Wow if your brain is this stuck, about a horse tolerating you, then of course your body is stuck also. I honestly would look for other approaches to this because where ever you are you are stuck. You need to go to a good natural horsemanship person, the bareback and western are excellent ideas. Good horsemanship can ride any discipline, your mind is stuck there too. You do know the upper horseman in some disciplines do public demonstrations and they get on reiners, cutting horses, etc and they arenāt afraid to do this in public. Some European dressage lady got on a western horse I hope someone knows the video. Good lord give it a chill pill and try something different. You need to unlock yourself. You donāt need formal riding lessons - you need camp.
I feel like you are falling into the overthinking trap. Stop trying to be right all the time. For your next lesson, ask your trainer if you can just spend the time walking without stirrups and trying to feel each footfall of the horse. The dropped stirrups will help your leg elongate and will help you relax into our hipsā¦which really means just letting them move how the horseās back wants them to moveā¦while feeling āheavyā in them. I like to visualize the difference between a wood board and a bag of rice. You want to be like the bag of riceā¦ letting gravity mold you to the horse.
As you relax into your hips and let them swing with the horseās movements, you can feel each hind leg push your hip forward. You can see the fronts move, but try to feel as each one goes forward and call it out. Close your eyes and try to call a specific footfall: right hind, right hind, right hind as the foot comes off the ground. This exercise is great for not only helping you feel the horseās movements, but it is beneficial later when you start asking the horse to do things. For instance: If you ask a horse to turn with your outside leg as the inside front comes off the ground, you will hardly need reins. The horse canāt turn if you pull/ask when that inside front is on the groundā¦so timing to the legs creates a happier, more willing, more obedient horse. That is all too advanced for you knowā¦but itās never too early to begin the building blocks and these blocks can help you start feeling things.
I absolutely agree with you. For all the three barns I have been to, building a good horsemanship was never a focus. They just want us to hop on and ride. I think spending sometime learning to how to read the body languages and communicate with them effectively would help a lot.
Wow, I didnāt know that.
I have done some no stir up works and I like it more. Just like you said, I can sink in more, mold onto the seat better and feel the horse more without the stirrup. But once I put them back on, I feel a lot more restricted.
I am really thankful for everybodyās advice. I think what I need is to learn to relax and start with more fundamental things before I think about advancing.
