Streeeeeeeetch.

Today Roanie and I had one of those "Aha moments," where suddenly, something that my trainer has been telling me to do for months finally sunk in and all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. For years, before I began riding with my current trainer, Lisa, every dressage lesson had been focused on me being relaxed and loose, because if I had tension in my body, the horse can't be relaxed and loose. It's a very common riding style among amateur riders, we see loose floppy ankles, over exaggerated pelvis movement, and bumpy unsteady hands. A lot of instructors train their pupils to ride like that.

Since I began riding Roanie, Lisa has been telling me to "squeeze" my legs against her when she drops her nose out of the sky and quits being fussy with the contact. In my head I couldn't comprehend why on Earth I would want to squeeze after she did what I asked. It seemed so backwards and I couldn't really commit myself to doing what she asked of me. In my dressage lesson today Roanie was especially fussy with the contact and wasn't staying consistent in the bridle. Lisa was telling me every other stride when her nose would go down to squeeze her with my calves, but stubborn old me had been drilled from other trainers that tension is bad. Finally after about twelve frustrating twenty meter circles of Roanie flipping her head up and down I gave in and squeezed the daylights out of her. I assumed she would rush forward and get in touch with her inner giraffe but what happened surprised me. She instantly relaxed, accepted the bit contact, and settled into a lovely trot.

I learned that with Roanie, because she's so sensitive, when I'm not squeezing and holding my body still she assumes that every time I move, I am telling her to do something. She was suffering from sensory overload. When I squeeze, my body stays still, and Roanie doesn't have to decipher what every single leg wiggle is asking her to do. After this shocking discovery we were able to do something with Roanie that we hadn't been able to do at all with her, ask for the stretchy trot. She was able to stretch down for the first time and keep the contact. It was so exciting!