Actually riding

As soon as I got on Endy had his head in the air..... I kicked and kicked and he meandered around the school very slowly, with no energy looking at the sky....

Trudi soon had me changing my riding position. My legs were too far back, my body was too far forward and my head was down as I am constantly looking down. With my legs more forward I feel like they are up around Endy's ears!!! It is a very strange feeling. Of course changing this totally altered my whole body and seat and I just couldnt do anything. I also had to keep my leg off him and have no contact at all on the reins. This is mega scarey to have no contact. Endy isn't a super hot flightly number but he does spook and has been known to shoot forward.

Then she had me walking with my eyes closed. It was the strangest experience because with my eyes closed it felt like we werent moving. I had to guess when he was stepping forward with his hind leg. This I did only to be told that I wasn't identifying his hind leg but his shoulder movement as he stepped forward with his foreleg. What a shock!

We went on to do lots of trotting with very long reins. Walk to trot and back to walk transitions using only my seat to slow down. Using the imaginary spring under the seat to slow the trot which is amazing because it really does work.

At no time did I really have any contact with Endy's mouth and I felt as though he was going along like a hephalump with his nose stretched out 20 feet in front of us but he did not at any time raise his head like he usually does doing his giraffe impression.

When I cantered it must have been a disaster because Trudi said that I should not canter again in the school as Endy was sooooo unbalanced. That was a bit unnerving! We only cantered about 20 strides.

We went back to more walk trot transitions and right at the end had another canter which apparently was more successful.

All in all it was a brilliant lesson and I really could feel a difference in Endy's body language. He was no longer fighting me, he was no longer star gazing, he was relaxed and loose through his back. I didn't have to constantly nag with my legs either to keep forward movement which was amazing.

I have a lot to practice in the next few weeks and a long way for both of us to go. All I want at the end is a responsive and happy horse who is a pleasure to ride an who wants to be ridden by me.