Oh look. It’s been another month without a post. I apparently suck at blogging now. Anyways… Back to the good stuff. I pretty much love all of my lessons with ET. She just gets me. For the most part if I don’t understand something she finds a way to say it differently or physically show me. A few weeks ago I had one of those physically showing me lessons.
I have been really lucky to have some great horses… But riding a horse that is a better fit and easier in a lot of ways has meant we can focus on my position and fine tuning more. And this is when my elbows had a light bulb moment. You are probably asking yourself what does that even mean. Of all the moving parts “bend your elbows” seems like a pretty straight forward request.
If you are an amateur like me… There are probably some things that you just always struggle with. I have been riding for over 20 years and I am pretty sure every lesson I have had in that time frame the trainer has told me to sit back/sit up or some variation of DONT LEAN UP YOUR HORSES NECK. Despite hearing this most of my life I still struggle. Even when I am actively thinking about it and think I am in the right spot I am usually still too forward.
For some reason I can’t seem to control multiple parts of my body at the same time… so if I do sit back… I end up with crazy arms. You expect me to sit up proper and also keep a connection? WHAT IS THIS?! So when ET said bend your elbows… I resembled someone doing a chicken dance.
But then she literally put my shoulders back and bent my arms and sent me back out… how the hell can just bending my elbows at my side literally change everything… I don’t know. But now that’s one of my tool box check lists. If the wheels are falling off when we’re at home I do a wing check.
My issue is sitting down. I have a habit of fake sitting where I think I’m sitting but I’m not sitting all the way down on my butt. This causes tension and tipping forward. It’s such a hard habit to break as I don’t realize I’m doing it! It’s easier to sit in my current saddle but I still need reminders when one or both of us are tense! I could talk about my open fingers on the reins but I’ve given up on that habit!
Bravo on fixing a long-term why-the-F-am-I-still-doing-this habit! I tend to bounce or something that caused my trainer to yell “sit STILL” at least once a lesson. I feel pretty still, but when I see videos, I am clearly not still.
I can relate to this too. A clinician I rode with last fall said “sit… and then SIT AGAIN” bc when I think I’m sitting I am not 😂
I like to lock my elbows, which is a similar but different problem. Elbows are important. Who knew?
Elbows are really bad at following directions. It’s a fact.
I’m also a leaner. 🙂