The classical is a natural method that advocates gentleness and harmony between horse and rider in all endeavors... Rider and horse progressively lern to read each other by gaining intimacy and attunement.....
The rider rides not only physically but also with her mind, spirit and innermost soul. The horse is encouraged through systematic gymnastic excercisesto remain joyful, generous and happy....
The horse that performs generously and without reserve can learn to do all the movements that it does in the wild, but at the request of the rider.
~Horses & the Mystical Path
A season. Majikjaz has been at Sons of the Wind for a season. How appropriate. I dropped him off just before the first day of spring, and here it is now... summer. I never, EVER would have foreseen it.
Thursday--the first day of Summer-- was pretty amazing. Hot, muggy... but with a beautiful summer wind blowing. Himself was very pleased to see me (it's been a LONG two weeks!) and first things first, he got a haircut. He can finally come home, his mane is tamed, trimmed, and ready to braid. :P He looks like a real horse now... not a trojan pony! He's almost liver chestnut this year, from being inside, but also I think from the supplement he's been on. Platinum Performance is high in all 3 Omegas and other good stuff. Plus he had copper for 2 weeks to boost him. And the best part of all--HIS LEGS ARE CLEAN! Perfectly, 100% clean. Not a scab to be found. For the first time in... 3 years? The soy was the last thing to go, and seemed to be what put us over the top. I"M SO HAPPY!!!!
His left hind was pretty stocked up... It's worried me all along--it's the one he tried to cut off--but he is sound as a dollar, and that LH is getting stronger too. One just never knows if it's the traditional "weak left hind" or if something's bothering him.
Nothing at ALL was bothering him today. <VEEERY BIG GRIN>
First I watched V ride a young horse who came about a month ago. The last time I saw him ride this horse, it was spooking and fighting the contact and just a mess. Today you wouldn't have recognized him... stronger, calmer... he reminded me *today* of where Majikjaz was 2 months ago. Trying, but not strong yet.
V said his last ride on Majikjaz was really good. He said he was forward and getting strong, and 'had peace in himself.' I love that. It's a slight mis-translation, obviously... but it's more perfect than the correct syntax.
Then V's older (teenage) son had a lesson on Principe. AHA!!! *MY* Prince! And... lo and behold, he's a bit of a challenge to ride! <evil vindicated grin> Son said he felt like each leg was going a different direction. It's a LOT of horse. He's not enormous, but there's a lot of him end to end, and then beneath you is all legs. It's NOT so easy! It was really great to see the corrections, because I know what he was FEELING. Because father and son work out at the gym together at times, V was telling jr. to open his chest like he was using a certain piece of equipment.... it was the right image. We did commiserate when he was done that Prince's walk when it's not put together is quite camel-like.
The best tidbit I got out of it though, was about contact. A metaphor of sorts, but one that makes a lot of sense to me--even if it *is* math. V said imagine that "10" is Good contact. And 1 is none. You want to ride with 5+5 in each hand... even... but when you change it, you want like 6+4... not 6+1. It should always equal 10. You don't want to go much more than 6 + 4--very occasionally you might want a 7+3--like an opening rein for a baby or something--but that other rein still has to BE there. Not 7+0. It was a notion that made a lot of sense to me. (who loves to drop the inactive rein completely.)
It was really good to see a lesson on a horse I've ridden a bit lately--who was challenging for me. Helped put it in perspective--and to SEE the changes.
Then, after some fiddling with a fountain they're putting out front (will be to die for--the aesthetic improvements to the property are just astounding) lending my muscles... it was time for me to ride. It got HOT. The breeze went away, the humidity rose, and I had sweat dripping in my eyes just wrapping legs. (BTW--lemon yellow leg wraps to match my yellow-pink-teal-windowpane on white plaid short sleeve oxford shirt... black breeks, black saddlepad. TRES chic ;-p )
V was riding Poeto when I came in... SCHOOLING...(i.e. diagonals, quarter lines to half-pass to center line back to quarter line--just TRY to guess where he's going next!) Julie is doing a lunge lesson with a mare in the lower end of the ring... and I'm told to mount up, and I'm wandering a bit nervously between the two trying to stay out of the way and still warm up...
Majikjaz is a tattle tale of sorts. I've honestly NO idea what V's been working on--I haven't seen him ride him since the day he invited us to stay--what was that, almost 2 months now? ( ! ) But when I first gathered up the reins after free walking, it was like climbing up to a cloud. He was playing and full of himself. Not really naughty--I really got the impression he was PLAYING. And, offering things like piaffe, and if I'm not mistaken, a bit of passage. Of course, I was in no position to accept...
Poeto was doing very *exciting* things like pirouettes and changes, and I think part of it was showing off. I was delighted with some very elevated medium trot I got--felt like silk to sit on...and I would love for people who say Spanish Walk/Trot are not 'natural' to horses to see Mac when he plays--he reaches out to 'skip' or play just like a joyful child! But I was afraid of the exuberance with all the other stuff going on. I know I dampened his back by being worried and tense. Truly, I was a bit afraid of getting in trouble for playing. Had I been at home, I definitely would have exploited it. Or, had I actually been the focus of V's attention and been reassured things were correct... I didn't punish it on purpose, but I was very cognizant of what V was thinking and basically came back to walk. ( I"m *dying* to SEE what they've been working on. I do know that V works the 'tough stuff' (p's ) first when a horse is fresh and not tired. )
So then of course, when it was time to trot again, there wasn't much there. <shrugs> :ouch:
I should go back a minute and mention the scaredy-cat that V was schooling first in the day he worked really hot off the aids for a bit, and then worked him much more softly and without as much contact or forward, just really establishing a quiet throughness and steady tempo. He said he was getting him ready for his owner, who wasn't terribly experienced. You wouldn't want to create a monster in that respect.
