Thoughts Before the Summer Lessons

I start my summer lessons this week. Traditionally, my summer has been filled with weeks of youth lessons, here all morning or until the early afternoon. Over the past few years, instead of week-long lessons, where the kids come every day, the kids have decided to come once a week for a morning, so that they could continue their weekly lessons. They come 1 morning a week for 5 or 6 weeks. Why spend all of their horse time in 1 week when they could have horse time over a 6 or 8 week time frame? Smart kids!

Tomorrow is a day without kids though. Tuesday starts kid’s lessons. Tomorrow, Monday, I need to start my 2 year old, Duster, and teach him all about standing tied. I’ll bring him into the barn with Buster. Yes, isn’t that confusing. But Buster is many years older, and definitely needs to be worked. They both need patience training, and will stand tied in a stall for an hour. Then they both will be free lunged. Then Buster is an old enough to have a saddle put on. Duster is a 2 year old, and may need more time to get desensitized to the pad and saddle.

I have 3 lessons tomorrow. I start with a 2 year old that needs to get used to the saddle. Then I have a lesson with the training horse, and to get the owner more comfortable riding him. Then I have a beginner 8 year old. She is fun!

More later this week. Time to go to bed.

LB Moment about Using Your Center at the Lope

Another moment I had the other day was when I was going to lope off Shaggy. I
thought about what I had read in the Centered Riding 2 book.

Think about when you were sledding, and for me, that was many, many years ago.
You sat on the sled and someone pushed you to get you started down the hill.

If they pushed your shoulders, where did you go? You went forward, then as the
sled started, your shoulders were flung back and they were left behind your
body. This would be the same as if you leaned forward to lope off.

If the sled was pushed, your upper body was pushed back because your seat was
taken out from under you. This would happen if you kicked the horse to make him
lope.

But what happened if the person pushed you, at your waist, to make the sled go
down the hill? This is the area across your lower back and behind your center.
The sled moves easily and you stay upright. This is the same if you USE YOUR
CENTER TO LOPE OFF! LIGHTBULB goes off brightly!

Now when you are on the horse, use your center, not just your hip or legs, and
definitely not by leaning forward. As I went to lope off Shaggy, I centered
myself, and with my hip and center, I asked for the lope off. Still not pretty,
but my body stayed where it should have. I still have to kick him into the
lope, but I try to use my center as much as I can.

What a moment of clarity!!!

A Wonderful Lesson

The next LB (Light Bulb) Moment will have to wait for tomorrow. I just had the most wonderful lesson and I have to share! It is a wonderful feeling, for both me as the instructor and for the rider, when the lesson is wonderful!

The owner of the training horse came to ride. He is a little apprehensive about riding, as he is middle aged and haven’t ridden much at all, even though his wife has horses. He just loves the personality of this horse, though, and he really wants to get along with riding him. He is a motorcycle guy, and he was getting frustrated with trying to ride the horse with horse cues and not in motorcycle mode.

Something clicked with me at the AAHS clinic. Or after starting to read the Centered Riding Book 2 on the flight home from the clinic. Whatever it was, worked! Maybe it was due to the fact that I am still tired from 10 days of traveling, 1 day of being very tired here at home, and another day of deciding how to catch up with all the paperwork. When it came to lesson time, I was ready for a break. So I took things slow!

I walked the horse around as I talked about the Nature of the Horse, explaining why the horse does what he does. Then I had him mount and do a couple of exercises to work on sitting correctly. I had him stand in his stirrups and get the straight line from ear to heel. I talked about your center, and what a Tai Chi ball would feel like in your center, small but heavy. I talked about that ball spinning in our center and our center sinking into our seat. The weight of our seat should continue down into our legs and feet and sink into the ground, as we keep the sensation of feeling grounded. As he rode, I talked about the Following Seat, and had him move with the horse, allowing his hips to move freely. I had him pedal backwards and feel each side of his seat move as the horse walked. As he felt the movement and moved with the horse, the horse’s movement became freer and he moved with a deep stride. As he rode, I had him steer with his body, not just his arms. I told him to think about having flashlight beams coming out of his shoulders, waist and knees, and as he turned the horse, to turn with his body. That worked really well to help him turn the horse. He had a great time riding his horse, and the frustrations that we had a few weeks ago were no longer visible. It was an awesome lesson.

