First World Problems

Well, I thought Surya’s and my progress was fast before. Boy was I wrong. The past two weeks have felt like a continuous stream of epiphanies. All of a sudden things are working. Then, five minutes later, things are working even more. I feel like all the previous months of building on principles and riding position have reached a threshold where I can use them. After 75 hours on Surya’s back, we both have some muscle memory.

I hear this in my trainer’s voice. The past two weeks, instead of telling me to put my heels down, she’s been telling me to keep my heels down. Instead of telling me to push Surya onto the bit, she is telling me to get her rounder. My lesson this week felt like my brain was understanding things faster than I could comprehend them. My trainer pointed out that I don’t squeeze, I kick. So I stopped kicking and squeezed with the inside of my (whole!) leg. That made a HUGE difference. Then we cantered, and it was perfection. My trainer had me sit in the saddle, and all of a sudden, I understood how to move my lower body with the horse, my upper body in counter-balance, keep my heels down, keep my leg on, and not drive with my seat.

Surya also seems to have a lot confidence in what we are asking her to do. Now when I mount up, she becomes very serious and gets right to work.

One good thing about a green rider/green horse combination is the fact that we have yet to reach a plateau. If I’m struggling with something and not improving, she has figured something out and over the aggregate we improve. If she’s stuck, I’m improving my riding, and over the aggregate we improve. The other thing is that I assume she is better than she seems when I am riding her, and it’s my riding that is holding her back. I’m never quite sure how true that is, so I have endless motivation to improve immediately so as to stop cramping her style.

Anyway, the point of this post is that we are having these incredible epiphanies riding in the indoor arena. BUT we are participating in our first dressage show in a week and a half (for both of us, the first show, ever), and while the show is hosted by our barn, the dressage competition will be in the outdoor arena. When Surya and I ride in the outdoor arena, she is very distracted and we are not nearly as good as in the indoor. My goal for the show is to show up (haha, pun intended) and for Surya to not freak out. Still, it would be nice to have some precedence of proper behavior in the outdoor arena. So, a dilemma. Do I continue riding inside and see how long my warp-speed streak continues, or ride for a week in the outdoor to try and present our best selves at the show? Definition of first-world problem.