Judith Tarr's Blog, page 13

About That Hardwiring...

I did a Horseblog on Monday about last week's yoga class. It has pictures! And then yesterday I had a lesson, which I want to write down before I forget. So--Neep Time!


I knew I could trust S to give us strategies to deal with that. And apply some fierce butt-kickage in the process.

The theme for lessons this year, so far, has been Connect and Collect. Get the whole body (mine as well as his) into the game and keep it there. For me that means ride from the seat/core/psoas (leg and hand as adjuncts, but the aids are all coming from the seat). For him that means sit down, raise the base of the neck, and no cheating by overkinking the jaw. For the two of us together, that adds up to plugging my seat into his hindquarters and riding through to the rest of him.

We've spent 'way too long especially in trot with him bracing his back and dropping away, and me perching on top and trying to manipulate his neck instead of riding through. Lots of blasting around and arguing about where we go and how we intend to get there. He is Really good at locking all that neck so nobody's comfortable.

We started on the ground. Soften jaw at the connection between jaw and neck. Soften second cervical vertebra. Soften base of neck where it connects to the shoulder. Raise back about where my leg goes. Remind him he has a hind end (i.e. engine). Rock back, connect, forward. (In dressage terms, that's half-halt, collect, transition.) Both sides.

He's got this figured out now. Automatically connects when the key points are touched. May argue a bit or try to cheat, but not very hard any more.

So now it adds up to, stand beside him, "ride" through my sacrum to his. This is a feel thing. Pooka has always mirrored the human from the ground--longeing him is a lot of fun and so is working him in hand because he'll do whatever I do. I don't need verbal commands. I just use rider aids and he picks them up. This is more of same, and for him not particularly subtle. He's that tuned in to what the human is doing.

As usual, once we had that working, we went to ridden work. At the mounting block he stood beautifully square with hocks under him, engaged and ready. He's got that down solid.

Once I was in the saddle, I repeated the ground exercises. Rock back, connect to the hindquarters, raise the forehand. Don't let him cheat by raising the back but keeping the neck and shoulders down. Soften through the throatlatch--he likes to block himself there, too. Get everything in line from poll to tail, lighten and lift. It's coming from the seat but the leg may need to raise the back and the hand may need to encourage flexion in front. Collect the horse until the only option is forward--and that's a collected walk.

Walk in collection, get that going nicely, and start challenging him with lengthening through the collection: can't go flat, fall on forehand, get rushy. Front end up, weight on rear. Hands need to follow more but keep contact. Seat more open but maintaining collection. Six to eight strides, then back to collected walk for three or four, back and forth. Throw in some halts. Halt from collection, into collection. Lengthening is a collected movement.

Then up to trot. Trot from collection, not from lengthening--at this stage, he needs to really sit down and carry. Self-carriage is the new! shiny! THANG! here. No more me trying to carry him. My job is stay in his back, keep that hind end under both of us (and feel as if the inside hind is connected to my seatbone), and don't drop his front end. Must. Stay. UP.

That's a lot of work for two out-of-shape critters. My hip flexors, ow. But my back, not ow. And that is good.

When we're this connected, the elusive and bone-jarring sitting trot becomes the done thing, and quite soft and lovely to ride. It's not very long at a time yet. When we can ride it all around the arena reliably, we'll have our canter at last. Which is a definite incentive.

We're getting a sense of half-steps in here. Heading for the real, deep collection. He likes it. The lengthenings are the challenge for him, but not hard--just not as easy as collection.

Mentally he's in a great place. During the collected parts, he paid no attention to the mares at ringside, and they were flirting as hard as they possibly could. He'd been all archy and rumbly and snorty while I was grooming him, and had a fair amount to say to his ladies (especially Gabriella, who was really messing with his head) in warmup, too. Once we were working in earnest, that went away. Lipizzan Brain came online. He wasn't fussing at having to work, either, or swearing or saying bad words. The more collected he got, the happier he was.

Hardwiring. He's a grownup horse now, as S reminded him. He doesn't need to act like a kid any more. He can carry me, and do his work, and deal with his hormones, too. He's good with that. He likes a challenge.

