What was you best ever 'lightbulb moment' in a lesson?

kerilli

kerilli

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Or the phrase your Trainer uses that just makes you think "Yes"!
Mine are: being told to just 'stop' my pelvis moving to go from canter to walk, or canter to halt, or walk to halt. Works amazingly, very little need for rein aids if horse is attuned to this.
and "The inside hand acts like a handbrake on the horse's inside hindleg."
Hoping for some real gems to add to my notebook please!
 
With mine it was being made to rise properly & encourage the hind legs to step further underneath by moving my pelvis forward in the rise & sitting very lightly and briefly in the sit. It's far too easy to let the horse drive the rate you rise & for your rise to get sloppy.
 
Similar to that SM I was told that riding trot should be like being on a trampoline. You need to focus on the up and just touch the seat very lightly and bounce up if that makes sense?

Another one I had was trying to keep my legs back for dressage and was told light ankles and this helped enormously and stopped me blocking through the thigh as my focus moved.
 
I think everything my instructor tells me is like "ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, i get it now" :p
When my horse was a mental muppet she always told me to squeeze him into the fence which i couldn't understand as he galloped at them. It stopped his galloping and is so lovely to ride to a fence now!
I think everything she has taught me about dressage is like aha, i get it now.. all clicks! :D
Partly because current horse was my first "proper" horse where i actually rode him proeprly rather than just cantering around happily not worrying about outline etc.
 
My first lesson ever, in fact it was the first time I'd sat on a pony. I tacked up for the first time all by myself, it was checked by the instructor and was fine. I'd never even held a bridle or saddle before but I'd practised and practised in my head and it all came together. I left the yard on a lead rein and returned an hour later off it having been able to put into practice all I'd read about how to sit, holding the reins, taking a light contact, steering, how to stop etc. I'd mastered rising trot and I never went on the lead rein again.

I was seven and had been desperate to ride for as long as anyone could remember. I was a voracious reader and had read all the pony books I could get my hands on and all the books on riding that I could get from the library, in fact anything horsey I could, whether aimed at adults or children. It paid off that day and I have to say that I've never had so many lightbulb moments. I so wish I could learn at that speed again and I am still grateful to Liz Pickard at Park House Stables for accepting that I was so keen that I'd be able to do all that in one hour. It was a dream come true.
 
Another similar trotting one- when i finally experienced how i could adjust the trot just by the duration and 'weight' of my 'sit', and that I could let the horse 'push' me up into the rise without me doing very much. And about a year ago, when I finally understood what my instructor meant when she said that the horse should be stepping through from behind and up into the contact, and that you can't get the outline if there's no energy and power coming from behind.
Very basic compared to a lot of these I know, but it was a big thing for me as i'd never really done any dressagey type stuff and had no idea about getting outlines etc :)
Oh and also more recently, the idea that I can 'squeeze' the horse to a halt just by breathing out, sitting deep and closing my legs, hands and pelvis. Tried it when he was getting over excited out in the fields, and it worked then too- I love learning stuff which can be put to use outside the arena :)
 
When I was about ten and learned about being between the hand and leg I was told that one's horse is a bottle of pop - you've got to contain the fizz. If you let it out, there'll be a mess and if there isn't any fizz, it won't taste nice! Oh and when I first felt trot diagonals and stopped having to look down!
 
When i realised that it isnt only about getting the horse to trust me I have to trust her too!! Now everything is so easy as i believe she can do it.
Also with canterin got told to imagine going into a two point position and the relaxation of thigh and seat made for a beautiful soft balanced canter, it was a proper "ding" moment if ever I've had one
 
Last week, in a lesson. First time in 9months of owning the mare i have enojyed her!
And it was all down too.. 'Drop you hands, they are lovely but this mare wants them basically on her neck' Bam.. mare goes soft, forward and in an established out line!

WAHAY!

