Weekend Recap

AH was in town again this past week, and she offered to work with Kwik and I on Friday after work. Boy was I a HOT MESS! Since my riding history is pretty much all over the place (hunter land for a few years, dressage/combined training for a few years, no riding for 2 years, hunter land for a bit, no riding for 2 years, back to hunter land) I knew I had probably picked up some bad habits.

As it stands:
- I ride with my leg way too far backward with minimal constant contact
- I have a tendency to shove the horse forward with my seat
- My wrists tend to be broken and twist in awkard, extremely incorrect positions
- I'm STIFF
-My arms tend to be more on the straight side rather than having a nice bend in my elbows
- I don't ride with nearly enough rein contact

So... we spent the entire lesson working to correct some of these things. As usual, Kwik was a great sport as I flopped around on top trying to figure this out. <3 that horse!

Saturday was spent with my honey, Adam, at the Decatur Beer Festival, so Kwikster got the day off.

Sunday AH, H, K, and I loaded up the ponies and went trail riding at Kennesaw Mountain again. It was another beautiful day, and we came across lots of other riders, walkers, and joggers enjoying the nice weather. I really tried to focus on sitting down in my saddle and keeping a constant contact in my lower leg. The last time we rode at Kennesaw Mountain my knees were killing me halfway through our ride, and it was extremely difficult to dismount when we got back to the trailer. Opening my knee and redirecting the contact to my lower leg completely eliminated that pain, and I felt much more secure when cantering/galloping. What do you know?!?

I had another lesson with AH last night, and everything finally started to click. I'm a visual learner, so AH hopped on Kwik to show me how I should be sitting. Having that mental picture made it possible for me to recreate her position, and Kwik immeditely responded. As soon as I began to sit correctly, I had a horse that was reaching for the contact and moving forward with energy and rhythm. She gave me some excercises to work on in the next couple of weeks, and I'm so excited we (mostly me- Kwik's got this all down pat) made some progress. AH will be back in a cuple of weeks so I'm hoping we can show her some good stuff in our next lesson.

I'd say it was a pretty great weekend!