After 10 days holiday in London England, to see our son, David and I got home and the next day I was back on Biasini. He had not had too much holiday as Belinda Trussell had kept him tuned up while I was away. So here’s how it goes when I come back after a break.
Day 1 I managed to mount up which is always a challenge for me. I have both hips replaced and the right one has never really liked the whole mounting up, swinging the leg up and over part. So I sort of crawl into the saddle and Biasini waits patiently until I am well and truly on and both feet into the stirrups and then he gets a sugar.
Once I was on I was pleased to find I could still remember how to ride fairly well and my body did not complain too much about anything. While we were away I had walked a good 20 miles every day and gone up and down more stairs in the Underground ( subway) than I ever would on the stair master at the gym so despite a large number of very good and very high calorie meals I felt like I was in good shape!
I rode for a good 45 minutes and all went well.
Day 2 I went to the gym in the morning and did a light work out and stretching of all the important body parts. Afternoon I rode. Well…. I clambered on and wowzers! All of those ligaments, tendons and muscles that hold the hip joints together were shrieking: “OMG! You’re not riding again are you?” So it took a few minutes to let all that settle down. Sometimes I would like to have a little screwdriver tool that I could insert into my replaced hips and just give them a few turns to loosen things up a bit.
Biasini was willing to work, as he always is, so we went through some forward and back trot work and some canter and pirouette canter exercises. I thought it best to actually practice some of the exercises Belinda had been working on with me before I went away because I had a lesson booked for the next day!
Day 3 The Lesson
My lesson was at 9am. So I was on by 8:50 to walk Biasini and get my legs relaxed into position. We started up with a brisk warm up. Belinda likes to see that Biasini is sharp and responsive to my aides and she wants to see that right away! Response in one stride not ten or not half of a 20 meter circle! After a brief trot warm up we moved on to forward and back in the canter in the warm up frame.
You can hear Belinda telling me to use more leg in the coming back and less hand to bring him back. Always less hand. Keep him light. Relax my wrists. In the next clip you can hear her counting the six strides forward and six strides back. For me the back is the harder part as Biasini is always very willing to go forward.
After the warm up we moved on to trot work in the higher frame. Again more leg needed from me to get him more engaged. I was about to despair of ever getting it when I just decided to JUST GO FOR IT. And there it was . There was the swing! I’m afraid David, my videographer, had left by then. Next time!
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