NEC Blog

The main theme from Feb.'s clinic with Sue was straightness....once you achieve straightness you can then achieve throughness and contact. Each rider was given various drills and tips to help them straighten thier horse and themselves. Here are some of my personal notes from observing and riding with Sue:

• Riding is the one place you do NOT want buns of steel, soft buttery buns are much better.
  
• I do not need to dig a hole to China with my heels, in fact FORGET about the heels completely, while I am at it forget about the lower leg too until I need to ask for more tempo.
  
• BE FORWARD over your hips, leaning back is not “open”. By staying OVER the hips then the center of my abs will stop collapsing and we will have a much easier time going forward and carrying ourselves. When you lean back you get behind, which causes her to slow down to catch you, which then makes you push making you further behind, and the vicious cycle continues.
  
• When I get tense or start to push her, stop posting, go into half seat, and ask for forward with the whip only, no legs, and leave her face alone. When I relax then we can get back to work. The harder I push and work the less work she does.
  
• Sitting trot is more about moving your hips individually not one big push forward after one big push. But only if I stay OVER my thighs and stop sitting back on my “pockets”.
  
• Being straight will make being through MUCH easier, practically effortless really.
  
• There can be too much bend/flexion on a circle……think straight first THEN ask for  flexion if you need it. To get to straight I may have to undo the too much bend by counter flexing and shifting her weight THEN go for straight.
  
• If her head goes up so do your hands, NEVER lose the contact until you decide to. If she lowers her head and leans on me apply more thigh to encourage her up onto the bit. But that wouldn’t be a problem in the first place if she was straight J