Lou x
 
i have them all the time :eek: but then i am a muppet :rolleyes:
recently i had one when i went to CDT training with Nick Turner. Had been having problems with my jumping- horse not naturally the bravest and had been stopping so it was causing me to override into fences (which was then making V think :eek: monster fence :eek: ) so Nick made me walk to lots of fences after that- just going to trot one or two strides out...has really made me appreciate that i don't need to ride like a muppet to fences, no matter how spooky/scary they are...V's jumping has come on no end since that session :D
 
I simply learnt how to use my legs. Not in a lesson or anything, just playing around at home. It's taken me 12 years, but it has finally clicked and I now know how to ride!!! I now have a horse who uses her backend! :D
 
In the first lesson I had with my now ex-boss's Portuguese trainer, I had so many lightbulb moments I've forgotten what they all were but I certainly learnt from them! Mostly how to use my seat and weight aids to influence the horse, especially in transitions, instead of pulling or kicking like a proper beginner. I actually emailed a friend about the lesson so I have an in-depth write-up of it, which is good to look back on from time to time to remind myself why my hands must be here, what I have to think of to get my legs there, and why I must think about the "snake horse" (see below)!

I also recently had a lightbulb moment when I discovered how to use my legs in downwards transitions. Now I feel I can use my seat more to ask for the transition, it's easier for me to keep the energy moving from leg to hand to keep the transition forward rather than thinking that I can't kick and pull at the same time... so in the last month or so I have learnt to use my legs, which is a rather vital aspect of riding or so I hear :rolleyes:

Short extract from the essay I sent my friend - this explains the "snake horse", which really helped me:
He told me to imagine a very long "snake horse" who, when his shoulders are at C in the arena, has his hips at A and his body snaking around the edge of the arena. We all know it is correct to keep the hips parallel with the horse's hips, and shoulders with shoulders... but with the snake horse, the rider would have to be facing one way with his shoulders and totally the opposite way with his hips. Then imagine a horse half the length, whose shoulders are at C when his hips are at E. Still, it would be impossible for the rider's shoulders to be facing one way and his hips at right angles. Therefore God was good to us when he gave us our horses - they are short enough in the back for the rider to be able to keep to the correct rule of hips to hips and shoulders to shoulders. We know we want our horse to bend around a circle through the whole body (mechanically possible or not - it's the principle that counts here), so when they do that the outside of the body gets longer but the inside cannot physically get shorter. Their inside hip and shoulder stay in a neutral position, and so should ours, but the outside hip moves backwards relative to the inside, and the outside shoulder moves forwards. Therefore so should the rider's hips and shoulders move backwards and forwards respectively. The way to move the hips backwards is to stretch the thigh back and down, and the hip follows. Apparently it's not about weight on the seatbones, but pressure (which makes so much more sense!). The inside seatbone does not gain weight or pressure when turning a circle, but the outside seatbone will put less pressure on the horse as the hip moves backwards. All the time the lower leg is hanging and loose (or cuddling the horse to make a transition).

I love lightbulb moments :D
 
Jumping position - I was having trouble with tipping rather than folding and stuff. Instructor said "imagine you are in some really grotty public loos and you have to go the toilet but can't sit down. That hover position is what you jumping position should be like" it still helps me to remember that balanced jumping position with a stable lower leg and reminds me to stick my bum out the back rather than just leaning forwards.
 
Katt said:
Jumping position - I was having trouble with tipping rather than folding and stuff. Instructor said "imagine you are in some really grotty public loos and you have to go the toilet but can't sit down. That hover position is what you jumping position should be like" it still helps me to remember that balanced jumping position with a stable lower leg and reminds me to stick my bum out the back rather than just leaning forwards.
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love it :D I think i might have to try that one, although I really **** at hovering :o I alway have to cover the lid with toilet roll so I can sit down...maybe it something to do with my weak back :confused:...sorry strayed of subject there.

Ignore me, do carry on folks
 
I guess mine show my problem area.

