I finally got around to taking a lesson on Andi today from my instructor/neighbor/friend who is an eventer. It made me realize that I ride Andi too quiet. He needs a lot of desensitization! I have been way too quiet, and Sharon rode him like a drunk untill he was OK with it. She also started him whoaing when you get off balance. He caught on to that real quickly. What really surprised me was the movements from me watching that set him to "schooching". At least I have something to really work on. She had me practise "emergency" dismounts from both sides once it was my turn to get on. Hopefully, that will prevent me from doing what I did the day I hyperextended my foot. That incident was 4 weeks ago this past Sunday, and I'm still limping from it. Of course, Andi is close enough to the ground, that I can routinely do the "emergency" dismount, even at a standstill, and I don't have to drop to the ground that far. My usual way of dismounting (drop my right stirrup, swing my right leg over, THEN drop my left stirrup and slide down) takes a bit longer and has too many steps if the horse moves. Plus, the "emergency" dismount will help desensitize Andi to me "dropping" quickly and suddenly to the ground. I got some videos of Sharon on Andi, I will have to download them and put them together later.
Susan in NV http://desertduty.blogspot.com/ Riding for Breast Cancer Awareness Nevermore Ranch http://users.oasisol.com/nevermore/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ OMG, Sweet deal for Yahoo! users/friends:Get A Month of Blockbuster Total Access, No Cost. W00t http://tc.deals.yahoo.com/tc/blockbuster/text2.com