Catching Up

After five weeks of houseguests including a most excellent March Camp, I've reached the point of social exhaustion. Answer email? I can't brain today. Or yesterday. Or the day before, either. Maybe tomorrow.

But an lj update is long overdue, and I have neep, plus a large bag of bits and pieces. We'll see if I can remember them all.

First, a moment for Japan, the news of which I woke to this morning. And one for Libya, also Egypt, Tunisia, and the rest of the Middle East. And a long one for Wisconsin and the rest of the states that have been targeted for assimilation into the land of Gilead. The Crazy Years, they are here.

Our enclave, here in the People's Republic of Baja Arizona, carries on. We do White Horse Yoga on the third Friday of every month, with occasional additional sessions for guests and Campers. And there are regular lessons. The two cross-fertilize and it's really lovely.

Which reminds me, the Camp schedule has an unexpected opening. If anybody's up for it on short notice, an April Camp is available for 1 or 2 people. Dates flexible. We also have an opening in early October. And possibly in summer, but it gets hot here. You'll need to be somewhat broilproof.

Anyway, April? Weather's beautiful. Trees and cacti in bloom. Ponies mostly shed out. Email capriole at that gmail thing if you'd like to take a few days in the desert with fat white ponies.

In May I will be in DC at the Nebulas--presenting a panel on making the best of one's backlist on the Saturday, with illustrious colleagues. I will also be in Sandy Eggo during World Fantasy weekend, but probably at the Barcon, since the con is sold out and, well, budget.

It's been A Winter. Alternating between record highs and record lows. 80sF, teens F, back and forth. The Great Freeze of early February took out all the green. So far very little of it has come back. The palm tree is reviving, and there are buds on the cottonwood. The pepper trees, not sure yet. The citrus will need to be cut back to the trunk, most likely; it got hit hard. The cacti seem to be recovering. Tough things, cacti. No flowers at all, but the rain and snow (yes, snow; 2.5 inches here) a week ago Sunday might have germinated something. We're being told to be patient; wait. Give it time.

And now it's pushing 90F and the horses are shedding like crazy--weeks earlier than usual. Which is a harbinger of a very hot year. Climate change: it's not just for liberals any more.

Good thing the horses like heat. Most of them. Capria could do without it. Pooka, of course, says the more the better.
I've been having ongoing crap with fibro, finally got fed up with it and decided to ride through it as much as possible. It's good to have an instructor who's also a massage therapist. If you or the horse are a little off, she's there to help. So we've been working on getting the Pookabutt connected to the neckbone and all of that, and doing a lot of connect-collect-and now lengthen, which being a collectamatic, he says is worrrrk. But he can do it.

Ephiny has been on hiatus. Getting her head back in the game now, so we can pick up the riding where we left off. And putting clothes on Tia, who is the world's greatest liberty horse, but if she wants the rest of it, she has to play by the regular rules.

I started riding Gabriella a few weeks ago. Got her a lovely ebay bridle with a pearl browband, discovered that Pandora's saddle fits her nicely, and tried the experiment one day while tcastleb was having a lesson. Not only was she all for it, she fit me perfectly. S lent a hand, and went nuts over her. She has a weakness for second (third, fourth)-career horses anyway, but this one, she says, is special. She has the Lipizzan hardwiring in a big way, and while she's very rusty and quite green, she had a good start in her younger days, has a lovely mouth, and naturally understands how to adapt her back to carrying a human.

So, we had a lesson the next time around, and started putting it all together on the gorund, then from the saddle. Fold of jaw to loosen the mandible and the atlas, base of neck/shoulder to unreel the neck and get the rest of the body into the mix, lift of the back through the barrel, and finally a little reminder that she has hindquarters and they are for other things as well as making babies. Booyah, says Gabriella. Yesterday after some wobbling around and tentative experiments in walking under me, she stopped to think (while the humans conferred), then made up her mind and strode on out like an experienced riding horse. Felt absolutely lovely.

