For all those who responded to this post, Thanks so Much!!
Looks like I've jumped from the frying pan into the fire.
I found a new instructor, not dressage, hunt seat. I had a terrible
experience and have been knocked to ground 0 in confidence.
I rode a young Paint gelding. His demeanor was lazy, she had me tack
him up with a copper twisted wire snaffle, and wear blunts. I was
told that there was little contact with the mouth, and she had my
stirrups so high, I felt like a jockey going to the races. Having a
low back fusion, I could not bend enough to get a good seat.
To shorten the story, this horse kept falling into the center of the
ring, and I had NO control. I tried to half halt, gather him up to
get him back on the rail. I used my inside leg as hard as I could
short of outright kicking. Nothing helped. We spiraled into an
outright fight, him bucking, me fearing the jump we were headed to
crash into. I went into defense mode and pulled him into a circle to
regain control. I was yelled at for doing this. I'm sure I was
wrong, but no one was helping me out of this situation so I had to do
SOMETHING!
She told me to turn his nose into the rail at the spook, and put more
leg on him. So I did. He responded a little better the first time
by, but started into the center of the ring the next time. I didn't
battle him (I can learn), but we are headed for a collision course
with the jump again. I did what she said...pulled his nose toward the
rail....his inside shoulder fell into the spot I didn't want to go,
and I'm pushing with everything I have on my inside leg....which was
totally ignored by the horse. I am tired, frustrated and scared.
I convinced her to lower my stirrups to get a better seat. She
finally relented and WOW, what a difference...she just kept saying, "I
can't believe you never rode with a short stirrup before"? Is that
something you say to a student??
We rode on, and he started up the same tricks again. The instructor
got on him and was blatantly kicking this horse with the inside spur
constantly. She told me to gather and let go....in other words,
collect him and release. I lilterally did what she told me, I
gathered him up then released the pressure on his mouth and his sides.
It seemed to make the horse more confused and rebellious....it was so
awful!!
She did not ride this horse the way she was telling me to ride the
horse, and when I pointed it out to her, she told me, "When an
instructor tells you to do something, you sometimes have to do
something else to get the horse to do what you want". At this point I
had to blow off some steam from the frustration and replied back, "If
this were my horse, I'd work for the next three weeks to teach him how
to get off my leg rather than kicking him with a spur constantly".
I might have offended her, and I'm sure I was wrong. Why did it get
so bad? What could I have done to build my confidence and this
horse's confidence to get through these blow-ups??
The horse would rise above the bit and hollow his back and ignore me,
running sideways into objects. How can I correct this before a crash
takes place?? What did I do wrong?? How can I work through my fears?
I feel so helpless and stupid.
Thanks Again,
Karen