Better... but I've got to give up on some things

So... I rode today and started out with some flatwork. I adjusted Dan Tuesday evening and on Wed, when Freddie came to do his feet he commented on how square his pelvis was. ;) Ha! Good thing. So... I was hoping that he'd be much nicer to ride. And.. he was, but not perfect. Of course I'm sure it's because I'm not perfect. 


It started out a little frustrating again but I was able to stop and not get too frustrated and we ended up having some good work. I had to really think about putting more weight into my right leg and seat, but not just leaning into it... lengthening that right leg and sinking my weight into it. I did some no stirrup work and it helped a little but wasn't really working as well as I wanted because it created the tendency for my leg to creep up. But I think it did help. I was able to get a nice canter with my seat staying in the saddle (I think anyways!) and my legs behaving. Whether my toe did or not... I just had to let that go.
 
We actually got some really nice 3 loop canter serpentines too, even to the right. I had to think about keeping my weight in the right long leg and keeping the left outside rein half halts. Then I moved to the big arena and lost it but got it back. Peri was saying my right leg was slipping back and asking him, but... I don't think that's entirely it. I mean, that might be the problem, but I cannot make my leg go forward and fix the problem. I think that when I think about bringing my right leg forward I end up jamming my right seat bone into him. But when I think about keeping my weight in a long straight right leg and keeping the outside rein, I end up keeping the counter canter. 
 
So while I'm still frustrated with my body position and still want to fix it, I am also realizing that I cannot make my body do something it's not able to do and I am not wanting to risk ruining Dan's body for sake of the perfect picture. If my toes stick out... oh well. For now at least. But.. Kelli and I are planning to video each others' next ride so that we can see what we're doing, then try to fix it and video it again, so we can compare. I'm hoping that this will help me figure it out.

Then we had a wonderful trail ride. We decided to try letting Danny trot in the middle and see if that worked. He was nice and tired after dressaging and it was such a warm day (I was in a t-shirt and he got sweaty!), I thought it might be a good recipe. Plus we had already trotted in front and he was polite and didn't cavort on the moguls. And with Peri in the back, maybe he wouldn't feel like he was in the back. Maybe it's not that he's not in front, but that he doesn't want to be last. ???? But regardless of what the reason was, it worked. Kelli kept her mare from going too big and maybe that helped too? Danny was fairly polite trotting behind her. He was curled up and almost on top of her, but he was polite and didn't canter. And Peri was able to get Roux to open up his stride a bit to try to catch up with us.  We didn't go very far or very long but it was good!! I won that battle and Danny was good. :) 

So yep.. beautiful day and good rides!