Three rides in eight days? Who am I?
Last weekend I had my lesson and then, because it was a holiday weekend and I was on break from school, I snuck in an extra ride. And then today I had my now regularly scheduled lesson. It feels so good to have an official time slot on the calendar so I can pick up some momentum.
Theo is being a very good boy while his mom gets her groove back. The first lessons were mostly about me figuring out how to ride again after a couple years and figuring out all the new buttons on Theo. Learning the new buttons has really been the challenge. The Theo I left off had very limited forward, you had to basically chase him up in front of your leg. This new Theo has his own forward and you have to get back over his hind legs and let him do his thing. I keep getting forward and chasing him off his rhythm which results in a slightly too fast, too downhill, too long Theo. Fine at First, not going to work as we're working his canter half pass and his shoulder in.
It's taking a lot of repetition with supervision to get used to the new ride. Don't throw the kitchen sink at him, just send him forward. If he breaks he gets in trouble but assume he's going to do the thing. This gets me back so I can get his shoulders up instead of driving him down. It also frees me up to do other things like setting his bend and freeing up the inside shoulder so he can move sideways.
I have to take a lot of breaks. Theo is going to Theo and he insists his rider do half the lifting. Minor detail it's a thousand pound horse we're lifting. He still expects you to do your half. My abs start screaming once I get him up in front. I'm sure his abs are feeling the same, to be fair, but it's not easy picking up 500 pounds of horse. Trainer Z says she always rides him first so she's got the strength necessary. It's no longer the Thigh Master, now it's Abs of Steel.
He's suddenly started going grey all across his face and it makes me sad
We also did sitting trot over trot poles while trying to not soften and let him get too long. I'm going to need to go soak in the tub for a bit. Since I only ride once a week I'm going to have to start doing some strength training at home. Apparently Third Level Theo requires serious core strength. But he's also a very, very fancy boy.
One day, one day I will be strong enough to create that canter. But for right now, I've got to do my core strength and keep building my confidence back up. Today my response to a threatened spook was to correct it without changing gait and snark "I am still your mother". No flash of anxiety or need to do anything about it, just correct and move on. Theo believed me so I guess that's coming back as well. It's a good thing, we're going to wake up the monster a bit before I get to play with his flying changes.
💙
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