All about the shoulders

Today we had a great ride. I started out by lunging Deuce because it was cool and pouring down rain so I figured he would be a little frisky. After warm up we worked on counter canter and shoulder in. I really need to focus on making sure I have correct position during both of these excercises.

Deuce tried so hard to do counter canter. Good boy! We went across the diagonal to change direction and I kept the bend to the outside. We then did a half circle around the arena and the returned to the true canter again accross the diagonal. While I am making sure to keep the correct bend, I think I keep tension in my body and forget to sit straight on my seatbones. Nice time we practice counter canter I'll have to remember to relax my position more.

After counter canter we practiced shoulder-in. Deuce seemed to pick up on this pretty easily last time, but I think he now realizes it is hard and is not so eager. He did a nice easy shoulder in going track right, but track left was much more difficult. I would establish a few steps, then he would lose it so I would circle 10 m and start again. I would do this 2 or 3 times down the long side. I only got about 3 steps in a row going track left but I thought that was sufficient given it was only his second time and he seemed to be trying hard by the end. I think the shoulder in going to the right could have also used more impulsion, so maybe that's why it seemed easier for him.

The purpose of the shoulder in is to ask the horse to carry more weight on the inside hind, and to encourage a more uphill balance. When ridden correctly, the inside hind is really the only leg that propels the horse forward. To help Deuce do a correct shoulder in, my shoulders should be square with his shoulders and my head should look straight between his ears. My inside leg should ask for bend at the girth and my outside leg should act slight behind the girth to passively keep his hind end in position on the rail (or track). I don't think I was great about keeping my shoulders square and looking up today. Will have to do better next time and pay more attention to my position and aids.

By the end of the ride I could tell Deuce had worked his muscles because when I asked him to stretch forwards and down at the trot he did so easily. I could tell it felt good for him to stretch. I have to remember that for a horse even to carry a rider is pretty unnatural. Horses already carry 57% of their weight in their torso with only their back muscles to hold up that weight. Then, a rider sits on the horse's back and adds even more weight to an already loaded area. I like to allow Deuce to stretch so he can relax some of the muscles that are under such stress when he is being ridden. Praise God, I have a great horse! :)

Won't have time to ride tommorow, but next time we will work on getting more canter circles, maybe some baby shoulder fore at the canter. Then we'll work on lengthening strides at the canter, particularly the transitions down from lengthening to working canter. These are difficult for both of us.