists are softly rounded toward one another and there is a nice bend in both my elbows now.  My shoulders are very near level.  I am really concentrating, as evidenced by the funny face I am making!

 
Now while I am trying to do all those things, I also must remember to let my lower legs hang down and move with my horse.  My seat must stay "plugged in" from back to front.  AND my shoulders must stay down and my shoulder blades open.  Let me repeat.

There must be space between my shoulder blades
at all times! 

If I get lost, I can make space between my shoulder blades by sticking my elbows out to the sides like wings.  Silly, I know!  But it works.

I found this really tricky to master while letting my lower arms float up.  I wanted to raise my entire arm, but that was incorrect.  And just when I would have it, my whip would fly back behind my knee or my lower legs would stop moving or I started leaning forward, dislodging the back of my seat or my outside seat bone!  Let's just say that throughout the lesson there were many, many do-overs and many chances to laugh at myself.  What else could I do?

It is much easier for me to remain level going to the right, even in canter.  There is a nice bend in my elbow and a straight line to the bit.  I might be told to raise my lower arms more, but at least my shoulders look pretty released and my torso is hovering in the middle.

I am so grateful to have a teacher who emphasizes correct bio-mechanics rather than just "mechanics" in riding.  There is a definite difference.  Although she teaches the importance of contact and forwardness, she never tells me to drive my horse into my hand.  In fact she rarely mentions things like bend or half-halts, always correcting my position when things go awry and then Harley re-balances himself.  Her instruction is applicable to all types of riding and her students are a diverse group with all types of saddles and horses.  She is an incredible, compassionate teacher, but also very firm in her convictions.

Oh and she is also willing to teach in the rain! 
How did we get so lucky, Harley?

If you remember the preview post...

...so what about his feet?
After our lesson, many "thank you's" and payment, my teacher asked about Harley's feet.  She knows the young woman who was my original barefoot trimmer and asked if she was still taking care of Harley's feet.  I took the plunge and confessed that I trim his feet myself.  She was surprised and asked how long I have been doing so (about two years).  She told me that she was very impressed and commended me on taking good care of his trim.  She has mentioned on separate occasions how he has such nice short toes.  Yippee!

Dressage Lesson Homework #2

Welcome to a short homework series based on the things that I learned and worked on in my June 1st lesson with Harley.  I hope that you find some of our work helpful to your own riding 

or, at least, interesting to think about.

Imagine my torso as a folding-chair.
This one might take some convincing.  Collapse is a bad word in dressage and riding.  In fact, I will explain my own faults with regard to collapsing in a later post.  However, my teacher instructs me to "collapse" my front while plugged-in with my seat.  What does she mean?  I used to be a horrid hollower.  My lower back actually had a concave curvature.  This was partly due to prior training and partly due to my conformation.  When your back is hollow, your front-side is convex and over-extended.  No joint or muscle group in the rider should be at its endpoint: totally contracted/closed or totally stretched/open.  This inhibits movement at best, invites bracing from the horse at worst.  So my teacher treats my back like a joint.  I must keep that joint in its middle position, which is also called neutral and is necessary to ride in neutral pelvis.

By holding with my tummy muscles a little bit, I can "fold the chair", which is my torso.  This brings my shoulders over my feet without dislodging my seat.  This actually makes me straight in the saddle.  Although I am not a hollow-backed rider anymore, the tendency is always there for me.  Remembering to "fold the chair" keeps me right in the middle, making me a mobile, balanced person for Harley to carry.  I must remember to do this for every transition, up, down, or within gait, and even when we are traveling for periods of time at the same pace.  Toward the end of the lesson, I actually felt some fatigue in my torso, which is rare for me.  My teacher said that it could just have easily been muscles letting go as it could have been muscles working.

 

Dressage Lesson Homework #1

Welcome to a short homework series based on the things that I learned and worked on in my June 1st lesson with Harley.  I hope that you find some of our work helpful to your own riding 

or, at least, interesting to think about.

Keep my wrists soft.
This is a common directive in dressage, but my teacher's way of explaining it is unique.  My thumbs should be on top, BUT my wrists should be "rounded" toward one another.  I know that this sounds weird, maybe even wrong, but it does not look wrong in practice and my horse's way of going improves.  If I can touch the knuckles of my right and left fists together while I am holding the reins, then I am holding them correctly.  My forearms form a "V" in front of my torso.  Have you heard the expression "hands together, horse together?"  I think of this when she instructs me to make this correction in my position.

My instructor revealed to me that I am more likely to tighten up my wrists going to the left, especially when Harley's motor starts to overpower his front end.  Next my shoulders come up, my shoulder blades squeeze together, and the spiral of imbalance continues from there.  I told her about pointing  my thumbs toward either side of the bit and she did not say that this was wrong, but she did change the position of my hands to what I described above.

Harley's response to this was to become lighter on his feet.  His head and neck also came up more and he could keep his neck longer while doing so.  He was also less likely to lean on the reins or fall forward, especially to the left.  This gave me more of a "working" forearm, as described by my teacher.  I guess my forearm wasn't working before.  ;)