Naughty Neds - Down Mexico Way!

	Confidence is the key
*kindly written for World of Horses by Karry Gardner*

Stop the horse - (I want to give up !!) I've been a bit quiet of late, which is not like me , I'm usually so, well, LOUD but I've been having what I suppose all riders get from time to time and that is a huge confidence crisis. I've got to the stage where my theoretical knowledge outweighs my practical ability and that can make riding frustrating. My head wants my body wants to do things that physically, my body finds hard. I have a really good friend who has a lovely Hanoverian mare. My friend is a BHSAI and the mare was, last season, competing at Elementary level and getting some good marks. Then it all went decidedly pear shaped when the mare got severe colic which resulted in a bowel re-section and my friend had two major operations for cancer. Both of them are now "back at work" (against all odds) and both are re-building themselves physically and mentally to "get back up there" and compete again, that is, if there are to be any competitions this year at all. Two weeks ago, my friend had the proverbial "go" at me about my position; I am crooked in the saddle and sit over to the right which unbalances MGB. Also, the tendons in my right hand have stretched and are very painful - a legacy of twenty five years of working with computers has give me a RSI (repetitive strain injury) in my right hand and it means that I carry my whip strangely in this hand. I can make all the excuses in the book for WHY I can't do things but it's no use - if I can't tackle the physical problems, I cannot get any better. I tried to explain this to my friend but how do you make excuses for yourself when here is a woman who has faced so many major difficulties in life and yet battles upwards and onwards. I was feeling a bit hormonal that day anyway and so I climbed off MGB's back and put her back into the stable, untacked her, brushed her and promptly burst into tears whilst hugging her. I felt that I could not do her justice and that she deserved someone better who would sit on her properly and not make her twilight years a pain in the bum ( or ,back in her case) . MGB did what she does best, she blew down my ear, nuzzled me for mints and face rubbing and pulled faces at me when she got the Polos. I really love that little horse !! I went home and was quiet all day until my husband asked me why I was so quiet at which I burst into tears again ( can't stand sympathy and yet like everyone, I tend to go looking for it sometimes). Having explained the problem, he said "get thee to an osteopath" to find out if there was a physical problem and so, obediently, I did ! My lovely osteopath examined me and told me that I had a rotated 5th Lumbar vertebra and that one hip was an inch higher than the other and that my pelvis was tilted to one side and my seat bones were unlevel and yes, with a bit of work, we could put it all right. It was probably a legacy of childbirth when a woman's bones soften so that the baby can be born . Could it be so simple ? She worked on me giving me both cranial osteopathy and manipulation of the rotated bit of my spine. She gave me exercises to to until we met again and Boy, did I ache for the next 48 hours !! The Lesson After the "Session". I went to my private lesson with the Boss the day after, not really expecting much from it ; we did our new warming up routine which involves putting MGB in very deep and round on a long rein to make her stretch over her back muscles. We work a good ten minutes on the walk in this outline adding some bending and flexing at the poll as we do so. Little bits of shoulder in and quarters in help to supple her and make her relax. There is a point during all this that I feel her take my hands forward and accept the contact. She likes the contact to be constant and if she drops off it at any time, I don't pull her in the mouth, I kick her forward to take up the slack in the rein instead of shortening the rein and pulling her into the contact. I find that if I do this, then she has decided to take the rein up willingly of her own accord and that's what you want; a horse that wants to work for you and not against you. I work in the trot on the same principle, not really worrying about where her head is . When she's ready to take my hand forward, she will do so and also engage her hindquarters at the same time and track up . The key is to ride her forward into the movement and not pull her back into the contact. Once again, you can't "fiddle" the contact, it does not work forever. I keep driving her forwards around the perimeter of the school; little flexions to the left and right; all the time working forward anticipating each little hesitation and using the driving aids (legs, seat, whip, maybe a kick but that's not usually necessary) when that hesitation looks like slowing us