Rebuilding the Collection

On Tuesday I had another lesson with the local trainer! It was potentially my last one for a little bit, I keep warning her that I might disappear not because I don't like her but because we have so much potentially working against us coming up. First, I might be taking a new job next week, I'm leaning against it but who knows, really. Second, we may be losing our saddle next week (more on that later). Third, the air quality could go at any given point. But I figure I was available this week and so we made it happen!

TC honestly only got ridden twice since our lesson last Tuesday. He had his acupuncture Wednesday, then got the day off Thursday, then I rode him Friday morning before leaving for the airport and then Monday when I got back. Luckily he's got his giant pasture and about every other morning he canters around like a loon so he was good to go on Tuesday for our lesson. 

Look at this damn tail

Where we got his trot to, wow

I was happy to feel that TC was a little more normal in the trot when I picked it up. She asked whether he was normal this time because last time she thought he was quite behind my leg and I assured her that he actually is quite forward thinking. We agreed last time that he was just nervous being there. This time he did feel better and I told her as such. 

We started with some trot work posting and I got reminded to keep my eyes up and my collarbone long. When I did that, I screwed up my posting mechanic which was annoying, so we focused on leaving my posting mechanic alone from my knee to my sternum and instead working on just influencing where my head was placed on my body. This has been a long time issue of mine so none of it was surprising, but TC felt way better with my new position so hopefully this time it will stick. Fingers crossed! 

We discussed what we had gone over last time, which was a focus on longitudinal balance. I told her that TC was tough for me to feel anything on, especially his longitudinal balance. It was infuriating to go ride my client's PSG horse, a horse who I say would lean on barbed wire if you'd let her, and feel the MOMENT that the horse lost her balance. 

TC is just super polite and doesn't change anything about the connection or the feeling under you when he loses balance, he just drops his withers a bit. She challenged me to focus on other things, can I feel his front feet landing softer? can I feel his hind legs better when he's balanced? can I feel anything under my seat or thigh? TC may not tell me about it in the typical ways, but I will be able to figure it out over time. I think this is a major goal of mine this fall and something that will be key to making the return to Third level for us. 

He's too cute, I have to look at him

She said she wanted to play with that in sitting trot more but that first we should canter him. I put him in left lead canter and he was a bit balky but not too bad, definitely worse there than at home so I let her know that he was still figuring out how to canter there. 

For the left, she wanted him to reach more to the left rein so encouraged me to leg yield him off my outside leg into my inside rein and almost encourage him to fall a bit that way. She likes to show the horses (well, horses like TC) that they can find balance and stability in reins by setting themselves up to lose a little bit of balance laterally and then letting them find the rein they're hiding behind. She's really good at navigating the connection issues in a rather simple way, I really like that! 

To the right, he felt fan-freaking-tastic to me so he was probably on the forehand. I told her as such and she agreed that he could carry a bit more weight behind. She thought it was that he wasn't reaching so much with his left (outside) front leg and that was interesting to me. I've always been told that they should snap the outside front leg off the ground quickly but I never thought about the reach there. She encouraged me to use my outside thigh to bring his outside front leg more forward. 

WOW that helped so much and I felt like I had a lot more collection to play with. Definitely something I'm going to play with at home. 

Learning to reach with that left front leg

Reaching for the left rein, I love it

We took a break and then talked about the sitting trot. She wanted me to imagine his back as a trampoline and to help him understand how to push up against my seat a bit. Against is the wrong word... but we talked about how on a trampoline, if you want it to bounce you higher, you stay a little stiffer in your joints vs if you want it to stop bouncing you, you absorb the bounce in your joints. Could I allow my seat to be heavier to help him find a little more bounce to encourage him to raise is back? She said that might help vs thinking suction (I already think so much suction with this horse if it were possible to lift him off the ground, we'd be in the circus already). 

I told her I was very unfit, and I am. This summer has been tough to put TC and myself first because two of my main clients were going for some big things (upper level pony club rating and USDF Silver medal, both succeeded but I sacrificed a lot for that to happen). I'm now back in a program for developing my own fitness but I'm still six months away from feeling actually fit enough to ride my exhausting horse. 

That was okay, we did a lot of trot walk transitions working on getting a good quality trot and then giving us both a break. The first bit of sit trot to the left was tough on both of us. She pointed out that I needed to be able to add leg and not have his balance change and I was struggling to find the timing for that. 

We took a break and then went to the right and I really figured it out! I had to be quick to recycle the energy that my leg was creating but being quick without letting the aids get chaotic was tough to figure out without my once strong core helping me out. Definitely putting that at the top of my fitness list. 

This is a very different look for my horse and I am
HERE FOR IT, even triangles and IFV wow okay

Sitting this trot is no joke

We let him be done after that and just chatted. I found her after my lesson to give her money and we had another fun conversation where she showed me some horses. We talked about clients and how tricky it can be to teach professions and take lessons as a professional. So far I really feel like she's ready to be creative, think outside the box, and let me be involved in my horse's training. 

So that's exciting! We'll see how things go over the next week. TC got his teeth done on Wednesday, we have some plans for next week that may or may not pan out, and then next weekend, we have the saddle fitter out again. I am not comfortable buying the saddle or ordering one through this brand so we will either give the saddle back or see if the fitter can get it fitting better and then we'll do another trial month.