alignment & a new order

At the end of March I wrote a post on thinking positively about goals, which were two-fold:

• I will sit up tall and straight through my core - with lifted belt buckle and open shoulders
• Legs (and knees!) will stay long and down - with toes pointing forward

Obviously I haven't spent much time working on these goals bc I plain old haven't spent much time actually, ya know, riding, period. 

The exception was riding Peanut last weekend (total awesomesauce!). She and Isabel are similarly sensitive and reactive - the difference is that Peanut is actually pretty trained up, dressage-wise. 

notice that my shoulders are inching up toward my ears and are very rigid

We already know that Isabel does really well when I get myself properly positioned and aligned - but this lesson made it absolutely clear that good position isn't just a matter of helping the horse succeed. No, Peanut actually could NOT get her job done - I was quite literally *blocking* her with both my seat and hands. 

The seat problem will just have to be a work in progress for now (unless you know of any magic bullets that I can throw money at to fix it! lol). But the hands thing? I have a few theories. 

um... a few things to fix here... but 'open shoulders' is definitely on the list

During the lesson P kept telling me to soften my hands, which I did to the point of pretty much losing the reins entirely. But - the videos showed it's NOT my hands causing the problem. The tension/stiffness actually originates farther up in my shoulders, which are hunching over my collapsed core. I'm compensating for the shoulder/core issue by focusing on my elbows... but the end result is still more stiffness. 

These aren't exactly new issues for me - not by any stretch. But I'm honestly getting pretty sick of looking at picture after picture and just thinking, 'for love of all things holy Emma, just SIT UP and SHOULDERS BACK!'

So I'm trying a new approach, and ordered a product that comes highly recommended by L. Williams at Viva Carlos and Jen from Cob Jockey. I read both of those reviews when they were written, and thought both times 'that product would probably help me... but eh, not gonna spend the $ on it.'

The product costs less than a riding lesson tho. So my new reasoning is: my poor position is hindering progress in lessons, and I'm paying week after week to repeatedly hear 'sit up and open your shoulders.' Therefore this might be considered an investment in maximizing lesson productivity... right? Haha I can rationalize anything...

But seriously, tho. I'm going into this with high hopes (mixed with a bit of dread about being pretty sore initially... my poor atrophied back muscles!). If all goes to plan tho, I'll be able to at least make some headway on the goals listed above. 

Starting this weekend I'll be back in the saddle with Isabel - mostly walking for the first week. My plan is to really work on myself during these rides, and try to commit a new and improved position to my muscle memory while Isabel stretches out her lungs. Wish me luck!