After reading Trudi's comments earlier in my blog I decided to concentrate on my hands today.
It was a misty cool day today but perfect for riding so I decided to go for an hours hack. My feet are now much better and I only have to check very occasionally whilst trotting to make sure that they haven't slipped backwards. So far so good!
The hands are a different matter. I started off just by raising them above the withers and spacing them about 6" apart but I couldnt believe it when I checked about 2 minutes later and sure enough they were level with my hips and almost resting on my thighs. Now had Trudi not seen the pictures I posted I would not have thought that they were too low.
At first I just couldnt keep them up and every time my mind was distracted they would drop down. I tried bridging my reins so that they were a fixed distance apart but had to give up on that because I am still trying to keep a very light contact with Endy's mouth and I couldn't regulate that enough.
I then had the idea of using my whip as a measure across the gap and held that with both hands. Because it is fixed it keeps them 6" apart and also I cannot lower them. This really worked well and it is schooling my muscle memory to remember the place where they should be. I realise that my hands will be facing downwards but that is something I can easily fix once my hands remember to be higher.
I notice that by raising my hands it makes me sit taller in the saddle and also it keeps my head up and straight.
We did a couple of leg yeilds and I found that from the right to the left track he does it no trouble at all with no loss of forward movement at all. The opposite way is totally different and he just stops dead.
I played with my weight and found that if I kept my weight in the stirrup on the side that I wanted him to step towards then he did not lose any forward motion at all. I presume that this is because I am slightly lifting the weight out of the saddle on that side? I dont know why it worked just that it did.
By the time we got home he was moving very freely and I felt lighter in the saddle. In fact we were having such fun I wished we could have stayed out longer.... Still there is always tomorrow!
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Hi Gail,
Just got a chance to catch up on here and you've been busy, well done.
I'm glad to hear the legs are improving, just remember to keep dropping weight down through the stirrups and let the heel drop 'naturally' down, don't force it.
I'm glad that the hands are now on the agenda, the better your seat gets the more independant your hands get and vice versa. Try not to look down at your hands but try to get a 'sense' of where they are. Ultimately Endy will tell you where you should carry them but it certainly won't be level with your hips and resting on your thighs (lol).
When you have lots of energy in the school or hacking then try 'connecting' more with your seat. When you are coming down into the sit phase of the rising trot remember the exercise we did with slowing him through the rising (imagine you are sitting down carefully and deliberately on a strong spring) and use this for a couple of strides to half halt the trot and get him to bend the joints in his rear end. Don't change your hands through this, just give him a featherlite feel in the rein to work towards, no pull backwards.
Whilst you do the rising trot work concentrate on your style of rising, it's not a bob up and down but comes more from the thigh and pelvis. Your upper body will be lightly inclined forward but your back should be nice and straight. You should have the feeling that he pushes you out of the saddle and gravity (controlled by you) lets you back down into the saddle.
Keep enjoying it and reading stuff online is great too. Try visiting sustainabledressage.com, it's well written and sympathetic to the beliefs I hold.
All the best, Trudi
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