Post by Elaine on Jul 3, 2008 8:31:14 GMT
Arrived Friday night at 7pm for a talk. We went through breathing, balance, building blocks in order, soft eyes & centering, all with physical exercises off the horses.
breathing - slow deep breaths = more oxygen around body, body more relaxed.
balance = dont be tilting forwards / backwards right or left, more difficult for horse to carry you.
building blocks - carry yourself in the most efficent way without straining things - did a bit of this in a tai chi class I did last year, all makes sense.
soft eyes - good again, if you stare hard at something your breathing gets more shallow and body tenses up - look at stuff but be aware of your periferal vision (spelling!)
centering - image ball of energy a little below belly button, rotating around you like you're pedelling backwards. So we stood with knees bent, normal good breathing, soft eyes, and with your hands on either side of us made this movement.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Saturday
Ok, so for sat & sunday there was a MAJOR storm going through so it was HOWLING wind for both days, and was either spitting rain or showers were passing though. All in all it was a bit miserable for Ireland in June!!
I was there at 9am to watch the first lessons. It was groups of 2, so the first lady (english, lovely) had been riding for about 6 months I think, but she was pretty good & secure at all the gaits I saw.
One of the main things (if not the main thing) the instructor worked on with everyone, was the shoulder hip heel. So it was the usually story, people sitting with feet and legs a bit forward, we all agree if the horse was taken away they'd fall on their bottom, etc.
One good thing to note is that a lot of saddles are built so the stirrup bar is too far forwards, automatically putting you in a chair position. Also, you can have bad posture whcih with a bit of focus you can improve
To help your horse be in balance, it helps if you're in balance on their back, and not leaning forward / backwards right or left too much.
We played about with how our different positions affect how the horse moved in walk which was interesting.
SUNDAY
Felt a lot better when actually in s-h-h postion.
Was riding a beautiful sensitive 4yo, just back in 2 weeks after a half year off. Was working on transitions. She was really sensitive on ground from walk to trot, but when I gently squeezed her and raised energy and look ahead, wasn't working. Thought about it for a while as I didnt want to get any stronger, so at one stage thought about scooping her up into a trot with my derriere - BINGO - 1 stride later we glided into a trot
So that was cool.
Also hands - i usually have fairly open hands, but found it better to have a loosely closed fist (LOOSELY). Also she made the point of having some contact all the time - makes sense you want the lines of communcation open and ready to use.
Handy tip for schooling a green horse - if you know your horse is going to stop at X, then ask her to stop 2 strides before x. Then she is stopping because you asked, not because she decided, AND its easier for her to stop, as she was going to anyway soon. Same to move from walk to trot. That was both of you win. I though this was quite nice
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It was nice to focus back primarily on riding for the weekend and I left with a lot to think about. Thanks VERY much to Ursula for hosting this, with BEAUTIFUL horses as always
breathing - slow deep breaths = more oxygen around body, body more relaxed.
balance = dont be tilting forwards / backwards right or left, more difficult for horse to carry you.
building blocks - carry yourself in the most efficent way without straining things - did a bit of this in a tai chi class I did last year, all makes sense.
soft eyes - good again, if you stare hard at something your breathing gets more shallow and body tenses up - look at stuff but be aware of your periferal vision (spelling!)
centering - image ball of energy a little below belly button, rotating around you like you're pedelling backwards. So we stood with knees bent, normal good breathing, soft eyes, and with your hands on either side of us made this movement.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Saturday
Ok, so for sat & sunday there was a MAJOR storm going through so it was HOWLING wind for both days, and was either spitting rain or showers were passing though. All in all it was a bit miserable for Ireland in June!!
I was there at 9am to watch the first lessons. It was groups of 2, so the first lady (english, lovely) had been riding for about 6 months I think, but she was pretty good & secure at all the gaits I saw.
One of the main things (if not the main thing) the instructor worked on with everyone, was the shoulder hip heel. So it was the usually story, people sitting with feet and legs a bit forward, we all agree if the horse was taken away they'd fall on their bottom, etc.
One good thing to note is that a lot of saddles are built so the stirrup bar is too far forwards, automatically putting you in a chair position. Also, you can have bad posture whcih with a bit of focus you can improve
To help your horse be in balance, it helps if you're in balance on their back, and not leaning forward / backwards right or left too much.
We played about with how our different positions affect how the horse moved in walk which was interesting.
SUNDAY
Felt a lot better when actually in s-h-h postion.
Was riding a beautiful sensitive 4yo, just back in 2 weeks after a half year off. Was working on transitions. She was really sensitive on ground from walk to trot, but when I gently squeezed her and raised energy and look ahead, wasn't working. Thought about it for a while as I didnt want to get any stronger, so at one stage thought about scooping her up into a trot with my derriere - BINGO - 1 stride later we glided into a trot
So that was cool.
Also hands - i usually have fairly open hands, but found it better to have a loosely closed fist (LOOSELY). Also she made the point of having some contact all the time - makes sense you want the lines of communcation open and ready to use.
Handy tip for schooling a green horse - if you know your horse is going to stop at X, then ask her to stop 2 strides before x. Then she is stopping because you asked, not because she decided, AND its easier for her to stop, as she was going to anyway soon. Same to move from walk to trot. That was both of you win. I though this was quite nice
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It was nice to focus back primarily on riding for the weekend
and I left with a lot to think about. Thanks VERY much to Ursula for hosting this, with BEAUTIFUL horses as always