My lesson with Divine was again on the lungeline. I saw Laurie holding the line in the arena as I headed back from my bathroom break...I always have to go right before I mount up, TMI I know. My thought when I saw it was "I hope we get to do the relax type lesson again!" And so we did. She started me going the opposite way than we normally begin. Let's see, let me think about this....we usually start going counter clockwise, the horses inside being the near side so I guess it just seems natural that we tend to start that way. If I think about it that's probably the direction I start Willy out when I ride him. It's something to think about, the direction of circling uses different muscles and creates different gravitational forces so I think it's a good idea to switch the one you "start out" on during a ride so as to get both sides worked when you and your horse are fresh. To those that don't ride I'm sure you are scratching your heads here, sorry, if I can think of an equivalent in humans I would describe that here but right now I'm at a loss. I'm sure there are tons of analogies I could use.
Anyways, Laurie had me ride in two point, and then transitioning to posting trot while trying to least affect my horses gait. Several times she had me place my hands on my tummack, I mean stomach to feel the looseness that was needed there. Aside from the jiggles I felt, I understood the sensation of relaxation needed in my core. She also had me place my hands on the upper part of my rear to feel relaxation there as well. It's amazing how when you place your hand on certain body parts you can better tell that part to relax and have that accomplished. Alright, this has become a rather odd paragraph! Moving on...
The posting trot work really helped me today. The movement of the horses shoulder should be the movement that the seat follows in the upward motion of the post. Here again comes the Patrick Swayze move, where he moved his pelvis back and forth trying to show Baby how to dance....love that movie. This is indeed the motion needed, a tilt of the hips and pelvis forward as your rise from the seat and then move back to sit a step and rise again. Laurie told me I needed to accentuate the break in my mid section so that my hips moved independently of my shoulders, therefore allowing my hands to be steady. I've seen riders that look like they are using the reins to pull themselves up during the post, not good. Really concentrating on the forward movement of the hips during the post is essential, it's not just an up and down movement; the SHAWING movement (or great now I'm incorporating Wayne's World!) is important to keep the rhythm and encourage the horse to continue at a steady pace forwards.
Well this post was not that great since I know other awesome things happened during the lesson but I didn't write down notes. My lesson was Friday, and I headed home and took a nap that afternoon with a horrible headache I hoped to be fully rid of when I went out with friends for dinner (it never fully went away, darn it!) and I haven't attempted to write until Sunday evening....bad blogger! I'll do better next time!!
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