Peggy Cummings 1.8.2012

Sarah put together a weekend for her students that began with Yoga for Riders on Saturday followed by a lesson day with Peggy Cummings on Sunday. I spent most of the Sunday lesson with Peggy in awe of how well it went together with what we learned during Saturday’s yoga session. As Sarah has been telling me for the last 11 years and I am finally started to discover on my own, the horse’s body mirrors the rider’s body.


During our yoga session I learned that my core is not just my abdominal muscles, the core is in fact the torso or as Wikipedia states it “In anatomy, the core refers, in its most general of definitions, to the body minus the legs and arms. Functional movements are highly dependent on the core, and lack of core development can result in a predisposition to injury.” During our class we got in touch with the upper part of our core, and I became acutely aware that I had been tuning out the area between my shoulder blades, which had no problem reminding me this morning that it existed. Our Yoga instructor showed us how much stronger and balanced we were when our cores were engaged and how much easier a pose was when we used our breath and were mindful of our center of gravity and where our core was in relation. She said that by engaging the core our extremities would become more fluid, making our movements easier and less mechanical.


On Sunday Peggy repeated much of what our yoga instructor said the day before. She quickly helped me to find neutral again, this time by touching my ribcage at the point of my sternum. When I engaged that spot my back filled and became soft, I didn’t have to force it. During our groundwork Peggy addressed habits, I had asked her for help in getting Grace to stop with her head level or down, as Grace still has a tendency to lift her head when she stops. Peggy pointed out how locked Grace was on her left front which would not allow her left hind to step up under. Grace could only stop with her head up as long as her body remained in that locked position. Peggy reminded me to only ask for the stop when Grace was soft. We had to change things up to get Grace to unlock, which included working her more from the right side and asking for the stop while she was in a turn as opposed to straight. Peggy said that straight is taught not from a straight line, but from a bend. I will admit I’m still wrapping my mind around that one.


In the saddle Peggy first addressed my position and as we do in every Peggy lesson we saw the difference from the way I usually ride to the way I ride when I am connected. The difference in my horse was once again like night and day. I started out in neutral with my core engaged, but when Grace walked off she dropped her back and I locked. This turned off my connection to my legs which turned off Grace’s connection to her legs. Peggy had me rotate and jiggle my legs, all the while keeping my core engaged. Grace’s hind end woke up and the quality of her walk improved. I was able to get her to bring her left hind leg up underneath herself without using spurs or a whip, but just by bumping with my left leg while I rotated. Grace needs to step up like that in order to build the strength she needs to go straight. Into the jog I quit moving and so Grace threw her head up in the air, once again I had locked her out. Peggy reminded me to keep my legs active and to rotate through the transitions, not only did the transition improve, but so did the quality of Grace’s gait. She activated her hocks and was moving with ease as she now had her core engaged her movements had become fluid.


Once again after a lesson with Peggy I feel like I should be retaining this work better than I am. I heard a lot of the same things that she has told me in the past, but today they most defiantly resonated louder. I know that getting in touch with my body the day before was a big part of that. We are leaving for a horseshow this Friday and I was hit with the feeling that I would much rather just spend 6 weeks immersed in the Connected Riding work than going to shows. I have to remember that my goal is to be able to ride in the show ring the way I did in my lesson today. I think Sarah was serious when she talked about getting a second tack room at horse shows for our yoga sessions. I will try anything if I means I hold onto what I got in touch with today.

When I'm Sound the Horse is Sound

Years ago Sarah told me that Grace’s left hind lameness was a result of me riding off balance and crooked. I didn’t want to hear it at the time and I had no problem building a camp of people around me that disagreed with Sarah’s assessment. While I still hold to the belief that Grace was injured before I knew her, I know have no choice but to admit that my posture in the saddle absolutely contributes to my horse’s level of soundness. This was more than apparent at this week’s lesson.


