Liz is the best!! Oh what a fun day. Especially when I was cranky because I didn't have my truck. She came over to teach me a lesson on Funny and agreed to do Dan too and then help me with Lyric. And it was a fun day! And... Liz is amazing. She did homework! She watched some western dressage videos and did some research on the rules and such and prepared! Better than I did! :) Seriously impressed and genuinely honored that she went above and beyond for me.
Dan was pretty filthy but I did a quick grooming and threw the bareback pad on and then the bosal and headed up to the arena. Liz said that he looked good, body wise. And we talked and she said she really thought that western dressage was going to be his jam. But she warned me that he was going to go on the forehand at first... and stay there for about 3 months, but then he would lift back up. So to be aware of it and not concerned by it. She likened it to building up a nice hunter too. And then she mentioned that she thought it could quite possibly build him up enough that he could go back to jumping some. So... cool! We'll see. But it doesn't matter. I'm sure I'll hop him over some logs here and there but I'm okay with not doing more. But she did mention that jumping him over some logs will be good for lightening up his front end again. She watched him go to warm up and said he looked sound but agreed he was dragging his toes. She said it looked more like lack of engagement than lameness, although once he was moving better, the right hind was still dragging a little. So, probably a tiny bit of lameness/biomechanical issues. But not bad. And she said he looked happy! Awwww.. I hope so! I do think he much prefers the bosal to a bit.
We didn't do a ton of work but started off at the walk to make sure we had a halt. She wanted to install a one rein stop. So we practiced that. She had me take one hand and pull it straight back, from my elbow, until he was halted. Not once he started halting, but hold it until he stops. This is because we don't want to confuse the aids with a half halt or a turn. And I had to go back from the elbow... not to the side... not up. And it could be inside or outside rein.. didn't matter. We practiced with both reins and both directions and he got quicker and quicker. Cool! We talked about how in the beginning, I had to be rather "gross" or "amplified" in my aids until he figured it out and then, we would keep finessing it until it was super tiny and subtle. YES! That's what I want!
So then we worked on turning. The one rein stop is to stop. And that's straight back. To turn, I open my rein. And I got a bit confused and was opening it way more than I needed. Although sometimes I had to pull on him a bit. But in retrospect... and in a way of teaching him to neck rein so I can eventually convert to one handed riding, I can just move both hands to the right or both hands to the left. But only TO THE WITHER. Not past the wither. I'm never allowed to cross the neck.. english or western :) If I want to turn right, I can move my right hand open and move my left hand to the wither. This puts the left rein against his neck, thus neck reining him, but also encourages him to follow my opening right hand into a right hand turn. And again, eventually I can do this with just a tickle of the reins in my finger. Maybe. Hopefully! There is an art to it though... it's a bit of a delayed, slow, and pulsed aid. So if I'm doing a half circle, I should open my rein for two or three steps, then soften, then open my rein for two or three steps, then soften. Ask, allow, then soften to let him glide/follow through, then ask again. It sort of smooths it out. I got a bit too handsy and a bit too quick and big and didn't give it time to follow through, so we got a little fish tail/sling shot-y. I asked, then asked too much, then stopped asking, before he could even do it, so then he'd do it, and I'd have to ask for the opposite to correct the over ask. So... slow it down, breathe, ask small, wait... recieve... ask small, wait, recieve. And it helped. We didn't ping pong around as much. I also had to sit up and lift my inside shoulder to help lift his inside shoulder and then sit down and back on the outside hind. And I could use my outside leg to help guide him around. We talked about how I needed to pick a path... does leg mean move into my leg and around it, or does leg mean move away from pressure. While I want to ask him to bend around my leg, I think it'll be less confusing if I focus on asking him to move away from pressure, so... that's how I'm choosing to be consistent.
We then moved to the trot and Liz told me that she did think I needed a whip to help encourage so I didn't nag every stride. Instead of kicking every stride, she told me to sit up and wrap my legs around him and think of lifting him up. Ahhhh, it definitely helped! He didn't necessarily get quicker with his limbs, which is what I think I want... but he felt like his hind end got quicker and more engaged. Which, even better!!! That's actually what I want! Faster doesn't mean more engagement Holly! So that was cool. And when he putz's out, I can whomp him with my leg or tap him with my stick, but... I need to not be nagging every stride. Maybe once a quarter of a circle!
We made sure we had a one rein stop at the trot, which we did! Then we did some turns at the trot. It was harder than I thought! I mean... like I can ride him in a halter and do a turn, but.. to do it all correctly is hard. I'm trying to learn new muscle memory. Because... I need to keep my hands low. And my elbows need to stay at my side. And my movements need to be smaller. But it was fun! We started to get the hang of it. And yes, I'm still way over-riding it, but.. I'll cut myself some slack for our first official western lesson.
Then, we tried the lope. And Liz had me try it from the trot because she felt that would be better for him. The first time, he sort of scrambled into it, but she thought it wasn't so much of a scramble as he just wasn't sure he heard the cue right. So we tried again and he got a pretty nice transition. He can't hold it long but he did sort of better than I expected! We went the other way and our transition upward was better. She told me that I was riding too "swingy" in my butt. She told me to "take it in the butt". Ha ha.. Excuse me but what?? Ha ha.. She meant that instead of sliding forward and back, like they tell you "wipe your butt on your saddle"... she wanted me to absorb the concussion in my seat... think of dribbling him vs swinging. Oh, just like with Funny! Lift him up into the saddle instead of riding the wave. And when I did that, he got much more collected and light and even tried to round himself up on his own! COOL! He fell out of it pretty quick, but that's okay. We haven't cantered but like 2 minutes total since July! And he probably hasn't done a ton of cantering in the field even.
