All the Pretty Chestnuts

Mondays are rest days for the horses, so I took Rosa for a little walk and met up with three chestnut geldings.

Three chestnut geldings waiting at the paddock

Sniff sniff, kiss kiss with Dancing Boy

Hello Romeo!

What Are You Stuffed With?

Have you ever met a trainer that completely changed the way you look at riding? I'm lucky to have met one last year =o) She travels around the world giving clinics and I just had my third round of clinics with her this week.

She uses a lot of visualization techniques, which suits me very well, because I am a very visual person.

The other day she asked me to imagine my horse as a stuffed animal. The goal is to get her stuffed really tight so she has tone, lifts her self up, and doesn't flop around. She then asked what material I think I'm stuffed with. When I couldn't come up with an answer, she gave me some examples. Some people are like helium balloons, filled with air that make them float upwards. These are the nervous riders who can't relax. People who break bones and get injured easily when they fall are filled with sticks and glass. People who flop in the saddle are filled with very soft materials that can't hold a shape.

After giving it some thoughts, while trotting around trying to feel my body, I said I'm probably filled with air, not helium, but normal air.

She said that she thought I'm filled with metal pot scrubbers, because I do have tone, but there's also air inside. That's an interesting idea to chew on.

She then told me that very good riders are filled with putty, flexible, substantial and can be molded around the horse.

So, what are you filled with?

About Me

I grew up hearing my dad tell stories of his riding adventures when he was a kid and later as an young adult, but as fate would have it, I wouldn't learn how to ride until five years ago. At first I took a lesson once a week and treated it as a gym session. Slowly but surely the dormant crazy horse lady gene in me awoke and the rest, as they say, is history.

Nowadays I ride on average five days a week when I'm at home and find horses to ride when I go on vacation. I haven't bought my own horse yet, but am on my third lease horse.

Learning to ride as an adult is hard, but it's also fun. There are so many things to learn and so many things to remember. There are also all kinds of funny stories and jokes that only riders get. That's why I decided to start yet another blog to keep track of everything. 

Old photo of dad and uncle riding