“Well, we can probably handle that.”
Honestly? Not having an agenda really left me open to learning some truly awesome things…. But in the future, maybe I should sit down and think about my goals ahead of time.
Tim flat out refused to tell us “his way” of doing things.
Tim: “Well, how do you usually try it?”
Me: “What’s the best way to cue for a stop?”
Tim: “Well, how do you like to ask for it?”
The downside is that it’s also left me a little bit lazy. How do I cue for a stop? Uhhh… I dunno? However you want me to?
But right then, on the first day of the clinic…. I was in the mood to be spoon fed, darnit, and apparently everyone expected me to chew for myself.
Tim didn’t expound upon much when he explained things, but there was theme he kept coming back and repeating over and over throughout the weekend – there is no magic “method”. If you had a way of getting things done, there was no reason to throw that just to adopt “Tim’s method” simply because he was the clinician you’d paid for. At the end of the day, that was just going to confuse you more.
Instead, he wanted to help us be more effective with the tools we already had.
The goal was to lope your horse in a couple of big, fast circles, and then slow your horse down and lope several smaller, slower circles that fit inside your bigger circle.
The trick for the circles was that you had to touch the same beginning point on the circle each time, whether it was big or small – in other words, if you were going to do a figure eight (which we eventually did), you started at the very center, and you needed to touch the center point of the 8 every time, whether it was a big circle or small circle.
For those of you who do reined cowhorse, you’re probably wondering why I’m bothering to explain this. It’s pretty elementary stuff. But I know that somewhere out there there’s someone just as ignorant as me who might go to a future clinic, and now that person doesn’t have to lean over and whisper “What the heck does ‘Go do some circles’ mean?”
Anyways, after a little glancing around to see who was going to go first, Summersmom volunteered and headed out to the middle of the arena…..
And that’s where I’m going to break in and say that it kind of sucks for you guys.
The problem is, I learned most of the cool stuff by watching other riders – seeing what they did right, and what they did wrong, and how they used (or misunderstood) the directions they were given. In other words, I learned a lot by watching other people learn…. And with a few exceptions, I’m not going to write about most of those lessons.
The problem I’ve run into is that I don’t feel comfortable critiquing other people’s riding, and some of the strongest lessons came from seeing someone do something, and thinking, “Well, if they just did ‘X’ like he told them to, it would work so much better,” etc, etc.
That said, here is one lesson that I saw that did kind of stick – I’ll call it the “Ten/One Rule”:
Gtyyup was far and away a much better rider than me. She knew what she was doing, and you could just see the partnershi
“Tim, when I ask him to blow bubbles (or whatever it was), he braces, I correct him, he does it for a bit, and then he quits as soon as I release.”
“That’s because you’re not really correcting him. You’re nitpicking, and then never really releasing. Here’s what I want you to do – think of correction in terms of 1 to 10. When you correct him, I want you to correct him at an 8. Really get after him – and then as soon as he responds, release him down to a 1. Right now you’re just doing more of a 4/3, 4/3 – you’re never really getting after him, but you’re also not really releasing him.”
And so off the two of them went again, Colt loping smoothly under a morning sun that was gradually getting uncomfortably hot. As Gtyyup rode, she corrected him – harder than she was before, but, honestly, it wasn’t anywhere near an 8.
Twisting in the saddle, Tim looked over at us. “So, what do you guys think? Where do you think she is on the scale, correcting vs releasing?”
None of us really wanted to venture a direct opinion, but after a few moments and a little murmuring, we finally came to a conclusion – instead of the 4/3 she had before, now she was more like a 5/2.
Tim nodded, and we all went back to watching the pair lope their smooth circles in the arena.
When she came back, Gtyyup was all smiles. “Boy, that made a huge difference – thank you!”
Tim nodded, and then looked over at Summersmom. “So, what did you see with her out there?”
“Well, you weren’t really getting after him. You didn’t really step it up like he said.”
“Really?” Gtyyup looked shocked. “I felt like I was really getting after him, and then throwing him away.” She looked at all of us, but all of us were kind of shaking our head.
So out she went again – and this time, when she corrected Colt, she corrected him at an 8. His head flew up and his eyes bugged slightly, but the second he did what she asked, she laid the reins completely down on his neck, and gave him miles of slack in the reins. Before she’d even finished her second circle, even I could see the difference.
And that was the beauty of the clinic – learning from other people’s mistakes, and then making your own.
Speaking of my mistakes…. In my nervousness at Caspian’s nervousness, I had decided to leave the spurs behind at the trailer. During his skittery warm up it had seemed like a good idea, but after more than an hour of dozing in the hot summer sun, both of us were feeling really lazy.
Of course, even though I’d relaxed as I watched every other person ride, the second it was my turn I felt my stomach go all cold and nauseous again. I’m sure there are some people out there who enjoy people watching them ride, but not me. There’s something about riding with eyes on me that makes me freeze up.
Caspian stepped out in a big, smooth gait (at some point I’m going to have to figure out what he does – is it a running walk? A foxtrot? A pace? Eh.) Whatever it was, it wasn’t a lope.
I cued him harder – pressing my heel into his side, and gave a long, loud kiss.
He gaited faster.
I kicked a little harder.
He ignored me.
I twisted my toe out so I could really dig my heel into his side, and kicked him. Hard.
He ratcheted his head up into the air, and broke into a hard, jouncing trot.
Anyways, I’ve figured out how to sit his trot now, but on that particular morning, with only three or four rides on him under my belt, and with me sitting all stiff and awkward in the saddle under the weight of all those stares ….
