Progress Again

 What a pretty day! I snuck in a ride early and had a blast. Today was a GOOD day. I don't know if I got it right or was just less frustrated in general. Well, I do know.. Both! I focused on keeping a connection on the outside rein and worked more on having him be straight and upright, even if we had to do a bit of counter bending. And I also made sure to sit on my inside seat bone and open my shoulders to the inside (left) since I tend to shift my shoulders to the outside. And it really helped. Danny was much more rideable and I was able to keep him on the rail. (Side bar... I'm still a little worried that I've over thought this yet again and that I'm essentially relying on my outside aids to do the job instead of relying on my inside leg.... and I can still talk myself in circles). He felt more "square" or "four legs on the ground" too. And I was even able to sneak in some inside bend at times. We also had some really good transitions! And our canter did not include the twisted head. Whoo hoo. Even Kelli said that just from glancing over from the trailer she thought that Dan looked more upright and uphill and that I looked more "dressagey". Whoo hooo. 

I did have to kick a little more than I would have liked to get my walk to trot transitions so after our ride I worked on that a little. It helped. Then, because Kelli did it, I decided to just see what he would do if I asked for a canter from the walk. We only did it once and surprisingly, he did better than I expected. I asked and he picked up the trot for two steps and then went into the canter. Not too shabby little boy!! :) 

So yep... a great ride. I felt like we were both more correct and our transitions were smoother. He still wasn't quite as forward as I'm used to with Fleck, but I wasn't having to kick all the time. And we even did some spiral in and out which went pretty well. So yay!!! I'm so glad too, after yesterdays ride. Maybe I won't ruin him after all.

 After the ring work we headed to the trails for a quick reward/cool down. Danny was eager to trot in the woods so I opted to let him have a canter in the field. He was happy to canter politely.
 Getting our canter on

It was a great day. :)