Thurday 6 March: Pinto

Well, after saying "I think one of the best things I ever did was stop riding Pinto in lessons" last night I rode Pinto in my lesson!

I was given a choice of either Pinto or Paco, and I was too tired mentally to cope with Paco's gittishness, never mind that I think I'm really too heavy for him. Plus we were having a dressage lesson, so I knew I could cope on Pinto, well just about anyway.

The warm up was good, and Pinto listened to me for about 15 minutes before switching into "lesson mode" and started pulling before that though we were complimented by Katia, even earning a "très bien" so we must have been doing something right!

On the plus side I even managed the sitting trot across the diagonal, and though I felt a bit bouncy, I still felt I was able to contain everything to a certain extent and I didn't feel unbalanced.

We then went to work in open order, doing transitions between halt/walk/trot. I practiced everything in sitting trot, (apart from halt to trot - I'm not that flexible yet to cope with the big jump Pinto does into trot) which I was really pleased with. Pinto was very attentive to the aids, and we had some great transitions from sitting trot to walk with seat aids only. Trot to halt still feels very clunky, and although I "fix" everything (seat, back, shoulder, elbow) I still feel as if I'm dragging on the rein, even though I'm not pulling back - but we were getting the transition pretty directly with only about half a stride of walk inbetween. Halt to trot is much better, but still not direct. Pinto will begin to move off in walk then give a huge spring into trot, but I'm having problems regulating the aid enough so Pinto knows to move directly to trot, but not too much else he rushes and looses all the soft-and roundness.

Our main exercise for the lesson was 'head to the wall'. Pinto was *awful* on the left rein, refusing to slow down, refusing to bend, basically refusing to think. At this point he was making a pretty good effort of just towing me everywhere (in walk) and I had to concentrate hard just to get a decent slow walk out of him. On the right rein everything was different. First of all I concentrated on keeping the walk slow, til I felt that we were just dripping along (surprisingly at the same pace, even if still abit quicker than the school horses!). Eventually Pinto settled into it and stopped fighting the bit so much (at this point there was a lot of gnashing of the teeth going on). On the right rein he would bend easily into the wall, and I could really feel him stepping across with his fore and hind legs, so after having a huge guilt trip about dragging him about and making him upset on the left rein (gnashing teeth, open mouth, curled nose, tongue poking etc) I felt much better about the right rein.

After a trot to stretch out came the canter exercise, and Pinto turned into a hooligan. Pinto understands the French "galop" very well, and Katia was giving detailed instructions on what we should be doing, and every time she says "galop" Pinto is getting more and more excited. Basically we were to trot in a circle at the C end, and then one at a time come down the long side, transition to canter between F and A, continue and come back to trot at H and join the circle again. It makes me so mad. I get absolutely sick with nerves about doing these exercises on Pinto, yet I know I could do it with my eyes closed on Elcypse. I went first to get it over and done with. Didn't get a transition at F, but fall into canter at K, bound along for 4 strides then haul ( ) to a trot at C. After that I can get no further sense out of Pinto. We end up trotting 7m circles with my inside hand somewhere about my knee to make sure he is bent to the inside as he is all over the place pulling and hauling and basiclaly just wanting to take off. After a few minutes he settles a bit and we try the exercise again. We make some semblance of a transition at F, fall back to trot at A, get the transition again at K, and Katia is going "pousse, pousse" and I'm thinking "not on your nelly mate!"

The only thing I can think of that was good about the canter was that my bum isn't sliding across the saddle (polishing).

The next exercise was a complete disaster. We were meant to trot around onthe piste, then transition to canter at A and continue up the centre line, transition back to trot at C. Pinto was bounching everywhere, doing his 100mile an hour trot, pulling me left and right. I know people look at me and think that I should just go with it and get on with the exercise. The thing is I DON'T WANT a hooligan horse who dictates when and where we canter. We continued trotting around the outside of the school, with some choice words in Pintos ear when he tried to pull me into canter on the corners, until he settled down and trotted around politely. At this point I had already been told to get on with the exercise, and yes, half of it was fear, but like I said, *I* want to ask Pinto up into canter, not Pinto charging off whenever he feels like it. So in the end after 1 circuit of relative politeness we turned up the centre line, I asked for the transition, but didn't push it when we didn't get it. I know the problem is that I just don't trust Pinto to stop (or to continue in a straight line). My balance is horrid, and a slight swere left or right and I'll be off.

I've gon over and over in my mind why I can canter on Eclypse, but not Pinto, and it's not the speed. It's the movement. Both Pinto and Eclypse are about the same height and build, though Eclypse is not quite as wide. Eclypse will canter just as fast as Pinto, but his movement is not very big. You can sit on Eclypse all day and not feel that you are doing much work to keep your bum in the saddle. Pinto has this huge jump in canter, each and every stirde, and I find it terribly unbalancing.

I'll get there eventually, I'm sure... it's just taking a lot longer than i first thought!

01 February - Eclypse

Had another fantastic lesson last night, so thank you to the wonderful Eclypse, who is such a fantastic confidence giver.

For as long as I can remember I have had a major issue with coming off the piste in canter... mainly due to past experience where as soon as we come off the piste the horse makes a dive left or right and I end up coming off.

Well I cracked that one last night

We were having a dressage lesson, and are now at the stage where we warm up in walk trot and canter, and that was great. Had a great time in trot going from really sloooooow to pushing on. the canter was good as I was able to reaffirm with myself that the last lesson wasn't a fluke, and I could still canter lol.

Our lesson this week was the "head to the wall" exercise. I was glowing by the end, having earned no less than 3 "bien"s from Katia

Then as a reward for the horses we have a final canter at the end of the lesson. Oooh I was so adventurous! It started out by coming off the piste to avoid some one who was having trouble with the transition up, then I was off! Circles, ovals, not going right to the top of the school, going off on the 3/4 line.

I was absolutely on cloud 9 then immediately sad and upset because I just don't have the same confidence on Pinto. I feel so bad because although I was having fantastic fun cantering round on Eclypse, I still get the willies at the thought of cantering Pinto in the manege, and I don't know why, because I was going as fast on Eclypse and what I do on Pinto. Sometimes I think I need my head read!

10 January - Eclypse

It's the first lesson I've had in about a month due to my illness and then the holidays, but it was FANTASTIC!

It was just a basic dressage lesson, and I was riding Eclypse, who is a complete sweetheart, but has an exceptionally bouncy trot!

We were working an the paces, and our entire lesson (after warm up) was working on slowing the pace and then quickening the pace between the quarter markers on the longs sides of the school.

What fun!

Starting off in walk, then progressing through to trot and then canter over the course of the lesson.

How marvelous!

Just feeling the difference, especially in trot! taking it from s-l-o-w where there was a definite pause between each stride... right on the verge of walk which I found i could sit very lightly and *really* feel the advancement of each hip separately, to putting my leg on and *really* feeling his shoulders lift and he extended his stride.

Holy cow!

And the canter! Eclypse is just so comfortable in canter and I had an ENORMOUS amount of fun, unfortunately didn't have much luck in slowing the canter, but speeding up WOW! I really felt as if I had overcome something last night, only once or twice I felt a bit tense but I soon overcome this and was even able to relax my elbows. For some reason I was able to sit still in the saddle, and even when we were haring round the corners ( ) I just relaxed into it and sat deep and stuck with it (my usual response is to curl forward which is incredibly unbalancing).

Today I'm aching in about 6 different muscle groups, but I think it's the best lesson I've ever had!