Oops. I forgot all about last week. Though, we didn’t actually ride, so there wasn’t that much to report. We had a theory lesson which consisted of our instructor riding one of the regular lesson horses. She discussed (and demonstrated) obedience and preparation (mainly for corners, circles and other curved paths), and also gave some tips on how to ride a dressage program, since that’s part of our goal for this semester.
It was very interesting to watch the change in the horse’s movements and carriage as the lesson progressed, and also to see just how many things he would ttry to see if he could get away once she put more demands on him. Remaining consistent in what you ask of the horse, even when it tries all sorts of tricks to avoid work, is one of the hardest things. Especially for those of us who just ride lessons once a week. Getting the right feeling for how much pressure to apply, and whether you are doing it right and the horse is being contrary or if you’re actually doing it wrong, is darn hard.
And that sort of played into today’s lesson, at least for me.
It was time for jumping, and of course it would be jumping along curved lines, to tie into the dressage work done during the last weeks. This is not Murphy’s greatest strength, seeing as his canter is not exactly stellar, but usually we manage okay.
Usually, that is. Today was not our today. ;) First off, my stomach was a bit upset, so tight fitting riding breeches weren’t feeling great. So, I was a bit off. Then there was the new saddle. The old one had been getting a bit too worn, I guess, but so far I am not liking the new one at all. Normally, we go for allround saddles. This one is more of a dressage saddle, with very little padding in front and it also felt rather high in the back. Seeing as Murphy isn’t exactly high in front, I was feeling like I was on a ski slope even with regular length stirrups. Just sitting in it felt a bit off, and once we got started riding I found that riding a rising trot in it was very tiresome. I’ll definitely have a chat with the instructor about it next week, as we were too delayed today for me to have time to stay and do that right off.
The big problem, however, was Murphy himself. Almost immediately I felt that something wasn’t quite right. Murphy felt very sluggish and even more wriggly than usual, and he took every chance he got to just stop. I was uncertain of whether he was just being very contrary or if he wasn’t feeling okay. After trying for a bit to get him to move more willingly, I told the instructor how he was feeling. Before I could ask her to check that he wasn’t lame or moving oddly, she told me he had had a massage earlier in the day and this was his first (and only) lesson today. So, that’s what I was feeling. He was relaxed, his muscles were probably tired and he had no interest in working. On the whole, I am thinking he probably should have had the day off, but maybe I am being too soft just because he decided to show his opinion so clearly. Either way, it definitely affected how much I pushed him, and since I am usually too soft anyway that was not good. ;P
As he went through most of the lesson feeling as if he might just stop and fall asleep at any moment, it also brought back my bad habit of doing too much with both my arms and legs and my upper body. The first bit of jumping, on a circle to the right, went okay once I found a rhythm. Then we did the same to the left, and it was a royal disaster. Murphy’s generally rsther poor canter was made miles worse by his lack of engagement, so we alternated between going too fast and dropping back down to a trot, and I was either doing too much or too little, and my hands were either giving too much and too little. With him so wriggly and lacking in drive of his own, I wasn’t able to find the balance between too much and too little, since it felt as if he was changing all the time.
The final exercise, which consisted of enough circling around and changing lines to make me dizzy even normally, came out about as poorly as the second one. Both times, the instructor called it off before I quite managed to get it right since a) it took me too long and b) while not normally a problem, Murphy was wearing out faster today because of the massage.
So, overall, not good. Lots of bad habits resurfaced. Though, I guess it is good to be reminded of what I am up against now and then. Next week I am hoping to get a chance to feel what that saddle is like during a dressage lesson.