A bird in the hand ....or a horse in the reins

I took Merlin to the riding school in the glorious sunshine again on Monday - yes I know, Monday was an age ago, we are definitely in blogging arrears this week - and realised that I have enjoyed three sunny Merlin Mondays in a row, my fair weather fortune must surely get rained on soon.

Merlin, wearing his 'cloak of invisibility' -
I have yet to get a good photo of him!

My new instructor for my dates with this big handsome black horse is a lady called Carolyn. She is really good in that strict and slightly scary 'nope that's wrong, go and sit in the naughty corner' way that the best instructors seem to be. Our first encounter was on position, as I knew it would be.

My toes got turned in, my weight got pushed through my heels and off the irons. I collapsed in on my right side - every time same trick - so she had me push more weight into the left foot and lift my rib cage to the right. That nearly worked. Then the real fun began. My elbows which have a mind of their own came forward, so she popped on a plastic contraption which sat across my back and hooked around the elbows. This stopped both my back collapsing and kept my elbows firmly at my side, I could not budge them an inch forward even if I wished to.  I checked out my new posture in the mirror at the end of the school
 
'Genius, I said, I look proper equestrian with this on'.
 
We worked in walk and then trot with this on, nervously at first as it felt a little like riding with your hands tied behind your back - then removed it and tried to keep the posture. We trotted in circles in forward seat without reins so we could observe my complete lack of balance. I don't think I have ever learned quite so much in a forty minute period in my life.

Her pearls of riding wisdom are genius, I'll share some with you:

• I learned to squeeze my horse on 'like I was squeezing juice from an orange'.
• I learned that when you press your leg on it should be using the inside edge of the shin, not the calf.
• I learned that putting your leg on in the correct way causes a physiological reaction in the horses gut, which engages his quarters.
• I learned that in if you use your thighs more it allows your lower leg to be loose and follow the horses movement without losing balance
• I learned that your inside leg is not the one on the inside of the school, rather the one that the horse bends round the inside of. Meaning perversely that if you had an outside bend then your leg in the inside of the school would be your outside.
• I learned that to keep your legs long you should ' think of yourself as one of those old fashioned wooden clothes pegs, and make sure you are right on the line'
•  Finally,  I learned that you should learn to 'hold a horse as if you are holding a bird in your hands, softly enough that you don't kill it, but enough that it knows you have it and it can't fly away'.

Beautiful....I love that last one. I am not sure if Merlin is my 'bird in the hand' or perhaps the gift horse that I should never look in the mouth.

Meeting Merlin

Some of you may recall my post on a chance encounter with a colleague with a horse who needed some extra exercise. Well brave girl I am,  as today was my iniation into Merlin's world....I went and met him and took him for a stroll to see how we got on with a view to maybe a wee routine of taking him on my own, provided we bond!



Meet Merlin - he is completely black, not a spot or anything


He is a big boy, Irish Draught Sports, Ali thinks....he has an Irish chip in one ear and a Dutch one in the other, so he has perhaps travelled, but descent and history all a bit of a mystery. He is around 10 years old, although had a couple of years out with a broken foot, so he thinks he is younger!

He caught first time, no trouble there, and stood nicely for grooming, only threatening a couple of nibbles, and then he seemed to get over it. Saddle on fine, Ali did the bridle to show me how he likes his ears done - right first it seems - and then we walked him up the the local riding school to try out his new rider.

Mind the ears, right then left please....

We didn't manage very long. He spooked at the dog and did a nice 'shoulder drop swerve' manoeuvre but we sat. Then as I worked him at trot I quickly realised that he felt really off balance. He felt really odd, his pace was almost as if he was picking up canter but he was still in trot and his left shoulder kept dropping. I said to Ali he was going to take a little getting used to and asked did he look lame?

Thinking it was maybe just me - you know wonky riders can make for wonky horses, we swapped around. He looked to be moving better, but Ali could feel the same as me like he was dropping his left shoulder....we felt his leg a little warm and concluded a lameness problem from last month hadn't really passed fully.

So we eased off on the school work and took him for a walk so I could get to know how he was on the roads which were very quiet and single track. All good, I think, took me a while to relax completely. When he spooks he stops completely and if you nudge him on he goes backward....oh crikey, thinks I, next he is going to whirl around and bolt for home. Ali re-assures that its not his style.

We walked him around a route that Ali said is about an hour of walk and trot work, had a cup of tea and watched him eat his feed, pawing the ground as he did, no interference please!

Back to the field with Pebbles....

Ali turned him out at the end of the day, no rug, into the field with Pebbles the three year old mare and another couple who I can't remember the name of. I am rubbish with names, so for future reference: Ali's friends are Gillian and Emma (who lives next door) Ian, Rusty the terrier and Ben the Golden Retriever....there, I shall be able to check back when my memory fails me, as it so reliably does!

Next stop for us is a meet up next week to meet the riding instructor at the local school and another walk out, and if all goes well, we bond and my nerves hold out, then I may just have found a new friend.