Friday, June 3, 2011

do like I say, not like I do

I have been very frustrated with Nina lately.  We are mostly walking, a tiny bit of trotting.  I want to keep her moving and 1. help her leg heal and 2. not make it worse. 
She has been a champion of fidgeting, right back to our very first days of riding.  Head slinging, rooting (she did stop this) just generally making me feel like we have no communication, which I have worked so hard at. 
Today I had a light bulb moment, well, really a big DUH! moment. 
She was slinging her head around, I was trying to keep very little contact, just enough to help avoid being dumped.  I suddenly realized that I was fidgeting with the reins, correcting every crooked step or head toss by fiddling with the reins, not a lot, just ANNOYING.  I told myself to stop it and just hold my hands still and guess what.... ding ding ding... the other end of the reins quit fidgeting too. 
I think I have totally forgotten how to ride. 

5 comments:

  1. An Aha moment! Congrats!
    Sounds like your detective work is paying off. :)

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  2. Great aha moment! Way to go.

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  3. And yet... you sorted this out! Good for you for paying attention and addressing your own body to see what might happen next. This is something I remind myself to do every time I hit a snag with the Big Bay.

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  4. Excellent advice, sometimes the best thing to do for yourhorse is nothing at all.... and I think we all have a tendancy to forget that. Good work.

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