Day 2 Week 2 Goals Plan

The Plan

1. For HQ yield flexibility:
1. See if I can get the good one with carrot stick and then apply lesser cues with the goal to be just shifting my weight/seat.
2. Do leg yields to the rail homework I forgot Wednesday
2. Seat cues
1. Yeehaw--can I walk using seat muscle info from Mary Wanless materils?
2. Can I maintain into sitting trot? What about rising trot?
3. Video
1. my alignment (3) and stirrup length to get still shots to study
2. pic of using seat bones and seat muscles see previous post.
3. Big positive energy
1. Be aware of interactions with people
2. Try: Big ol' just ride around the ring--free, easy and pay attention to core. Video
4. For Fun
1. Passenger ride anywhere Try wants to go--except no grazing and safety concern. Alternate walk and trot based on footing conditions.

What We Did

I had the huge advantage of BA's daughter Katie being out of school and able to videotape!

1. HQ flexibility: After warm-up walk/trot I played with HQ yields from a standstill to see what would happen transitioning the cueing from stick to leg to seat on both her sticky right side and better left side. I am pleasantly surprised as I can't "see" what is happening in the saddle as I can on line. We can progress this either by further lightening the cues or playing with consistency--perhaps on line next time.

2. Seat cues: I did not know what would happen at walk, sitting trot and rising trot with concentrating on seat bones pointing to the ground and engaging pad of muscles around them. Result: absolutely no problem (if what I am doing is correct) as long as I was thinking about it. However, I completely forgot until our "trail" ride later to concentrate on leg angle and heel "down." I did see a whole lot of turnout from the hip. Perhaps in engaging seat muscles from ballet--I also engaged turnout OR I just ride that way anyway. Will want to check that out next time. From time to time I checked myself to have light weight in stirrups only. Also with trot--checking myself by holding pommel that I can control the descent back into the saddle in the rising trot.

The following three snapshots are seat positions for my study.

 Forward position: hunt seat, close contact saddle, posting, etc.?

 Sitting back behind vertical seat bones: western saddle, bareback pad, legs forward and angle changed.

Seat bones vertical, muscle pad around the bones engaged, shoulder mostly over hip, leg too far back.

3. Big positive energy

This is producing some "negative" results as a couple humans in my life seem to be unconsciously? feeling a different energy and not liking a change. How interesting.

Try: She was in a somewhat cranky mood again. Katie said Try tried to bite her when she was changing her blankets. I have noticed the last two times that she looks irritated in her pasture when I drive in. Also less happy about coming to me in the catching game. (Her arthritis??) Wednesday we (I) had fun changing the big frustrated energy into big energetic movement that brought on relaxation. In this Friday session we repeated some circling game on line briefly as needed--I liked how free and alive Try was in her movement. Katie thought it was funny. We also at the end of the session in the ring--went into the larger ring--put reins on Try's neck for some big posting trot on the rail--whatever Try felt like doing.

4. For Fun
We followed this by leaving the farm for a passenger ride up the road to the hunting camp and back. I enjoyed this as a time for reflection--Try looked around and seemed to enjoy herself as well.