What's Going Wrong

My lesson last night left me pondering the role that conformation of horse and rider play in the way that the rider rides. I know what the position I strive for should look like, I’ve seen it and read about it in countless books. “Classical”, ear, shoulder, hip and heel line, balanced, secure etc.

I think that my conformation in combination with his plays a part in some of my positional issues. I am a dancer in addition to being a rider. My legs have a seemingly natural tendency to turn out from the hips and this is a constant battle in my riding. I am taller with long legs so when mounted my lower leg is not in contact with his sides, he has a very large trot. So all of the above combined result in my toes being turned out a little more that is “correct” especially in trot.

I am also quite naturally balanced left to right (or so I’m told) but since I have been riding this horse I have become a little frustrated with myself over slipping to the outside in left canter. I hadn’t ever had this problem before this horse so was getting a little bit annoyed with myself over it. A few lessons ago after a left canter I tried to explain to my instructor how/what I was feeling to see it she saw it as well. Turns out the horse is noticeably slab sided on his left side so this may be playing a part in my slipping.

I have also noticed adaptations in my rising trot when riding this guy compared to other smaller moving equines. I noticed that my upper body tends to stay less upright when rising to his trot and I feel that this may be in part because of the large oomph that pushes me out of the saddle with each stride.

I think that my brain just needed to “see” things out on paper so I could clarify things for myself, I think I needed to write it out so I could see that it’s ok. I am not a bad rider I am just an imperfect person working with an imperfect horse striving towards the perfect, seems kinda silly to me. I need to learn to accept things as they are. I need to start noticing the good things and taking the bad things as things to work on. Sure my leg yields last night weren’t perfect, mostly because of my allowing the horse to lead with his shoulder but we got one or two good ones and had a good trot tempo with energy throughout the lesson. So today I’ll think about the good and leave the “needing to be worked on” for another day.

Now that I've got this sorted out, I need to tackle my issues with contact.