It was a weekend chock full of great rides and challenging instruction to process.
My long torso makes it difficult for me to lower my center of gravity. Having grown up in the school of "Stand up/sit up straight and tall" no doubt helped my posture, but can make me stiff in my riding; even sometimes causing me to 'pop out' of the saddle. So Sandy comes up with all kinds of images in order to get me to bear down. One of my favorites, heard this weekend: "You need to put your center of gravity down to your bikini line, so Saumur can lower his center to his bikini line". Huh? Where the heck is his bikini line?? Actually, picturing Saumur in a two piece bathing suit did not help my focus at all, but the message is clear and sure makes huge difference when working on collection.
In order to make Saumur more responsive to my leg aids and to move his hind end more under him we practised a new exercise called 'The Wheel'. Basically these are turns on the forehand around a small circle. Saumur is the spoke of the wheel and has to be in the right position to the center, while moving around in a circle. If he loses his position we do a couple of steps rein back and move on.
The trot half-passes: quarterline - straight - change direction, quarterline - and so on were a lot of fun. I also loved the following: collected trot, 10 m circle, then up the centerline, flying change. After all these exercises my mind was pretty much on the fizz from all the concentration, and I still had Remy to ride.
JP came next, and he and Chambord had an awesome lesson. Those boys can move! JP made so much progress, and his position has improved greatly. Seeing these two cantering along, round and on the bit (!), happy as could be sure was a great sight, culminating in Chambord stopping on a dime for a cookie.
When I started with Remy Sandy pointed out that he needs the same ride as Saumur. In my efforts to 'make it easy for the kid' I've become too wobbly. This idea of 'going with him and being lose' really doesn't help him. Another good one from Sandy: "Imagine carrying a five year old in a back pack" (why in the world would I do that?) - "you would have a much easier time if your load were quiet and not wiggling all over the place, getting you out of balance. It's the same for Remy, the quieter you are the easier it is for him to carry you." (Am I now the five year old in a backpack??).
Another important reminder: I can't be his best buddy when we are training, I have to show him the way. He (and I) will have a much easier time working together within defined parameters and set boundaries. (Sounds like supervising the people at work). Case in point with Remy: Rooting the reins out of my hands is NOK - not acceptable.
After all this we hightailed home to meet Luanne, the saddle fitter from Schleese. I am using Saumur's saddle on Remy, but of course the boys are built and muscled differently. While at Rolex I stopped at the Schleese booth to look at saddles, but quite frankly, almost $7K for a saddle? Obviously, used is the way to go. I was relieved when Luanne said after a thorough check of Remy's back that I could make do for a while with Saumur's saddle if I put shims in the front of my Thinline pad. Yes! Thank you, Luanne. If a used Wave becomes available Remy still will get his own, but for now the boys just have to share.
Remy had his own ideas about the whole saddle thing. He picked up Luanne's forms, and waved them around like a flag. Maybe his input on the price?
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