Thoughts of Legs

Thinking more and more as I observe my own riding this winter. I keep thinking of how to describe sitting trot. Leg position seems a sticking point for me lately. I feel as though “correct” for me isn’t squeezing with the legs, but rather embracing the horse’s sides with a motion akin to coming to kneel. Of course not to such an extreme and maintianing that your toes point upwards.

With the fresh snow I had to take the opportunity for a gallop out in the field on Scout. He is such a fun horse to take out, he’s energetic and confident. A nice warm up along the road out to the big field adjoining our property, we took a quick trek through the apple orchard on the way. We messed around a bit at the trot in the upper field and then took to some cantering up and down the slight inclines. Was nice to be able to stretch him out and work on my position.

I also got in a good ride with Jobi today. He was a bit concerned about the Bobcat buckets parked at the far end of the arena, so I played a bit with him on walk-canter and canter-walk transitions past them. Responsive as ever, perhaps even more so, as the downward transitions started off a bit rough. He is progressing nicely, despite having a rather light work load the past few months. He’s put on a bit of weight, which is nice to see starting into the cold weather, and it makes it easier to keep my legs draped around his sides. He always was a narrow horse.