Home today

 So... Mike was gone a lot longer than I thought today so I was able to sneak in a ride on Danny. :) I took Lyric to Ashland and then when I got back they were all in the far end of the pasture. So since I was already up there, I went ahead and lunged Funny first... then it was Dan's turn! :) 

He protested a little bit. Ha ha.. It is hot today although there was a great breeze. Given that I still wanted to do some weed killing and Dan did some "fitness" yesterday and then has a dressage lesson tomorrow and a hack with Sharon and Baylor... I figured we would just do some dressage and not try to hack the neighborhood. So that's what we did. 

 

We started off with our walk work and focused on the turn on the forehand and haunches without him just anticipating. I've managed to get him soft to my leg but he kind of goes on autopilot and keeps turning vs listening specifically for my aids. And then he kept wanting to invert or back up, so... we struggled a bit. But we did make some progress. Then we practiced our "square" turns. Then we did our stretchy trot to warm up. Then I asked for a working trot. We got a nice trot with me focusing on my body and not holding. Then we did some collecting with my core and seat aids only and I let him come up to shorten the reins vs me shortening the reins to get him to come up. It's still a struggle for me. It's a hard habit to break, but... I'm trying. He was quite nice today though. He still wants to lean on my right leg a little, but when I focused on turning my body and unlocking my right side, he got way better! We also played with some shoulder in and haunches in at the walk, and then we tried it at the trot. And then we did some trot half pass. It's not show ring ready, but... he stayed soft in the connection and was moving in the right direction with the right alignment. I don't think there was much cross over and it's probably closer to a reverse leg yield than a legit half pass, but... he was soft in the bridle, so I'm calling it a win! We then went to the canter and worked on letting go with my forearms and riding from my scapulas. It's crazy how that changes things. We got some nice canter work too. We played with counter canter serpentines and those went better today. We also played a little bit with canter half pass. And it's the same thing.. it's probably more of a reverse leg yield instead of a legit half pass, but... he stayed soft and his body moved where I asked it. I just need to learn how to keep my inside leg on while shifting my weight to the inside and using my outside leg to push him over. But I'll get there and I'm sure then he'll be brilliant. We were going to be done but I decided that I wanted to do a walk to canter so we played with that a little bit. I was trying hard to get myself to let go of that freakin' inside rein when I ask for the upward transition. I can't do it man! Ugh.. But we had some pretty decent transtions and then we had some nice downwards. He didn't quite melt into the walk like he did that one day at Ashland, but he did melt into a nice slow trot which quickly melted into a nice walk. 

 

So yeah.. he was a very good boy. He rode home via the pasture since the gate to Jean's driveway was busted. He got a good rinse but then rolled, so.. I'll probably have to rinse him  before we haul to our lesson tomorrow. Doh! But of course.