Monday 22 December 2014

Rider Railroading

Bad me hasn't ridden since Saturdays spins, we were invited as a family to a friends for late lunch/early dinner on sunday & then I went christmas shopping after work this evening and thankfully think i am now finished for the most part.

K got more blog time last post, but can't not share another image of her

So I am going to use this post today to rip on myself for my poor riding in the photos my sister super kindly snapped for me.
Apologies for double posting of some from the last post - but needs must or progress may never be made!

I shall share photos in the chronological order they were taken in.

- I need to raise my eye level a little more, it is better here than usual but I am not exactly looking between the horse's ears - so more work needed.
- I need to carry my hands a little more; this will be easier to work on with Nancy vs Kika. As K is little miss sensitive and can't handle such things - the drama queen!
- I need to sit up more, actually engage my core and roll back my shoulders.
- I am not sure what my leg is doing swinging in no-man's land. My calf should be on her side supporting her through the bend #shame

Sorry it is a bit blurry
- I actually like this photo for the most part.
- again I need to look up more, roll my shoulders back and sit straighter
- I still need to raise my hands and drop my heels (as always)
- I should get her to engage more from behind and step under herself, again will improve with time & when I can put more consistent work into her so that she can develop the muscles needed to sustain such work
- is she a little BTV? I need to get a better feel for that so that I can recognise such things and try to stop them before muscle memory takes hold

- this isn't the most flattering moment and I think i am a little ahead of movement
- of course my heels are misbehaving
- my hands are slightly better positioned although I'm suffering from floppy wrists so again loads more work needed
- on the upside my back is straighter and my shoulders are better. Small victory but i will gladly take it
- again I need to raise my eye level some more


- again sorry about the fuzzy pic quality but i am happier with my upper body in this snapshot.
- if my head was up a bit & my hands higher it would be even better
- I need more bend in my elbow. That will hopefully come when I lift my hands more, keep my shoulders back, weight in my heels and sit on my ass
- Nancy might be slightly disagreeing with me from the tilt of her head and I could deff help her step under herself more. Again this will come as we build back up muscle through more consistent work

- not a bad canter pic, but i am leaning too much to the inside to help her balance & my hands are still pretty hideous
- my naughty heel is still creeping up but I thankfully don't seem to be gripping wih my knee or thigh...or at least it doesn't look like I am to my uneducated eyes. Then again a momentary capture of a movement cannot tell the whole story


- this is prob my fav photo of the bunch; it is far from perfect but there is plenty i like about it - not least of all because i am smiling/laughing at her antics just prior to this where she had done dolphin leap/lead change transition up into canter
- dare i say she almost looks slightly uphill despite me seeming to be doing a good imitation of the leaning tower of Pisa
- I need to use my hands less and legs more to help balance her through the turn
- again I need to look up, sit up, pull my shoulders back and drop the weight into my heels supporting her with my calves

N is such a good girl to put up with my craptastic attempts to "ride"
 I didn't actually know this photo had been taken
 until my sis sent it to me ♡♡♡♡

And last but not least a bit of a comic relief photo as Nancy shows her adorable side posing for a selfie with my sis & mama ♡


20 comments:

  1. Awwww that last picture is so cute! Dang you listed just about everything I need to work on too LOL!!! Maybe we should make a pact to work on our Eq for 2015? :) I think you and Nancy look great! As for the behind the vertical, it's easier to tell in a video than a picture. It could have just been a second in time where she went behind or she could be doing it a lot. No way to know really from pictures.

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    1. Because of the friesian she can sometimes sneak behind the vertical - it is something I am aware of and try to keep on top off. There is just so much to think about when horse riding that sometimes things slip *blush*

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    2. Oh boy so something I'll have to keep and eye on too when Chrome and I start working on contact hehe. :D

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    3. Prob won't happen to you guys as you've had more dressage training than me. I'm trying to lean this all at the same time as the girls - takes a while to get the feel for things.

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    4. Uhh... I've only taken a year of dressage lessons and that was over ten years ago. I don't have much dressage training and he has none. I have no idea what we're doing. Those pictures I posted recently are the best snapshots I could get from the video. The rest of the video was.... bad... lol. You're braver than I am about sharing your faults so you can improve on them. I will probably share the video eventually, but that day I needed some cheering up so I only posted the good pictures. :) If I give the impression I know more than I do, it is completely by accident!!! We haven't even tried contact yet because I'm too scared of screwing up!! I want someone on the ground to tell me if my reins are too long or too short. :)

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    5. You're comments are always much appreciated & every person who looks at the same set of pictures sees something different.
      I know i can only see the bad when I look at photos of myself...we'll when I say bad i mean I can see what needs improving. Those things are glaring at me from the images, so much so that I struggle to see much good oopsy

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    6. Trust me I'm the same way! I pick my photos and videos apart. That's why I don't have a lot of riding pictures that I actually like. :) I think you're doing great. There are things to like in your photos! You just have to learn to see the positive things too. You have your elbows bent so you're ahead of a lot of people right there (including me hehe)!! :D

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  2. I think you are being kind of hard on yourself :) I tried to get some pictures of my position from the videos my instructor took and it was challenging. Remember that a picture captures one moment in time. Some of my video stills looked horrible and some looked fine (and those moments are one second apart).

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    1. Oh o do realise these are all brief flashes of moments in time. However when the same issues are present in every photo, I think it's a pretty safe bet to zero in on them and try to fix them ;-)
      I don't mean to be a negative ninny, I just see so much that needs fixing that perhaps I focus too much on that in the post and not enough on the good namely that all these photos were taken within the first 15 - 20 mins of our spin after neither one of us having made contact with a saddle in 10 or 11 days.
      She is a super star to put up with my inconsistencies & be such a good girl ♡♡♡♡♡ her

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  3. Most definitely too hard but keep chipping away and it all gets done before you realize also one thing at a time, its hard to concentrate on too many things at once!

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    1. Can't be soft on myself or things will never be achieved. Hopefully chipping away will get things done, I seem to be banging on about the same issues for ages - not sure they are improving sadly. Maybe some day ;-)

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  4. Ohmyawwww! You and N!! Those sneaky pictures can be the best sometimes.

    You are hard on yourself, but I do the same thing. I know I can do better so I push and judge and nag myself. So I understand! But from the outside you look great. So workmanlike. Keep up the good work! And give yourself a compliment too!

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    1. Aw thanks hun, I struggle to see anything worth complimenting in those photos. I see only all the errors i want to remedy.
      Great to know i am not alone in my quest to ride better & pick myself apart to help me get there ;-)

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  5. love that pic of you smiling in the saddle! your pointers are super introspective and self-aware, tho i am really only seeing a horse and rider that are going quite well together!!

    so excellent work! try not to be too hard on yourself too! the lazy person in me always looks for the easy way out - if my eyes are up up, my shoulders are probably back too, and it's easier to get my hands up. so fixing one problem helps others....

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    1. I too am thinking if i can get my head & eyes up a lot of other things will slot into place.
      Eyes up & heels down should really be suspended like a carrot and a stick from my helmet as a reminder. Lolz

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  6. You're hard on yourself (like me), but I think it's great that you also focused on some of the positives too! Always remember to be proud of where you are no matter how far you have to go :)

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  7. wow you criticize yourself in detail! Looking up will help you get a better posture so if you do that the rest will follow. good luck! xx

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    1. Thanks girl, fingers crossed it can be a "simple" fix like that to have a knock on effect on the rest ☺

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