So at this point, that's what I'm thinking. He probably needs to do the same for me...
BUT... He put us in line, Sally on Poeto in front of us, another woman on another Luso leading... and we took up the rear. And I thought, "damn it, we're in back again." I had that really awful lesson on Prince last time I rode quadrille style--I could NOT keep him slow/off the lead horse's back end... I *hoped* that Majikjaz would be easier than Prince--being about 2 hands smaller... but NO. He was keeping up with the big horses and actually overtaking them.
And as we schooled the figures, something miraculous happened.
I found it.[/i] I raised my hands ( ! ) like they've been telling me for three months... I opened my chest and used the image from jr. & Prince's lesson... I breathed and closed my eyes and thought of what I wanted--soft and through and to dance... no more... And there it was. As delicate as a pool ball on the tip of a cue stick... but THERE. Tap, tap, flex, flex... Oh, it was like flying.
I couldn't keep it all the time,
but I found it again, and again... and yet again. When I'd loose it, the hands needed to come up, the front needed to open, and the legs needed to TAP. Not hold, not push, but tap and go. And then the hands were the minnow on the fly rod...
Now, mind you, V wasn't saying much to me. I didn't know whether it was because I was doing OK, or just that horrifying. Julie was paying attention though. A few under her breath "GOOD!" helped. But I *knew* it was good. He was brilliant. He was THERE. Even like a metronome. There's a complete disconnect between my hands and my brain--it FEELS like I'm riding saddleseat when the hands are correct. But I did discover (duh) that it's WORK to keep those hands up where they belong. Abs. Ug. lol! They come down, your fingers fuss and fiddle, wrists flex, and the hands try to do the work. They come up where they belong, and the elbows connect the rein to your seatbone. AHA!
In talking to Julie afterwards, she said that Vitor *was* pleased. And it *was* one of those 'saying nothing is GOOD'. I *do* know that about him... :P My corrections were about pushing the haunches too much in Leg Yield and Half Pass... and to lift the hands. And when I said to Julie--"You've been telling me that for 3 months, and it's THAT simple. I did it and he was just THERE." She said no, a lot more came together, that was just the final piece. She complimented seat and legs. :blush: High praise.
Now, I'll say that part of why I did well was the very fact that it *was* quadrille-style. You have to shut up and ride, and you have to focus so much on keeping your spacing, that you kind of let go of the extra tension. Of course, the figures and the tempo work wonders on the beasts too... THEY relax as much as the riders.
It was really good for me. Nothing more fancy that shoulder-fore to half-pass... Quite a bit of sitting trot... V didn't direct us to sit or rise--I picked when to do it. Usually I'm more effective at sitting trot, but I found as we kept going, there were times I knew I wanted to free his back, and the posting trot was much easier too. When we needed to catch up--a bit of 'wheeeee' lengthen down the long side or across a diagonal...
It was funny, because when I started out, and for quite a bit of the lesson, I kind of felt like I was being left on my own to figure things out. I was pretty ambivalent about that... I mean, he comes home next week and I'm so worried I will 'undo' what he has learned... Don't just throw me to the wolves... OTOH, I need to learn to RIDE him... OTOH I want to be fixed--I want to get every second's worth out of this before it ends... lol! In the end, I was making the corrections as they were needed. More bend, tap inside, flex and go, send him forward... GIVE rein and he'll reach into it... <sigh>
Oh--it was FAR from quick enough, or light enough, or consistent enough... but it was so *exciting.* He's just so brilliant. So kind and generous. As are my teachers.
He is coming home Saturday night after the show. (I'm scribing) it makes sense--V is going to Portugal, and I need to catch up to him fitness wise. I so worried I'll loose it all... OTOH, we *had* good progress last fall... lost it in the spring, but I wasn't entirely ruining him.
I'll miss the mirrors the most, I think, and the footing, of course... oh, and the walls... lol! (and the washrack and the stall cleaners and the ceiling fans... )
It's so interesting to me because in a way I thought he'd be much farther along than he is. Well--and I think HE is. Truly. The stuff he was offering in the beginning was the same as at the beginning last ride. Piaffe? OK. A little something else... It's ME that's not there. But the base is there. I'm not quite so terrified after today. When I ride him four days in a row, and can build from day to day... the rest is icing on the cake... it's being truly through, with sit. Julie said the day before was a really long ride... V just kept flowing from one thing to another, and it all was very smooth and just great. That's the kind of thing I'll only get when I'm building it day by day.
I'm still flying... can you tell? ^_^ It's all been such an incredible dream. I truly don't understand *why* they are being so generous... still just completely blown away. But I am SO grateful. Now I have to come up with some nice little thank-you gifts. Ideas GREATLY appreciated...
Tonight I am off for an informal lecture, which leads to TWO DAYS full of teaching essons tomorrow and Thursday. I'm excited and nervous. I expected maybe 5 or 6 rides and I've got 20! :blink: I haven't taught 'officially' in four or five years. Becoming a cop just took too much time and both mental and physical energy. Everything came together for this fabulously though, and I am very excited. I just hope I can help the folks and their horses.
Meanwhile the swim team is on the way for Danny... it never rains but it pours!!
