Lesson 12 January 2011

I had my lesson in the bottom part of the arena today, while Veronica was riding Monty in the top half. My heart almost came to a standstill! Flag tried to nap again... twice - purely because he wanted to go join Monty, but I gave him a hard pull with the inside rein and an even harder smack with my crop (which was in the outside hand luckily!) and he did not try it again!

I was about to say to Pam that I think we should rather not canter him with Monty in the arena - when I realised that she would obviously know best and if she thought it was a bad idea, she wouldn't let me do it... so when she told me to pick up the canter I did - and guess what! - he didn't nap once! I was so happy but also realised that, yet again, my own seat has improved so much and that I was now steering him with my body as well, and NOT my reins!!!

Cantering again!

Give me a carrot!!!

We decided it's time to start cantering mr. Flag again. He's been doing so well in his 20m circles at the trot... Nevertheless... just to be on the safe side, we only cantered him large.

In order for me to overcome my fear of cantering.. we took baby steps. First I'd only canter him down the long sides - even if it was only down the one side of the arena. We gradually increased this until we could do 3 / 4 rounds and during the December holidays, we attempted a 20m circle - and although he was still very rushed and kept falling out, HE DIDN'T NAP! This was so super awesome and it was such a relief to have my horse back! 
 I'm so impressed with the progress we've made in the last couple of weeks! His canter is becoming more controllable, less rushed, more balanced and he's not falling into the circles anymore... given I've also started consentrating on my own riding skills: I've learnt to put more weight on my outside leg to help him balance and keep him from falling in and I've also been concentrating a lot on my riding position. Take a look at this video, which I found very helpful on how to improve your classical seat.


It's also been going so well in the 20m canter circles, that we've decided it was time to loose the second crop, but, just as a precaution, I keep the crop in my outside hand, in case he attempts to nap again.

G & Kyle came with me to my lesson today and took turns recording my lesson on the video camera so that Pam could evaluate me. The one thing that caught my attention immediately, was how stiff I was in my back but my leg position have improved a lot. I've also had to lengthen my stirrups by one more hole - whether this was due to Flaglet picking up weight or my legs becoming longer and the muscles more flexible I do not know, either way, it's definately improved my position!