Christian Kicks MY Butt!

The view from that end of the arena is amazing.

During the night, the huge storm that was predicted finally arrived. It poured rain off and on all night long, but by dawn, the skies cleared and were a brilliant blue. Thankfully, White Birch’s show barn is quite substantial. All of the horses weathered the storm peacefully and seemed no worse for wear by morning. The grounds on the other hand were sodden with lakes where none had been the day before. So while the round pen and small arena were too wet for any schooling, the covered arena was dry and ready to go.

Warm up photo ... eh.

For this lesson, Christian asked if there was anything specific I wanted to address. I hesitated to say, again knowing that he was going to work on whatever presented itself, but the trot lengthenings are an issue for us, so I said so.

As I knew he would, Christian set us to work on everything BUT the medium trot. Like he has done so many times before, he worked on ME for a large part of the lesson. He noticed that I was holding a fair amount of tension in my upper body, so he directed me to get loose. I did some shoulder rolls and a bobble-head shake to get rid of the tension. Christian reminded me to let my heels sink in the rising trot so that I wasn’t gripping anywhere with my legs. As I focused more on relaxing my body, Speedy got softer and softer himself. 

Spiraling in with counter flexion.

We returned to the work from the day before where Christian asked me to really ask with my inside leg. When Speedy got more and more engaged behind, his head kept popping up, and I apparently had a displeased look on my face. Christian called me over to him and asked what I found so upsetting. It wasn’t that I was angry, I was just trying to figure out how to get Speedy to stay with me as I asked for more engagement.

Christian explained that Speedy wasn’t doing anything wrong. As he got more energetic behind, he had to lift his neck and head to keep his balance. Christian instructed me to ignore where Speedy’s head was and instead focused on me for a bit. We tried something that was a bit new for me, in thinking anyway. Instead of fighting with how heavy and resistant Speedy felt in my hand, he asked me to focus on developing some feel for the give.

Working on the "Ring Finger" exercise.

I later talked with Jen, the clinic organizer and a Fourth Level rider, about this exercise. Christian had her doing the same thing with her boy when he started the lesson tense and heavy. He had told her that when her boy won’t soften, it’s up to her to let go first. If she’ll let go, he’ll follow suit. To let go, without simply throwing the reins away, he asked me to play with the bit with my ring fingers.

He suggested that I can make the bit more interesting to Speedy just by talking to him with my ring fingers and by making my wrists softer. Don’t pull back or hold on, just gently move the bit around with the ring finger. I was really surprised at how much softer Speedy got when I did this at the trot.

Working on the canter - Speedy still has some tension in his poll.

As is the case with horses, Speedy had more energy and tension for the second day’s ride so it didn’t take long for something to spook him. He gave a big buck and broke into a wild and wooly canter. As Christian always does, his response was to say in a soothing voice, that’s okay, make it your idea. The horse didn’t do anything wrong. So we worked at the canter for a bit using Speedy’s energy for some canter lengthenings down the long side. 

Once he was a bit more in control, Christian had me do the same ring finger work at the canter. Again, I was really surprised at how quickly Speedy responded. Most of the time, Speedy is a really good worker who is willing to try to do what I ask. He does get the occasional wild hair, but he’s quick to come back to the conversation.

Christian wanted me to use the forward energy that Speedy was offering in the canter to work on developing the medium trot. We cantered down the long side, transitioned to a trot at C, or tried to, and came out of the corner ready to lengthen his stride.

Some beginning of a lengthened stride.

Overall, we did get some nice medium trot. Christian had me really focus on getting a longer stride rather than a quicker one by rising higher and quicker in the posting trot while still using my inside leg. To help myself keep my balance and not throw Speedy off during the lengthening, I usually change my posting diagonal as we make the turn before the lengthening. Christian pointed out that while my rationale was good, it wasn’t the correct way to change rein.

Instead, he suggested that it was better to stay on whichever diagonal I was on and make the switch at the end of the trot lengthen. And if it takes the rider a stride or two to get on the correct diagonal at the end in the turn, it was no big deal. In some ways, this helped because I wasn’t trying to “shoot out” of the corner AND change my posting diagonal at the same time.

I really like how deeply Speedy is reaching with that inside hind and how relatively uphill he is. Thank you, Christian!

I really enjoyed the lesson. Christian’s final words were also very gratifying. He shared with me that when we first started working together two years ago, all he could work on was my seat. Later, he was able to work on teaching me correct use of the aids. Now he feels that I am at a point in my riding where he can begin to focus on helping me refine and develop my feel.


I am definitely looking forward to his next visit!