Ambers Echo
Still wittering on
Do you do the whole thing on one rein? If so is it ok to repeat the exercises on the other rein?
I counted in the end too, the words confused me more but I still found counting sits only a bit hard. I'm a bit spesh like that ?
Do you do the whole thing on one rein? If so is it ok to repeat the exercises on the other rein?
Tried this tonight.
Found it did help get an even consistent contact which is something we need to improve. However we struggled to keep a rhythm (always a problem neither of us have a sense of rhythm) and we struggled a bit with keeping the circle the same size and an even shape.
I did 1-6 on one rein then 1-6 on the other although had to stop after 3 to check my post it note as to what I should be doing lol
Then I did 7 on one rein then the other.
This is something so quick and easy that I'm going to do it every ride this week so I can try and get the hang of it and hopefully be able to utilise the different effects whenever I need them in whatever exercise i need it in.
I don't count the sits only, I count each step but only doing the action (rein squeeze, calf squeeze or whatever) every four steps
So count
1, 2, 3 ,4
2, 2, 3, 4
3, 2, 3, 4
4, 2, 3, 4
5, 2, 3, 4
6, 2, 3, 4
Then you can keep count of the beats and the amount of sets you have done
I couldn't remember them either! It doesn't help that the only field I can ride in is about a 20 min hack from the yard. By the time I got there this morning I'd forgotten everything and he's not very good at standing still, so I tend not to get my phone out and try and do things on it as he will start fidgeting!I'm in! I like the look of week 1 exercises but (and probably sound very lightweight) not sure if I will be able to remember everything in one go! Interesting!! Thanks - a great idea to do this.
Ok, did my first stint with Arts this morning. She was as usual a model pupil, although it did show quite nicely our collective resistance to bending left. We can get the suppleness bending left with nice springy trot, but only for 4 or five strides at a time. Will keep working on it.
Also, something about the instructions that I only remembered once I started doing the exercises was the knee thing. I used to really struggle with the 'close your knee' instruction that is often given, until I had a bit of a lightbulb moment when I went to a clinic with Katherine Branderup and she mentioned that she has often seen her husband struggling to teach some women on that point, because to someone with a man's physiology with legs that are pretty restricted in the way they move, 'close your knee' is a very simple instruction to follow. Whereas for a lot of women with legs that move quite differently to a man's, they can end up with a really funky leg position in the course of trying to move their knee. So for women it's better to describe tensing or relaxing particular muscles rather than moving a joint.
Anyway, it helped me massively at the time, so just in case anyone else was doing this exercise thinking oh my god I'm hopeless, why can't I squeeze with my knee, I just thought I would share.
Now the knee thing I struggle with a bit, I am hypermobile and my hips tend to be rather loose so I have a job to get my knee into the saddle sometimes without adding tension. So I'm hoping DD can elaborate because I am not sure I can make any useful input here personally... I just try to go on the effect (or lack) that I have on the horse and not end up in a tangle myself
Having just got off one horse, and about to get on the other, that does kinda make sense, yes ?Um, well I'm not sure I can explain particularly well...KB described things in terms of 'seat feet'. So for someone with a woman's anatomy, if you are riding around in a neutral position (not giving any aid), your seat should be like a pair of feet stood in sand, and they should be parallel, aligned with each other, and equal pressure between left and right foot and between balls and heels. Once you've got that image for neutral position in your head, then to do the man knee thing, you're turning the toe of the seat foot on that side towards the other seat foot toe, but keeping everything else level.
Hopefully that makes sense?
Um, well I'm not sure I can explain particularly well...KB described things in terms of 'seat feet'. So for someone with a woman's anatomy, if you are riding around in a neutral position (not giving any aid), your seat should be like a pair of feet stood in sand, and they should be parallel, aligned with each other, and equal pressure between left and right foot and between balls and heels. Once you've got that image for neutral position in your head, then to do the man knee thing, you're turning the toe of the seat foot on that side towards the other seat foot toe, but keeping everything else level.
Hopefully that makes sense?
hahaha I did have to start myself off with a "now, now, now, now" countdownSo, proper riders can coordinate this with their breathing, meanwhile the rest of us are going rise, sit squeeze shit did a double sit, rise sit rise sit rise oh shit now I'm squeezing on a rise
We turned out today so no riding today, I did check the stretch yesterday with supercob and he did feel like he was taking the other rein forwards and reaching in to it when I did
Had another go today (without needing the post it note reminder) I'm trying to work out what specific responses I got from each exercise but it's not that easy as didnt get a consistent response each time I applied the aids. Tried in trot and canter today, inside knee in canter is not easy, especially my left knee, my leg does all sorts of weird things instead lol
2 of them were consistent and that was additional schwung due to better bend using inside calf only but I also got additional impulsion so need to try a softer squeeze. The other was using inside calf and outside rein which gave me a lovely soft feel of self carriage every time I applied those aids.
What I'm learning most is that I micromanage my pony a little too much and it really isn't required! After we had done the exercises in canter we tried a couple of canter half passes and played about with how often to apply the outside leg, a lot less required than I have been using so that was a bit of a revelation
Had another go today (without needing the post it note reminder) I'm trying to work out what specific responses I got from each exercise but it's not that easy as didnt get a consistent response each time I applied the aids. Tried in trot and canter today, inside knee in canter is not easy, especially my left knee, my leg does all sorts of weird things instead lol
2 of them were consistent and that was additional schwung due to better bend using inside calf only but I also got additional impulsion so need to try a softer squeeze. The other was using inside calf and outside rein which gave me a lovely soft feel of self carriage every time I applied those aids.
What I'm learning most is that I micromanage my pony a little too much and it really isn't required! After we had done the exercises in canter we tried a couple of canter half passes and played about with how often to apply the outside leg, a lot less required than I have been using so that was a bit of a revelation