Jumping mental barriers on the flat

Well, well... I don't know if it was the pain killers buzz or what, but today was a great class. Not only did I succeed SOME haunches in (Cynthia told me to forget about the bending, so I didn't have to try to conceal anything...Phooey!) and I believe Meeka and I jumped over an important mental barrier. 

Class today was more of the same: putting her on the bit, serpentines, shoulder in, haunches in and then canter. Since I have improved **considerably** on the canter (bear with my gloating please, it's a new skill I'm trying to learn), mostly because I have gained so much confidence lately, I am now allowed to canter all around the arena instead of staying on the circle. So there was finally new territory for me to explore today, even if I thought all would be under control since I was now a self-proclaimed "Master of the Circle". But hey, If horses had sleeves, they'd constantly pull new stunts out of them, woudn't they? They certainly keep you on your toes (as long as the heels are down...who's complaining really?)

I guess I had not been assertive enough during the class, Meeka must have felt she could basically do whatever she wanted because while cantering on the long side of the arena, she decided she'd cut through and double instead of obeying my desperate attemps to keep her on the track. First time around, I was really surprised. It felt like if I had a blowout on my car...

Mistake #1: I cooly walked her back to the track. She got what she wanted: not to canter.

Meeka: 1 - Me: 0. 

Then we went at it again. On the same wall, at the very same spot, she cut again! Now proactively coached through this by Cynthia, I had to have a little fight with Meeka (NO, you're not going to walk, crop,  NO you're not going that way, crop crop, and YES, you're going back on the track NOW, crop, to resume canter). To me it totally felt like rodeo. It was nothing of the sort, of course, she remained totally calm through all of this, but it was my very fist real struggle for power in a saddle, so yikes!. Sounds good? Well, I now know it was too little too late. 

Mistake #2: I should have known this was going to happen and prevent it with firmer aids in the first place.

Meeka: 2 - Me: 0. 

At that point in time, I told Cynthia I had been scared a little (how about that for an understatement?) so she called me to come close, explained how I should really act BEFORE Meeka even thinks about pulling another one of these unexpected self-steering initiatives. And she chatted, and explained, and explained again, so much so that Meeka and I figured class was over and we could both get out of this and go back to the barn for some tasty hay and/or the car for some well deserved heat! (Darn it was cold in that barn today!!!)

But were we wrong!!! Coach had tricked us into relaxing, forgetting about the fight we were in, thinking this was all over but NOT! She asked for us to get out of our chit chat induced semi-comatose state (I believe she referred to it as "parking mode") and go for another turn of canter: same hand, same wall, same unfinished battle, same terrified rider aboard. You should have heard the sirens going on in my head. I was scared to death because I new if I did not succeed, Meeka would, again, make a sharp turn, accelerate, and I would get that dreaded "total loss of control" feeling.

So back on track we were and I finally did succeed. It felt like I was trying to get her to hit the wall but it seemed that for today, it was just enough to keep her straight. Yeah! I'm very proud of what I did (overcoming the fear mostly). 

Meeka:2 - Me: Happy.

What? No reins???

Indeed my friends, today my teacher decided to make a huge knot out of my reins and told me I couldn't touch anything BUT the knot. No steering, no brakes, no hanging on to my horse's mouth for dear life, nothing! This could prove one of two things: she absolutely doesn't read this blog and is oblivious to the fact I am terrorized, or on the contrary, she reads it inconspicuously, saw yesterday's bit about fear and decided to play a nasty trick on me (of the very efficient kind, I must admit).

So there I was, trotting in a circle, with a knot both in by hands AND in my stomach, instructed to lengthen and collect the trot solely with the use of subtle cues from my body... Would you like some hash browns with that coach??? But even if I'm sounding a bit frustrated here, in fact It brought out all the determination I had mustered writing here yesterday and I willingly accepted to try the exercise... not that I had much choice mind you... 

