So...I finally had my lesson Saturday morning. Since I'm going to be returning Hobbes to his owner/school, we are now working solely on me and my problem solving abilities, which is exactly what I need. The lesson went well, with a nice in depth discussion of half halts and why they confuse me. The words "half halt" make it sound like it is so much more than it really is...a rebalancing. So we spent the lesson rebalancing, or 'problem solving', and then my instructor would say, "so, was that a half halt?" To which I replied, "why yes, yes it was." Thus the mystery of the half halt was cleared.
I have been reading article after article on how to perform a half halt...which just kept muddying the waters even more. Something about sitting deep, leg on, hold...blah blah blah. Well, Hobbes is a terrible horse to try to learn what half halts should feel like on...he's forever on his forehand. A half halt in the literal sense, trying to do a stop/go sort of thing, does nothing. But this rebalancing concept actually produces a few strides of, well, a partially balanced horse! Close enough!
And then...on to the dressage mantra of 'inside leg to outside hand.' Will I ever truly get this? Again, Hobbes is not familiar with this concept...therefore having the connection or not having a connection doesn't feel drastic enough for a newbie to dressage to 'get'. Ugh. Anyone have a dressage schoolmaster?
Enough about Hobbes...and on to the horse search. I went to ride a horse this weekend that is well w/in my budget and what I thought I would want. Hmm...packer type, not very fancy, just a good 'ol horse. That apparently is not what I want, cause he didn't remotely 'speak to me'. He felt tiny (16H sorta slab sided) cause Hobbes is 16.3 and huge through the barrel. I felt like I was gonna tip over that tiny shoulder onto my face. And..on top of that, I was terrified to try him over fences. TERRIFIED. He would have packed my grandma over a 2'6" course and I nearly had a heart attack over one 2' vertical. I guess my years of riding a dirty stopper have permanently damaged my confidence in new horses over fences. Now I can ride Hobbes over anything cause I know he's going over it...my nerves w/ him come from being worried I'm gonna do something dumb like catch him in the mouth or something. I'm just frustrated b/c I think my riding ability is much better than my mental ability. I have been riding for a long time...why do I feel so incompetent? So annoying. I think I need more lessons. My instructor keeps telling me I'm capable of more than I think I am...too bad I don't seem to believe her!
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6 comments:
I am glad you had such a good lesson.
You should come ride my TB schoolmaster! He'll jump anything and help with your confidence.
I <3 the half-halt. It's a neat feeling when it finally all comes together! Have you tried the trot-almostwalk-BIGtrot exercise? That helped me a lot, and it really helped with what a half halt feels like. A rebalancing...it makes more sense phrased that way, I think.
Interesting comment on your mental/riding ability. I feel the exact opposite sometimes...like I *know* what I'm supposed to do but can't get my body to do it! ;)
Alex...I still think we need to meet up sometime soon! We're so close to each other.
Lets plan it, seriously.
Oh, and Kate, I feel that way a lot of the time, too. Now that I'm older..I have a mental image of what I'm supposed to look like when I'm riding, but in reality I'm nowhere near that! Come on old body, do what you did when you were younger!!
Yup, it's really neat when the half-halt starts making sense! It's supposed to be a 'check' of the forward movement to help the horse rebalance, but no one ever seems to explain it that way!
I feel your pain on the 'getting your body to do what you want it to' thing! And Ellen, I haven't jumped in 5 years! I think a 12 inch crossrail would scare me at this point!
I know how ya feel about being incompetent. I feel like that sometimes.
It'll all come together. :-)
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