I had thought I would probably be continuing on Sammy today, even though it isn’t that common for him to be available for our group, but instead I was back on Murphy. I almost felt a little disappointed, since last week had gone quite well, and I was concerned that my so-so riding of the previous weeks would kick back in. Murphy certainly seemed to be in quite a mood today, showing me a lot of his teeth while I was getting him ready. He also swished his tail a lot (including hitting me in the face as I was picking his back hooves), and I am not quite sure what it was that was bothering him. Might have been the new neighbour, Nelson, or maybe he was just in a peevish mode. He had apparently been in a fight earlier, when Campino tried to steal his girlfriend, Inca. Campino ended up giving him a cut on his cheek, but Murphy chased him off quite thoroughly.
When I led him down to the arena, though, he was very lazy and rather disinterested, and I was concerned he’d be much the same during the class. That, however, proved to be something I had no cause to worrying about. Almost at once I could feel that he had a fair bit of energy. Not as much as he’s had during some private lessons or in the outdoor paddock, but he was moving forward quite well.
The plan for this lesson was to continue with the same exercise as last week. That is, turning down the centre line and making sure you get the horse tracking properly for a start, and then adding some flexion of the neck and, finally, a partial turn on the haunches leading into first trot and then canter. If anything, Murphy is even harder than Sammy to do this correctly on, as he’s more of an eel than a horse when you try to get him tracking properly. I knew what to expect, though, so I did start riding him in a very determined way from the get-go. I made sure to keep a good pace and to do my best to keep him from throwing out his shoulders or drifting to one side or the other with his hindquarters. I also tried to let my lower body move along a bit more in the walk, as I have a tendency to stiffen up a bit too much there, and he seemed to respond well to that.
As I had known would be the case, it took quite a few passes before I could get him decently framed between my hands and my legs. But once my instructor had identified his main problem as his left hindleg, which he kept trying to avoid using if possible (in one way when it was the inner hindleg and in another when it was the outer), it became a bit easier to predict what he’d try and target my responses to that. He also seemed to find the exercising fairly fun once we added the trotting (not to mention the cantering) and, just like Sammy, he would get really geared up as we approached the point where we’d turn and make the transition. As a result, I got quite good drive from behind, and even if I couldn’t always translate it into perfect straightness I did get some nice transitions that started with the hindlegs. I also managed some good transitions back down to a walk based on the fact that he was quite light in front and fairly under himself in the back.
It was once we started cantering, however, that the determined way I was riding really paid off. The first transition into canter, for a left leading leg, when great as he got to use the ‘easy’ hindleg, his right. The next one, to the left, was much worse, as he didn’t get the left hindleg straight under himself and didn’t get enough strength to go straight into the proper canter. I had one more fairly bad attempt to the left, where I ended up getting a bit ‘pushy’ with my upper body again, and then I switched over my whip to my left hand and decided to really work on getting him to use that leg properly. The next attempt, I kept his outside short and tapped him on the left leg with my whip. He didn’t go straight into a canter, as I wouldn’t let him do it the wrong way, and instead he started half-pacing. But I collected him more, and asked for the canter again, and now he did it just right. I even managed a very easy canter to walk transition as a result of his canter being so balanced from the start.
I did a few more transitions in the hard direction, all of them very nice, and then finished off with two easy ones. By now Murphy had become very geared up, and the last two or three passes he was backing up, side-stepping and trying just about everything to get to canter as early as possible. But since I trust him as much as I do, I managed to keep the pressure on without getting nervous about his reactions. I kept a firm, steady seat and I made sure that he ended up in the spot I wanted and that he was properly under himself with his hindlegs before I allowed him to canter.
We finished off with some work on two large circles, and I can’t think of when it last was that Murphy moved so well. We cantered a bit more, and I got another fabulous canter to walk transition where he felt just right in the hands and very under himself from behind. We then did some rising trot, and he was nicely balanced and engaged almost all through it. He was tired, though, and towards the very end he got a bit fast as he started to feel the work was too much. But even then he could be collected back up again without losing his balance or engagement.
Afterwards, I was just thrilled. My instructor said it was the best she had seen me ride, and I think it probably comes close. Some of the private lessons last spring were immensely satisfying too, but this was definitely as good. It just felt wonderful the way things clicked, and the way Murphy moved. Its almost fortunate we have a theory lesson next week, as I am sure another dressage lesson would bring me down to earth soon enough. Then again, I am thinking of taking a private lesson ... so we’ll see. This, at least, was great. And I think Murphy enjoyed himself too, despite the mild protests during the class about me making him work too hard, because his mood was much better afterwards.