Awareness of the outside world. ASHAWire: Exploring Use of Hippotherapy as a Treatment Tool, Dismuke-Blakely, Miller, & Rocco, 2019. Note, ASHA = American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Also note. “Don’t confuse hippotherapy with adaptive horseback riding lessons, also known as therapeutic horseback riding.” ibid
~~~
Continuing the conversation with myself. Saddle seat versus other English disciplines, hunter/jumper/eventing/dressage. [Lower Legs & Lesson Horses]
6 October, Optimus, Ride
Starting Position. Sit back in the saddle, waaaay back. Lower legs out. Hands up. Pinkies inside the reins.
Verdict. Different. So very, very different.
Incremental improvement. Do what you did before, while adding new stuff. Needed everywhere, for everything.
Verdict. Same
Prepare in turns. I was doing so, but late in the turn, as I came out instead of in the turn itself. In the dressage ring, I need to be doing this closer to C than M. Also everywhere, every sport.
Verdict. Same
“Chin, chest.” Coach Courtney says this when I start slumping.
a) The need for good posture is pervasive.
b) I realized that it means my basics have slipped. If I just adjust my shoulders without realigning my heels, I am fixing the icing without correcting the cake.
Verdict. Same
Tipping forward. Observers said everything looked good, yet I still felt that I was falling forward. I decided that Optimus was dragging me into his view of the world. As I discovered with walking, cruising along at 80% effort is easy. Staying closer to 100% effort requires constant input. Not nagging or fussing. More constant awareness of my own position and then preventing horse from starting to phone it in. Yes, we are still doing this. This is wonderful. You are wonderful. And so on. [Magic City 5K]
Verdict. Same
Pull back to canter. No. Wrong. So very, very wrong. Sigh. It’s a signal. It works. If I do, the ASBs canter promptly & neatly. If I don’t, they don’t.
Verdict. Different.
Lock elbows in the canter. I wanna say this is wrong as well, but I can see the point. Saddle seat is all about gathering the horse. Therefore, one does not want to follow with the arms. Consider a dressage rider asking for collected canter versus a jockey urging the horse for more stretch. Especially true for me as I have a tendency to fling the reins at the horse.
Verdict. Different.
Practice. You ride better with regular riding, even if it is in a different discipline, even if it is just sitting on the horse at a walk. I know I rode well because Optimus told me so, by going well.
Verdict. Same
6 October, Optimus, Drive
Photo by Courtney Huguley
Brilliant drive. Due, of course, to my excellent reinsmanship. Also, Dude was in a good mood. He seems to like cooler weather. Plus he was just clipped, so he was even more air conditioned. He was in a good mood all day.
Problem. I am presented with a nice horse and asked to trot around in circles. I start to think I know how to drive. Bzzzzt. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pleased with what I have accomplished. However, I am not ready to take Bliss out on marathon.
Verdict: different
11 October, Optimus, Ride
He doesn’t lead the barn in power and flash, but there is no reason we can’t be as correct as possible. I encouraged him to maintain as much form as he could without pushing him to do too much. We may be slow but we be snappy.
Hunters and dressage have objective metrics, Can you do the maneuvers? They also have a subjective element, How well did you do the maneuvers? I never got far enough along in either that I was in a position to worry about style points.
Verdict. ???
13 October, Optimus, Ride
On the theory that getting out of the house is good for me, I went and had a second lesson that week.
The plan. Maintain my position (6 Oct). Encourage Optimus to maintain his position (11 Oct). Add working on ring position. Stay off the rail. Cut the turn early to get ahead. Go wide to hang back. Get by myself. Stay out of the wad of riders. Solo lesson working on techniques to be used in a group.
Show classes are exercises in traffic management, I knew this. It’s a constantly evolving dynamic. For one thing, everyone “finishes their pass” and gathers in a herd at the end of the ring after each transition. You are always having to reevaluate your route. [Getting Our Hunter On]
Thinking about this caused me to articulate something obvious. Jumping and dressage classes give you a path. Oh, you might go wide to fit in a certain striding, but generally you go from here to here to here. In dressage, you know exactly where you need to be when, down to the meter.
Not a lot of game-time decisions in terms of where to go. I knew H/J/E/D were solo. I hadn’t thought about it in these terms.
In practice. Tis hard to keep all three balls in the air.
Verdict: different
In appreciation
A message of appreciation to Coach Courtney,
For allowing me to ride a horse who already has a busy schedule with actual beginners.
For understanding how important this is to me.
For not making me feel stupid about riding a simple, easy horse.
And finally,
For letting me take the time to start every lesson with a photo.
Your Reward For Staying Until The End
Lucy, in her role as truck inspector.
Onwards!
Katherine
Virtual Brush Box 
There is something about a horse…or water.
I’m a swimmer. Water Ballet (now Synchronized Swimming) in college and Water Workout in my later years. Vacations included pools, oceans.
However, right now, none of these are options,
But being in he water is a basic need.
The solution is something I have done since I was a child: long, long soaks in the bathtub with very hot water. An hour or two with a book (or now, my iPad). It’s water and it’s where I belong.
I remember fondly our Thursdays, bath nights, when you were young and I was working a stressful job. Not a bath for you but for me. I would soak and you would check on me from time to time. You are such a thoughtful daughter!
Takeaway: get on a horse. It may not be Eventing, Jumping or Dressage, but you are on a horse, where you belong.
Good for you.
P.S. I love your hair!
Mom
❤️