Small things

• Pressure vs trust
•  I ran as fast as I could run straight up to Sunny in the field and he didn't move away. He just lifted his head, pricked his ears and waited for a cookie.  This was a big test of his trust for me.  He is very sensitive to pressure and a year ago was hesitant to be caught at all.  Slowly walking up used be too much pressure and he would leave.  This is a big step. 
• Bareback vs. Saddle and hip flexors...
• I am upgrading bareback pads. I sold/shipped my old one out this weekend and don't expect the new Skito bareback pad to arrive for a few weeks. I love riding bareback (w/ pad) at home. It is so much quicker to tack up, I can feel the horse's back movement so much better and I also feel more balanced while riding.  But today I did not have a bareback pad, so on went the saddle.  I removed the stirrups from my saddle to continue my posture/balance practice as I have a bad habit of using the stirrups to brace a little. It wasn't fun :( Riding bareback is fun, but everything was a struggle for me in the saddle.  Sunny was great, he didn't seem bothered or tense, but I couldn't seem to get my balance.  My pelvis kept wanting to arch rather than to stay in 'neutral'.  I checked my saddle adjustment - yes it was good for him (thought I did tweak it an 1/8 of a turn narrower) and the seat was flat/level for me.  I struggled for our entire ride and was glad to be done , didn't even feel like riding Rogan next--- ugh, not how I want it to go! Thankfully I still think it was good for Sunny and he was happy.  My A-HA moment was a little later.  When riding bareback the width of the horse's back pushes my thighs up a into a flexed position, this in turns makes it easy to keep my pelivs neutral. (Try it at home-- when you tuck your knees into the fetal position your back rounds, when you pull your legs behind you your back arches)  I tend to have an arched back and tight ( and continuously stretched and worked on) hip flexors.  The twist (ie narrower seat) of the saddle however allows my legs to fall/drape almost straight down, which is accentuated without stirrups.  When MY legs are straight down MY pelvis wants to arch, thus making me fight to keep it in neutral and hence fight for my usual automatic balance.  So now I can't wait to play with this more next time... will it be easier if I carry my thighs up a little (like I would with stirrups?)  And I will continue to stretch my hip flexors out of the saddle.
• Saddle tweaking
• As I was struggling I obviously evaluated my saddle adjustment as a potential cause.  Widening the saddle gives it a more 'banana' shape on Sunny -- if really too wide it will actually rock.  Too narrow and it will bridge.  I continually play with about a 1/4 turn area of adjustment trying to achieve perfect (which obviously changes with his muscling, etc).  I had removed all my saddle packs and cleaned the saddle earlier in the day and had left them off for the ride.  Having the saddle packs off while riding really let me feel the panel contact on his back while mounted.  My saddle has a space in the front of the seat where I can stick my hand in and feel, as well an open gullet in the rear that essentially allows me to feel the panel from all directions.  Initially when adjusted slightly wider I had firm contact for about the middle 12" of saddle under my seat with opening up at the shoulder and loin.  I thought it was a smidge too much pressure for the seat and a smidge too little at the loin, but probably perfect for a free shoulder. So I narrowed it 1/4 turn.  This dramatically evened the pressure along the whole length of the panels but I didn't like the shoulders, they maybe a smidge too snug.  So I turned it back 1/8 turn wider :)  We shall see....   Also interesting was how the lifting of the horse's back really opened up the shoulder area between horse and saddle.  When Sunny was standing with his back neutral/dropped, the saddle was pushing down at the pommel/shoulder area more, but as soon as he lifted his back and therefor the saddle there was suddenly plenty of room for the shoulders. Hmmm, interesting and it all makes sense too!
• Canter transitions
• Sunny has a tendency to raise his head abruptly in canter transitions and I mentioned this to my teacher, Theresa.  She said to ask lighter, I am likely asking with too much force thus eliciting reaction in Sunny.  I will mention that at most my ask consisted of a light calf squeeze and a kiss. The challenge is if I ask lighter I don't necessarily get a canter.  At the same time I have been reading Phillipe Karl's book "Art of Riding" and just finished the chapter on lightness to the leg.  So on my next ride when it came time for canter I just lifted my energy and kissed twice and then when I didn't get much response I tapped Sunny's hip with the stick.  That really caught his attention!  I went back to relaxation and once he was relaxed and I lifted my energy, kissed twice and had a much improved transition.  We have since been playing with transitions off energy and they are consistently improving.  We have moments were we can ride in harmony and effortlessly move from walk to a canter without a change in contact, balance, or anything-- one step is a walk and the next is a canter. WOW! ---but now for consistency :)  I am also practicing this concept with all the transitions and they are steadily improving. I can't wait for these moments to become all the time!
• Hollow Side - the side to which the horse naturally curves (ie left handed or right handed in people). The neck and hips will curve some amount to one side -- this is the hollow and stiffer side.  It is easier for the horse to move this direction and harder for them to bend in the opposite direction (which is why people mistakenly call the harder direction the 'stiff' side -- actually the opposite or hollow side is stiff and less-flexible preventing the horse's body from being able to bend in the other direction)
• This is really more about Rogan. In the "Art of Riding" Phillipe Karl mentions a correlation between the horse's hollow side and the direction the mane naturally falls.  So I paid attention.  Sunny is slightly hollow/stiff on the right side and thus has a harder time with moving his hips to the left, his mane is to the right.  Sunny doesn't show to much preference with shoulder movement but canters much easier to the right than left and has a harder time moving his haunches to the left.  Rogan is hollow/stiff on his left side which makes bending to the right harder. His mane falls to the left.  Hollow to the left means Rogan naturally carries his head and hips slightly curved to the left and tends to weight his right front leg more than his left.  It is hard for him to curve his body to the right.  We played with this on walk circles today (until it rained suddenly and we both became soaked!!). The easiest exercise was either haunches-in (travers) on a left hand circle or shouder-in on a right hand circle, both exercises allow him to use his preferred side.  The hardest exercises were consistent with the theory and the most difficult for Rogan was counter-shoulder-in on a left circle-- his front end is very stiff and he has to keep right body/neck bend and weight his left front crossing his front legs while walking a circle.  Also consistent with theory is his left lead canter is much more balanced and effortless compared to the right lead where he tends to fall-in.  Right lead canter, by the very posture required to perform it, will naturally help him become more flexible and strong on his stiff left side.  This was very fun to play with and see the difference in the horses, it will be fascinating to see how continuing the simple exercises at the walk changes the flexibility of  Rogan and hopefully it will make him a happier and sounder horse!