Last night I was asked to fill in for MIL at drill practice. Wanted to ride I accepted and headed straight to the arena after work so I could work Lu before practice. I figured I’d use Sis for practice since she is the one that will be running it and she needs to work on the pattern (not Lu).
I took over my big red ball to play soccer with before practice. The young girls were having a hay day and their horses caught on quickly. Lu was a bit nervous about it so we worked on getting her to focus on me (instead of the ball) and rate my seat. She did very well so we moved up into a canter. I’ve been trying to post a lot more (although not the 30 min. a day CA recommends) and I’m noticing that it is placing my body in a different position compared to how I normally ride. I seem to be more upright (like I should be) and more in cadence with Lu although I am still struggling to maintain my seat rhythm when she canters clockwise (her bad side).
Before I headed to grab Sis I had Lu move the ball some. Once she got the hang of it she was all over the ball. I put her away and grabbed Sis. She acted like the ball was going to kill her even though she’d played with it the entire weekend. I moved her out trying to stretch out her tight muscles (from her injury last year) and she quickly got with the program. We ran the run and it wasn’t very pretty. I’ve watched the pattern quite a few times but haven’t paid attention to MIL’s spot and apparently neither have some of the other riders. I’d get out of place but quickly fell back into place.
I got a chuckle out of a few gals when they said “so Sis can run”. LOL yes she can! I was in MIL’s saddle and the stirrups are too long but I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal – Sis is pretty easy to sit compared to Lu. As we came around the one bend Sis decided to turn before me and I popped out of the saddle and my hands landed on her neck. I recovered but I shouldn’t have done it in the first place. Then around another corner she tripped. That time I maintained my seat much better.
As we were cooling down from the run one of the younger gals grabbed her weanling and was leading it around from her gelding. I was working on getting Sis to soften and tuck her head. One of the other gals asked me about my mecate wondering “isn’t that dangerous tying to yourself like that”. I explained to her that it wasn’t tied and it would come out if I’d come off. It wasn’t but about a minute later when I gave her a demo on how it worked.
I don’t know what happened but Sis jumped sideways and over her shoulder and off I came. The mecate got caught under my leg and Sis reared trying to get away from the pressure and whatever was scaring her. I thought a few times she was going to come down and land on my legs but luckily she didn’t. I finally got the mecate loose, got up and put her feet to work. She looked at me like “you want me to what”.
The gals watching think the foal spooked her. I don’t think she saw it on the side of the gelding and as he turned I guess the foal bucked and kicked out. I really don’t care why she spooked. I was very happy that I was able to maintain my composure and not let frustration get in the way when I got up off of the ground. I can honestly say that I wasn’t upset with Sis. While my body was a bit sore today I can say that for the first time my pride wasn’t hurt. I know I’m not the best rider but I am working towards being a better rider so if people feel the need to judge me – so be it. I’m frustrated that I can’t find my “center” but I know old habits die hard. Guess I just need to post some more. ;)
2 comments:
As long as the Ground doesn't say, "This was fun. Can we do it again?", you are okay.
Good to hear you are getting in some saddle time before TX
so glad you weren't hurt,meeting Mr Ground always bites
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