Training: Using seat bones.

Goal: To properly time and use my seat bones

Max is such a mellow fellow at the cross-ties at night in comparison to the hot, antsy guy in the mornings. It's almost like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde kinda deal..but maybe not so severe.

Mellow Max at night..

Tonight I focused on my seat bones and tried to use them as efficiently as possible. It is easy for me to forget them and rely on legs and reigns. I was inspired by this video posted by Simply Horse Crazy. You can really see the rider exaggerate her seat!

The other reason was that I bought Max a brand new Harwich bridle  and I wanted to break it in slowly..so the less I mess with his head the better until he gets comfy with it (The leather is still a bit stiff). I love the bridle..it fits him so much better than his old one , plus it's padded really nicely!

He was a little lazy tonight so I had to include some walk/trot/canter transitions in the warm-up to get him forward. He is starting to get a bit rushy in the canter departs now, so we need to work on that. Our last canter depart was nice though so I ended the canter work there.

By then he was softer and more forward. We did a bunch of serpentines and shallow serpentines where I'd put weight one seat bone, and upon switching directions, make sure I time it right and then switch over to the other. It was a bit of an eye-opener, not only in how I perceived my seat, but also on how sensitive he is to that pressure alone.

It really isn't just using the seat bone as it is timing it I noticed. Just like timing upward and downward transitions correctly. It's listening to your horse and his rhythm like no other, and I'm so excited to tap into that realm now that I can get him to move without me nagging all the time.

His stall was full of poop so I mucked it out and refilled his almost half-empty water bucket. Which I had to do again after I put him back in because he gulped down a bunch. That horse can drink!

Loving his new bridle!