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Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Let it be- by Ryan Yap

I have been waiting to post until I have the video posted, but I am getting anxious to write down what I learned during my Ryan lesson on Sunday. Some really great things happened. If you have read my blog, you know I have been stressing out about my own position and that silly left elbow of mine! Well, I started to feel like I was throwing other things off and Ryan confirmed it. One of the things that I have always enjoyed about my lessons with Ryan (even 10 years ago), but his ability to break things down. To paraphrase here, he basically said, yes your elbow does a funny thing, but it does not make your aids any less effective. He told me that one of my strengths has always been my seat, the swing in my hips. He told me that me focusing on the elbow was causing me to tighten up and was preventing my seat from doing its job. In the "Ryan way", he told me to not worry about a silly elbow, it is just an aesthetic. If you get to know Ryan at all, you know that he is not the type to tear you down, but he is also not the type to tell you it was good unless it really was. So when he says "Good!" you know you really earned it. He encourages dialog during a lesson which is also something I enjoy, I am not getting yelled at the entire time, nor I am I just hearing the good. I get a great balance of the both. Here is a great example. Leg yields. The toughest thing about bringing up a horse, is that in the beginning of teaching a movement you really must over ride certain aspects depending on what the horse naturally gives you. With Gram being so long, I have a hard time in the LY keeping each body part where is is supposed to be. So I start with more bend, expecting to lose it a couple strides in... well as it turns out, I have schooled that enough, and now it is time to build the YL. Ask for less bend, and just let her do the job since she now understands what the aids mean. This is a hard thing for me to comprehend... I get the logical side of it, but when I am on her back I think, "ohh this is a baby, I have to over ride the movement that is tough." Ryan explained what I was doing wrong, I understood now it is just reminding myself that she is now 6 not 4 :)

Overall, I have to just let it be... my elbow isn't perfect, but the more I stress about it, the more things go wrong. When I am riding along, when Gram feels good, I must think good girl, now where is that darn elbow of mine so I can be a good girl too. Once my horse understands and reacts in the correct way to an aid, I need to let it be and not over ride as she doesn't need my step by step guidance any more.



days until baby Fraggle Rock arrives! :)

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