Playing catch-up

I swear I rode last week, I've just been too busy to get the pictures off my camera and post about it. So for now I'll post without the pictures and then maybe tonight I'll have time to get them.

Sunday (over a week ago now) Kate and I tag teamed so she could show me what she and Gayle had worked on. Some of it I was proud of myself for having already been doing, which was focusing on getting him to soften/yield his neck and have his nose follow my inside rein as the #1 step. Then once he's doing that reliably we check that he's on the outside aides by doing spiral in/out. She relayed Gayle's comment that people typically brace with the leg they're yielding towards. By softening my inside (or outside) leg Pro was able to step under and over much easier and there was a lot less resistance. Kate tried to have me do the pause at the halt where just relaxing sends him forward, but I failed at it. But in general he was pretty good. Kate was going to not ride since he was being so good, but I convinced her to do the trot work in the other direction. She demonstrated the halt pauses and they worked for her.

Tuesday (? It could have been Thurs, I forget what days I rode ;)) I pushed the limits some and expected him to stay soft and yielding in his neck during our spirals in and out. The spiraling went ok, but he really did not want to stay soft and supple during the turns on the haunches. I tried the pausing-halts some more and figured out that the key thing I'd been missing was maintaining contact. On Sunday when I'd halt I would relax my reins and then he'd sit there relaxed and stopped all day. But if I kept a feel of the reins, then he would stay 'alive' at the end of them and walk forward when I softened my seat. He was doing so well that we worked on cantering some and even did some flying lead changes on the figure-8. He didn't always get the cleanest changes (he's not as balanced yet at the canter so he's on his forehand a lot of the time) but he stayed calm and I was VERY proud of him that even after doing 7 or 8 changes in the center I could just use my seat to bring him down to the trot for a simple change.

Friday we were supposed to have a lesson, but Gayle was detained by a sick horse at the vet school, so I just rode on my own for awhile. He was pretty stiff and resistant in his neck so there was a lot more work getting him to yield reliably. He was going fairly well towards the end, but I didn't push it with any canter work.

Pics will be up soon hopefully! For the next two weeks Kate and I are holding down the fort while the barn manager is at the World Cup and then Rolex, so we'll see how much riding gets done after feeding, cleaning stalls, etc.