Sometimes, I think I can ride
I get strange ideas sometimes, and they have unintended consequences.
Once, someone commented on how bad my dad’s signature was. I looked at it and thought I could do worse. Now I do. My signature is so bad, I would be better off making an X. At least an X would be legible.
And, once, I heard that people who stand with their toes pointed out have dominant personalities. Since I am… less than dominant… I thought I should try that. I will walk like a duck, I thought, And all shall admire my forceful personality.
Well, it’s true: now my toes tend to point out. I haven’t noticed any magical confidence increase from this, or any difference in the way people treat me, but I have noticed that now I walk and ride like a duck.
So, that worked out well, wouldn’t you say?
With Ro at 50-75% capability right now, I’ve decided to work on my position. No leaning forward like a hunter rider. No tightening of the thighs. No raising the calf; my weight is going down, down, down to my stirrup. Toes to point forward, not out. (These last are things my hunter trainer would have crucified me for; I am not sure where these habits came from.)
It works. For two or three strides. If we’re going straight and I’m not applying any aids.
But today, with Ro at closer to 80%, we added in some canter. And as we went, I reverted back a little more to my hunter days than usual—past “half seat” and into “equitate.”
As a teen… no, I’ll spare you the teen envy, politics, and drama. Suffice it to say that I wanted to succeed in the equitation division more than anything, and that I worked my pants off to become competitive. I know some people equate equitation divisions with posing but for me, at least, it was the opposite: the more I thought about my equitation, the more effective I was as a rider.
Today, as I was cantering Ro around, something of that feeling came back to me. I realized what I’ve been missing with my position: I’ve been thinking position, in all its bits and pieces. I need to think “equitate.” I need to rediscover that confidence and security in my overall position/riding, and adjust it to dressage.
It’s not about trying to keep everything aligned just right; it’s about knowing everything is aligned just right and being confident that we can deal with anything that might come up: a single skinny oxer on the short side, a bending triple… um… a leg yield, a free walk, whatever.
I need to pursue dressage equitation with the same stubbornness I pursued hunter equitation. And while Ro is getting better every day, she’s still not 100%, so this is a very good time to focus on me. No more parts: time to go back to the whole.
And perhaps to start walking with my feet pointing straight ahead. No more duck feet. They aren’t helping.
The signature stays, though. I’m kind of proud of its total illegibility.