NK Lesson Wrap-Up: Not Good

My lesson with NK last week was...not good.

Good pony, stupid rider.

I mean, it was not good in that adult amateur sort of way where you learn an important lesson, and hope to Jesus the trainer you're riding with knows you're more capable than what you're displaying in that particular 45 minute stretch of time.  (She did).

I should have known better than to not ride for four days and then take him to a lesson.  But, it was hot, and he has so much winter coat already, and then some friends I haven't seen in years came into town for dinner the night before the lesson and...excuses excuses.

#lovemypixio

I know the first ride back after a break isn't worth taking the time to ship out for a lesson, and I did it anyway.  Lesson learned, again.

But it wasn't all bad.  We needed a CTJ butt kicking.  I've let my new position slip a bit.  My reins are too long.  I cannot get my boobs off my ribcage.  All three of those things plus Connor's lack of desire to engage his engine if I don't make him meant that his balance is always on his forehand and needs to be more uphill and "He's going to be a second level horse soon, that's important."

More uphill than usual...

It'd be easy to cherry pick the few good moments in this lesson for the GIFs and make it look good.  We did get somewhere, and we learned a lot which is the point of the lesson.  But it wasn't great.

Ugh, the sticky canter.  Blegh. 

At the end of the lesson, after I could not get my own shoulders behind me in the canter, she had me get off the horse and do an exercise on the mounting block I saw her trainer (a GP rider based in Florida) do with his students. 

The pivot point of the block on the ground is analogous to the horse's center of gravity, and the muscles you use to move the block are the same ones you move when moving with the horse in the canter.

You can see in the video that I cannot get my hip angle open enough to do what she's asking me to do - meaning I can't do it on the horse either.  Between my tight hip flexors, a weak left quad, and trying to keep my back flat against her hand, I started shaking like a weak leaf.  Inflexibility AND weakness showing up?  Time to get back into CrossFit, I think...