Today I rode Buttons. (Her show name is Cute as a Button, but a lot of people call her Buttons. Whether or not you should add an "s" at the end is a much debated subject. I usually do, but my instructor does not.) Buttons is a part-Arab pony, with the classic "dished in" Arab nose. She's also quite old, and in the winter her back gets stiff. Because she doesn't jump she isn't ridden that much, and that just contributes to the stiffness. This means that when she is ridden, she can be a handful. Lots of cow kicks and mini-bucks if you ask her to bend, move laterally, or circle somewhat tightly.
So of course it was just my luck that today my instructor wanted to work on steering, accurate corners, and lead changes. We were supposed to imagine moving laterally through the corners, with the horse stepping under with their inside hind leg and powering forward from their back end. This allows you to have more control than just allowing the horse to motorbike through the corner, with all the impulsion coming from their front end. Another way of putting it was that we were trying to get the horse to push from behind through the corner, instead of pulling from the front. But several times when I pushed my inside leg to ask Buttons to step under laterally, she greeted me with a kick or a buck. This happened in both trot and canter. Oye.
We started out by riding a rectangle, with ground polls placed on the long sides as chutes to go through, to keep us straight. Each corner we were supposed to ask for lateral movement behind (and that's where the kicking came). We did this at both the trot and canter on both reins (both directions). Buttons was more flexible turning to the right than the left. That is the good thing about lateral work--you quickly learn if the horse is more flexible one way than the other. Horses tend to be stronger and more flexible on one side than the other--just like people are left or right handed. Once you've identified which side is more stiff and weak, you can exercise it to help even things out.
After the rectangle, we started crossing through the middle of the ring, riding figure eights to change direction. Again, there was a chute of two ground polls in the middle of the ring that we were passing through as we changed direction (although they were placed a little diagonal relative to the center line, which meant that the turn into one of the circles in the 8 was quite tight). We started out at the trot, the three people in my lesson (three including me) all riding the figure at once. At this point Buttons had started to supple a bit and was moving well in the trot, although she was still holding her head up, above my contact and not stretching down. I should have done a better job with my hands, and played with the bit, encouraging her to stretch down. To be honest, I think I held onto her mouth too tightly, as I was constantly waiting for her to kick out again. Buttons ended up being the lead horse as we trotted around, and I started mixing it up as to which direction I would turn after exiting the chute in the center. Everyone else just followed, so we got to work on circles and figure eights for a bit.
Then we did the figure eight at the canter, each of us going one at a time. This was the point where Buttons started bucking in the corners again, as making the tight turns became harder for her at the canter. We managed two simple lead changes, although I was a bit slow picking up the second one, letting her trot more steps than I should have. My first one was also a bit abrupt, as I did not get adequate bend in the corner and had to push Buttons over with my inside leg to make the turn before the lead change. My classmate Mary almost inadvertently got a flying change because her horse skipped over one of the ground polls instead of cantering next to them. I remember when I was in high school and used to routinely ride flying lead changes. Somehow I'm not as strong now!
Buttons and I ended with a good transition to trot (at least, it wasn't really abrupt, she wasn't rushing into it, and she did not put her head way above the bit).
I did get the feeling of a longer leg this week, as I was experimenting with riding one hole longer in my stirrups. I have a tendency to ride overly short (the product of my hunter training), but when working on the flat I should really stretch down more. Besides, my lower leg is a bit short relative to my upper leg, which means my tall field boots pinch behind my knee if I don't stretch down into my heels. A good reminder for form!! Also, I want winter boots. We're still riding outside, which is great, as there is more room, but it gets windy and my fleece breeches are only so warm.
Lesson finished with a long-reined walk out, at which point Buttons finally stretched down to her knees. There was a carrot for her when we got back to the barn.
Final verdict: I'm happy that I stayed with Buttons through all her antics, and she did do some really nice, tight turns and prompt transitions for me. I wish I would have used a lighter rein with her, as I probably held her too strongly. When I was working her on some 15 meter circles she felt good, and we did get some nice canter when I stayed in half seat (and off her back).
