#70 - Forget tennis elbow; I have bathtub knee at a canter!

Today I had my first lesson in nearly a week due to the weather and after my fall in the bathtub my sore knee hasn't fared too well. Just resting along the saddle made it hurt and when I was mounting it twanged like a guitar string. But I soldiered on.

I found it interesting that in such a relatively short period of time between lessons I have lost some rhythm in the saddle, requiring me to practise to find it again. (If it wasn't due to the break it may be because I'd only had four hours sleep after being to an 80's theme dress up party the night before! See pic.) My concentration could have been better. However, once I found my stride I did cantering for the first time with my instructor.

It felt very comfortable and was in a much straighter position than I'm used to. But the transitions between paces wasn't as smooth as I would have liked them to be and this will only be corrected with practise. I will need to spend some time working on a number of issues so I can achieve this. I will concentrate on:

• Having my arms resting along the side seams of my t shirt as I ride while having my hands raised
• Doing an excercise where I rise for two strides at a trot without double bouncing on the way down - I hope to do this by keeping my heels down and calves closer to the horses sides
• Improving my alignment, specifically the small amount I bring my feet forward at a trot. This one may be difficult to practise on my own because I don't really recognise I'm doing it apart from on the odd occasion when my feet slip back in the stirrups.
• Being on my bum bones without loosing my alignment at a canter.

Today I have also developed a new appreciation for a school horse. Apart from the obvious benefits and convenience riding a school horse they offer you an opportunity to demonstrate leadership without intentionally doing so.

If you have never had lessons but have been on a trail ride there is a similarity to show what I mean. Every trail ride I've done with an organised group I quickly discover that the horses have taken the same trail day in and day out for a very long time, so they know it like the back of their hoof. They start off slow in single file just plodding and you are hard up trying to get them to pick up the pass and the moment they turn the corner to "home" they are off like a shot. If they are anything like the rides I had in Monument Valley in Utah, USA or in the Daintree Rainforest in Qld, the horses get to a section in the trail and bolt off home whether you were up for it or not!

The similarity with school horses is how a school horse also knows the ropes; to head toward the 'out' gate, the pattern of the lessons and how he will do something without being asked or visa versa by refusing to do something when asked halfheartedly, and when his own body clock letting him know that the lesson is nearly over and he will go "off the job".

This can be a real benefit in a lesson. I ride a horse named Dick and he's an excellent school horse but he will try it on, in small ways, if you let him. Sometimes he will head towards the gate when you are wanting to go another way or he may just stop cause he wants too. And why wouldn't he? The first time he does anything like this the first question in my head is what aid or message did I give incorrectly; I never think it's him trying it on. It's a perfect "give an inch and take a mile" scenario. If I continue to allow these things to happen more than twice I think I really have to start looking at my communication with the horse as its not always about aids and exercises. I think it's essential information for me as a student and would be just as important for the instructor too, particularly in a group situation or when the instructor would need to recognise the fine line between a rider with fear, being a 'soft touch', and at the other extreme, being heavy handed.

I hope to see this within myself as I learn.