I am not sure what they have slipped Murphy in his oats lately, but whatever it is, they should keep doing it. He was just fabulous this Tuesday too. We were supposed to being doing some counter-canter work, but ended up working on preparing for it all lesson, and that gave some amazing results when walking and trotting.
We spent most of the lesson focusing on changing which side was the inner side, regardless which way we were riding, and on making sure that we were handling the turns in corners and on circles appropriately when riding them with the “wrong” side as the inner side. The counter-canter, which will happen next time if all goes according to plans, will be through to two corners, so Ulrika wanted to make sure we had a good feel for how to turn through a corner with the “wrong” inner side. In particular, she wanted to make sure our bodies were doing the right thing.
For me, that’s not an easy task. My co-ordination is about as bad as Murphy’s (we make an excellent couple that way ;P), and my general issues with left and right means that mirroring a movement is tricky for me. But because Murphy was in such good mood, I was able to continue focusing on doing as little as possible, and that worked to my advantage. I did need to adjust my leg position now and then, but overall I just thought about a steady seat. And it worked quite well. Plus, this kind of exercise, where I have to focus on keeping his shoulders in and his hindquarters under control, really makes a difference when it comes to getting him to work. I just have to take that feeling along to all lessons on him.
Still, I don’t think I can take full credit for how hard Murphy was working, though. He really does have bad co-ordination, and doing things the opposite way from how he usually does them is not easy for him, but boy how he worked at it. We had started off just switching inner sides when riding around the arena, and then we moved to riding on two circles and keeping the inside constantly opposite to what it would generally be. It was hard for him, but he just kept at it. He ended up so nicely together, and gave me some excellent walk and trot which I really felt through his whole body.