A Good Rider is a Good Leader

Have just come back from riding Cruz in the rain. Hey, we're both from England - we can take it!

I hope I'm not speaking too soon, but Cruz is in such a good mood and so co-operative that I'm in high hopes of a good show on Sunday. He's teaching me things he's tried to tell me for ever, but which I am only just now listening to. Poor Cruz has a rather dense mum.

I have a really irritating habit of adjusting my left rein all the time. I don't keep my fingers wrapped round it tightly enough and it gets longer as I ride, necessitating constant shortening. This means the left rein is never steady and annoys the heck out of Cruz. It has taken me years to figure out just how disconcerting it is for him, which is very embarrassing and makes me feel bad for him. So much of his anxiety in left canter can be traced to this one issue, plus not enough right rein.

What it boils down to is that Cruz has never had constant reassurance and true leadership from me. It's like being a girl with a dance partner who is supposed to lead but keeps changing his mind about where he wants to go or how to get there. He sometimes has his arm round your back, supporting it, then takes it away, then puts it back. Can you imagine how worrying that is, having no support from your partner and not knowing what's coming next, as you're never being properly prepared for the next step?

I'm working hard to be the reassuring, confident leader of our dance partnership, and keeping steady contact with my hands, appropriate leg pressure and bend/flexion, forward movement and preparing Cruz correctly and in timely fashion for transitions.

It's really working! 

He went long and low and stretched and bent in walk, trot and canter, snorting away and letting me know he approved of the New Me. His transitions were smooth, and even his first canters were easy to sit to, as he gave in his back early. Consquently I positioned my legs better in left canter, as I am just as right-handed as Cruz is and we both struggle on the left rein.

Once again, the session didn't need to be long. His work was just as good in sitting trot, and with my keeping a firm but soft hold on the left rein, he is happy to give to it in the canter transitions and stay flexed correctly to the left both on circles and on the straight.

I think I'm finally getting the hang of being a good leading dance partner. Even when he heard a deer moving in the woods and thought about taking off, he stayed calm because I kept him between my hands and legs.

Another good day!

Riding horses is about being grateful for any progress!

Cruz and I had our lesson, which was very hard work on both of us. My instructor showed me how to persevere without getting into an almighty fight, specifically maintaining my cool when Cruz doesn't care to bend or even remotely flex to the left.

The next day my rear end was so sore, I just rode in walk! But it was productive and I used the time to practice shoulder-in and renvers (I'm not very good at the latter yet, so walk is easier on the horse). The next day Cruz was much more co-operative and the week progressed well until we hit another brick wall. Cruz definitely has a work threshhold! He is now very good at counter canter on the left lead while bending inwards to the right! He much prefers that to a normal left lead canter. I persevered until I got a decent-ish left canter from a decent-ish right legyield, then stopped.

In my next lesson, I was shown how Cruz sets his neck in any given bend and doesn't care to change it. We worked on exercises to loosen his neck while riding long and low, all the way up to asking for more engagement and raising his poll. It was, once again, very hard work, but he began to give in his back as well as in his neck and jaw, and did some lovely work. I was able to sit quietly and ended on a high!

I was busy the next day, so he had time to recover. When I rode him again, I made sure to keep his neck and jaw supple while asking him to move forwards off my leg. Another thing I must keep in mind is that if he is going sufficiently forwards he won't feel that I'm getting 'in his face' when I ask strongly for any given bend if he doesn't give in easily. The whole ride was peaceful: Cruz listened to my requests very politely, gave the required bend, so that I was able to reduce that to flexion early on. AND, he gave me the most wonderful left canter. It took less than half an hour to reach this point, and I stopped then and there. Big pats and a walk around the neighborhood as a reward.

Cruz has continued for four days like this, and I am able to ride more quietly - at last - without getting after him. Another thing I have realized is that I am very unsteady with my left hand. I am beginning to appreciate how negatively this affects Cruz - heck, if I were a horse, I'd be a lot less tolerant than he is! I'm concentrating on keeping my left hand steady, especially through the upwards canter transition, when I've been giving the rein away and then trying to get it back after he's got upset. It's working a treat: if  I keep that steady contact even on the hated left rein, Cruz feels comfortable and flexes nicely to the left.

Of course, I need to watch that right rein! So much of my straightness 'issues' with Cruz result from a lack of sufficient right rein...Dressage is certainly never boring! But it feels great to look forward to my rides again, and not have to keep going ad nauseam just to correct some issue. My riding time has been cut almost in half at the moment. That'll change as I introduce more work, but for now I want Cruz to feel that it's all easy for him and that his canter work is no big deal.

I have a show coming up on Sunday next. I'm in the PVDA Chapter Challenge Show on November 1st. My team is riding Training Level so that we are all able to compete together. I'm riding the same tests this Sunday as a practice for the November show. Given the way Cruz is going. I'm hopeful that we'll do well.

Interestingly I've found that wearing my super warm winter riding boots has improved my leg position.