Engaging the Core

This is the best day ever.

Weather-wise. The rest is kind of sucking.

Anyways!! It was brisk and cool this morning and I even had to put a coat on. The sky was clear and blue, the sun was yellow (it's red when it's smokey) and there was no smoke to be seen. I headed to the arena for a dressage ride, but the BOs decided to water.

No worries. Cuna and I took a nice walk through the hills, looking at the bright blue sky, the golden flora, and listening to the birds sing, all while breathing freely.

When we came back to the arena, we had a mission: work like a proper dressage horse until my biceps can't take it any more.

We started with a cool exercise that a friend told me about. We used a large rectangle in the arena. We trotted the sides, then walked two steps in the corner, then right back to trot. The idea is to keep your hands steady and still and the horse relaxed, but just move them back and forth with your body.

Pelham not used today. Cute pic though.

It worked really, really well. We did it both ways, then mixed it up by doing 10m circles in all the corners and the walk steps on the long sides. Then we did trot/canter transitions on a big circle. I focus really hard on just keeping everything the same, especially my hands, then sitting a couple of strides without activating my seat and making him tense, then asked to canter. It's a work in progress, but it's definitely coming along.

I also noticed when I rode yesterday that my hands were much quieter without stirrups than with. My theory is that my core was more engaged and active, which quieted my upper body. At any rate, my hands were much more effective today and Cuna responded really well.

I rode until my right arm felt like collapsing. I'd really like for Cuna to be a bit lighter, but according to his old owner, this is basically how he goes, plus he's conditioned to be that way through racing, plus he simply isn't built to be light on the forehand. Yes, a sharper bit would probably give me some false lightness, but it's not that big of a deal. I'll get stronger. 

Tomorrow I'm hoping to start working on one of my goals for the fall: riding in the pelham with two reins. Omg!