Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Pumped Up Pony Upgrade

Many's an hour has seen me practicing and trying to quieten my canter and on Tubs I've been doing well (as she is very forgiving). My bum has polished the saddle so much I should be able to see my face in the leather of the seat!! The transition from trot to canter is still tough as the two beats of sitting trot that you have to sit for are so tough to get right, with out popping out of the saddle. The funny thing is you need to fully relax your body in order to perform this act of sitting while trotting however my bodies natural reaction is
BRACE FOR IMPACT!! 
Not exactly the reaction your looking for when trying to relax into sitting trot. 
However I am still striving to get all the pieces of the puzzle that is horse riding together in the right time in order to create harmony and synchronicity.
So now that I can canter without bobbing up and down like a puppet on a string. Half way through one of my lessons Vincent asks one of the helpers in the yard to bring in 'Star' (another pony) to the arena . So I think that this gentleman is joining the end of my lesson however Vincent informs me "Clodagh Tubs is finished (and i go to dismount and lead her out of the arena) but not you young lady your being upgraded from the safe and reliable family saloon car to the to the fast and the furious sports car!!"  At which point myself and the yard hand switch horses and I continue to mount Star. After fixing my stirrups Vincent says now walk on. At which I applied the same pressure of my leg as I would if it were Tubs...........................................................................................................................
at that 
Star bolted from 
WALK to CANTER
Once I gathered myself and Star together and managed to stay on and was surprised at how calm and collected I was (I put it down to naivety!) The surprise of what had just happened was far better reflected in the faces of both Vincent and the yard hand, who both first looked completely stunned and then looked at each other with and expression of 'I've never seen Star do that before!!!'

Vincent said that it was impressive that I stayed on and that I could ease off on the leg on this pony. 
So one up for Clodagh
I'm getting somewhere eventually!!

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