"Your hands are part of your position"

That by just lifting your inside hand you can get a better carriage from the horse and that by pushing hands forwards on a turn you get a better step through and turn.

Thought they might be specific to me and my little horse.
 
Watching my Dutch friend who rode at Grand Prix dressage get the most amazing tune out of my grey horse. When he got strong with her and rushed (which he did a lot!), rather than haul on his mouth, she would turn him into the arena fence and make him stand there for a minute. It was a very effective way to make a point 'no, you are not going to piss off with me' without getting into a hauling contest which she would undoubtably have lost. She had a very nice quiet way with her hands, even really difficult-mouthed horses went well for her as she was so gentle. That really underlined how important it was for me.
 
Katt said:
Jumping position - I was having trouble with tipping rather than folding and stuff. Instructor said "imagine you are in some really grotty public loos and you have to go the toilet but can't sit down. That hover position is what you jumping position should be like" it still helps me to remember that balanced jumping position with a stable lower leg and reminds me to stick my bum out the back rather than just leaning forwards.
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:D Mine is similar to this except I was over folding. I was told to imagine there was a drop after the fence... it was so obvious to me then that it was an instant fix.

Or it would have been if I could remember to think 'there's a drop' every time I'm jumping...:rolleyes:
 
My friend once came to help me out with my pony and told me not to be afraid of keeping a contact, that made a massive difference to me.

And with regards to jumping - I've starting hvaing lessons and in 3 half hour lessons pony and I have gone from nervously shuffling up to and then leaping/hauling ourselves over a 2ft jump then collapsing in a heap afterwards, to confidently jumping 85cm out of a energetic canter, and doing a 2ft6 JO course with confidence our first proper time out showjumping last weekend... guess what my instructor did to get this change?! Took away my reins one lesson. I just hadn't realised that I was holding onto him so much, and more than that, I totally hadn't realised the effect that it was having on him and the difference it made when I had no reins and was told to get him moving!! I LOVE my instructor :)
 
When some teacher said the other day 'for goodness sake, take some more weight in your outside hand!' lo and behold, mare stopped falling out the outside shoulder and produced a fantastic trot. Also, she figured out that I was hanging on to her front end in an attempt to get her 'up into the bridle' told me to soften and Genna stepped right up, produced some fantastic uphill paces and a more consistant outline. Got to love instructors!
 
Not really a lightbulb moment, more of a bribe
My instructor warned me that everytime I gave a rein aid without backing it up with a leg aid I would have to muck out another stable, voila, lovely transitions and a lot more "oomph!"
I had an awful habit of saying "steady" without any leg aid, not any more!
 
kerilli said:
"The inside hand acts like a handbrake on the horse's inside hindleg."
Click to expand...
Love this one, K.

I have loads but am cr*p at remembering them until a situation arises when it comes up!

One that does stick in my mind though was when an (olympic dressage rider) instructor told me to be more 'definite' in my aids. This applies when you're always conscious of riding 'softly' and it goes a bit too far.
She said: "don't be wishy washy. It's better to ask in a definite way for something and maybe get it wrong than be so careful that you're only half-asking all the time".
 
Ive had two recently;

The first was in a dressage lesson. I have suffered recently from a slight problem of rocking in the canter and people have told me keep your back straight etc. But what suddenly made sense was when my trainer told me to imagine my shoulders staying perfectly still, but the lower part of me moving with the horse. Beginner stuff but made real sense!

The second was at an eric smiley clinic this week. He walked some combinations with us and got us to look at them first. Then he asked us how many strides there were in them. The obvious answer was 3 or 4 etc, but when we walked it again it really hit on us how much of a difference the jump in had. 2 were drops and you can drop in, or leap in and lose an extra 1/2 a stride, meaning you had to quickly change plan. He also emphasised on the importance of not over riding; when he comes to the first XC warmup fence he just canters as if there is no fence; and there is often a horrid jump. Its no coincidence the next time he jumps it the horse is almost spot on!
 
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