A Very Minor Miracle...

[endlessrarities]

Well, I just spent half an hour trying to get my legs in the right position on a horse.  I worked extensively without stirrups in trot, and everything was hunky dory until I tried getting into rising trot.  It was so difficult!  I kept pitching my weight forward when I tried to keep my lower legs wrapped around the horse's side.

And the canter?  It was absolutely atrocious. 

But...

And this is a really BIG but....

Something amazing happened.  Something truly incredible. 

I was trying to drive Molly forward into a more active trot, while maintaining the correct leg position.  The inevitable result was that she started going faster.  So I of course had to start using more hand to contain the energy.

Like I said, the canter transition was dreadful.  And yet, as I tried to work out how to improve this, by balancing the trot and balancing myself, there was a transformation in the horse.  Her head dropped.  Her neck curved like a proper dressage horse.  Her entire carriage lifted and lightened.

And that was it.  The moment of enlightenment that I've been seeking all along. 

I hadn't been trying to improve the horse.  I'd been trying to improve me.  I hadn't asked anything.  I hadn't demanded, or insisted.  And yet Molly gave me what required.  Freely, and without any resistance.

I felt it then.  The sudden link with Xenephon, the meaning of the phrase 'Nothing forced is ever beautiful'. 

Molly is no beauty queen.  She'll never get placed in any showing class.  And yet even this modest little horse was moving freely and proudly, and all because I was allowing her to be herself and encouraging her to behave naturally.

It was only fleeting, but it was a beautiful feeling.  And I'm convinced now that what I'm doing is the correct thing.  It's taking for ever to get things right, but...  It's worth the effort, even if the rewards just now are fragmentary!

 

Comments

[xjenavivex.livejournal.com]

this was magic!

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

It's the best compliment ever! Your teacher can say, "You're doing well" all she likes: when the horse tells you this in her own way, it's wonderful!

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

Ah, contained impulsion. I remember it well. I think Charm and I once achieved it in 2002...

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

It's like the Philospher's Stone. Or a Blue Moon...

Perhaps in another eight years, I'll achieve that moment of harmony once more!

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

That sounds like an amazing moment. I hope you and Molly manage many more of them between you.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

I live in hope!

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the world of classical riding where you, in the words of dancinghorse end up doing _something_ nothing and the horses respond.

I'm not saying that you will _never_ have to interfere, only that interference mainly takes the form of a light squeeze when you begin to feel things starting wrong, rather than a pull or kick long after things have gone south.

You're very much on the right path indeed. By balancing yourself, by gaining control over your own body, by eliminating 'noise' (accidental touches and shifting of weight that commmunicate _something_ to the horse, but which you never meant to get) you will be a much easier burden to carry, and your signals will become more meaningful, so horses are more likely to listen to them.

If a horse becomes flat in trot and starts to trot faster, there are two possible responses - one is to go back to walk and reestablish balance, and the other is to shape the trot you want and stabilise it with your core and get them to engage the back legs. Don't try to slow down the front (this just compresses the horse); activate (carrying, not pushing power) the back. THEN slow down from your seat.

Using leg aids to slow down a horse is counterintuitive. It feels entirely wrong - but it is surprisingly effective.

Unless, of course, you're riding a horse with a backache that is trying to escape the pain, which is a whole other ballgame.

The really nice thing is that now you've experienced the feeling, you can start to work towards recapturing it. Keep it in mind. _Visualise it_. Then go find it again ;-)

(Dressage is boring? Not on our planet.)

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that!

What's really embarrassing is that it's taken me thirty years to become sufficiently modest and humble on the horse to realise that I need a complete rethink of EVERYTHING, and to start working on myself first, with the horse coming second!

It's been worth the wait and I'd recommend it to anyone.

Seriously, I could spend an hour in walk and not get bored...