Today's lesson was fun. Alando was gone (to a lesson with Kim's daughter I think) and Glory was still in heat. Jessie was easy to catch still, he came right up to the gate as usual, as did Glory. She was especially hard to shoo away today, but I got her moved away and we got ready. It's been nice not having to deal with a muddy horse before a lesson, it hasn't rained for two weeks. Of course, now that I said that, it will probably pour between now and Sunday.
Jessie was calling a lot for his pasture buddies so we worked on a lot of showmanship while getting him warmed up. After he was focusing on me I took the opportunity to undo his girth and move the saddle forward a couple of inches and tighten the girth again. The showmanship made a huge difference in his demeanor though, he was quiet and easy to walk on a loose rein. So we warmed up, having trouble with long and low because he was tense and fast, but overall pretty nice.
Once Kim arrived we started the real work and began with working on our trot around the whole arena. Jessie wasn't bending well so we worked on sidepassing arcs, but making sure to take a step that was both forward and sideways each time, not just sideways and not backwards in any way. We added the whip, though I only had to use it once, just to remind Jessie that he was to respond to my leg. Then we worked more on trotting and bending...
Jessie was a little fast, so we worked on BIG half halts. Basically I was to think and ask for halt, and then asking for the forward trot again. Once he got his rhythm down and to a more reasonable rate we were able to concentrate on bending and started doing a 10 meter circle once we reached the wall. After doing a good circle we would stay on the rail in shoulder in.
We have progressed enough at the shoulder in that I am no longer allowed to celebrate doing it right after we finish and just let him go. Now I need to continue riding and straighten him back onto the track so that we can ride deep into the corner. No more riding forward quickly and not caring what the short side looks like, lol. After doing that in both directions we went back on the 20 meter circle, alternating between sitting trot and canter. I worked on getting him to be more responsive and more quickly. Most transitions were done while crossing the centerline on the 20 meter circle at B. The big focus was not bracing with my hands, allowing him to stay round and supple, while also making sure we kept the proper bend and sinking my weight into my seat for the downward transitions. Then for the upward we got to the point where I would just weight my inside seat bone and think about sliding my outside leg back a bit and he would canter. Our upward transitions were much nicer than the downward transitions. We worked on that in both directions and then we were done.
We only had one walk break, so I think it was a good sign that our fitness is improving. Next week will be a real test, there are no classes on Monday so I'll be doing a lesson on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Craig is going to come video/photograph Monday's lesson so I should be able to post pictures. We'll play with the videocamera so that hopefully I'll be able to video my own lessons after that and get screenshots for pictures.
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