Sometimes watching other rides is not helpful - there were some incidents that had me really worried before I even got on. I am not a fan of repeating exercises ad nauseam, and hearing "you are so fricking disorganized" (said to successful surgeon) did nothing for my confidence.
I fretted all morning before my ride, and sure enough, my nerves were pretty blank. Add to that an intimidating lady carrying a bamboo, and later a longe whip, and you are on a horse with a tendency to bolt when the whip comes up and you have a recipe for a rattled rider.
Despite all that Remy worked well, and he definitely filled in for me. He more than earned his Guinness! As for me, I'm still a bit rattled. Leave it to my friend Stephanie to cheer me up: I was telling her what happened and she said "Well, when people go to a Dominatrix there is usually a safe word to make her stop. You should have asked for one!" 😀
Too bad that I saw the post about the "Confidence Button" (FB post from Rudy Horsemanship) only today:
The Psoas Muscle and the Confidence Button!
The psoas major is the "fear muscle". It connects from your spine to your femur and it closes your hip angle when you get scared. You can't directly keep this muscle from contracting- if you are scared or nervous, it WILL close your hip angle. This is why you see so many riders leaning forwards, pulling on reins, and no matter how hard they try, they CAN'T sit back!
So what can we do about it?
Well, all our muscles have opposing muscles. Muscles work in sync- as one set contracts, the opposing muscles must extend. So if you can contract the muscles opposing the psoas, you can get the psoas to knock it off! your opposing muscles are the muscles in your butt that open the hip. But those muscles can contract in all sorts of ways, and we need THE specific movement that will re-open the hip! The best visualization I've come up with is to "ENGAGE THE CONFIDENCE BUTTON"!! Pretend you have a button, right at the top of your butt crack, that when you press it down into the saddle, will flood you with sticky seat super powers! Because it does! When you tuck your tailbone, lift your pubic bone, and engage your lower abs, it opens and relaxes your hip joints, enabling you to sit most evasions or spooks that your horse may dish out. It also puts you in a position where if you really HAVE to pull your horse's lips to his ears, at least you are able. Your seat will be in a strong position to both keep you on, and to influence your horse.
(These are my sketches, you can share the whole post, but don't steal my art.)
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