Weak in the Backline

Monday afternoon I followed Kate back to her barn to play with her mare. Before that though, she had to teach a lesson and had an extra horse for me to ride, so I joined in! We had talked a bit about Kate doing a realignment on me at the clinic itself, but we were both so exhausted by the end of it. I still really wanted help with everything though. Despite learning SO much from the Mary clinic, I still hadn't had anyone really help me from the ground on the concepts. I can only do so much with the short side of mirrors and a sometimes ridiculous horse under me.

I rode Tango, a super sweet thoroughbred gelding who I had ridden before. I warmed up and put Tango through his paces, talked to Kate a bit about the second toolkit stuff I had played with (since Tango would rather not use his right hind leg thank you very much), and then came over to do the realignment!

Pony: looks good. Rider: needs realignment (also gets left behind
when coming down from sitting the lengthened trot, which is what
this picture is depicting, he looks good though!)

We started by putting both of my legs in front of the flaps to feel my seat bones. My seat bones are pretty easily accessible so that was no problem. Kate then put both legs where they needed to be, which didn't feel tooo far off from where they tend to live. But the rotation was definitely a bit more dramatic. This could have been that Tango is much narrower than TC, which meant that I really needed to think about the middle of my thigh a lot, which is usually an area that is taken up by wider sprung ribs.

From there we did a few resistances. Kate put her hand on my heel and had me push back against it. Then said no, like really do it. I was. This means that my backline is SUPER weak. Sure enough, when she put her hand on my toe and had me push forward against it, I was much stronger. This goes back to the Mary clinic when I was doing this exercise in the chair. I could feel my back line only up to the middle of my thigh, while I could feel my front line almost all the way to my collarbone. Interesting.

Typically a weak backline can be seen in a rider who wants to sit in a chair seat. I definitely have had this problem in the past. But years of being told to get my leg under me have led me to sort of artificially keep my leg back. This whole ordeal is not made easier by the fact that unless I am standing or on a horse (which, let's be honest, I work an office job with a long commute... it's not often), I have a long loose backline and a shortened front line. Even sitting here writing right now, my legs are out in front of me, my back is curved, I'm leaning down. And then I'm like, hmm I wonder why my backline is so weak.

Not as obvious in the canter but still there

It's not as apparent in the canter other than in my propensity to look down, which I feel like I'd do no matter what. It's not even all that apparent in the rising trot where you really see it is in the sitting trot. And it's most obvious on TC.

I've mentioned before that TC is one of the biggest, loosest movers I've ever ridden. I remember riding him as a three year old being like "welp if I get this one I'll sell him before I get to Second level," but over time his trot did get a little bit reined in. He's learned to shut it down nicely if you get in his way, but I don't want that.

Think of a horse's movement like wind and my weak loose backline like a heavy sail. If I'm on a small mover, the sail maybe flaps a tiny bit but I can generally keep it looking somewhat taught. If I'm on a moderate size mover, the sail probably has a good curve to it, but maybe not too obvious still. Then I get on TC and he hits my backline like a hurricane, sending it flying backwards.

I didn't edit this one because it's way ugly. He's up against me,
there's a random horse butt coming out of his nose, and I'm
obviously not sitting well. You can see what my backline wants
to do though, it's not good. 

Luckily for me, Tango is not a small mover, but he's certainly no TC. He was enough to get my sail ruffling in the wind but didn't create the above position like TC does. So it was enough to get me a bit out of whack (so I could feel the muscles I needed to engage to get me in the right position) but not enough to really make it impossible to figure out what to do.

I started to sit the trot and Kate told me that I was still too far back. So I brought my shoulders forward. And I was still too far back. Even more forward. Still too- FINE I will LEAN forward with all my might. Yep, that's it, that's vertical. It felt insanely forward. And there's really not that much of a difference. I have video but haven't gotten the video up to make gifs out of. But it really didn't feel very good, but it looked MUCH better.

Tango let me sit his trot for quite a long while like that (all the while being reminded to give me an even place to sit, poor thing) and then I came out on Wednesday and Thursday determined to replicate it on TC.

Riding is at least fun even when it's really fucking hard

I failed miserably. I need an actual TC lesson soon (the clinic next weekend filled up and I'm so sad), but I did my best. I managed to get myself in the right place shoulder-wise, but then I'd pop up off my seat bones, or my seat bones would be pointed backwards and my back would be hollow. So then I'd try to get my backline on without shortening it and it'd lead to me pressing backwards against it, which led to me rounding my back too much and getting left behind.

Meanwhile TC the saint is just trotting around like "hmm rider seems real weird today, whatevs" which he would NOT have done last year, so yay for grown up ponies.

I'd love to say that I had a huge breakthrough and am now sitting TC's trot like a boss. I am not. I left the barn on Thursday with a sore lower back for the first time in a very long time and feeling a tiny bit deflated. I know this is going to be absolutely key to access his fabulous trot one day, but today is not that day. Tomorrow looks bad too. Maybe Sunday, but probably not. It will take time and effort. And a lot of exercises to strengthen the muscles in my back so I can actually use them.

And perhaps a shorter commute? Or being able to work remotely once a week? Orrrr not. Okay I'll work with what I've got.