Things just clicked with me, too. I felt like that was the best lesson that I ever gave. I was relaxed and watched the rider and his horse. I gave him practice time after each step that I taught him. I know I need to work on giving the riders time to think things through and practice so that they understand the concept. It seemed to work great today. I look forward to our next lesson. Until then,

“Embrace the Journey!”

Happy Birthday to my oldest brother, Ray! Wished we weren’t so far away. Here’s wishing you many, many more years!

Light Bulb (LB) Moments

Now I have to start another area of discussion, besides Centered Riding and
Secure Seat Exercises, Training Tips, and Questions. This has to be the Light Bulb (LB) Moments!

My LB Moment came yesterday! I was riding Shaggy, my 8 year old QH gelding who hasn't seen much ride time except 30-60 days each year, and very random. I have been riding him this last month. At the AAHS clinic, we were talking about Unlocking the Lower Back and Standing in the Stirrups and moving with the Horse, then Sitting the Trot and still allowing the movement of the trot to go down your leg and into the stirrups.

Unlocking the Lower Back helps to lower your center of gravity. With all your weight in your seat, pedal backwards as the horse moves. Do not move your leg, but you may appear to be rocking from the waist down. You can lengthen your horse’s stride by pedaling harder, and shorten the stride by pedaling slower. You can turn the horse by pedaling one side. This is the same as the Following Seat in Centered Riding. Allow the hips to move with the movement of the horse.

Standing at the Trot and Moving with the Horse at the Trot, the horse will shift your weight from stirrup to stirrup. The horse’s body moves freer. His gait will become more fluid as his back comes up. As your hip, knees, and ankle joints become more flexible, you will move will your horse more.

Well, finally, after a year of Centered Riding exercises, of the Following Seat, I got it!!! I sat at the walk and I could move with my seat as the horse moved his hind legs. My hips became freer. My seat moved with each gait, and the movement went down in to my legs, through my knees to my feet.

I made a conscious effort to feel the walk stride in my seat, which I always did with Finny. This time, I tried to feel it go into my legs. I think Finny had such a smooth gait is the reason I didn't get the feeling as strong. With Shaggy, he is very true and has a very deep stride, and I could really feel his walk and trot. I could feel as I did the Backwards Pedaling motion, like you should do in the Following Seat and Unlocking the Lower Back, each motion of the pedaling! My seat and legs moved as if the were pedaling. Awesome feeling!!! Try feeling this in your seat before trying to feel it in your knees and legs.

My next LB moment came while I was reading the Centered Riding Book 2 and I
can't wait to share that with you tomorrow!

“Embrace the Journey!”

Barn Procedures and Lessons Begins

Last week was the AAHS, the American Association of Horsemanship Safety, Clinic at the Calvin Center in Hampton, Georgia. Brenda H is a very knowledgeable instructor. I appreciated how she presented the information and her willingness to listen to other’s opinions. Gretchen was a wonderful host. I enjoyed catching up with her and watching her ride her beautiful horse, Rainbow. I’ve missed seeing Gretchen and having her here to ride Bubba.

We were extremely busy, from early morning until very late at night, some nights to midnight! The material covered under the topics of Safety and Liability was very informative and important to know. Our lives are forever changed. Even though I have always considered safety and liability, now there are more areas to insure that everyone is safe. I will never forget the helmet video, Every Ride Every Time, that I watched. If anyone wants to see it, it is about 10 minutes long and I will always have it in my horse trailer to show. It will forever change your life. Helmets are important and will change lives, forever.

