Rhythm…either you have it or you don’t. I like to think I have it…maybe, but neither my horse nor my husband has natural rhythm.  I’m told you can encourage or teach a horse to have it but I’m not sure about the husband. Maybe someday I’ll tell you the story about when we tried learning Line Dancing in the early nineties. It was not a pretty picture. In fact I still laugh uncontrollably when I think about it!

Sean had been going quite well at home but I recently moved him to winter board and the indoor definitely influences his way of going. He has winter shoes with snowball pads. The walls of the indoor, (which is actually fairly spacious), and the sound of the footfalls on the rubber footing have indicated that we have some rhythm problems! (You can hear the footfalls, hence the noticeable problem). Sean has been a bit tense, understandably, in the changed environment and I have worked on trying to soften to establish a nice connection and gain rhythm. He has been overly enthusiastic in his effort to dissipate energy, i.e., broncing and so on. He seems to thrive on adrenalin and that doesn’t lend itself to a rhythmic ride. Sue, who happened to be working with someone else at the time, kept saying to me, “Think rhythm”.

Ah ha! I do think about timing and often count out my rhythm,  but I was so focused on my contact as I described in my last article,  that I wasn’t focusing on my cadence and rhythm. I have learned that counting my rhythm when jumping really helps me. All of a sudden I realized that I shouldn’t try to soften to get a good rhythm. Instead, I should get a good rhythm so that I can soften. Guess what…funny how that helps. Sue reminded me about what the first thing on the training scale is! Clearly, there must be a reason for that. Establishing a rhythm really seems to settle Sean as well. It is just another one of those things that I have heard over and over but maybe now I am ready to apply. And, as I review the actual training scale, I see that relaxation does indeed follow rhythm. I guess that is why I’m the student and Sue is the trainer!

It is so easy to get caught up in the drama when your horse is challenging you. I’m so much softer than I used to be and we have improved greatly and have far to go but the challenge of change and environment can be distracting. It is nice to ground oneself with, “One two, one two, or one, two, three, one, two, three”, and so on. It really is so helpful.

I am very lucky to have an outdoor riding ring at home and the ability to truck weekly to take lessons, but it is so nice to have constructive feedback available on a more regular basis. I’m very excited for this winter. Paige, who is a working student for Sue and a very talented rider, rode Sean for me the other day. Because Sean is boarded so far away and the shop is in the complete other direction I can’t get over to Sue’s as much as if I were riding at home. She had never ridden him and she said he that was the best ride of the week! I guess that means we have improved some and must be doing something right!

I’m not sure we are ready for “Dancing with the Stars”, but we are on our way! I will picture the mirror ball trophy spinning from the indoor’s ceiling! That ought to make for a settled ride…not!

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