Good mind on that mare. She did have to sass off Pooka in his last lesson--we were riding through our transitions with collection into lengthening, and she was at ringside. Turned deliberately and presented her ample and lovely behind. Working Now, I said to him as the rumbles started up from below. S sang out, "Look, Pooka! They're fighting over you!"

He has a rough life.
So that's the neep. We have other things going on. Here's a podcast. Shiny new story, even. I hope to have more of those as we go on. Sold another new story, too; details when I have them. Things are waking up, I think.

Horseblog today!

Some neep for those who have been missing it. Illustrated. :)

http://blog.bookviewcafe.com/2011/03/07/warrior-one/

Warmup Time

Well, it's rather warm here in the Great American Southwest, it being the time of year when we win the Weather Wars (the Frozen North will win again come June, when it's 105F here), but what I'm really doing is a warmup to writing fiction. And I owe you all a dose of neep, anyway. So.

There is also a photoblog, but it's here. Fat White Ponies lying down! And getting up! Oooof!

We survived the holidays mostly intact. Getting back to reality has been the usual challenge, but we're mostly there now. I'm just about caught up with the very patient Mentees, and getting used to the idea of a new year ahead. January Camp was a great success. March Camp is up next, with sartorias and rachelmanija and coraa , and we're looking forward to it.

Meanwhile, the horses are getting a tiny fraction of what they consider to be their fair share of attention, about which I beg to differ, as in, Wait Your Turn, Kid!
We now have White Horse Yoga as a regular thing--third Friday of the month, every month, plus if there's a Camp, we have an extra edition. What we do depends on the group, and especially on the horses. Pandora is our Enlightened Master. She teaches about as much as J does, and reinforces lessons in amazing ways. Need to improve your position or balance? She's there. Need to learn patience or calm or peace of mind? She goes down in front of you and goes to sleep (as in the blog over at Book View Cafe). She is, in a lot of ways, the soul of the yoga classes.

Camilla has also been prominent. She has stories to tell, and she's telling them to everyone. What the story is depends on who you are and what you need, as well as on who she is. With me it's patience, always a challenge; and not getting fixated on goals and gotta-do's, which is a major problem of mine; and relaxing and breathing and taking things as they come.

She's going to get her very own one-on-one ridden-yoga class in February. She's taken too much damage from riding lessons pre-S to be happy even with S, whom the rest of the crew adore; she needs a different approach. So we're going to try this one and see what she thinks. She's been happy just noodling with me, and is quite in favor of work, she just needs a particular kind of work.

In a lot of ways I think she's an equine version of an autism-spectrum person. Things come at her too fast, too hard, too strong. She gets overwhelmed, which makes her tense, which makes her angry. She doesn't have the repetitive behaviors that some horses do (weaving, pacing, cribbing, etc.), but she grinds her teeth when stressed, and under pressure she locks up solid and then can't move at all--until she explodes. Most of the time she's a sweetie, if pushy; she's a great help with the young ones and she has lots of friends in the herd. But work for her is either something she wants so bad she can't stand it, or something she just can't cope with.

And then there's the fact that she's phenomenally flexible, which crashes head-on into her phenomenal strength and means that under saddle she can wobble something awful. Then, she'll freeze up. Which in turn means I have to be perfectly balanced on her back, no matter what she does.

So. We'll see if balance, breathing, and gentleness will get through to both of us in a yoga session. I've tried some of it on my own, with my highly limited knowledge, and she likes it.

Bear in mind, this is, on the hoof, the best horse here. Fantastic conformation, movement, balance and raw talent. But getting through to her mind has always been the issue. Pooka has the mind, so with somewhat less of the rest, is coming along just fine. Camilla has been...a process.

And the first element of making it work is not getting hung up on what she could be, but on accepting, and working with, what she is. She'll get there through not being pushed or driven, because those things throw her completely off the rails.

This has been a great help actually with the others, who don't have all or most of these issues. For one thing, it's taught me patience. For another, I've learned to dial down the volume--which for Ephiny in particular is important.

