Lesson day with Kelly! She called him a unicorn. She actually said "He really is a unicorn!". But she also reverted back to calling him Tuna. hee hee. I love that nickname for him. Tuna. So yep... #sardineawesome for the win!!!
Anyways.. we had a 7:30 am lesson this morning. Which, it was cooler temperature wise. But the humidity! Man the humidity! So sweaty! So so sweaty! Dan and I didn't get there early enough to do more than warm up in the arena, but we did a bit of walking and stretchy trotting. We started off our lesson with a nice trot. Kelly said he looked fantastic! Whoo hooo! Especially now as this was his fourth ride in a row! We got a nice trot and I focused on staying loose in my shoulders and upper body and swinging my right hip. I also had to tuck my tailbone. And we had a nice lovely connection too.
Then we played the submission game. Dan thought it was stupid. He knows what we're doing and doesn't need me to tell him! ha ha.. It's so good for him in so many ways. So we started off trotting on a circle. Then at A we would walk. Then back to trot at the rail. Then back to walk at C. Then back to trot at the rail. We were focusing on keeping his shoulders lined up and keeping him active. And soft through the transition. Then we changed it up a hair and walked at the rail and trotted on the centerlines. Then, we upped the ante by halting at the centerline and doing a turn on the forehand. Oh... there was definitely some back talk there. Hee hee. And he started anticipating and twirling around instead of listening to my leg aids. Like, our timing was impeccable so you almost couldn't tell he wasn't waiting for the ask before he went. He just would step just as I started or was about to start my aid. Because he's smart and knows that I want at least a 180 degree turn. hee hee. But we did manage to get him softer in the bridle when we turned. Kelly noticed that his left hind didn't want to step up and under as well that way. He would sometimes shuffle it or go behind, instead of coming up and under. We played with that for a bit and managed to get him going quite nicely and with minimal sass. But he was definitely thinking that he knew what we were doing better than I knew what we were doing. Hee hee. I adore him! Sassy pants and all.
We did a walk and stretch break and then went to the canter. We did the same thing in the canter. She had me ride his shoulders and activate his lift with my inside leg and outside half halts. Pretty much what Kim and Jess had been telling me to do. And wow!! We got a really nice canter. It wasn't small or short or mincy or slower. It was a legit collected canter. Wheeeeee!! And sure, he can only hold it for a few strides. Kelly told me to ride a working canter for 5 strides, then the collected canter for 3 strides, then working for 5 strides, then collected for 3 strides, then working for 5 strides then take a break. She said to do that for 2 months. I love that she gives me timelines and specifics. We laughed because otherwise I would have likely been ending up with 2 strides and 2 strides within 2 weeks. Too soon Holly too soon! He's got to build strength and stamina! She said though that when he breaks to the trot that is him telling me that it's hard. So... go to that place! If he's not breaking at least once in my ride, I'm not pushing him enough. But also, be reasonable and don't overdo it. Go to that point but don't stay there and don't drill it.
I did take him to the lake for a cool down. We ended up cantering a tiny bit to the lake in the XC field just because. But we did a cross country canter.. not a collected dressage canter. He got a sip in the lake but we were alone so he wasn't interested in playing. Then we headed to Raccoon Loop and crossed the creek and went up sideways and came out on Xc and headed in. He was silly... as we crossed that bridge right before the XC field he got all but his hind feet off of the bridge and startled. He tried to go backwards and I was getting a little freaked out because I didn't want him to spin and slip on that slick wood or fall off the side. I was trying super hard to give him confidence and send him forward but I also didn't push it. He ended up backing all the way back across the bridge. And then he was like "oh.. I'm being silly.. there's nothing" and walked back across, looked at the other side for a second, then walked on. Goofball!
But man I love this horse. He's just so much fun and has so much try!
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