Riding lesson

Went fabulously.  Marie helped me to correct myself (temporarily - truly correcting these issues will take time), which allowed Ruby to round her back and drop her head while trotting.  I have a tendency to push the saddle's cantle to the left with my stronger right leg but the saddle was still completely centered at the end of the lesson.  I am ecstatic. 

Crooked

Back story: Before my riding lesson today, I knew that I was 'crooked'.  I know this because I was injured many moons ago while in the military.  A well-meaning but clueless military doctor took that a step further by performing a surgery that ultimately failed - I later discovered one study found that this particular surgery failed 100% of the time.  Yeah, too bad I didn't think to do that research before the surgery.  The ultimate culmination is that both of my feet are shot, with my left being much worse.  The toes on my left foot go from tingly but mostly numb to on fire and everything in between.  I have no normal feeling in them anymore.  This affects my walking, which affects my hips and back on both sides, but again the left side is worse by far.  It is something that I deal with, and honestly, I'm not missing any body parts so I feel like I got off easy.

Last year's riding instructor, Marie, knew this and was attempting to help me correct it in her treed saddle.  Then I had 7-8 months with no lessons, Marie moved, and I started taking lessons with Claudia.  I didn't tell Claudia anything about my history before the first lesson but she mentioned that there was something going on with my left side within the first few minutes of our lesson.  I explained the situation and she said it wasn't too bad and that I was definitely fixable.  After our second lesson, I asked her if I could bring my own saddle to the next lesson.  My saddle is treeless and I feel much more unorganized riding in it; secure but unorganized.  She agreed.  Today was that lesson.

And it was horrible.  The entire time I felt like I was falling to the left.  The cantle of the saddle would not stay centered over Rita's (2nd level dressage lesson pony) spine.  To counteract this, I was trying to put more weight on my right leg, which apparently was only exacerbating the problem.  Basic premise - my left leg doesn't do shit so my right leg does it all.  This causes me to actually push the cantle of my saddle to the left with my right leg.  To verify this, Claudia had me take my right foot out of the stirrup and go into a posting trot around the arena in both directions - wonder of wonders, the saddle was fine then.  Yikes.  Claudia went over my saddle and she said it's even broken in crooked, ugh!  So, what to do?

Luckily Nickers Saddlery has replacement foam panels for the inside of the saddle.  I'm also hoping that they will be able to upgrade my saddle rigging to the multipurpose to perhaps give more stability to the cantle.  Maybe even a crupper, but then I wonder about how it would affect Ruby while I'm trying to learn to ride straight.  Speaking of - I have never felt like I'm going to fall of Ruby like that so she must be seriously overcompensating for me.  

In the meantime, therapeutic yoga for me and possibly more physical therapy, though I can tell you that the crap physical therapy allowed by my insurance has never helped in the past.  I need to start lifting weights and doing whole body strength training.  Running is out of the question, hence the reason I am no longer in the military.  I'm probably going to be riding without the right stirrup for a while, in an attempt to stop pushing my pony to left and causing her to develop back and other soundness issues.  I hope I can get this resolved - Claudia was looking at me a little wild-eyed, wondering what in the hell she's gotten herself into.  Next lesson, she wants to come out and watch me ride Ruby, but due to the higher lesson fee plus travel (she's over an hour a way) and my budget constraints, that's not going to happen right away.  C'est la vie. 

This week

Monday: went to see my pony then went to my first lesson with a new instructor.  She grew up riding dressage in Germany, then moved to the US.  She currently rides dressage and working equitation.  So far, I like her a lot - she has eagle eyes and a sense of humor.  Now about my riding: apparently, I go much better to the left.  I also have a tendency to tighten my lower back while posting (causing Ruby to 'go giraffe'), grip with my knees (no wonder they kill me after an hour in the saddle), and stiffen my shoulders.   For now, we are going to focus on developing an independent seat before we get into the fun stuff.  Another really great thing about this instructor - she did LDs for four years with her Paso Fino gelding before having children.