Ephiny has had a hiatus from saddle training. First I got bucked off Pooka and hurtlikehell for a long time, then there were holidays. This week has been about getting her back on track. We've started with groundwork, which turned out to be a good idea because she's back to throwing her head around and cow-kicking with that restless right hind. She bit me twice in the first session, while I was simply asking her to loosen up her neck and find her back end again. But that ended with soft eyes and calm manner, and she was a little teed off that it didn't last longer. Then next day she wanted MORE. And each day is better, calmer, softer, more focused. I'll be back on her soon, once she's back in her bod again and remembers how to relax and let me call the moves.

Always an issue with the young Lipizzan mares, that. If they (and you) survive the first year or so, they're wonderful. Beyond wonderful. Awesome.

Yes, Capria was hell on wheels as a young horse, too. Oh, was she.

She has a new student btw. Lady from the yoga classes, who a few years ago was terrified of horses. She's been riding S's amazing (and forever young) 28yo schoolmaster, but a few yoga classes ago, Capria let her know there were more things to learn. So M comes on lesson days, and Capria gets a massage, because M's a bodyworker, and Capria teaches M about balance and confidence and riding a horse with fully functional warp engines. And they're both very happy.

Capria also is happy to teach Tia how to do the long-running pas de deux, which happens with Tia at liberty and entirely of her own volition and often in all three gaits, and which is amazing and all that, but it's time for Tia to learn to, you know, wear tack. And do this stuff the more conventional way. So she's learning about the longe cavesson and doing groundwork in a halter. I'll be fitting her new bridle to her soon--she had one, but Pooka broke his and appropriated hers, so ebay to the rescue again--and then we'll see how she feels about wearing a saddle.

Working with her is an Experience. She's totally motivated and seriously into work, but she's also an alpha, and a Lipizzan alpha at that, which means an exceptionally high level of self-awareness and self-confidence. She cares about me, a lot, and she really cares about becoming the best riding horse Evar, but this thing where I tell her what to do is just a bit, you know, haaaarrrrddddd.

Sessions with her are highly interactive. She asks Lots of questions. "Can I throw my head around? Can I chew on the lead/reins/longeline? Can I paw-paw-paw realrealrealclose to your foot? Can I levade? Can I strike? No? You want me to just stand there? You nuts? What, you want me to move my foot where YOU want it to go? But that's BORING! It's not boring? It has a point? OK, what if I back up real fast? No? Well, crikey. All RIGHT. ...Wait. That feels kind of good. Can we do it again?"

And if she's a real stinker, I just remind her, in so many words, that if she wants to be like Capria, she has to be safe and calm around me, and she has to pay attention. And mostly she does. She WANTS to. She just has to learn all the rules, and they have to make sense to her, which is the sticky part. But she's working on it.

She is going to be...interesting to ride. But I think in a good way. Serious, motivated partner. And I think she'll take me with her when she goes eek--as Capria did at that stage.

Pooka in the meantime has been getting his ante upped in lessons, which means mine has been as well. I haven't had sore hip flexors in many a year, but now after lessons I do. ow. This is WORK, Mom! says Pooka. No kidding, kid.

The ante that's been upped is connecting that back end, then bringing it all back toward the front. I.e., classical collection, stage 1. And now, O the humanity! having to be supple through the body and the neck while he does it. And straight. Did I mention straight? He so wishes I wouldn't.

We do a lot of half-halts. A Lot. Rock back, connect, lift, forward. ROCK back, connect, LIFT, forward. On the ground, in the saddle. Transitions, transitions, transitions. And now, as of the last lesson, supple through the body, step into the rein, connect, collect, forward (including the down transitions--they're forward, too). My hips and seatbones are getting a serious workout, right along with his. Oh, and? That rhythm thing? No more all over the place. No more dribble dribble RUSH dribble stop lurch dribble RUSH RUSH RUSH stop dribble.

Nice side effect: quieter rides Out, when he starts to get boingy and I can plug my seatbones into his hindlegs and defuse the flippy bits.

No more plowing around. He has to OPEN up those shoulders and BEND that spine and SITZ that butt. Booyah.