We learned the importance of a Procedures Manual for the barn. Even if you don’t have a riding or training program, I would encourage you to work on procedures for yourself, and for your friends and family who come to your barn and are around your horses. They need to know how to handle the horse safely and correctly, among other areas of care, like feeding, cleaning stalls, watering, and grooming. The Procedures Manual is an easy way for anyone who is there to do chores, or just coming out to ride, to refer to if they have a question about how to do something.

Lessons will always have a Lesson Plan behind them. Since I give lessons, I will work on this area with a lot of detail. But once again, everyone can do a Lesson Plan for them self. Lesson Plans can help you figure out what you want to learn, then work on that area step by step. Having a plan saves on feeling the frustrations that we feel when we start practicing and nothing is coming together correctly. Once we look at an area that we want to work on, then we break the area down into steps. We think about the how to perform each step. We learn each step one at a time, and we don’t go onto the next step until the previous step is learned correctly. That is the key to learning to ride correctly, and teaching your horse! Do not go onto the next step until you have learned the previous step correctly! Look how much easier it will be to learn. Look how less frustrated you and your horse will be. There is no time frame. Take as much time as you and your horse need. You will be amazed at how much more you and your horse will learn in a shorter amount of time! The journey has begun for you!



I wished we had had more horse time and ride time at the clinic!

Terri, Gretchen and I were able to take a short trail ride before the week started.







But there was just enough hours in the day. I think if we had done 1 more thing, we would have dropped by Friday and would have had no energy for the test on Saturday! We did go back to the barn the first night to practice riding, but with reading assignments each night, quizzes each morning, lesson plans to write, and a practice exam to go through, as well as prepare for the exam on the 5th day, we didn’t elect to go back to the barn again. But we definitely needed the practice time.

I did get my CPR/First Aid certification also, which I need for both this AAHA certification and also for Centered Riding. It was only another 1/2 day in the classroom and 2 more tests! I have no brain left. But I am excited to have recertified and someday, may need to help someone. On the plane ride home, I swallowed a Vitamin C drop, whole, and thought, oh no, am I going to choke! Luckily, the drop continued down and I could relax and breathe. Whew!

This week at home is going to be process week. I think I need to time to think. I will apply what I have learned in my lessons. We were taught 9 Secure Seat skills that I will be teaching, as well as the Centered Riding exercises. With the skills taught, you can't help to develop into a balanced rider, with a secure seat and leg. Now it takes practice time.

And it also take observation time. You may think that you are correct, but it takes another’s eyes to see you. If you are lucky to have mirrors in your barn, then you can see yourself, but someone needs to still see how you are flowing with the horse. I feel that I know how to ride well, and that I know horses well and can read them. One comment to me from the instructor was that I appear as if I’m riding for the show pen. She seemed to imply that I don’t know what to do when the horse does something. What? That comment threw me, and as I sat back and listened to her, I thought to myself, “what do people see when they see me ride?” Sure, the camp horses are old, some are stiff, and some don’t give to the bit, but we weren’t there to tune on the horses. If they came off the rail, I took them back to the rail quietly. I used my hands and leg cues, but I didn’t do it with a lot of movement either. To make myself feel better, I thought to myself, “Are my cues so light that no one sees them? Are my cues strong enough? Do I need to show that I am doing more with my body?” “Do I need to show what I am doing?”

I know that I used to ride without much movement, from sitting quietly for the show pen. But that has changed this last year. My joints are freer and my hips move. I allow my body to move with the movement of the horse. I think what happened to me was that I was at this clinic, learning a new way, and forgot about my Centered Riding. I rode and did what the instructor wanted, trying to do it perfect, and went back to my old way of sitting too quiet. I allowed my hips to move in the Following Seat, but I know I didn’t stand in 2 point and allow my knees to be Dancing Knees. This was an important lesson for me. Do not forget to keep moving with your horse. Relax and allow your body to stay centered, no matter what you are asking of you and your horse.

“Embrace the Journey!” I know I have.