October 13, 2006: Basketball & a True Gentleman

And what, you might ask, does today’s title have to do with Facet’s photo? I’ll explain.

I’ll start with basketball. The best analogy I can think of for describing sitting the trot is playing basketball: when you are first learning to dribble the ball and have difficulty finding the rhythm, you dampen its motion and it’s likely to bounce off in any direction, or bounce your hand away from it. That’s what it’s like when you are first learning the seated trot... the rider and horse are out of sync, bouncing against each other, nothing coordinated, and the rider diminishes the beauty of the horse’s natural gait. Next comes the ability to follow the motion of the ball: then the ball bounces back, but there’s no energy added, no crispness or sense that the player is in control. The player is able to maintain the status quo, but just that; it is a step in the right direction, but it isn’t true mastery. Finally, if you watch someone who is good at the game, you’ll see the ball spring back towards their hand as if there is a magnetic attraction and that they can bounce the ball quickly or slowly and change direction in a split-second in preparation for a lay-up--the ball almost becomes a living, breathing part of them, receiving energy from them with each bounce. And even if you (like me) were a lesser player, you still probably know the difference between bouncing the ball in rhythm with the movement and being able to add energy, and being slightly off in the rhythm so that you bounce against the ball, dampening it’s bounce.

Well, today, for the first time, when I was riding Facet, I had that last feeling: I was sitting deeply, and I was able to add energy to his trot, control his speed, and feel like it was entirely contained between my seat, legs and hands--I closed the circuit. And his trot was entirely different than what I’ve experienced from him before: no wonder Susan would look at me dumbfounded when I described his trot as “girly” with a lot of “swinging in the hips.” That’s only when he’s not connected... I just didn’t realize he wasn’t connected until I actually DID have him connected and had something to compare it to, and then OMIGOD, WOW, WHAT A DIFFERENCE! I didn’t know a feeling like that was possible! And suddenly riding him became effortless, too. Before, my neck was aching from the bounce, and I felt like I was working very hard to make him go, but all of a sudden, it just got so EASY, and I wanted to keep going like that all day long. Like going from a Volkswagen on a gravel road to a Maserati on a freshly paved strip of Autobahn. Mmmmmm.... I had the sense I could even have done piaffe or passage with little effort. Oh, I love this horse... he just wanted me to do it right, sitting tall and deep, leg on correctly and then I don’t even have to work to get it. He waited for me to find it, and when I did, he told me. :D

And gentleman? You betcha! A young horse got loose today in the ring and was bucking and broncing around, galloping like a maniac and came charging toward us at full tilt (another stallion, too!). Most horses, stallion or otherwise, would have been upset. Some would have run for the hills, others would have at least been shaking in their boots... and stallions? I think the usual behavior is supposed to be rear and strike. But not Facet. He raised his head in mild curiosity and just stood his ground with a look of, “What kind of an idiot are you?” on his face. I sat there on his back, whip in hand ready to use it on the offending horse if necessary, but it didn’t come to that. When the other horse saw that Facet wasn’t going to react to him, he kept running. I don’t think Facet’s heart rate even changed much.

For a stallion with such a strong interest in the girls (he’ll tell me about every one he sees, even while he’s working, but he keeps it mostly to a whisper), he is the best behaved boy I know. I never, even for a second, have to worry about him. He knows how a gentleman behaves and wouldn’t dream of taking liberties, or of putting his rider in danger. I am unbelievably fortunate to have him.