Good boy!

Pro has been great lately, and I've been miserable about updating. Friday's lesson was quite good. We started off with the poll-flexing exercise. Gayle reminded me that I need to do it SLOWLY, otherwise it becomes the razor in the monkey's hand. He really needs it done more to the left, and not so much to the right. Although he tries to overbend it right because it's easy for him and he thinks that's what I want. So then I have to carefully and slowly flex him back left, and I even saw his nuchal ligament pop back into place, which was pretty cool. Once we had him flexing AND staying attentive, we walked off. Gayle corrected my hands right away and with that, he started stretching and looking for the bit.

It's one thing to be conscious of keeping your lower legs off of the horse unless needed, but it's another to lift both your legs off the horse from the hip - I felt a few things in my lower back crack! It's sort of fluffing your legs, so the horse realizes he can poof his sides out. I remember the judge I took lessons with occasionally would have us do that periodically at the sitting trot, to sort of fluff out the horse. Pro seemed to really enjoy this fluffing, and poofed out! Unfortunately, there were a lot of distractions on Friday. Big Horse was doing some work with his owner in a nearby field, a brush hog was mowing across the pond, and the metal roof on the shed was banging and flapping in the wind. It was clear that Pro was getting nervous about these things, so Gayle stepped in to take advantage of the situation. We had to remind him that there is ALWAYS a safe place for him when he gets scared, and that safe place is chasing the bit.

So when he got nervous, I offered him the bit, and he actually remembered! He relaxed into his game of chasing the bit, and the nervousness disappeared. I was so proud. :) We did some spiraling in and spiraling out - spiraling in involves taking control of the horse's shoulder, and pushing that toward the inside. At the same time, you keep that inside hind leg engaged with your inside leg. It's easy for the horse to feel trapped here - with you in control of his shoulder and inside leg, so it's critical to make sure that they know they have an open door in your inside rein, to chase the bit. Pro hates feeling trapped, but I kept offering the inside and he relaxed! To spiral out, you switch the "door" to the other side, and open your outside aids - the horse steps over and over to fill those aids. He did so well.

We worked on longitudinal elasticity - lengthenings! Posting is following an arc, so to lengthen, you flatten that arc and post more forward, in a way. I had to remember to be prepared for his jump, and not get left behind the motion in that moment. He figured it out, and enjoyed himself! From there, we cantered, and he was just so well-behaved, and at this point Gayle had used up her lesson quota of "good boy!" sayings ;) so we ended it there.

Last night was pretty much a repeat of the lesson, only quicker. At each gait and direction I tested for the basics and once they were there, I moved on. I did let him work at the trot for a bit, since he felt really correct and it was giving his muscles a good workout. Once I checked the canter in each direction, he was done. :)

Here is us experimenting with leg-yielding - Gayle tells me to just turn my head and think sideways, and Pro SHOOTS sideways!!!


And the lengthening: