Wizard Ride 191: Different To Me

Posted on by Sarah K. Andrew

Wizard's Whorls

Saturday, 10/16/10

Wizard and I had a riding lesson with Heather, one of the new instructors at the barn. I’m planning to take a few lessons from each instructor and decide who is the best fit for us. The instructor we worked with on Saturday is a judge, as well as a trainer. She specializes in jumpers, which is of interest to me, since Wizard and I need help to keep moving forward with our jumping schooling.

Our lesson was focused on equitation and my communication with Wizard. She likes a rider to place pressure, contact and weight in the seat and thighs and not in the calves. She asked me to roll my knees toward the saddle, tipping my toes in and my heels out. It felt so different from what we normally do! In the corners of the arena, she asked me to give an indirect rein with my inside hand and open the outside rein to allow Wizard to bend, and also to step out with my outside leg to encourage Wizard’s shoulder to open up a little. All upward and downward transitions were done with the seat, slowing down posting, etc. She asked me to keep much more firm contact with the reins than I usually do. I asked about Wizard’s busy mouth, and she said that when I have more contact, he’s less busy with the mouth.

She had some interesting observations about my position- she called my right leg my “hold leg” since it’s an anchor for my position. I lean on it and it’s less flexible than my left leg. She could see a definite difference in my position on each side. I’ve never heard it called a “hold leg” but it made sense!

Another good observation of hers was that I allow Wizard to rush into his upward transitions. He hurries through his walk to trot transitions so we worked on asking him to flow more smoothly from one gait to another. Wizard was good throughout the lesson, but near the end, he got a little impatient, probably since it was a very different routine from our usual routine.

We have another lesson on Wednesday night- it has been really helpful to get different perspectives on our training goals, position, and performance.