And as for Lipizzan Number Nine, the beautiful Gabriella? She had her massage session right after the New Year, in which it was determined that she was sound of mind and body, sane, sensible, and ready to ride. So, last week, while T had a lesson and the arena was free of ricocheting jealous Girlz, I saddled her up (Camilla's saddle, her brand-new ebay bridle with the pearl browband; she is a Moon Princess after all)



(noseband that came with was too small--she has one now that fits)

and did a little groundwork, and then with S to hold the stirrup, mounted up. And ZOMG she fits me perfectly. She's rusty, of course; it's been quite a while. But she naturally raises her back to carry me, she's thinky and thoughtful and careful, and she's so ready to do this.

S could not say enough good things about her--her topline, her balance, her movement, her attitude. I think S kind of likes her. :) "She's going to be so easy! She has it all! It's ALL THERE!"

And to think nobody wanted a 17yo broodmare, because, hey, old and flabby and probably not ridable. WE knew better. This is one beautiful mare, amazingly fit for six (or is it seven?) babies, and if you want to know where Tia got her motivation, look right here.

And, you know, My Lipizzan. Ephiny is ferociously jealous. But, she'll get the lion's share of the ridden work for a while, and then she needs to call her own human, because that's what she wants and needs. Someone she connects with the way her mom connects with me.

Gabriella Piccies!

I put more photos in the album over on facebook. Here's a sample:



I didn't ride her tonight--first time in new bridle, and too many horses in the arena. But she really really wants a ride. (She has saddle training, not sure exactly how much, but based on how she wears the saddle and accepts the bit, she's not too green.)

This is so My Lipizzan. She's basically the girl version of Pooka.

What, a New Year? Again? Didn't We Just Have One Last Year?

The Holiday Black Hole has retreated toward the center of the galaxy again. The first Camp Lipizzan of the year has come and gone--and the Pooka Fan Club has gained another devoted member, and Camp has gained another repeat Camper (and guest and rider--she and keed bonded big time).

Holidays were Hectic as always. Much partying and visiting and eating of zomg awesome food. Horses got a break, which they did not all appreciate. I got a break, which I appreciated very much indeed. The family got together and got me a NookColor, which is a very fine machine, and will get much use once the dying DSL modem stops cutting out before I can get anything downloaded. Next week. Pinky swear. It does have Mark Twain's unexpurgated autobiography on it, with some other delights.

We did not get snow that stuck, which was a disappointment, though we had an hour of rather pretty snowfall. We did get several hard freezes in a row, which hasn't happened in a few years. The barn petunia, already defying its "annual" status by having survived since September of 2009, is bravely putting out new leaves already. The citrus is frostbitten but a freeze makes grapefruit sweeter. The horses had blankets for the coldest nights, and Pooka (of course) was double-bagged, and all managed to eat, drink, and continue as before.

Gabriella, otherwise known as Lipizzan Number Nine, has settled in beautifully. We had a massage session with S on Tuesday, and she was pronounced sound, sane, and ready to ride. She also, in the course of the session, gained six inches of neck. "Now with 20% more neck!" Lots of tension had got knotted up there. Her new bridle should be in the PO when I go over tomorrow; then we'll see about a saddle. Praying the XW Thornhill fits. She's another tabletop, with an extra-wide spinal process. Which daughter Ephiny inherited, and the saddle fits her, so...

Meanwhile I get the Laser Stare when I come out to ride somebody else. UH-oh.

Must remind self that this is the mother of Tia the Self-Training Lipizzan. Tia comes by it honestly.

Pooka has been studying his dressage over break. Part of the homework from December's lesson has been a lot of transitions, straight, with collection. He gets those. He is, after all, a Collectamatic. So from a nice halt to walk, when I asked for a trot, he sat back and lofted into the most beautiful canter. Felt like riding a soap bubble.

Moments like this are why I keep trying. Hoping to make them default mode.

This year I hope we can finally get all three gaits set in solid. Some of what I got from the Gabriella session was how important straightness is--and how it should look and feel. Another puzzle piece, a very important one. Pooka is a horse who can't just fling himself around or figure things out by trial and error. Never has been. Must be correct, and focused, and clear on the concept, from the start.

