Apparently, I am Tenser Than I Think

Back in 2013 - how can so much time have passed?, I participated in a two-day clinic with Susanne von Dietze. I loved watching her work with the other riders, but I didn't have such a great time myself. I wrote quite a few pieces about my experience which you can dig through here. While I was frustrated for most of my lessons, I did learn that relaxing my own body can positively affect my horse.

Riding Sydney at the SVD clinic.

After that clinic, I used a lot of the exercises that von Dietze shared, but after time, it didn't seem that my horses needed them so much. The truth is that I eventually forgot about those exercises until the other day.

​Lately, Izzy starts out flat and behind my leg. If you've ever ridden a horse that plods, you'll know what I mean. If I get after him with a tap of the whip or a poke with the spur, he feels as though I've beaten him and his marbles dribble right out of his head.

As we slowly dragged around the arena, I dug through my mental list of tools trying to think of an exercise to wake him up without turning him into the Incredible Hulk - "You wouldn't like me when I am angry." (See video below). I've tried lots of transitions within the gait - which helps. I've tried doing all of the movements at the walk first to really stretch out his body - that also helps. But some days, it takes a long time to get him in front of my leg so that he has enough energy to rock back a little so that he's not falling on his face.

Out of the blue, I remembered some of the rider-loosening exercises that SVD showed me, and I started using them. I asked Izzy to pick up a trot, but immediately I let my body go super loose. Instead of trying to "put him together," I thought about loosening every muscle in my own body first. I alternated rocking my shoulders back and forth, back and forth. I swung my hips, I flexed my toes, I bobbled my head, flexed my fingers, and so on until I was riding like a bowlful of Jello.

From a lesson in April.

I am sure you can guess what happened. Izzy's stride got longer, his back got loose, and he started making all of those happy snorting sounds. His neck got long and round, and he begged me to let him stretch. For the rest of that ride, I schooled the trot and canter work from 1-3. Anytime he started to get tense, I refocused on letting go of any tension I was holding.

Each time I ride this horse, he and I put a few more pieces together in our puzzle. I can see the picture that we're trying to create; we just need to fill in a few more pieces ...