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Jul. 12th, 2008 08:26 pmWork has been nuts. I hadn't ridden since Tuesday, so last night I turned Trudi out to blow off some steam. She cantered around and jumped in the air and kicked out with her front legs, and basically had a good time playing for a little while. The sunset was spectacular, and the evening was really pleasant. It was fun to just admire my horse (I think she's beautiful) and enjoy being outside.
Good lesson today. GORGEOUS weather- not too hot, and the air was clean and crisp. Trudi was ready to go but not silly. She felt good as soon as I got on. We warmed up quickly and she broke to canter a few times without being asked, but wasn't spooky and even worked well in the BC. We did some nice stuff today- I sat on my left seatbone more often and bent her more with my body and less with my reins. We worked on really making her bend and I did a better job of not giving up/giving in, and tried to ask a little more clearly with my body when we struggled. I even pushed her onto the bit a couple of times when she got a little ancy. It wasn't perfect, but there was a lot of happiness in our work, and I love that. We did lots of trot/canter/trot/canter transitions- basically half trot and half canter on 15 m circles. I still braced too much on my reins when she got quick- I hate that- she gets quick, I lose my balance and roll back on my butt, and my legs sneak forward out from under me. I end up trying to slow her down with the reins and then she leans. Trainer had me work on sticking my butt to the saddle more and letting my legs down- it was hard but it's so much better when I control her with my seat. We had a few laps that were really good. We finished up with a training levelish "test" which trainer thought up and called, and it wasn't bad at all.
Good lesson today. GORGEOUS weather- not too hot, and the air was clean and crisp. Trudi was ready to go but not silly. She felt good as soon as I got on. We warmed up quickly and she broke to canter a few times without being asked, but wasn't spooky and even worked well in the BC. We did some nice stuff today- I sat on my left seatbone more often and bent her more with my body and less with my reins. We worked on really making her bend and I did a better job of not giving up/giving in, and tried to ask a little more clearly with my body when we struggled. I even pushed her onto the bit a couple of times when she got a little ancy. It wasn't perfect, but there was a lot of happiness in our work, and I love that. We did lots of trot/canter/trot/canter transitions- basically half trot and half canter on 15 m circles. I still braced too much on my reins when she got quick- I hate that- she gets quick, I lose my balance and roll back on my butt, and my legs sneak forward out from under me. I end up trying to slow her down with the reins and then she leans. Trainer had me work on sticking my butt to the saddle more and letting my legs down- it was hard but it's so much better when I control her with my seat. We had a few laps that were really good. We finished up with a training levelish "test" which trainer thought up and called, and it wasn't bad at all.