But, I also have to stop getting all goal-oriented. The harder I try, the more desperately I want, the more I get in my own way. Lessons I've learned from horse yoga. And from Camilla. If I want her to pay attention to me, she tells me to eff off. If I don't even try, she's nonstop in my face. (Which is also a big key to riding her. She has a crippling case of the Wants-Too-Much, too.)

So, a good start to what I hope is an excellent year. Lots of horses, Camp, and what I hope is 'way more fiction (and maybe even, who knows, some more sales). Happy New Year, everyone. And Hoppy Gnu Ears, too, if that's your denomination.

Thank you, Mrs. Calabash, whoever you are

Some preeminently kind person named Anonymous gave me the gift of another year of paid LJ. Thank you very, very much, Anonymous. I'll do my best to be worthy of the gift.

My Update-Fu, Let Me Show You It

I refuse to be Officially Back In The Office until tomorrow, and I know how many people I owe email to, SRSLY, but I am home from the Christmas break, just in time to batten down the farm for the big winter storm that's already fought Flagstaff to a standstill. tcastleb (valiantly stepping in before heading off to a 12-hour work shift--Best Housemate Ever) and I got the troops fed and blanketed before the hard rain hit, though the wind started howling just as I started to put the rain sheet on keed.

Pook was already blanketed, but was beside himself. For him, cold + rain = death. He has his assortment of additional blankets for the next wave, which is supposed to include snow and a hard freeze. They're talking a couple of feet in the mountains. We could get an inch or two here.

I have the camera charged and ready to go, in case we really do get snow.

Christmas break was pleasant and highly caloric. At various times we had sushi (yes, there is good sushi in Tucson!), the annual holiday pilgrimage to El Charro (Chef Carlotta is trying new things again. We love Chef Carlotta), Chinese food (twice), turkey and trimmings, and a classic Steak Dinnah. There was Pie. And Ice Cream. And Cheesecake. And, of course, Eggnog Muffins.

I plan to ride and work horses early and often once the storm passes. Early, I said. Often. Lucky for me (though Pook might not agree), S is cutting us zero slack for having been sick for a month and not riding through the holidays. We are doing Transitions, and that means Collection, which means Working Both Our Butts Off.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying a lovely range of holiday gifts, including the most wonderful Herd bracelet from tcastleb and our horse yoga instructor, who has an Etsy shop. They conspired to create a set of color-coordinated stones for each horse, in among a string of baroque pearls (because they are that color). So lovely. I hear there are individual horse necklaces. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm....

And, the big mass gift, which I asked for but didn't seriously expect to receive: a color Nook. Wow. I just wanted to see book covers in color. And maybe an illustration here and there. They aren't pushing the fact that it's, basically, a miniature Android iPad. It even does movies. And it is, of course, a lovely, lovely ereader. I'm going to get a library card so I can borrow ebooks online--our county library system is very good. And see if Google Docs will work with it--in which case it's not a longterm writing machine, but it sure will work for short sessions on the road.

Happy camper here.

I can even download BVC books, including A Wind in Cairo , which I finally (FINALLY) put up in all the ebook formats so people can, like, you know, get it for their ereaders.

Brave new world. Oh yeah.

So now we are tucked in for a long, wet winter's night. There are hot turkey sammitches in my near future. And a whole pile o' kitties (and dog) presenting arguments as to why getting up and fixing same would not be in the communal best interest. Tomorrow will be a little bit wild, but there will be work involved, and preparation for Camp--January Camp goes from Sunday to Thursday of next week. With lessons and yoga and all the usual.

Hot Puppies! ALAMUT's on the Kindle!

I uploaded it a few days ago but didn't hear back. And checked just now, and yea verily, it is live. Alamut has been Kindled.

They even have a clicky that lets you give it as a gift. Very nice.

And of course it's still up at Book View Cafe in all the e-formats. Along with lots and lots of other ebooks. Like, alfreda89 's Fires of Nuala. Just for example.

It feels like a bookday, though the book's been out for a couple of millennia.

We take our excitement where we can, around here. Though I have to say, with the new mare, the hormone levels in the barn are...impressive, considering the time of year.

Neepity!

