Day 81 Spring has started,,,

Some time ago, in a chat with a friend I shared some partially hilarious, partially impossible life situations I had found myself in over the years.
- I don't know how you do it - she said - I wouldn't have the courage.
Surprise. How differently is the courage seen by different people.
The infinite confidence in the future - I envy that on some level. How could we slog away, endure something we dislike, maybe can't stand even, for this ethereal concept of "later".

As the life awakens around us and continues its inevitable, predictable cycle, so short at times, how could we store so much confidence in the days that aren't anywhere near? Is it the belief in some form of after life that makes people so relaxed about not having the life they want here and now? ;)

I watch people hating their jobs, being sick from stress, hating where they live, depressed, studying towards a degree they never want to pursue, staying with partners they can't stand and I wonder, maybe it's me who is the coward...I simply follow what makes me happy. I don't feel very courageous at all.

Spring brings many new phone calls with it. I can't help but wonder, where were you in the winter, people? :) The sun is still deceiving - you wake up to warm windows and go out to the cold wind that makes your eyes stream and fingers freeze.

It's very late tonight but I'd been writing and lost the feel for time. Must catch some sleep!

Day 46 & 47: Rainy day recovery

I've had a couple of poorly days following some food poisoning I managed to pick up. I had to re-schedule a few lessons as I felt too weak to travel but the good news is that my today's dinner is digesting smoothly and except for some tiredness that is easy to deal with, I'm coming back to the land of nomads ;)

Editing photos for today's post on Aspire blog with a very wet Woody after our morning walk in the rain

Except of a morning walk, I've been writing at home all day today. I divide my writing time between the book and the smaller projects I am working on. I can't wait to share one of them with you, hopefully not long to go now. 

My problem is that I try to make things too perfect straight away rather than just let them go and tell me how best to improve upon the rough copy. However, if I sign my name under something, I don't want it to be too rubbish! Dilemma ;) 

It's Ealing Browadway trip for me tomorrow. The London riders are keen to learn more towards the British Horse Society exams so I decided to do a pilot meeting of the little lecture chats I'd been doing with a few riders at home. 

The Aspire @ Coffee Time meetings are all about discussions on horsemanship, equitation and horse care. I love running those as they bring together my enjoyment of coffee shops, sharing knowledge, learning from everyone involved and of course - horses. 

The ACT London Chapter will be trialled on Saturday so we shall see how we get on. 

For today's Aspire post I put together a few thoughts on half-halting in a light seat. I also edited a short video of myself riding a big, powerful mare that really benefited from being ridden both in full and light seat as long as she was kept in balance. 

Training on her - and she wasn't easy - taught me a lot about power vs balance. 

VIDEO

 

Here is a link to the post if you were interested in reading it :)
https://aspireequestrian.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/how-to-half-halt-in-light-seat/

Until tomorrow!
Wiola

Many ways of seeing the same

A silhouette of a drunk man shows clearly at the end of my path. It's a quiet, early morning sporadically broken by excitable voices of children on their way to school. The distance between myself and the drunk man decreases with every power step I take. I am watching him as I try to predict which way the percentages in his blood take him next so I can move onto the opposite side.

Just as we are some 20m away from one another, he looks to his left, his weight shifts slightly to that side, his right leg, as if by magic also drawn to the left, crosses over towards the aim of his gaze. To my dismay, his next step and the next one are an exact copy of that first one.

In a beat as regular as ticking of the clock and with the jointless fluidity only drunk person can master, the man half passes himself directly onto the road  (no cars approaching), moves several steps straight parallel to me and then proceeds to look right and half passes back onto the pavement to end up behind me.

Neat.

Mental note to self: read more un-horsey books and try not to see people's walking patterns as dressage movements.

Now, how adorable is this chap! I have never known a horse that loved attention and hugs as much as Teddy.

Instruction Manual of Ted: 1. Walk up to stable door 2. Hug . Yes, I am wearing an exercise sheet that normally is used on horse's back. It made for a great waterproof cape during on/off showers today ;) 

I've been thinking today how easily the same instructions mean so many different things to different riders. When I am in the arena, I can address anything unclear very quickly, encourage the rider to ask questions and find their own ways of understanding the movement or build awareness.

The reason it has been on my mind is due to the popularity of one of my recent posts on my coaching blog ( the one titled: The Forward Thinking Hand...) . The post describes an exercise-experiment which I have done with numerous riders over the last few years but I have never written it down. The reason being - it's very hard to describe sensations and riding feel. As many people have now shared the article on Facebook, I got to read some comments their friends left under the shared post.

At first I did question my judgement. You see, I do like finding parallel "feels" for riders who might not ride several horses a day, few times a week... The catch with my ideas is, they require a detective like approach. They ask for trial and error, for coming up with own solutions.

One comment especially made me think a lot. Someone said they didn't think exercise worked for them because as they tried it, they felt tension in the arms. The funny thing in this exercise is, that's exactly what it creates at first. In fact, it mimics the issue many riders have on a horse - they ride with very tense arms...Then you need to figure out another way of moving, shifting weight, directing energy via different technique in order to arrive at almost no arm tension at all.

I thought, perhaps I shouldn't have written it all down. Then again, it seems to be helping many riders and I have received very positive feedback on it also so my next thought was, perhaps I need to learn to word the explanations better in the future. Find a way to ensure a potentially good idea doesn't kill itself.

And then the third thought...perhaps like me seeing drunken men half-passing around the street, we simply process different concepts differently and that is okay :) I've concluded that as long as it helps some riders who clicked on the article, the mission of the blog is accomplished.

Beautiful mornings and planning for the first go at the second draft

I love teaching in the mornings especially in the summer we are having this year. The sun comes out early, strong and warm, with a slight breeze to break the heat. I love walking onto a freshly graded and flattened arena surface that no one yet rode on and just take in this ordinary, rectangular piece of ground that comes with so many emotions. It's so true when we say that we often forget things, places, faces but we never forget how they made us feel :)

My favourite artificial riding surfaces are the light coloured ones, love the silica sand and fabric but any light surface is a winner. I guess it reminds me of a white beach sand and makes me feel calm and zen ;) Having said that, riding on grass is also high on my likings. Not too manicured and not too flat with some gradients to challenge the feel for balance and proprioception in the horse.

Last several days were busy teaching and I have done some serious walking miles running around. Two days of writing ahead of me now and I must keep up with my schedule. I prepared the sketch of the contents I need to cover tomorrow and on Thursday and decided to get on the second draft of the book from the instructional side - in other words I am first drafting the second version of the "learning to ride manual" rather than the "riding instructor's diary" part. At first I planned to just let the writing flow and let myself cover whatever first draft subject comes to me on a given day but I changed my mind. I decided I need some skeleton, a discipline and structure, and then let some creativity develop within that rather than jump from one subject to another.
I am planning to do two 3 hour blocks with 30 min breaks for main draft of the chapters that are on the table tomorrow and I am quite excited to get started on them.

Apart from the above, I am also working on the August newsletters to send out to Aspire subscribers and making a plan of action for the next few months as far as organisation of my teaching goes but I will tell you more about it in a few weeks time.

Now I have few more emails to write and then will hit the pillows I think :)

Writing for "Your Horse" Magazine :)

Continuing with the exciting news: starting January this year I'm writing for Questions & Answers section in the Your Horse Magazine :)
I'm not sure when my first Q&A will be published but I've already sent one Answer at the beginning of the month and had 2 more Questions sent early this week. They will let me know when my answers are in so I will let you know too.
If you are having problem with any particular riding issue feel free to email me at ridinginstructor at gmail.com and you might have the answer printed in the mag.