First Lesson with Mr.Myners

Last week I had a lesson with Mr. Myners. He has been coming to Heike’s and working with her for over 4 years. He is better known as the Balimo Chair Guy, he told me this. Haha. Anyhow, it was incredible. He watched me ride, walk, trot, and canter for 10-15 minutes then I got off my horse and did some exercises. First I had to lie on my back with my knees bent, hip distance apart and try to move my hips from 6 o’clock to 12 o’clock. You have to think of the motion of your seat in terms of clock. Then I had to move from 6 to 9 for the left lead canter and 6 to 3 for the right lead canter. 6 to 12 was a piece of cake, right lead wasn’t too bad, but I could barely move from 6 to 9 or left lead canter. Maybe this explains why I always feel crooked to the left! Hmm! Then I got back on my horse and did sitting trot for a few circles to feel a little bit of a difference, trying to move with the motion of the horse and have it continue through my body and be absorbed. I returned to the mat and lay on my back with my knees in the same position but I moved them side to side. Letting my knees fall from right to left and back to right all in one fluid motion. I kept my knees apart a little bit so that I could try to make the switching without tension in my thighs. I then had to move my head to the opposite direction that I was moving my legs. So knees to the right, head to the left. Not so easy. Again I got back on my horse, did a few circles sitting trot, and felt a huge difference. I was actually moving with the horse and didn’t have to use my muscles to stay on. But I still wasn’t deep enough in the saddle to really influence the horse, I was just moving with the horse a bit better. So I did a few more exercises. I laid stomach down on the mat and bend my knees. I moved one knee out to the side, almost level with my hip and had to raise my opposite leg. Sounds confusing, it was. Then Mr. Myners pressed down on the leg that I was to rise and I had to push as hard as I could against it. When he released the pressure it was much easier to raise my leg higher with my other knee extended to the side. I got back on my horse and did a few more circles of sitting trot, still I felt an improvement but still I wasn’t deep enough into the saddle. So here comes the tricky part! This blew my mind. While on the horse, Mr. Myners asked me to do eye circles. Just make a big circle with my eyes, to the left then to the right! I seriously could not do this. I was making a square. I looked posed, Heike said. So I got off my horse and sat down on the stool and Mr., Myners had me follow his finger with my eyes. He made big, slow circles, and then changed it up with some figures of 8, then random lines. It was really difficult for me to follow with just my eyes. But I got back in the saddle and sat the trot and I was able to sit much deeper. My whole sessions lasted about an hour. It was tough work, but truly I felt several differences in my seat. Of course the next day I couldn’t get the feeling back to save my life but he said that would happen. So we will work together again this week and find more exercises to strengthen my seat.

Hope this made a bit of sense....

Meaghan