I didn’t even know if I would get to ride during the lesson. When I rode Grace at the neighbor’s arena on Thursday night she was visibly off on the left hind. I made arrangements to haul to Sarah’s before the lesson on Saturday so she could check it out. My hope was that the hock was just “out” as the lameness looked similar to the last time she tweaked it. Sarah assured me that this was most likely the case. It turned out that Grace’s hips and her left hock were out. When it came time to ride I could immediately feel and hear the improvement. The left hind toe drag that had returned in the last week was gone. Onto our lesson Sarah had me start with the exercise that we had ended with previously, stopping on contact with a loose rein, backing up, sitting for a moment on contact and then walking forward. Sarah reminded me to prepare my body before walking off; fill my back, breath, engage my core and lift my sternum. Each time I took those steps prior to walking off my horse took her first step from behind. Each time I skipped those steps my horse stepped off in the front and carried herself on her front end. The position I was after reminded me of when Cherie over at Go Lightly called “keeping the water in your bucket” when describing the Mary Wanless clinic.


Onto the jog and of course I had to start all over again. It didn’t take long before I was out of balance and riding off my hands. Sarah finally got on my case and grabbed my arm so I could feel the difference between a light contact and being pulled on. I let her know that I go to my hand when it feels like Grace is running from my leg. Sarah reminded me to find it in my body again, slow Grace with my body and not my hand. The next time I felt her begin to rush I thought of that bucket of water, Grace slowed down. During the lesson we worked on straight. Going to the right Grace tends to lean out her left shoulder. Sarah had me correct her with the left rein and when I felt the need to add right rein I was to add right leg instead. An amazing thing happened; Grace went straight, slowed down and engaged her hind end. Throughout the ride I was able to string more and more strides together. As amazed as I was by the improvement I was equally frustrated. My horse IS sound, when I ride her sound; actually my horse is quite lovely when I get myself together. Once again I have some work to do.

 
 

Back on cows!

I really had hoped to have helmet cam footage to show you of today's cow sorting, but when I downloaded the 4 runs I filmed it was all of the arena ceiling. Looks like I forgot to tilt the camera down towards the cows. It's ok, this gives me an excuse to go back sooner than later it had been way too long since the last time Grace and I worked cows. I'm sure Grace thought we were off to another show today,  since I did spend time washing her mane and tail yesterday. I believe she was pleasantly surprised today when I took her to an unfamiliar arena with a pen of cows in it waiting for her.

After a text conversation with Sarah this morning I had a plan for my warm up. She had seen my recently shot video and pointed out to me that my horse was not straight, not tracking up to her front end with her hind end. She recommended more leg when Grace evades my hand by speeding up, to push Grace into the contact and getting her to place her hind footfall closer to her front footfall. The more I thought about it the more sense it made. Once I was on my horse it was interesting to see that my first reaction to her evasion has been to completely take my leg off. Today I added more leg when Grace tried to blow through my outside rein and low and behold the mare stepped up underneath her and went straight!

We were one of the first in the pen when it came time to sort. There were corriente cows that were new additions to the herd this year. They were numbered 2,3,5,6 and 7 and they liked to hang out together. My first draw was number 6. Every time Grace and I got close to it the little bugger would dive in under a bigger cow. I tried to push it down the panels but it would turn back and circle the herd. I felt bad for my partner who didn't even get to leave the gate. I intently watched as other teams worked the herd. The corriente's had a big space bubble and those that took their time with them had the most success. Our numbers improved with each run, but we kept getting dq'd by either cow number 2 or 3 slipping through the gate. On our best run we ha 6 cows in before number 3 slipped past. I was thrilled with Grace, she was a little hot on our first run, but still under control. She settled with each run, got more focused and best of all was moving up beautifully from behind. It always amazes me how much cleaner her movement is when I put a cow in front of her. I lost count of how many times I petted her neck and told her how good she was. I am going to make it a point to get back on cows once a month and next time I will remember to tilt the helmet cam down.