Another Way to Use the Bend

Do you all remember this song ...

That song was stuck in my head for a long while, but instead of Meghan Trainor's lyrics, I would sing ...
Because you know I'm all about that bend
'Bout that bend, no trouble
I'm all about that bend, 'bout that bend, no trouble
I'm all about that bend, 'bout that bend, no trouble
I'm all about that bend, 'bout that bend (bend, bend, bend, bend.)

Seriously, try to get that song out of your head especially with my word substitutions. Sorry, not sorry. You'll thank me later.

Anywhoodle ... I had my regular weekly lesson with Sean Cunningham, owner and trainer at STC Dressage on Saturday. The theme for the past year has been control. How to get Izzy to let me have it, and then how to keep it once I do get it. Over the year, Sean has helped me differentiate between forcing and enforcing, keeping my emotions out of my riding, and finding ways to get Izzy working with me instead of against me.

January 2018

All of that means that we are now working almost exclusively on stuff rather than staying in the ring while being mostly in a dressage frame. I say mostly because Pivo lost me on Saturday as Izzy balked at the canter in the corner and chose to exit stage right. When Sean aimed Pivo in my general direction, there was a moment of puzzlement as to why we were off course. Despite that particular one-off moment, we're mostly on course these days and mostly in a respectable frame.

One area in which we still struggle is staying round and working over the back across the diagonal. We can shoulder-in/renvers/travers down the long side and even up centerline all day long because ... say it with me ... I'm all about that bend, 'bout that bend, no trouble. When we cross the diagonal though, Izzy grabs that opportunity to push his under-neck muscle against me and hollow his back. Since there's an expectation of straightness, I've really struggled with how to keep him round.

Sean's suggestion was so simple. Instead of over-collecting him with vertical flexion to achieve "roundness" which has been my solution, Sean suggested I over exaggerate the lateral bend in the corner and maintain a slight bend as I cross the diagonal. And to really aid Izzy in maintaining his balance, Sean encouraged me to wait before changing to the new bend until just before the other long side, especially when doing a rising trot. Of course it worked brilliantly. With slight bend, Izzy can't push his under neck muscle out. Sean predicts that it will take just a few rides to show Izzy this new "habit" of not pushing against me.

February 2019

Maintaining bend has been Sean's solution for a lot of our issues. When cantering down the long side and asking for a transition to trot, same thing. Maintain a slight bend so that Izzy can't push back against me and drop his back. The more I can bend this horse, the more it teaches him to bring his inside hind under and his back up. When he can't push that under-neck muscle, he is able to use his body so much more effectively.

I guess I need to put "All About That Bass" back on my playlist to remind me to use the bend more often.