down or stopping us. Asking her to move down but now instead of using the reins all the time, I ask with my seat and legs by wrapping my legs around her barrel and using leg pressure which starts at the highest point in my legs, almost from the fork of my seat, right down my thigh, my knee, my calf , gradually squeezing and squeezing until I get the response. I ask her to "listen, listen" by sitting quietly in the saddle, opening the top of my thigh and closing the calf and at the same time , half halting gently on the outside rein to slow and re-affirm the "listen, listen". MGB listens and waits for the next signal. My inside leg nudges her and my outside leg moves behind the girth. My inside rein asks her to bend to the inside (the right say) and I advance my right seat bone slightly to push the movement forward; MGB executes a perfect turn and stays on the contact. Half way up the school I change leg position so that right leg moves back, left heel into her side "listen, listen" with the new outside rein (the right) and the left rein is moved gently outwards to ask for a new bend. MGB moves left and stays balanced and on the contact. "Excellent, really excellent !" I hear the Boss say "but can you just sit over to the left a little !" "The LEFT" I ask in amazement, "Did you say sit to the left ?" (I missed the Excellent bit at first and asked him to say it again later) "Yes " he affirmed. "LEFT" "You are much much straighter in your position and your left leg is the same as your right one - you HAVE been working hard on this haven't you ?" "Yes" I answered "but I've had help from my osteopath" "Well, you didn't waste your money this time !!" And then the whole thing flew by in a blur - we did a perfect walk to canter transition and he showed me how to supple MGB using a walk pirouette which made her really slow down and engage her back end. Her back was so easy to sit on and her trot which is usually a bit bouncy, was slow and elevated (and I was on Cloud Nine by then) . I could move her using my legs so subtly, slow her down by sitting into her, canter her by pushing a seat bone forward - it was brilliant !! I got off and thanked him profusely - I told him that I had been on the very edge of giving up and he told me he realised how low I had got (it's nice when people notice) but that really riding was easy because it's logical (except not to me !) and difficult because it requires the ability to independently use both sides of your body . Now, if your body is a bit lopsided, that puts you and your Ned a disadvantage to begin with . Now I'm not saying that it's perfect, in fact the day after this miracle lesson, it was crap ! But that's horses for you. You have an off day, they have an off day, it's cold, it's windy, it's too hot, you have no time, you can't be bothered, your ned can't be bothered ; it's not a surprise or a comfort but it's true. Maybe we should get Biorhythm charts done for our Neds and ourselves and only ride on the days when they are compatible which would not be very often. There may come the day when my horse and me are in total harmony every day but perhaps that would be boring. Maybe the challenge would have gone. It Happens To Us All I'm writing this because two days later, I found my friend in tears muttering "my horse doesn't understand me !!" and I sympathise totally. All I can say with any certainty is that we all go through these periods with our horses and this won't be my last one by any means and when you are going through a bad time, just remember that once you really hit the bottom of the pit, there is only one way out and that is upwards and onwards. MGB didn't really fancy retirement anyway because she is horrible when she's turned out with other horses, horrible when she's alone and she'd absolutely hate being turned out with sheep (walking numnahs, she calls them ) and that's if you could find a sheep and she still looks upon herself as Anky van G's next dressage horse !! Attention Mail Order Companies - Fraudster at Large We're in negotiation at the moment regarding her feeding regime - she is bored with Mollichop and is demanding something more "interesting" like perhaps juilenne of carrots with cored and peeled apples with a soupcon of "horse museli" and a smidgeon of peletted "Blue Chip Two" and lots of other expensive things that she found in the new mail order catalogue. I would just like to inform all the mail order companies that "Hayley Gardner" is not a real woman (she's a conniving ginger mare) and that you must not send her any more catalogues because she borrows my credit card and orders things without my knowledge and she didn't need that new numnah (she should use a passing sheep) . Now, you don't believe that do you ?- (neither did my husband !!!) Kick on.......and don't give up hope .!!! Karry and MGB
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