More Nuance

Over the past month or so, my lessons with Sean Cunningham, owner and trainer at STC Dressage have been about fine tuning my aids to get better results. Everything we did last Saturday was about helping me keep Izzy in better balance.

When Izzy feels confident, it's because he has let me be in control, and that only happens when I enforce my aids fairly. When I am in control, Sean can help  fine tune my position so that my aids are more effective. Some horses join your team easily and readily; Speedy's like that. In some ways, Izzy is a lot like me; it takes a lot to earn his trust. Izzy is more of a bolt first and ask questions later kind of guy. It is easy to let him suck you into a fight, especially if you don't even know that's what he's done. Not taking the bait is one of the most important things that Sean has taught me.

All of that was a long winded way of saying that with Sean's coaching, I now have ways to avoid the fight which helps me keep control which makes Izzy feel confident and relaxed.

One things Sean caught last Saturday was our shoulder-in right. Sean has taught me that riding the shoulder-in correctly means the shoulders come IN rather than the haunches swinging OUT. Both will get you in position when you shoulder-in down the long side, but as soon as you use the center line or quarter line, the "cheat" will become obvious. Izzy bends around my leg and brings his shoulders in neatly to the left, but to the right is/was a different story.

This week I've been working on corralling that wayward hind end. My outside leg has to support his haunches as we come through the corner without using too much leg which sends them in. I've been able to do that by riding the shoulder-in much more slowly so that Izzy has time to  balance himself as he wraps around my inside leg.

Fine tuning my position has been fun to do. Seeing the difference that I can make by sitting a bit more to the inside or moving my hand to the left a few inches is motivating. Seeing how even tiny changes makes Izzy move better makes me want to continue to tweak the little things. I doubt I'll wow Sean with my masterfully ridden shoulder-in tomorrow, but it will be fun to give it a try!

Sean recognizes that it's a journey, so if it is only a slightly less bad shoulder-in, I'll be happy.