30x a day

Last week I squeezed in another jump lesson with our barn's resident upper level rider K. You might remember I was getting in weekly rides with her the winter following Charlie's surgery, and have since used her as a fairly regular supplement to my typical lesson schedule.

She's been really helpful in improving my feel for Charlie's canter, and working on straightness out of turns. Which, incidentally, are two things we kinda suck at. Well. Let's be clear: I can get a good canter on him, and I can get him to be straight... But at the same time? Highly questionable lol.

there goes charlie, rock climbing through the stream banks and probably making shitty life choices while he's at it...

Considering Charlie and I haven't had the greatest jumping rides lately, this seemed like a good option. And.... it was. We kept it vanilla plain with two big wide oxers (just a touch over 3'), one off each short diagonal. Then just sorta looped around, catching each one after the other.

Almost immediately it was pretty clear that turning Right (the blue line below) is harder for us. Which, if you read through the archives (and I do, often), is a common theme. It's a known, right? And it's the same directional turn where I fell off a couple weeks ago.

Trainer K "helped" us out by putting ground poles in a "train tracks" configuration leading up to the jump -- to help guide our straightness. Still, tho, it was kinda messy. And we biffed it a whoooole lot, including two crashing refusals.

extremely simple exercise diagram. it's really just the turns that matter. oxers were taken from the short approaches.

It was illuminating, tho. For a few reasons.

The first is - as always - all about the canter. We've spent so long working Charlie over shortened distances. For reasons, right? He's a long horse and compression is generally harder for him, so that's what we practice. In reality, tho, those exercises can often mask or even forgive a backward behind-the-leg ride. So Charlie can just shuffle on through without issue.

Meanwhile, because we don't often practice on a longer more "true" stride, my own feel for that end of the canter spectrum is a bit less well developed, less nuanced. And Charlie has less experience coming up with options on a more open stride.

For instance, because we aren't practiced at holding an uphill balance on a longer stride, Charlie's more likely to get flat or even low up front. But if we get to a deeper distance to the fence and he's not lifted in his shoulder, he doesn't always feel like he can pick up to jump.

so strange to look down on him from the bridge

So in the beginning of this ride I was actually kinda chasing Charlie, rushing him a bit beyond pace, in an effort to get that feeling of the hind end running up into the bridle. It felt like I was having to work so hard to get him go-go-going, and then the second I took my foot off the gas, or tried to manhandle him around a turn, he'd drop immediately behind my leg again.

It turned out, tho, that I actually needed to let him settle a bit more into his rhythm. Let his hind end catch up with the front end. And in this way, we'd see less change in our canter esp when we tried to get around the turns. So that was definitely a "me" thing lol (isn't it always, tho?).

Coupled with Charlie's kinda less-than-keen feel lately, trying to run him past his balance was not a recipe for success.

our farm had a "fun day" of games for lesson students and boarders last weekend. was much fun, and i participated in a giant tack swap too. only sold a few things tho, womp, but it was fun. very very dusty from the arena, but fun

For what it's worth, tho, I'm pretty sure at this point that Charlie's biggest issue is just not loving the hard hard hard ground lately. It's not Lyme, it's not ulcers, and he's not lame.**

I've been evaluating all possible avenues, but generally am pretty fond of the principal of Occam's razor: the likeliest solution to any given problem is usually the simplest, requiring the least speculation.

And the simplest answer is that, turns out, jumping and galloping on concrete actually kinda fucking sucks. Go figure.

unrelated: i got to watch the CCI2*-S at Plantation Field International last weekend!! will probably have more on that later. and, ya know, Great Meadow International too, which i went to WEEKS ago hahaha...

**At this exact moment, tho, it doesn't actually really matter bc Charlie went ahead and acquired a completely unnecessary and extremely gnarly puncture wound to one of his hind cannons. And obviously the horse gets cellulitis if you so much as make a mean face at him, so it's all very dramatic. Have no fear - those gruesome pictures and a more complete rundown will come eventually, probably.

My best guess is that homeboy, who has been extremely itchy with his fall coat growing in, was rubbing his butt up on some fence or another, and ended up sticking his whole leg in somewhere it didn't belong.... Womp.

Rest assured, tho, he's probably gonna be just fine. It's just Charlie's patented way of getting a little time off haha... Or something.

Anyway, tho, that brings us to the other big takeaway from the lesson: The fact that Charlie and I are both so extremely one sided that we can barely turn right. I've always been stronger down my right side than my left, but since breaking my leg and skipping physical therapy, it's so much worse.

oooh there goes Sally on her bella-look-alike gelding! he's a friggin xc machine

Grant Schneidman really dug into me about this in a dressage clinic back in 2016, including a whole bunch of exercises and techniques that can be done from the saddle while riding. If you're curious about any of that, I highly recommend checking out that post.

In this ride, tho, Trainer K just happened to mention something that really struck me. She talked about another student who she directed to "do 30 things a day with your left (non dominant) hand." Switch it up to brush your teeth, peel an egg, pour your coffee, wash a plate, etc.

Because isn't it all really about muscle memory anyway?

the ruins at plantation are always so beautifully presented

Obviously those examples relate more to hand movements vs whether or how much we favor one leg over the other. In my case, I favor one leg extremely heavily. Like, when I'm brushing my teeth, both feet might be flat on the floor, but I'm actually really just standing on one leg -- all my weight is always shifted primarily through my right side. It's... an issue haha. That I'll probably pay for down the line in uneven hip and knee deterioration...

What I CAN say tho, is that when I started thinking about "doing 30 things a day" with my left hand, I also naturally started thinking more about my left leg too. And have been trying to pay more attention.

So that's my latest challenge to myself. We'll see how long it lasts. It's not going to fix some major issues like how I sit at my desk or drive my car... But it's something, right? And also just kinda funny to sit there feeling like a complete moron trying to brush my teeth with the "wrong" hand LOL.

Will it make me suddenly able to whip Charlie around a right handed turn? Eh... probably not lol. If it raises my awareness tho on evenness of aids and balance, that'll still be a win. Plus ya know, it's only 30 things a day, right?