On Wednesday's ride, I had plans of working more intensely on our previous lesson homework, which consists of working on the quarter line with an absolute straight shoulder/neck position, making sure he is hot off my aids. Then turn him slightly (meaning basically invisible to the untrained eye) to the inside with my seat position and the outside rein and then push him back to the outside with my inside leg, creating a better connection from the inside leg to the outside rein, with his inside leg (hopefully) swinging through and up to the middle of his body. All the while NOT using any inside rein, as this will give him opportunity to bulge through his outside shoulder, creating the biggest fake shoulder fore you have ever seen! If done correctly, this could be interpreted as a few steps of correct shoulder-fore. However that all went out the window with the upcoming sub-zero temperatures in our forecast.
I was supposed to have a lesson on Friday, but with arctic temps moving through starting Thursday night, Shelley asked if we could move the lesson up to Thursday. I felt a little unprepared as I wanted to work some more on the homework from the past lesson, but that was not meant to be. Shelley got to the barn early to get him started and when I arrived he was looking really nice! Shelley had him stretched beautifully to the outside rein, accessing that place between the withers and mid-neck that is so difficult to get him to use correctly. He was having definite moments of true inside leg to outside rein contact. So Shelley quickly explained a new tool that we were going to add to our "toolbox", but was very careful in explaining that it was only to be used at certain times and when other things were in place. He had to be moving forward and turning off my seat with much certainty in an acceptable tempo. Once that was established, I would turn him to the inside off my seat, keeping an elastic feel on the outside rein and then take a very slow feel on the inside rein- no jerking or gaps in my reins- then I would slowly give the inside rein back, returning him to straight, asking him to move forward with my inside leg. It was very similar to the previous exercise, but added the inside rein to help soften him at the poll to then move his shoulder back to the outside and access that difficult area at the base of his neck in order to have correct contact in the reins. Now the reason that Shelley was so cautious is that I have a real tendency to over bend J in the wither area- which I quickly pointed out to Shelley! She agreed and felt that I was responsible enough to keep it under control and not bend him to that degree. Now that is trusting me A LOT! So off we went to practice this new exercise and it was tough in the beginning to get the feel, time my aids quick enough and get the order down. But by the end of the lesson we had done it both ways in the walk and trot, Shelley advised me to practice on my own in the canter, as that was the easiest gait to do this exercise. I was very nervous about over bending J's neck and getting back into that bad habit, but in the end I learned exactly how much I was allowed to use my inside rein without creating the bend. It is so much about feeling- which unfortunately cannot be taught by someone else, I just have to figure that part out on my own. But this exercise allowed me more access into J's neck- the place around the base of his neck- and he stretched out to he bit and "towed" me much better without pulling. This allowed me to have more effective half halts and leg aids. So our homework is to continue with this exercise and once it is reliable, use more half halts and "go forwards" within the steps to create even more swing and bringing his hind end underneath him. Lots of gait transitions in the middle of all of this also.
Fortunately all the swelling was gone in his leg, so I was happy to see that, especially since we are going to be out of town for the weekend. With the cold setting in tonight and then going to the in-laws for the weekend, I won't be able to ride again until Monday. So hopefully this post will help me remember everything I have to do for Monday's ride! My next lesson isn't until Friday, so I have plenty of time to try to master it... or screw it up royally!! ;)
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