making a sandwich

I am having trouble making a sandwich. The meat keeps falling out. I haven't made a good sandwich for a while. The longer time passes, the sloppier my sandwich gets. I tried to fix the sandwich myself, but didn't fully understand how important it was to make a sandwich that doesn't fall apart.

I used to make great sandwiches. It's easy when someone hands you the ingredients already put together. But after a while, if the sandwich isn't made the right way, the bread can get crumbly. If you don't hold both pieces of bread together, the sandwich will fall apart.

That is exactly what is happening with Koda and I. No, I am not eating my horse for lunch. I am trying to turn on the haunches, and in the process losing his back end. I didn't realize how much work my leg needs until the past couple rides.

Five of us were spending time on riding, instead of spending it shopping on Black Friday, when something I said to our trainer triggered a sandwich analogy. It was an aha moment for me. Already circulating inside my head were things like "forward movement, tip nose, progress to tighter circles, stop/close circle and ask for continued turn with leg, more outside rein" apparently my hubby can read my face and said "stop thinking so hard". Funny how well spouses know each other. Not so funny how close to impossible not thinking is for me.

Our trainer knows I've been trying hard to learn more about working with my horse, doing more then just riding. She's offered helpful tidbits throughout the past weeks. Our turns improved, but far from correct. I can understand things all I want, but doing them is the challenge. I'm also lacking in that feel thing again. Not only do I need to work on my leg to make a better sandwich, I need to feel when Koda is doing the turn right/wrong. Because if you keep doing it wrong, well, that's exactly what you are going to continue to get - a turn done wrong. Sometimes I can feel what his feet are doing, sometimes I can't. Maybe I need to shut my eyes again, haven't tried that yet. 

So, what's all this talk about horses and sandwiches anyways? Think about their front end being one slice of bread, and their back end being another slice of bread. The stuff in the middle is the meat of the sandwich. If you don't hold both ends of your sandwich (or horse) evenly, the meat will fall out.

Now that I understand the analogy, I am hungry to make a better sandwich.

Fall 2014