Jenny Salinger

Just another day...

Today we were on our regular schedule: am feeding, lessons, ect..

In my lesson with Lendon we worked on centering myself. Not necessarily balance or sitting wise but really collecting my thoughts and riding in a clear and focused manner, I will be doing some yoga to help with that. A very helpful part of my lesson today were some images Lendon had me think of as I was riding. The first one is for straightness and power: think of water running down a chute. The power of the water is contained by the walls and therefore all of its force is exerted in the direction you point it. If you want the water to turn you dont open one side of the shoot but rather you turn both sides the same. When I was thinking of my aids being the walls of the chute, my legs and hands pushing him straight out in front of me I was able to produce a trot with more thrust and power. Then when it came time to turn him I would take the whole system and turn it, kind of like a ship. This was the other visual, "you must think of turning your horse sort of like a ship". There is no wobbliness in a ship, some parts dont turn without others (if there were it would sink!). It all just pivots. Aside from thinking nautically we also worked on keeping my hands much more stable in order for me to give Leo clear aids. This one will definitely go on my mental checklist, I have a feeling its going to be a tough habit to stop. But it is crucial to me riding my horse in a way that is fair and productive. Overall I think that this was a breakthrough lesson, I got a real grasp on what I need to be working towards and am excited to apply it and see how my next ride goes. 

In honor of scrifi tomorrow (some of you know what I'm talking about) I didn't forget ..http://www.insidescience.org/content/human-activity-changing-ocean-salt-levels/890 I will be sure to think about this next time I am at the beach.

Thanks for checking in... now I'm checkin out (5:30 comes quick).