I was half successful. Every time I had the presence of mind to check, my elbows were where they are supposed to be. The down transitions were another story, however. I'm at the point now to where I know that I am the problem, but I can't figure out what I'm doing that's making things not work. To add to the frustration, this was one of the big things I was wanting to work with Tina on while she was here this past weekend. I'm sure she would have helped me a great deal, except my rides with her were the of the sun-shining, bird-singing, angel chorus variety. Not that I'm complaining, though. I still got a hell of a lot out of my lessons. I just wish I'd been having trouble slowing Zigs down, so she could tell me what exactly it is that I'm not doing right. To me, it really does feel that I'm saying "walk" or "ho" with my seat, but either I'm not saying it strongly enough, or I'm actually just relaxing and making it easier for him to keep doing what he's doing.
There is one thing that I think may be attributing to it, although, admittedly, it's probably not that big a factor and may be more my own psychology at work. In my lesson with Tina, I was riding in an arena. When I ride at home, I ride out in the pasture, so I'm wondering if he is more conditioned to just being able to do what he pleases in a field, and is more used to "working" in the arena. One of the things I've really been wanting to do is put one of my more experienced friends up on him, (hi, Jen), in an open field, have them canter him, and see what they think. I'm fully expecting to be told, "No, it's you." ;)
As I mentioned previously, I'm to the point in my riding where I know that Zigs (or Sonata, or Lucky) is capable of what I'm asking but I either A) can't make my body do what it needs to do to push the button, or B) am doing the right things, but I'm not doing them firmly enough. And when I get responses that I don't want, I don't yet have the knowledge base to figure out which cue caused which reaction. I'm sure I'll get there eventually, (or, at least, I HOPE I get there!) it's just that sometimes I have trouble being patient. One of the other things I'm often guilty of is feeling like I need to "keep up" with all of my other horsy friends (all of whom could ride circles around be blindfolded on a cloudy day), and I get frustrated when I feel like I'm falling short. Then I remind myself that I've only been riding for two years, and I should really cut myself some slack. (Why, yes, as a matter of fact I am a perfectionist. Which I suppose, explains why I enjoy Dressage.) It's either that or my German blood. "Nein! Nein! Vhat ees zees with ze outside rein!? Mein Pferd braucht mehr Schwing!"
But let's move forward, shall we? Tomorrow, I am most likely going to go over to ride Steve and Dawn's to ride Sonata. I'm hoping to do a little work on the heads pattern, and tilt at the quintain. This week at work has sucked, and since tilting at co-workers, while not expressly forbidden, is considered unprofessional, I believe that the quintain will serve as a sufficient surrogate. And then Monday, I have a jumping lesson. I'm hoping to bring Ziggy to it so I can see how he is over fences, I suspect that he will be forward, brave and willing, and that my biggest challenge will be keeping his brain in his skull. But, he is a Thoroughbred, and that really is par for the course. That's really all there is to report at the moment, and since I really should get some sleep at some point tonight, I believe I will end this entry here. You may now talk amongst yourselves. ;)
Regarding your downward transitions, from what I saw, Zigs was very "there" for you in your lessons last weekend, which is why you found them to go so well. He was listening, so when you said Woah, he slowed down. I didn't catch all of your lesson, but did you do something different in your warm up (spiral in/out circles? laterals? anything???) that got him more on your aids? If so, try using that when you next ride. Also, when you do your down transitions, be REALLY STRONG. You're right, you are relaxing and your horse therefore just happily keeps going on. Think Body Of Steel. You want to make it uncomfortable for them to keep doing what they're doing, so you want to stop going with them. As soon as they slow down, you move with them again. When you were riding Saga the other night and I told you to woah from a trot, you were much stronger with your body than when you were just trying to walk. So think about being less giving with your body on the downward transitions.
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