Saturday, November 14, 2009

Circles

Sometimes, I wish there was a giant compass in the arena.


This way, when I want to do a 20m circle, I will do a 20m circle! Not a half circle (we seem to like to drift straight on the far side, especially on the left rein). Not a 17.653m circle. 20m. 20 true meters! Really, is it that hard?? Don't even get me started on 10m circles or voltes!

I am pretty good at Math. I actually like algebra & geometry. As a researcher, I am constantly testing hypotheses with statistical analyses. But apparently I suck at circles. Oh, I can ride a nice enough circle alright...if I don't try to think about anything else at the same time :-/

Perhaps I'm exaggerating, perhaps I read too much Mugwump (is that even possible??), but I do know that although my circles may be "ok" they are not balanced things of beauty all that often. I want my silver path, damn it!

All I need is a giant compass. I could set the circumference, draw the line in the sand, and ride it. I would have a path to follow, freeing my limited mental resources to things like balancing, outside reins, bending etc. Yeah...

All I need is a giant compass...


edits - the video on the last post was a bit weird,
it cut off the right side of the screen, sorry.

3 comments:

HorseOfCourse said...

Glad the work with Brumby is going well!

Circles, and straight lines, sounds so easy - but they are not, are they? LOL!

Melissa-ParadigmFarms said...

What HorseOfCourse asid - circles and straight lines are NOT easy!

RuckusButt said...

Agreed! One woman I ride with is a mathemetician - you should see her circles, they are spot on! Doesn't seem to matter much what horse she's on either, it's pretty neat.

Now that you mention it, I could use a ruler in there too ;)