Day 2 and my brain is full - Game of Contact

This is the Sugarloaf Equestrian Centre pussycat. Cute hey. He or she spends the day smooching round everyone, or sleeping in the sun.

Ok so I am back at the hotel but by about 4pm today my brain was full. The riders this morning started on barrels, practicing rising trot. I had forgotten that trot with contact was my big problem, as my hands moved and made the contact inconsistent. So it was great to see a simple fix!!! Apart from a different way of rising which I will go into in a minute, it's a case of hinging your shoulders and moving your elbows back as you rise, so the relaxed hands on the reins makes a soft consistent contact.

Ok - so rising trot, belly button in towards your spine, tuck pelvis up towards same bellybutton, rib cage together, rise by putting the weight down into your knees, not your feet, and keep the distance between your bra and belly button the same as you do. Oh and don't forget to keep your shoulders over your hips, and your back straight ( not hollow), oh and ride your horse and breathe at the same time!!! And relaxed arms, armpits down, strong elbows. Ok - got it? Lol

As Linda keeps saying "pretend it's easy"!

Now you know why my brain is full and that was just the first simulation before the riding in the morning.

I do have some photos but they are on my phone so check back on Tuesday for added photos of the simulations.

So first 4 riders mounted and this is Fiona and her LB - extrovert I think!! This photo shows her taking the contact because the horse is not taking it. His head is behind the vertical, his strides are short and he's not tracking up.






A second later he takes the contact and his stride is through and he looks much better. This is the confidence stage only. There are 4 stages.






Duncan made some amazing changes with his position after the barrel simulations. Note the line; shoulders, hips, heels, nearly perfect.







Alex had an extreme Left Brain Extrovert and so did Claire, and Linda rode Claires horse to demonstrate how fast and busy you have to get to calm an LBE down.






Afterwards the horse did a lot of processing, at the time I took this photo the horse kept shifting his weight constantly, thinking, thinking, thinking.











Linda on Claire's horse.





Then in the afternoon it was Steady Eddy time. The plans are going to be refined and then provided - yay. It's to refine your position for finesse and to fix things like flapping legs, legs moving out or back or forward, and to help you figure out if your back is hollowed or not, and to see if you lean for turning. It's all about tweaking your thighs, added to all of the above.

Then it was the 2nd group of riders turns. Fiona made some awesome progress into Stage 2 and 3 with her horse, at the trot, where most of stage 3 is done at.






Linda the demo'd on Jo Cool again and he was so much more confident today. Sorry it's blurry - it was dark and I turned my flash off so not to spook the horses. Looks kinda cool though right?

Do you think I will be able to sleep?