Today....today was a good day! I honestly wasn't expecting that. Ha! Sad, but true.
I got to my lesson and got Dan tacked up. I was running a little late but managed to do a teensy bit of pillar work before Rana got there. Although he was distracted and not really releasing. So she asked how it was going and I was like... "Well, it's a good thing I like foxhunting!". Doh! I basically told her that his tongue won't stay in.... about how Kelli mentioned it's a game for him now.... and how I wasn't sure if I was doing anything right... if he was doing what he was supposed to be doing....
So, rather than her getting on and starting him, she had me get on so she could see what we were doing. We started out walking and we were doing okay. But I had a few epiphanies or breakthroughs I guess. :) And, with the bit raised up higher in his mouth, he only stuck his tongue out twice the whole lesson! yay! So, I have to remember to keep the walk slow. I get distracted with focusing on other things and forget. He uses speed as a form of avoidance. We also talked about the connection. She kept telling me to lower my hands and I asked her what she meant. Because I felt like when I lowered my hands (ie, dropped them closer to the withers) that it was creating a straightness in my elbow and minimizing my suppleness. And... she explained it, but I'm still not entirely sure I get what she means, but she did help me with the feel so I think I got it. Basically... It's the whole elastic connection. Which duh! I mean, I know I know this, but I am not entirely sure I've even gotten that correct feel. It's hard too because Dan bounces around so much in the connection. So I know to ride from my elbows and my shoulder blades, not my hands. I know to keep an elastic feel. I even know that if he ducks behind the connection, I need to bring my hands back. But I didn't quite appreciate how LIGHT that can be. Basically... just enough connection to keep the slack out of the reins. And that's it. No more than that. I mean, that's the goal. Obviously it won't be like that instantly. So, I played with that... I played with keeping the connection soft and focused on feeling what he was giving me vs what I was asking. In other words, I used the reins more as a listening device than as a directing device. And I think Dan liked it. He felt much softer and lighter in the connection. Cool beans! It also made it apparently how much he hangs on that outside/left rein and how much I hang back. So that was a neat "epiphany" today.
Then we went to the trot and she reminded me not to use my spur or my heel, but my seat and core and flap my legs if needed and get out. Which is a hard habit to break, but I worked on it. She also had me ride haunches right(in) on the figure 8 without changing the haunches right even when we changed direction. And that was more done with my seat and weight aids than my leg aids. We also worked on getting a nice slow trot and keeping him unlocked. Oh, and even in the walk, she said that when he braces... don't go to his head to fix it. Fix it using lateral suppleness, so... leg yield in, leg yield out, shoulder in, or any other lateral things. So we worked on that. And then we worked on a half halt in the trot. So she had me walk then trot then walk fairly quickly to get him hot to the aids and also to start the half halt thought. Then I kept the trot and thought halt but kept going and we got some good half halts. I could feel him staying round and through and lifting and using the hind end. I told her that while I couldn't tell when he was collapsing in his thoracic sling/withers by feeling for that, but I could tell when he was rocked back and under and bouncier. I told her it almost felt piaffe-y. I know it's nowhere near a real piaffe, but in my world, it felt like it was going towards that. So she said that it is what I want to be feeling... that engagement of the hind end and the quick hind end. So we did a bit more trotting and had some nice work. 
He also started blowing and snorting at one point and was snatching the reins out of my hands. She told me that when he gets rooty and snatchy, NOT to yank him back.. and definitely not to throw the reins away and let him stretch, because then I'm rewarding bad behavior. She told me to kick him on. So I must remember to do that.
I then let him graze some as a reward. And it's interesting, because in general (not always and there are moments where he's back to full crankysaurus) he seems to be a bit more interested in engaging with me and a bit less cranky. He still made faces at Rana, and especially Freddie tonight, but... he seems to be less cranky with me and even almost initiates interaction some. So that makes my heart happy!
And then this afternoon, after I turned him out and he rolled and rolled and rolled... later he and Funny were galloping around and playing. He just seemed happy today. :) So I'm hoping that this means we're doing the right things.
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