![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
So we had a lesson on Saturday and I thought it was going to be a mess. It's still cold here (although that was the warmest day last week) so I'm still not back to a regular schedule during the week. A shoer was there working on someone's young hourse and Trudi seemed zany so I let her run around for a minute before I got on, and I figured things weren't going to go so well.
Jessica started us out working walk/halt transitions. I have never had such good halts. I never even knew I could do a really good halt. My Podhajasky reading combined with the lesson made a huge difference. At first our halts were crooked, not through, and Trudi was coming above the bit, but we worked on getting them straight, keeping my leg on, and giving in the rein just as she came to a stop. As she got more and more through we got the connnection and KEPT it in the halt, which I don't think I've ever been able to do- I've always managed to drop the horse and never kept enough leg on.
After that we moved on to the trot, and again getting her through was the name of the game, along with getting my position a bit better by really getting me to bring my inside shoulder back. I didn't realize how much she had resisted this, and at first she was not very happy about it. But eventually Trudi got really in tune with me. She was great in the bridle and kept a very steady connection, and we started doing shoulder in and haunches in on the circle just by me thinking about the placement of her hind feet. It was like a lesson we had a couple of months ago where suddenly I knew exactly where her hind feet were and I could just think about where I wanted her to set her hooves, and she would do it. I love that. I could feel her left hind was just a bit slow, and that it wanted to trail a little, and while it's better to have a quicker leg that's stepping under more-- just being able to feel this is a thrill for me, because a while ago I wouldn't have been able to tell.
I must have been sitting very well too, because my abs were screaming. Delicate me sat there gasping and grunting away till I couldn't take it anymore, and I had to take a walk break. Trudi decided we were finished, and kept trying to put herself on a loose rein. "WE'RE DONE HERE."
I gathered the reins back up she decided she was rarin' to go and shied and scooted when we cantered. Jessica had us do some trot circles around her in the boogeyman corner and Trudi was like, "Oh, yeah, I guess we're just gonna trot here, fine." So she didn't seem very scared, just bratty. We worked some more canter/trot transitions, which were rough and ugly but got her listening, and then did one really great canter-trot transition and called it a day.
Of course for the next 2 days my abs were burning- wish I could ride that way 4 or 5 times a week- I'd have a six-pack in no time. ^_^
Jessica started us out working walk/halt transitions. I have never had such good halts. I never even knew I could do a really good halt. My Podhajasky reading combined with the lesson made a huge difference. At first our halts were crooked, not through, and Trudi was coming above the bit, but we worked on getting them straight, keeping my leg on, and giving in the rein just as she came to a stop. As she got more and more through we got the connnection and KEPT it in the halt, which I don't think I've ever been able to do- I've always managed to drop the horse and never kept enough leg on.
After that we moved on to the trot, and again getting her through was the name of the game, along with getting my position a bit better by really getting me to bring my inside shoulder back. I didn't realize how much she had resisted this, and at first she was not very happy about it. But eventually Trudi got really in tune with me. She was great in the bridle and kept a very steady connection, and we started doing shoulder in and haunches in on the circle just by me thinking about the placement of her hind feet. It was like a lesson we had a couple of months ago where suddenly I knew exactly where her hind feet were and I could just think about where I wanted her to set her hooves, and she would do it. I love that. I could feel her left hind was just a bit slow, and that it wanted to trail a little, and while it's better to have a quicker leg that's stepping under more-- just being able to feel this is a thrill for me, because a while ago I wouldn't have been able to tell.
I must have been sitting very well too, because my abs were screaming. Delicate me sat there gasping and grunting away till I couldn't take it anymore, and I had to take a walk break. Trudi decided we were finished, and kept trying to put herself on a loose rein. "WE'RE DONE HERE."
I gathered the reins back up she decided she was rarin' to go and shied and scooted when we cantered. Jessica had us do some trot circles around her in the boogeyman corner and Trudi was like, "Oh, yeah, I guess we're just gonna trot here, fine." So she didn't seem very scared, just bratty. We worked some more canter/trot transitions, which were rough and ugly but got her listening, and then did one really great canter-trot transition and called it a day.
Of course for the next 2 days my abs were burning- wish I could ride that way 4 or 5 times a week- I'd have a six-pack in no time. ^_^
