A well-rounded clinic. Here we come, Doswell!
by Robyn
Another wild and wonderful weekend in Wilson working with Anne! The weather was pleasant (hot, but with a nice breeze) and the riding was really strong by everyone. There were a couple of new faces, and I really enjoyed meeting some “new blood”–particularly because one came with a really good bottle of tequila (does our reputation proceed us?).
I missed a few of the rides on Saturday, as I traveled to Wooten Stables after a morning at work. Lynn and Keni were gracious enough to trailer Bravo with Laci and tuck him into the barn so that I could come straight after seeing my last patient. The lessons were taking place in the covered, which did not go so well for me last attempt, and I was hoping that the heat would help convince B that normal work was easier than acrobatics so that I could have a lesson instead of just damage control.
It went quite well.
The focus this weekend was the neck. Specifically, lengthening it. There is, of course, back story. Not so long ago, I was struggling with the connection. I think that Bravo, like many horses, will always have some connection “issues”, but we are both more consistent with the concept now. While it is ideal to ride the horse OUT to the contact, Bravo seemed “lost” if he had too much freedom to seek the contact. Anne and I discussed back then that we might have to err on the side of riding his neck a bit short at first in an effort to establish some true push into the reins. Once that seemed relatively established, the goal would then be to push him out to a contact with a longer neck. Apparently that time was now.
I have been working on this on my own, and it was part of my warm-up with Anne at Pinehurst. When things were going well and he was well connected, I was to give the reins forward an inch and try to have him follow. Now in the environment of “training” vs. “showing”, we took it a step further. In addition to riding with a more giving, forward hand, we worked on shifting the balance backward using my seat alone. Manipulating him with my seat (to which he is pretty responsive naturally) allows me to not resort to the reins as much, which means I do not have the side effect of artificially shortening his neck. As we have in previous clinics, we also kept the tempo a bit under powered, so that the relaxation and elasticity could come through (it’s easy to add the power back in Bravo’s case–particularly at a show).
The short story is Sunday’s lesson was a carbon copy. Minimal evasiveness, nuthin’ fancy, just making the overall picture more correct and therefore more pretty. We can get through a test pretty well, so the goal for next weekend will be to get through the tests more correctly. If I can maintain riding stride to stride and not worrying so much about riding just the test movements, I think we’ll do just fine.
As always, there is some frivolity at the end of the day. We had a nice catered meal from Jac’s Grill in Wilson right on the farm in the gazebo, with yummy Margaritas expertly made by Paula (a little TOO expertly…I think she gets some practice) which may or may not have led to a couple of poor choices. It’s unclear to me why this happens, but somehow Anne decides she’a a yoga ninja warrior when her BAC starts to rise, and this weekend proved no different. I am not familiar with the Bikrim or “hot” yoga that she practices, preferring a more civilized temperature when I get my asanas on (although hot yoga might make the Margaritas more tasty afterwards). Regardless, there was some tree, eagle, bird of paradise, bound side angle, and this double somethingoranother Anne had us doing in the driveway. It had been a triple somethingoranother, but the usually graceful gazelle Keni Kerin fell down like a bag of bricks just before this photo was snapped.
How on Earth did we live before camera phones?
Next weekend will be here fast. It’s been a while since I’ve traveled more than 2 hours from home for a show, so I’d better start my list so I don’t forget anything! I am very much looking forward to another great weekend with great friends and great horses. And maybe some mediocre yoga.
