The Goldy Ticket, H/J Lesson

Awareness of the outside world. Starkey: How a coastline 100 million years ago influences modern election results in Alabama, 2021.

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Goldy
Rosewood Stables
20 May 2026

One of those posts where I will record the lesson in detail so that I can refer back.

Hot day. Also, the sand footing reflects up, making the ring even hotter. Let’s use the covered for shade. Since the kids were busy with end of school activities, I ended up with a solo lesson. Let’s have a biomechanics day. [Dissecting My Position, Lesson Notes]

Walk, good. Trot, good. Seated canter, good. Need to work on two-point.

Coach Deana told me I needed to keep my wrists straight. Better contact and a better upper body position.

Coach Deana: Use your core.
Me: Don’t have one.
Coach Deana: Not true. Otherwise you couldn’t do this, (Waves hand to indicate riding in general.)
Me: huh.

If she had said, ‘You are good at riding’, my response would have been along the lines of, ‘Yeah, yeah, sure, fine’. Instead, she gave me an incontrovertible fact.

My leg position is good. So I asked if the problems started at my waist, or at my upper back, i.e. shoulder & head.

Coach Greg said it starts with my hips. He made the observation that I rode with a stiff/fixed/rigid lower back. Yes. That is exactly what I was doing. I attain The Correct Position and then attempt to hold myself there.

Coach Greg? Yes. In addition to be a supportive partner, husband has become an excellent groundperson. He has an understanding of priopreception in general and of me in specific. He will often say things in a way that makes sense to me.

I put these into practice. Trot in two-point. Trot-canter transitions in two-point. Canter circles in two-point. A few jumps: mildly larger crossrail & a small vertical.

Rode around telling self …

… I’m better at this than I give myself credit for.

… Lower back position is about being in the right general area, not in one specific location.

Combined these two to excellent result. Coaches pleased. Much complimentary noise. Rider pleased. Position felt solid. Goldy pleased. Cantered & hopped with elan.

Yay!

Next step. Remember what I did & redo it. Having done it this time, I know it is possible.

Onwards!
Katherine