I tried to sit my way through that trot so I could push him past into a lope, but I felt like I was going to fall off at any second.
So I stopped him, collected myself, and tried again.
I made it again to that hard, jackhammer extended trot, right to the point of feeling like I was about to fall off/be bounced out of the saddle, and I quit. I couldn’t even post to it, because every third or fourth stride he would break into a pace before going back into the trot, so I was forced to “sit” and bounce on his back while I tried to convince him to lope – flopping about all over the place like a five year old on her first lead line lesson.
Hi, my name’s Becky, and I just trailered a thousand miles to learn how to make a horse lope. You guys go ahead with your fancy rollbacks and sliding stops and cutting cattle – I’m going to learn how to ride a horsie.
Caspian’s best gait is by far his lope (canter? Eh, whichever.) I’m pretty sure he invented the term “rocking horse” canter. I’d only ridden it once before, the first time I met him after my parents bought him, so when he finally transitioned from that teeth-rattling trot into that smooth, controlled motion, it felt like I was flying…. Unfortunately, it still felt like I was about to fall off. His canter was so big, and so up and down that I felt like I was slipping and sliding all over the place.
When I mentioned it to Mugwump later on in the day she said I looked fine, but I sure didn’t feel like it. I really was just one small lean away from completely falling off, and it was completely disheartening. Had I completely lost my ability to ride a horse? Was I too fat? What the heck was going on, that I couldn’t even sit on a horse without almost falling off?
I’d kick him into the lope, he’d comply, I’d start squeezing to avoid falling off, he’d go faster, I’d check him….And that’s the way we went around the arena – a few strides of loping, then trotting, then loping.
Tim nodded. “Sure thing. Do you guys wanna break for lunch?”
It actually sounds kind of gross when I describe it like that, but believe me, it was incredible.
I’d like to say I knew I was relaxing because I felt my shoulders muscles loosen, or something like that.
I knew I was relaxing because I began to burp. Apparently my stomach decided that since I wasn’t going to die, it should actually begin digesting all that food that was just sitting there, and the best way to do that was to make me burp. A lot.
How does Becky Bean relax? With great big belches that would do any 12 year old boy proud.
It was really hard trying to muffle them, too. I mean, it was almost a shame. These were epic belches, and I kept having to hide them behind a hand, or an elbow, lest I become known as “That Burpy Blogger” in everyone’s write ups. I
Still, gross as it was, with every burp I felt better. I’d gotten the worst out of the way. I’d survived the drive up, my battle with nerves, the fear of failure, and the first ride. It was Friday afternoon, and I was finally ready to get down to the business of learning.
Is it weird I am a little bummed you aren’t critiquing any riding? (mostly interested in mine lol)
I still remember watching you and Caspian in the arena and thinking to myself how great you two looked when you were cantering the circles, especially considering how “new” you were as a team.
I’ve been waiting a long time for your clinic recap, thanks for continuing to post about it! I am sure you were riding better than you thought 🙂
I think you were doing White Trash
Dressage. That gait was the dreaded Tranter.
I loved your description of Gttyup’s riding, I understood exactly what you were talking about. I think I do that too. I tell myself I’m being “light” or “soft” but sometimes that doesn’t work and I’ve forgotten how to really do a correction.
I wish I had been there, I would have been in the dirt too, keeping you company.
True story: I routinely walk into clinic situations and introduce myself and my horse with, “I’m Hannah, this is Tucker, we need help with everything.” Nothing wrong with having hopes and goals — I do that, too! — but there is an awful lot to be said for being open to hearing whatever that day’s instructor thinks you need to hear; that’s exactly what clinics are for. 🙂
Becky, Becky, Becky. Here’s what I saw. A young woman on a very tall horse, so nervous she wouldn’t look at me.
She rode off on her circle,her horse slung his head and strung out when she cued her lope.
She stopped him,regathered, and showed us all a beautiful, floaty lope and a solid, working seat.
I thought, Damn, nice horse, thank God she can ride, that could have been awkward, and, I wonder when she’s going to look at me.
We need to get you riding on the drill team. It’s amazing what having something to focus on other than your riding will do for you. You’ll be so busy angsting about remembering the drill, that you’ll forget to angst about your riding. Then, one day, you’ll watch yourself in a video and think: “Who’s that chick on the big grey horse – she can really ride!” And you’ll realize it’s you!
Thank you for posting Becky!
If I had been there, you would have seen a sensitive, athletic mare being ridden by a middle aged woman that tenses up and forgets to breath (especially when people are watching). We would have had trouble just ‘standing’ in line, but you and Caspian did very well – even more so because you didn’t know each other very well.
After skiing for years, I finally realized that good skiers still get out of balance, but they are great at recovering. You recovered just fine, and that takes skill.
Very interesting to hear your version vs that of the other riders watching you. 🙂
I love this! I am one of those people who really doesn’t like others watching me ride, so I can relate.
I know to you it was embarrassing, but I’m betting on Mugs’ assessment of your riding being spot-on. 🙂
Thank you for this post… can we dare to hope for day 2 soon?
Oh Becky…..That feeling you felt when riding in front of everyone for the first time….I feel it every single day.
Thank you so much for sharing this, and doing it so honestly!! I relate. If I think about going there, I imagine the same thing, with the added stress that I teach people how to ride and I’m paranoid that I’m a crappy rider. I learned how you did – picking it up here and there, using what worked – until I did my instructor training in my 30s. I cringe when I think about my horse show days before that. There will always be people who know more and who know less than us.
And can I say again that your horse is stunning!