I didn't really "get it." Sure, I understand the concept, and I did it, but I did not really get it. And in riding doing it is just not enough, you have to "get it" in order to project the right message to your horse. So I had some pondering to do.
I will take you down the murky road of my thoughts:
All energy is to be created in the hindquarters, that is where the engine is. In the engine is the pistons that shoot that energy forward. The hips and buttocks of the horse fire, and shoot energy forward....... Like a pinball machine!!! And then I got it.
The hips are like the levers, firing a ball of energy forward. I take the ball with my inside leg, and fire it across the shoulders and it hits my outside rein lever. Ping Ping!!
The next time I rode I envisioned this process. We were attempting to the get the bend to Pippis' stiff side, her right. I felt her hip fire by the movement of her leg, and I captured the ball and sent it across her shoulder and it hit the outside rein. This made me move my leg a bit differently, not a lot, but it was not just a push over with my leg, it was an over and slight forward push. And it changed everything. Pippis' entire spine moved and lifted and she was perfectly bent. I could see the corner of her eye clearly, and she stayed that way until the next stride when I reminded her again.
If this was a movie, the music would have hit a crescendo at this point! AAAAAHHHHHH! I smiled from ear to ear at this point, and Pippi was petted and told what a good girl she is. Sometimes great moments are a little less dramatic, but to me, it was HUGE!!! And I am so looking forward to making more crazy analogies to "get" more stuff as we go along. What FUN!!
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