Alternatively, this could be titled “A lesson in humility...”
I know how to canter. Sure I do. I’ve been riding First Level for 2 1/2 years now, and getting decent scores at it a good deal of the time (and when I don’t, well, it’s because we do Tequila’s test and not mine... NOT because I don’t know how to ride the canter). So, when I wanted a canter depart today, why couldn’t I get one? Was the horse lazy? Sore? Was there something else?
I asked for the depart. I tapped him smartly with the whip to say, “Listen here, buster, I said CANTER.” I asked again. Still no canter. I asked, tapped with the whip and jabbed with the spur on the inside leg. Still no canter. I was still getting a trot--a faster trot, mind you--but a trot, nonetheless. From this schoolmaster, a former Grand Prix horse, well-trained by Ellen Bontje no less. Jürgen was smirking. I looked at him in helpless desperation.
“What gives?” I asked. “He knows damn well that I want the right lead canter. He cantered for me to the left... but he won’t give it to me, even when I use my whip and spur.”
“It’s your seatbone.” Jürgen answered. “Try turning your shoulder to the inside and not just your head. You have your shoulder back so you are inadvertently weighting your outside seatbone and not the inside one, and Facet is telling you that you have it all wrong.”
I did as I was told, and this time when I lightly touched Facet with my inside leg to ask for the canter depart, he lifted into it with ease... I hardly had to do more than think canter. So very simple, reminiscent of my mother waiting for the “magic word” when I was a child, and I only knew that I wanted my ice cream.
He will teach me my “manners” and fix my bad habits, enduring whatever it takes to do it... I can see that. And I will have to remember that he is smart enough to know what I want, and he is honest enough to give it to me (unlike Tequila), so that if I don’t get it, I need to be quick to ask what am I doing wrong?
It’s been nearly 3 years since I’ve ridden him--first Susan had her time on him, and then he was injured and took nearly a year and a half to rehab and recover--but he is back now, and such a treasure. Every ride I have is a blessing on this incredible horse. I’m so thankful for him, and for the legacy of his two daughters, Flashdance and Bella Vittoria... I just know they are going to follow in their father’s footsteps.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment