one - cut a hole in a box

Two - put your **** in that box.

Three - give her your horse that box.

And that's the way you do it!

Obviously, I'm talking about my hands. Obviously. In a proverbial box. That references the space directly in front of the saddle. So your hands refrain from flying all over the place like frightened pigeons scattered by buckshot! 

throwback to our first ever BN in 2014!!! as evidence that i've kinda had shitty hands for a long long time lol. gosh i've been lucky to ride such saintly horses!

Lol... For real tho. Ever since last week's clinic I've been thinking about this one small but integral piece of feedback from Martin: My hands need to be forward and together going with the horse over the fence. Holding mane or a neck strap as needed.

His point was that this would give me my position of safety and balance. And reduce the overall sense of "fragility" he observed in my way of riding.

turns out, even when we're not doing anything, my hands are still off doing something. what even, tho? nobody knows...

Obviously like... That is NOT news. Not in general, nor as it relates particularly to instruction I've previously received.

Trainer P has always encouraged her students to ride with neck straps, saying if it's good enough for William Fox Pitt it's good enough for her.

Dan used to constantly remind me that my cross country position should feature my hands securely "half way up Isabel's neck."

bad hands not limited to missed distances at fences, either!!

Literally every coach ever has ruthlessly needled me to shorten my reins. And those lengthy reins, it should be noted, are a direct result of allowing my hands to wander thither and yon.

But like, why haven't I done something to fix it? For some reason, I've kinda gotten to this place where I sorta just shrug like, "Yea ok, so I have bad hands. Deal with it." While occasionally sorta patting myself on the back when the universe aligns and we get a decent picture.

proof it can be done <3 <3

But.... That's not really good enough, right?

Nor is it really "good enough" to act like, since my regular jump trainers haven't made a big deal out of it, then maybe I shouldn't either.

Bc actually, I'm starting to view my wayward hands as possibly the most visible symptom of what might be my whole sorta systemic 'Fraidy Cat-ness. The backwards riding, the lack of commitment to a forward distance, the panic when I don't see a spot.

taken without context, this is not a bad picture. charlie looks like $1 million dollars in cash, and i'm more or less going along for the ride.
the context tho? his gargantuan heroic effort over this fence in brutal weather conditions was made all the more difficult by my backward stance, such that when we arrived at the next fence in a similar manner, the horse gave up and i fell off. 

And ever since the clinic, I've been paying more attention. It turns out, my hands don't actually "go rogue." They are wild animals that can't be tamed virtually 95% of the time, and are only ever really in the right place that fraction of the time I'm paying attention to them.

When I'm warming up or hacking out, at any given time, my hands are basically anywhere BUT where they belong. So like, no wonder they don't stay put when things get a little hairy or when I feel uncertain -- it turns out I have exactly 0 muscle memory for that.

you can see the forward effort is happening in my body position here, tho the hands still detract and are counterproductive

A nervous, preoccupied or distracted rider is going to revert back to whatever position comes most naturally, right? And so that's why we practice: to commit the feeling of a correct position to muscle memory such that it doesn't really require any brain power or concentration to hold that position.

I'm coming to understand that while I've practiced all manner of positional elements (in the past year, most particularly, my leg and seat position), I've neglected my hands. And. Ya know, it shows haha. 

basically this forever

So I'm taking a page out of L Williams' book and dedicating the next foreseeable future to a microgoal of fixing my mother fucking hands omg.

I have a couple ideas for how to do this, but they basically all revolve around a concerted focus on keeping my hands in the right spot at all times, no matter what. If my reins are too long for me to do what I want with my hands in that position, I'll just have to shorten my reins. If my upper body feels like it's collapsing or reaching, I'll just have to strengthen my upper body position.

The key, I think, will be finding ways to help me subconsciously stick to the plan. Obvious tools include a neck strap and saddle pommel grab strap (it clips to my d-rings). I might add in some additional strappy goods to act as actual tethers, tho obvi must keep safety in mind before I go literally tying my hands to anything LOL.

Either way, I'll keep you posted. And, ya know, wish me luck haha. Bc we all know breaking bad habits in riding is hard to do.... But hey, isn't that what this time of year is for anyway? Anyone else gonna dig into any sort of positional boot camp this year??