I have been riding gaited for so long, I knew I needed a refresher on posting because I felt my legs all over the place when I bump Whisper up into a trot. The final clue to clueless me was when I noticed Whisper's loins getting a bit sore and NOT from the saddle, but from me sloppily posting on her back. I know I also pound her back when she goes in and out of gait, so I wanted to get my 2 point position better to prevent that.
Sharon, my neighbor who is an instructor and long-time 3 Day Eventer put me thru my paces. She is tough in a nice way (at least no German accent!) and I found my balance and proper position without my stirrups quickly. I also found those muscles on the inner thigh that you only use horseback riding and posting without stirrups. Damn those muscles! Where did they come from! I plan on continuing my lessons, since I plan on riding Whisper distances, I owe it to her to ride more balanced. I've already lost 36lbs for her since January, with 8 more to go to hit my goal! Sharon is conditioning with me and will do one of the 30mile rides with me the end of October. Conditioning for endurance and Eventing is the same, with the main difference being their speeds and distance during their competition. We rode a 10 mile loop last night with a lot of trotting, and some cantering. She has a huge, handsome Holsteiner, but his canter is so long-strided, Whisper hit 4th gear and galloped to keep up. Here was the first time I thought of Whisper as small, as her feet are flying and the Holsteiner is still cantering. I was dissappointed to find out from my GPS later that we only went 17.5mph! It sure seemed faster than that to me! Susan in NV Nevermore Ranch http://users.oasisol.com/nevermore/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Moody friends. Drama queens. Your life? Nope! - their life, your story. Play Sims Stories at Yahoo! Games. http://sims.yahoo.com/
