Good Pro!

Today was not a day I expected to have a good ride. I got on around 7, so at the tail-end of dusk. The arena has lights, but only on one side and that throws the bunny tree into shadow. So I opted to stick to the unlighted end near the bench for most of the ride. I started out trying to do the outside rein turning thing, which seemed to go a bit better for me tonight. Then did some quarter-pirouettes before really working on using my muscles properly.

I find I ride a lot better if I tense all of my muscles between my knees and my rib cage. That sounds bad, but it's not like I lock up, but more like those stretches/exercises where you workout against your own muscles so you can't injure yourself. So I do that with my upper thighs/abs and that really seems to anchor me in place. Not to mention doing the butt-squeeze helps keep me lifted up and distributes my weight better so Pro can round up his back more. He did ok at the walk, but the trot was the fun part. If I kept my muscles tight and did the light posting, he would start to round up into his "hunter pony" frame. If I managed to pull my shoulders back and open up the angle from my hip, his head and neck lifted and he got off his forehand. We did that in both directions and then called it a night because the metal doors of the barn were getting shut and the horrible grinding noise kept me from being able to focus.

So, it wasn't really a breakthrough type ride, because I know I should ride like that all the time, but it was a lot of fun (except for the fact that now I feel like I did a 30 min long crunch). I have a lesson scheduled a week from Friday, so hopefully Gayle can help me play catch-up. Oh, and thanks to whoever suggested keeping less of my feet in my stirrups, I think that helped. So now they're on the toe part of the ball of my foot, not on the arch part of the ball of my foot. I also think riding in blue jeans helps (dunno why, my theory is it lets me slide to the deeper part of the saddle easier).