A steady connection - Finally!

Skate and I had a lesson on Saturday. After a week of vaca and a show going on at the barn, I expected the worst....and was pleasantly surprised! There was that one instance where a spectator had a giant black and white geometric print umbrella up and was twirling it - that turned Skate into a complete statue. His little pea brain could NOT process what the hell that thing was. Luckily, the umbrella user must have scared one of the special olympics horses in the show, b/c it was put down quickly.

The lesson topic of the day was straightness. We all know straight on a horse means anything but straight. It means the exact bend necessary for the figure and the one sidedness of that horse. My instructor even got confused when trying to explain how we should be positioned for a correct corner. Haunches in, haunches out, shoulder in, shoulder out, bend of neck, blah blah blah. Just ride it and we'll see what we get! So we set up square corners (the ring is an oval) and did basic figure eights...I learned that Skate has progressed past me! I am still trying to correct his imbalances like it's last year - when he's gotten strong enough to do a training/1st level corner without my help. All I succeeded in doing was getting him off balance. After that exercise my trainer praised him profusely and I got the lecture! Ha.

We both noticed how well he did (after getting over the excitement of the show going on in the indoor) with a steady connection. We almost have this down pat...my only need to really address with the connection is when he spies something way more interesting than the figure we're currently working on, which can be fairly often. He does still like to drag me down when he gets tired or behind my leg....but when I push him forward in front of me, he's fairly steady. We do much better in a sitting trot than a posting trot with the steady connection...I will probably ride my next test/show in sitting trot, even if I sacrifice some forward. I've also learned that Skate likes a heavy contact (heavy for me, as I prefer whisper light reins flappin in the wind sort of contact). Because I prefer the extra light version, I'm actually too forgiving with my elbows. I allow him to pull me down and forward instead of holding my position.

Things to work on - I should ride Skate like 75% of him is in front of me; when he feels like he's hanging behind, push him forward. Support him around the turn, but don't overcorrect. And, as always head up and ponytail to ponytail. Whenever my head drops everything falls apart.