I tried but at first I had no control whatsoever on my mount, neither in terms of direction nor in terms of length/collection. It was disastrous. Then, Cynthia told me that one sentence that really triggered something (she always has a very good one-two-punch up her sleeve): there is one very important rule that is well known in the dressage arena, the horse should be following YOUR gait, not the other way around. Really? How could that be? All right then, let me try... 

So after lengthening the trot on the long side of the ring (easy, no steering involved), on the short side, where I was instructed to collect, I locked my pelvis, tightened those abs and started to post the trot at a slower gait than Meeka. It felt awkward at first as I kept hitting the saddle, but after two or three beats, she actually adjusted to MY gait. It was (to me at least) nothing short of a miracle! And soooo much easier than the usual tug-of-war between my hands and her mouth! I could have asked my coach in marriage had she not been... a "she".

And after fifteen minutes this exercise, I was riding with the knot in one hand, the other relaxed on my thigh, sitting the trot like a champ... who would have thought this possible from me? Well, SHE obviously did because she actually had a plan: relax me for the next exercise in line, you got it, CANTER! 

Full of my newly found confidence and sitting on my super-collected horse (I must say Meeka was top-shape today), I started to canter. She had asked me to remain as relaxed as possible and to make a down transition to trot if I felt myself stiffen the least bit, in order for my brain to stop associating canter with something terrifying. Well, good idea. And everything went just fine: I breathed like I said I would, I relaxed like I said I would, I refrained from singing like I said I would, and where I used to canter three of four beats then panic and brake, now I cantered two or three circles at a time without stiffening. My down transitions were better as well. Hey y'all! I just might be getting somewhere!

Praise the Lord for great coaches!

Cantering, the last frontier

Sweet Meeka was particularly relaxed today, not leaning on the bit at all, happy to extend or collect the trot, happy with the leg-yields, she could have been happy with the flies for all I know. I was not about to pass that opportunity to work on the infamous canter issue.

First of all, it has not always been that arduous for me. I used to ride horses that had revv-up buttons all over and started cantering effortlessly. But Meeka, well, let me put it this way: she's a bit thick-skinned. No amount of pressing, urging, kicking or hair-pulling will convince her to canter if she is not so inclined. What to do?

It seems one of the secret is in the collection of the horse. Yes, yet again, the infamous collection. After a series of exercises on the flat to put her on the bit and between the hands and the legs, my coach suggested that we cantered on the circle. I raise a dubitative eyebrow but I guess that it wasn't enough to make her change her mind because she pressed me to "start trotting already". My mount had been a little prime for the whole class, so I kind of expected her to bolt as soon as I remotely thought about "maybe" cantering.  So I rode her on short reins in a highly collected trot. At that point in time, it was not in preparation of anything, I just didn't want her to make a dash for the stable! But after a while, I felt that she had so much collected energy that I just lightly loosened of reins and voilà! No kicking, no crop, no fight! Just a smooth transition into an even, well rounded canter...

And then there was me.

I can't help it, sometimes I'm scared. They say it's normal but I can't forgive myself for being so terrified of the canter. But my coach always seems to get the better of me. As a teacher, I need someone who is just as strong-headed as I am and I believe I've met my match. Cynthia always finds the right words to either trick me into doing something she knows I can do (while I'm busy being frightened) or to make me understand the subtleties of the moves (and even the state of minds) I need to work on to make some progress. 

Today was no exception. As soon as we picked up speed, I tensed. And you might know this, but our horse’s brains and ours are directly linked by what I believe to be a high speed USB 2.0 cable. They know how we feel when we feel it, and they WILL take advantage of it whenever they can (I also know people like that but that's a whole other story). So when Meeka felt my conviction level drop, she just fell back into a much disorganized, uncomfortable but supposedly less demanding trot.

But as soon as my coach got me relaxed, using the exact same methods she uses with the horses (which is no compliment to my IQ but...) I cantered like a champ (well, a future champ...). So yes, there's the horse collection, but the rider's part seems to be just as important: keep a cool head, relaxed hands and seat, and in your mind's eyes, picture yourself in Normandy, cantering towards the sunset and "Le Mont Saint-Michel" on a wide sandy beach. Well, that last bit was from me, but it certainly worked!