Yes! I had a lesson! And I need to post about it before it flits away out of my brain.

I was sick through most of November--CFS and then a bad cold--so barely rode at all. When I did, I rode Capria, because she wouldn't care (or would care less) if I was noodly or inclined to start coughing at inopportune moments.

Monday when we had the cold snap and the overnight freeze, Pooka was such a stinker I had to free-longe him before I could get him in for dinner. So that was a start on a return to work. Yesterday he got an actually longe on a line, short but to the point, and since it had warmed up quite dramatically, he was perfectly happy and very cooperative.

So today it's 80 freaking degrees, and he spent the morning sweet-talking mares. The morning turnout group is up to Gabriella, Carrma, Capria, and now Ephiny, who was flying around letting the world (and her mother) know what a hot tamale she is. Which included much schmoozing with the stallion in the very well-battened stall at ringside.

Come lunchtime, the mares went in and he came out for a little hay and a grooming and !!!his saddle!!! <3 <3 <3
Yes, that's how he greeted it. Boy's missed his rides.

Well, so have I.

So S. arrives while I'm still taming the Slinky, and Gabriella marches right up to her in the run and says, "Hello! Worship Me! Scratch My Butt!"

Clearly she knows who this is. And what she, as Queen, deserves.

(We are remedying the snuggle deficit. She's slowly starting to believe she is really, truly home.)

I get the saddle on the Divine Pretzel, eventually, and we pause for a drink from the big tank. He's coming round to the concept of, you know, work. Which he loves, but, well. You know. Schlorp.

We start off with groundwork, of course. Getting both our heads back in the game. Walking and halting. "Get your sacrum connected with his," said S. "Rock back and then ask for the step forward." So we did that, halt to walk to halt. He was cheating a bit--wanted to push with his right shoulder. I discovered, after having been told this many times, that he has to have his neck and spine straight and his neck can't be kinked in or out if I want to connect with his back end.

"Try going laterally now," said S. He was fussy with that, and I got a cramp from doing it wrong, so S took over and got him all bendy and flex-y.

Then it was ride-the-pony time. Since I hadn't ridden in weeks, we got reintroduced to each other though my seat. "Let's get you plugged back in," said S. Very subtle work; no hands or leg. Just breathe a seatbone upward (inflate the beach ball--which is very apt with this very round, compact horse). One side, then the other. See how he adapts his body to it: balances under himself, brings his back up. It's not an active lift on my part. More of a flexion of the muscles and an engagement of the psoas. (Damn, that yoga stuff is coming in handy.)

We played around this, upping the ante: really open up, really lift, then ask him to lift his back. S got in there, as his masseuse, to really get the lift, but he had the idea pretty well to start with.

Then we added some forward component, rotate the seatbones, and when we had that, some backward ditto (which was, basically, a very subtle half-halt). Getting him really, really up under me, connected and, in the sense of shift of weight to the hind end, collected. All in the halt. The little curly ears were quite bemused.

"Now get him shifted back and then forward," said S. Halt into walk, eventually, after we got our signals sorted out. There was breathing involved. I forget. So does he. We get stuck. (There was breathing through all of this. Much of the seatbone work was about breathing.)

Walk was interesting. Formerly stiff left was all connected and comfortable. Formerly hollow right was like a board. (Shift of stiff sides is good. Means the horse is developing in increments, rather than sticking to one set of problems.) Left bends were smooth. Right bends were fussy. I had to keep raising the barrel and engaging through the seatbones (= collecting and bending).

We did many wiggly bits. More right than left, to work on the stiff side. Left for a break after a good right. Then back to the right.

And from there we did just a little trot, because this highly collected work takes stamina and we're both potatoes after so little work for so long. Four strides out of a collected walk, keeping the collection, going clearly forward, and using those seatbones.

Felt as if he was filled with helium. Two right, one left, and so to the end, because we wanted him to end on a good note. Amazing trot: very very elevated but smooth, no problem at all to stay with. (S was pleased with that. I was plugged in. Still got the seat, baby.)

And that was a good lesson. We have another in two weeks, the day before the next White Horse yoga session. Which should be a very nice combination.