Tuesday: Ruby got a pedicure, a la me.  Usually she is very good, but on this day she was trying to snatch grass and kept moving every twenty seconds, grrr.  I had to tie her really short so that there was no hope of reaching any grass, then she got the hint and stood quietly.  The heels on a couple of her feet have cracks so I finally worked up the nerve to really bring them down.  I was so nervous about this that I took her for a walk down the street to make sure she was still comfortable.  Afterwards, I decided to take her for a spin and try out some things I learned yesterday.  When I went to put the bareback pad on, she tried to avoid it (insert irritated face here) but she did let me clamber up on her like a drunk monkey when I asked her to.  And, she was a very good girl for our ride.

Wednesday, I just groomed and visited with the Redhead.  By Wednesday afternoon, I'd received my new 2-in-1 bitless bridle.  The owner of Moss Rock is still out due to surgery complications, so I got antsy and ordered something similar from a relatively new vendor. 

Thursday: I decided to rig the bridle as a side pull first, since that's what we normally use.  I don't know why I didn't notice in the website's pics, but for the 2-1 bridle from this particular vendor, the side pull is not the usual style.  Instead of the cheek pieces coming down and splitting into two that then attach to the nose band, there is one solid cheek piece all the way to the nose band and they are sewn together.  Where they join there is a D-ring that the reins attach to.  I don't know about other folks, but I had no brakes with this set up.  I'm not sure if it was the beta biothane or the way that the bridle is set up. Now, I normally don't need a lot of brakes - Ruby will stop when asked, even though she oftentimes just tries to speed off as soon as she is given some slack. This time, I HAD to one-rein stop almost like she couldn't tell that I was requesting a stop.  I walked her back to the barn, tied her up, and changed the setup to the bitless bridle.  Unfortunately, the entire headstall may be too big for Ruby. The pieces that cross under the head keep catching on the bottom of the nose band.  I'm currently waiting for the vendor to get back with me - it's likely that I'm doing something very wrong.

Thursday - it's a beautiful blue!  Now, if I could just get it adjusted properly...

Friday: I didn't hear back from the vendor yesterday but I did do some research on how the bitless bridles are supposed to be fitted.  The nose band is supposed to be much lower (hackamore area), than the picture above, then it's supposed to be tightened to allow just one finger between the jawbone and the nose band.  This one is far too big for the Rubes.  I can take the nose band up one more hole, but then the end of the strap goes through the D-ring on the side of the nose band. This, obviously, interferes with the way the chin straps work.  I have sent another email to the vendor; this time asking if I can send it back to have it re-sized.  I would do it myself, but some of the straps will need to be cut as well.  Crossing fingers here.  More Ruby torture ensued as I hooked up to Lee's trailer and did some loading practice with her.  I don't know much about her background - for all I know, she's never loaded in a two-horse straight load.  She was not enthused.  The scariest part, of course, was backing off the trailer.  She was getting so worked up over backing off the trailer that she was making me nervous for her, sheesh.  We practiced, took a break, practiced, took a break.  I don't think we'll have a problem when/if Lee and I ride together next week. 

Revelation

So my riding has basically been stagnating for a little while now.  I was getting more comfortable, but not really progressing until three lessons ago.  At the beginning of that lesson, I just couldn't get it together.  I was all over the saddle, balancing myself on my hands (also known as poor Eclipse's mouth) - it was ugly.  After a few laps of this, Marie put me on the lunge line.  At first, I was a little disappointed - I knew that I wasn't doing what I was supposed to, but I haven't been on a lunge line in months!  We did a lot of work towards developing an independent seat and also learning to ride vertically - I have a bad habit of leaning forward while riding.  Anyway, by the end of that lesson, I was riding so much better.  I could feel how much better. That day I told Marie that I wanted to forgo all jumping and just work on my seat.  I cannot tell you how much I've improved, but even at the beginning of a lesson I'm doing tons better.  This last lesson, I rode almost the entire time without stirrups, this included two-point at the trot, posting the trot, and of course, canter work.  My butt rarely comes out of the saddle unless I want it to, and I can't remember the last time that Eclipse had to support me with his mouth.  Phew!