Even Muscle Memory Fades
Tonight I had my first lesson in a very, very long time. A local upper level dressage rider/trainer was offering lessons at a heavy discount for the month, and I leapt at the chance. Especially as she has a wonderful range of school horses, including up to Grand Prix.
I've never really gotten the chance to ride a true School Master horse. Obviously in the very beginning of my riding, I rode a well-trained horse, but after that I was always training the horse I was riding, learning and teaching simultaneously. I've always felt it was a poor system, but not every instructor or stable can grant that opportunity for its students.
I also wanted to know what bad habits I've developed during/after my extended break from riding.
Needless to say, it was a frustrating, revealing, but ultimately much-needed lesson.
It was also the first time I'd ever ridden at the stereotypical "upper crust" kind of barn--everything tidy and clean and "just-so" at all times. Where every horse, even school horses, have their very own locker and very own complete tack set, and every halter is hung the same way on each and every stall, and every horse is always body-clipped. It's...odd. I can see the draw to it, but I admit to being the type of equestrian whom feels every horse should have plenty of time to just be a horse every day. Anyway.
Her name was Worldly Lady, a 16.1-ish hh dark bay warmblood with a horseshoe-crab-shaped star and blaze. She was 20. Still had some sass and spunk, especially as they've all been stuck in stalls due to the water and ice these past few weeks. She was also more "whoa" than go, something I have not experienced since I was a young teenager. They had a gorgeous arena, but being fancy, it also meant that there was plenty of space and they rode off-the-track, something I am completely unaccustomed too and threw my figures off a bit.
It's frustrating to ride simple things and realize that no, your body no longer does the things it used to without even thinking. Like shifting weight onto your inside seat bone for circles and twisting your spine. Even right down to something like rein contact.
Previously, I've always been a soft-handed rider. I've had experience with heavier-mouthed horses (Toler himself, at times) but I've never in my advanced riding life had problems with contact. I've also never ridden a horse that was light and supple in the mouth right out of the aisle. But tonight even though in my head I knew all the things I was supposed to be doing, I felt like my body was all over the place but mostly just not listening. Or, rather, I actually needed to focus on those things instead of just getting into the saddle and riding that way automatically.
So, for a while I really need to work on my seat bones. And twisting my body. And not balancing with the reins.
I mean, it's been over a decade since I learned and programmed those things into every muscle fiber. It's almost embarrassing. I'm a good rider, I swear. Or at least I was...once.
