Friday, May 16, 2014

That uphill feeling

My two favorite boys:  Bubba and Boo
So the last two flat schools have overall been good, in that we've reached good places and had lovely moments.  However, we've had to overcome a couple little hiccups.  Part of it is me, being too soft and and not being more proactive as a rider, as Soon is a smart horse and tends to anticipate what to do next.  Sometimes during stretch trot down the long sides (mostly tracking right which is his weaker side), he anticipates going into the leg yield.  When I correct him, he tenses slightly and speeds up, which leads to him speeding up down the next long side.  I corrected this by bringing him out of the stretch, onto a shorter rein and higher outline, and keeping him on the aids.  A few school figures and passes straight down the long sides, with him nicely balanced between my hand and leg fixed the issue.  I just need to remember to be more proactive, talk to him even more to keep him steady and relaxed, and to keep him guessing.  He has the routine down, and when he throws himself into his work (sometimes literally), it's tricky to do a reset and get him to listen to what I'm actually asking versus what he thinks I want.  We always get there though: soft, through, relaxed.

We had some really nice trot work today in the shorter outline, working on the connection phase of the training scale.  He's able to sustain that longer these days, and it's such an awesome feeling when he's really pushing from behind, up into the bridle on that shorter rein.  Very uphill!  We also had our first real shoulder-in at the trot today, he felt great in it.  I'm really looking forward to riding with some dressage trainers this year to see how much further we can progress, now that we have a great foundation underneath us thanks to the long and low training.


Hi cutie!

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