Really interesting lesson today - more RWYM stuff

Jane&Ziggy

Jane&Sid these days!
Apr 30, 2010
21,920
10,010
113
63
Surrey Hills
I am hardly riding at all at present because I have a baby puppy and my OH is away for 3 weeks leaving me to run the business, but I am trying to book a lesson a week to make SURE I ride.

Today was a proper lesson in the school. Last week was a hacking lesson which we spent trying to get me to reproduce in the saddle the sense of connection and secure seat I have bareback, and we did that again today. It was fantastic! I managed to get my very stressy and hollow pony going forward long and low, working from behind and adjusting his legs according to my seat. My RI actually called out, "Very good, Jane, very good!" which is unheard of!

It was harder to keep the feeling in trot, as Z was very full of himself (riding only once a week is not ideal for him) and kept, as they say, "offering canter" and "offering hop, skip and jump," but we persisted!

Then Ziggy decided I wasn't learning enough. Next to the school we rent for a fiver is a little judge's box all full of jumps. He decided to spook away from it every time we passed it and my RI said "that's not good enough".

With her help (holding his bridle and pushing his shoulder) we insisted that he stay on the track and stay straight. OMG did he resist! His strength at falling out through the shoulder is amazing. I used all the leg I had on that side and he just laughed at me. We made him halt whenever he stepped off the track and asked him to back up, and in 4 tries we got him walking through with his body straight, even though his head was still bent away.

I love having lessons. Ziggy was a very remedial pony when I got him and he still is, but I have learned so much from him and my RI about, basically, how to sit well. I'd love to have a go on a properly trained horse and see what results I could get!
 
Sounds fab. I totally sympathise with the whole falling out through the shoulder - last summer I rode out with two schooling whips because he was being so naughty and doing just that.

Sounds a good technique - although I wonder as generally Tobes falls out through his shoulder when he has decided something is scarey out hacking, if backing him up wouldn't compound the issue. Oddly when on the return journey home, we have none of that!!!
 
Hahaha. Determined little Ziggy.

Recently I've got fed up of Raf 'banana-ing' around scary objects when we're hacking so whenever the opportunity arises I've been making him walk back and forth past the object until he can walk past in a straight line without rushing. I have to say he's got the idea pretty quickly and generally I can hear the cogs turning when we get to something scary and although he may grow a hand and swivel an ear and an eye towards it he will carefully walk a straight line past it. As long as it isn't too scary that is!

glad you enjoyed your lesson. I love that feeling of connection but sadly rarely get to achieve it!
 
Oh this sounds amazing. It is nice when some thing comes together.

You are welcome to come try my little ginger pony who is working his heart out at present.
 
Great stuff! Moët is the queen of going through her shoulder, I struggle so god damn hard to get her to go straight. But last lesson we realised I had lost my connection with my seat/saddle, I was perching. We did a good ten mins of getting that connection back and I realised she was actually going straight without me trying to correct her (in walk not trot tho!). Sometimes I seem to try too hard and forget the basics
 
newrider.com