While I'm stting, bored, waiting for my flight to Louisville KY, I'll fire off my thoughts from today's lesson. Like Sara mentioned in one of her posts, lightbulbs like paparazzi's in town! I tld Jill that my ENT Dr ordered a BFT (balance function test) for me, and until I get my balance issues squared away, I'd rather ride with a saddle. She was fine with that.
I carried his saddle down to the indoor, and remembered my helmet this time. I tacked him up with his saddle, and a bridle with a snaffle, not the mullen mouth pelham I normally ride him with. I borrowed a dressage whip from Jill, and used it to pet him, and flick flies, and let him see that a whip isn't there to hurt him. Jill said that it's an extension of my arm.
Joy was there, too, working with Charlie, the 17h Hanovarian (Joy's the girl who braided flowers in Daniel's mane his first week there!). Joy's a petite little thing riding Charlie bareback like a pro... How I wish I started riding at her age, not at 42!
I touched the whip to his right hip to keep him from swinging his hip out at the mounting block, and with it merely RESTING against his hip, he didn't take a step! Thank you Jill!! (Note to self, buy a dressage whip at Dover next week!!). I mounted up and started him (lower leg pressure) at a walk. After he was a little warmed up, Jill started to explain the whole driving from the seat thing. All this time, I'd been forcing my seatbone DOWN to weight it. She explained that you don't do it that way, you simply raise up the opposite seatbone, and the opposite will lower and be weighted! DOLT she said it's like a scale, if you weigh 150 (I freaking WISH), and you lift your left leg, you still weigh 150, it's just all on the right leg. She said I should reach straight up for the roof with my hip, not forward to Philadelphia, nor should I push that seatbone down. Also, when his back muscle rises to meet my seatbone, I should thank him by lightening the contact on the rein ever so slightly, for just a moment.
Once I started to "get it" Daniel really lightened!!! I felt more impulsion from his rear and he seemed much more engaged, not just ambling along anymore. We didn't get out of a walk, but we went from the "Daniel amble", to the, "OK, I'm waking up now", to, "is THIS what you want, Mom?" To, "C'mon! Let me trot!!". All at a WALK!!! Now I see why she has students who walk for nearly a year before they get to a trot!!!
After we, I mean *I* got that concept of lifting my opposite seatbone, not pushing down the seatbone I wanted to weight, I had to get the whole stupid dressage whip (or stick, as Jill calls them) think down. I felt like a kid learning to write, and going from a crayon to a long, skinny, pencil. I didn't know what to do with the flipping thing! Once again, Jill (just as Leeandra used to) broke it down to very simply resting it across my leg, and showing me I could move my arm away from his neck so the lash at the end would contact his leg. After an hour, I still couldn't get the whole 'stick' thing down!!
I'm SO gonna have to practice all of this a lot when I get home from KY next week!
