When things fall into place - and "I assure you I'm a person"

Sometimes things just fall into place. Remy and I had a super weekend at Sheffield Farm. Luckily, Remy is such a good traveler, and aside from road construction on I-94, traffic was flowing. He and I had beautiful accommodations, Remy had a big and deeply bedded stall, and my lovely room (also deeply bedded) at Sally's had a stunning lake view. 

Beautiful view at Sheffield Farm

Our session with Britta Pedersen* started with her observing our normal warm up. Then she put me through an assessment off the horse, plus worked on me on the massage table (yikes, tight hips and thigh muscles). Then back on Remy, with exercises, followed by being "bandaged" (using a patented system of resistance bands). It felt a bit like riding on a trampoline. Once I got the hang of it I could really feel the difference in my position. Day 1 was a wrap! 

Straight, elbows back, both seat bones even, open rib cage, turn

Day 2 was more of 'bandaged on the horse' (I was tempted to call it bondage, but then all the weirdos out there would probably pick up the post 😏), and we had a dressage lesson (Britta is also a GP dressage rider and was on the NZ eventing team). At one point in the canter I was actually squealing "I feel like a kid again!" I felt a bit silly, but Marian, the clinic organizer, and a professional trainer, assured me that this is how she felt also. Effortless, fun, and in tune with the horse is the best to describe it. 

Question received on my FB post: "Is this a mannequin or a person on the horse?" (Seriously!)

 Reply: "I can assure you that I'm a person" 😀 

The only minor hitch was me braking out in a cold sweat on the way home: My GPS took me through the country side, with no gas station in sight anywhere. Lots of Amish carriages, so I guess no need for gas! We barely made it to a gas station, and I breathed a heavy sigh of relief when I managed to squeeze truck and trailer close to a pump. We made it home, tired and happy - and JP breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn't brought Woody home 😅

Comment from JP when I sent him the photo: "Whatever you do, don't bring him or her home!"

Not this time, JP, by maybe next??

*Britta Pedersen, performancerefinery.com

Here is the outline from Britta on the clinic:

"Equestrian RMBA (Ridden Muscle Balance Assessment System) consists of a series of strength, flexibility, and Range of Motion tests, performed to the upper and lower body, spine and core. The specific RMBA (both off and on your horse) is structred into 4 phases:

Stage 1: We look at your postural alignment and biomechanical systems during the warm up phase on your horse.

Stage 2: We will see you put through a variety of specific tests from the ground, where we identify any possible muscular weaknesses, tightness, dysfunctions, joint hyper/hypo-mobility.

Stage 3: We comprehensively explain the biomechanics of 'your' seat in the saddle and closely guide you on how to make correct and effective changes. We work with you on the horse for the remainder of the session as this will help you to cement the "feel" of your alignment and achieve postural harmony between both you and your horse's way of going. "