A Thing of Beauty

Have you seen the movie "Buck?" You know the part near the end where you see some of the clinic riders in the arena and they are doing these cool circle maneuvers and Buck Brannaman says, "Now that's a thing of beauty!" about the guy who does a flowing ballet move like a turn-on-the-forehand-right-into-a-turn-on-the-haunches? Well, that's what Marleen had me working on at the beginning of my lesson. Super cool because I didn't know I could do that! OK, to be honest it took me a few minutes to even get my head around the concept, and to be brutally honest I'm sure it was not a thing of beauty today, but hey, it was a start and we did do it. Flyboy is sensitive and smart and if his rider was a little more adept, he'd be there already! It's OK. We have time and we are definitely progressing. It will be a thing of beauty! (And if this didn't make any sense to you, go see the movie!)

Here's the recipe for "A Thing of Beauty:"
Start on the rail at a walk. Lead him into a turn on the forehand. Use inside rein/inside seat bone.
Now sit back and change to outside rein/outside seat bone to move him into a turn on the haunches. (Outside leg forward.) Make sure you end up going the same direction you started.

Got it? Good. Go try it--it's harder than it sounds!

It was a great lesson. Flyboy was relaxed and worked extremely well throughout. We worked on getting the bend and made some good progress. He is much better at staying soft on the circle than he is on the straight or when I've asked for a change of rein. He gets bracey at times, but I can match his resistance by lifting my inside rein (without snatching) and not letting up until he softens. I had to use a lot of inside leg (not heel!), too, at first. It honestly didn't take long and once he gets the idea improvement comes quickly. Again, it's his rider who needs to figure it out! Lessons help so much! This is probably a post where "you had to be there" but suffice it to say that I learned a lot and Fly was excellent. He's like driving a sports car--powerful engine,
highly maneuverable, light front end. Once we get the power steering engaged it will be great! I can't wait!