rbrown
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2011
- Messages
- 185
- Reaction score
- 9
And it was awesome! This was my 2nd driving lesson ever- first one was some 5-6 years ago- and now I'm wishing I'd had the $$$ to be taking lessons all along, because I learned SO much. I used Kandy, the HyperBike, and our brand new Camptown harness. Thanks to all the posts I've read about harness fit here, he only had 1 minor adjustment to make (he raised the breeching up a hole). He also helped me adjust my Bike so I'm able to more comfortably get into a proper driving posture. He dropped the stirrups and moved them toward Kandy about 2" on each side, and tilted my seat back further. Feels much better.
I told Andy that I wanted to work on bending, since both Skip and Kandy have a tendency to counterbend often and I'm having a hard time correcting that. After about 5 minutes of watching me warm Kandy he asked to hop in because she was avoiding contact, and he was trying to figure out why. He told me that she is not able to "take" contact (not much anyway), so that is something we'll be working on. He also wanted to switch bits- I had her in a teeny Glory fixed cheek liverpool, but I've also been driving her in Skippy's bean link butterfly, so we switched bridles- and yes, we unhitched to do this! Kandy went along much better with the bean link bit, BUT the bridle also had open cheeks so we aren't sure which made the difference, the bit or the bridle, so I'll be driving her in the bean link with blinders as well to see how she goes.
He spent a few minutes adjusting my posture in what felt like a major change! He told me to lean back, not straight, hold my hands up (closer to chest level), draw my reins toward the upper center of my chest, and hold my reins like I'm going to "high tea" (LOL!) with my fingertips holding the reins. This felt SO WEIRD, but I will say, it certainly seemed to help once we got going! He also told me to stop looking at Kandy, because doing so means I'd always be reacting to what had happened strides ago, and if I look up and ahead, I can feel what she's doing and correct before it becomes a problem. He also wanted me to look WAY ahead in my turns (to help me get my eyes off her, as well as to help her with bending through the turns). Honestly, I had so much trouble turning that he stood in the middle and made me look at him the whole time as we went around!! And it worked- by the end of the lesson, it was much easier for me to stop looking at Kandy. That's definitely a habit I'm going to have to work hard to break.
He had me do something that felt not-very-intuitive for me for bending her through turns. He had me hold a firm, steady contact with the outside rein, ask for a turn with the inside, then bring my rein back to even with the outside rein (so I wasn't pulling it back toward me)- then I "flicked" the rein toward her with my wrist, picked up contact again, flicked, picked up contact, and kept repeating this quickly throughout the turn, all the while looking way toward the inside. I wish I could remember exactly his reasoning behind this- I know he said he wanted Kandy to eventually draw the outside rein as she bends properly, and not lean against the inside reins (hence I should flick it away so she can't lean). I am so uncoordinated that I really had trouble with this, so most of my lesson consisted of him telling me when I was doing it right, and calling directions to me when I wasn't. I am going to really have to concentrate on what I'm doing when I'm practicing between lessons (our next lesson is in 2 weeks)! Kandy was using her body much better, and really tracking up when I was doing things right- it's nice to have instant feedback from her, now I just need to become better at picking up on it!!
Anyway, just wanted to share with you guys since I've picked up so much awesome information from here
I told Andy that I wanted to work on bending, since both Skip and Kandy have a tendency to counterbend often and I'm having a hard time correcting that. After about 5 minutes of watching me warm Kandy he asked to hop in because she was avoiding contact, and he was trying to figure out why. He told me that she is not able to "take" contact (not much anyway), so that is something we'll be working on. He also wanted to switch bits- I had her in a teeny Glory fixed cheek liverpool, but I've also been driving her in Skippy's bean link butterfly, so we switched bridles- and yes, we unhitched to do this! Kandy went along much better with the bean link bit, BUT the bridle also had open cheeks so we aren't sure which made the difference, the bit or the bridle, so I'll be driving her in the bean link with blinders as well to see how she goes.
He spent a few minutes adjusting my posture in what felt like a major change! He told me to lean back, not straight, hold my hands up (closer to chest level), draw my reins toward the upper center of my chest, and hold my reins like I'm going to "high tea" (LOL!) with my fingertips holding the reins. This felt SO WEIRD, but I will say, it certainly seemed to help once we got going! He also told me to stop looking at Kandy, because doing so means I'd always be reacting to what had happened strides ago, and if I look up and ahead, I can feel what she's doing and correct before it becomes a problem. He also wanted me to look WAY ahead in my turns (to help me get my eyes off her, as well as to help her with bending through the turns). Honestly, I had so much trouble turning that he stood in the middle and made me look at him the whole time as we went around!! And it worked- by the end of the lesson, it was much easier for me to stop looking at Kandy. That's definitely a habit I'm going to have to work hard to break.
He had me do something that felt not-very-intuitive for me for bending her through turns. He had me hold a firm, steady contact with the outside rein, ask for a turn with the inside, then bring my rein back to even with the outside rein (so I wasn't pulling it back toward me)- then I "flicked" the rein toward her with my wrist, picked up contact again, flicked, picked up contact, and kept repeating this quickly throughout the turn, all the while looking way toward the inside. I wish I could remember exactly his reasoning behind this- I know he said he wanted Kandy to eventually draw the outside rein as she bends properly, and not lean against the inside reins (hence I should flick it away so she can't lean). I am so uncoordinated that I really had trouble with this, so most of my lesson consisted of him telling me when I was doing it right, and calling directions to me when I wasn't. I am going to really have to concentrate on what I'm doing when I'm practicing between lessons (our next lesson is in 2 weeks)! Kandy was using her body much better, and really tracking up when I was doing things right- it's nice to have instant feedback from her, now I just need to become better at picking up on it!!
Anyway, just wanted to share with you guys since I've picked up so much awesome information from here
