Well for my own sake at least, I want to capture some of my thoughts about a lesson my horse and I had at the weekend. It was the second lesson with a new instructor, with some gap in between as my horse has been unsound. In the weeks between, my horse had been shod with shoes that support the outside edge of her front hooves, and had been put on a glucosamine supplement, both of which seemed to help.

So I felt it was a good time to assess how we were doing - were we "sound enough" yet ? She certaibly felt way better - moving well, tho with the occassional grump. I hadn't asked her for any tight turns or lateral work.

We'd also had out arena patched and topped up - so the new surface is quite deep and springy !

The lesson was late afternoon, and I normally ride in the morning at the weekend. Fi felt slightly sluggish and I wanted her to move properly so P (instructor) could see whether she had improved or not. The result was me nagging with my leg, and Fi still pootling about going nowhere ! P halted us and we had a chat about that - to use the leg when needed, and not inbetween - which I know, but had got over-anxious about... But P also adjusted my foot in the stirrup. I ride in a synthetic dressage saddle with icelandic stirrups. The stirrups have a "bow" in the upright. I had got too little of my foot through the stirrup and hence did not have the bar under the widest part of my foot.

I have seen this adjustment made on another rider by another instructor. Then she had explained how you can build the rider position from the foot up - to give a much more stable position. This time P showed me how the foot position in the stirrup affected the rider's ability to bring the lower leg under them (and hence bring the heel in line with the hip). Such a small thing with such a BIG effect !

We walked off and there was already more energy in the stride, without using my leg, just from the renewed leg position. I still needed to do a check every few strides and "ask" my leg back...but the difference was noticeable.

In the previous lesson my mare had remaining issues with a near fore lameness, but was also moving very little at the back. She was not tracking up, and her hocks were not flexing as you would expect. As a result she moved the rider very little through their hips and back - and in fact this was one of the things P picked up on in commenting on her movement issues. We had not been clear if it as pain-related or behaviour.

Well this time she was moving - and as a result was moving me :D To my shame however, I was moving my hands with the movement. I think I must have got so used to the less active moevement that I had forgotten to free my elbows and shoulders to isolate them from the hip movement (Mark Rashid's "clock" 3 and 9) and back. As a result I was moving my hands to and fro - not as a pair, but alternately. :(

I was also carrying them too low.

P commented on the effect this has on the bit in the horse's mouth. Carrying the hands low puts the bit on the bottom bars - this is not where it would "normally" sit. Plus alternating hands asks the jaw to give give give - alternately. As the lower jaw is one piece, they can't give to each side and/or deform the jaw. A lot of horses react to this by "tick tocking" their heads. Its notcieable as they ride up the centre line in a dressage test ! I was lucky, Fi wasn't tick-tocking, but she wasn't too impressed with me...

So I needed to work on the elbows - freeing them up to use my hands as a pair, and raising them. I've done Alexander technique before. P asked me to "free the elbows" but what she was looking for (it turned out) was a physical movement forward and back - to get the freedom she wanted, I needed to take it higher up and "think" the shoulders free as well. I know I have a tendency to "float" my elbows, taking the weight out of the lower arm. This often comes from the shoulder - I take it up. By "freeing" the shoulder I could keep the weight in the arm, but get the freedom of movement in the lower arm that was what we were looking for.

In walk, you want the horse to take the contact forward - not up or in. If the horse has learnt to distruct your hands, you may need to offer (P talked about "imposing" it) the "nodding" rein contact to help the horse follow the contact.

Exercise: to fold forward but maintain the contact. This was interesting as it was a little like a cross-country position, but the aim is to maintain the same quality of contact. By leaning forward, you close the angle at the elbow and it helps to "reconnect" and loosen the elbow and arm, as well as making you more aware of the feel of the contact.

Exercise: to lift the reins, but with “engaged” elbows, and maintain the contact.
There turned out to be a "right" way and a "wrong" way to do this. If you raise the hand with an engaged and "alive" elbow, you can feel the bit lift very slightly but the quality persists and you can really feel the communication with the horse. BUT if you lift and brace or lock the elbow, the feel is entirely different and loses the elastic flowing feeling. You could almost feel the horse say " OI gerrofff !"

We did the "fold" and the "lift" exercise in trot, and were about to repeat in canter when our time was up. The whole lesson was a thought-provoking one so I may have missed things...