Today was a fun lesson! I got there early enough that Funny and I had 30 minutes to hack. So we headed out to the path beside XC and then cut across the XC field. We walked down the bank. Well... ha, we tried. I was unkind and tried to walk off the middle bank first and she said no. So we went up it... and she still said no to down. So we went down the little bank and then she went down the middle bank. Then we walked through the water complex.. and out the up bank. Then we trotted to the ditch and I was smart and did the baby ditch first and she walked it, although she did wiggle a bit going to it. Then she walked the middle ditch fine. Then we went back to the water and tried to go down the bank into the water and she said no. Fine.. that's a hard question, even though you've done it before! So then we trotted up the hill and then made our way to the arena for our lesson.
I told Kelly what we had been up to so we went to work. I had the polo wrap all ready to go. I told her I didn't have a hot pink one and she said she liked the white, but she was sure it wouldn't be long before I had a rainbow one. I mentioned that it had dawned on me that I could just find a piece of felt and create my own! Ha ha. Anyways... we went to work. More of the same. But it was already better than the last lesson. She started out a little fussy, but when I remembered to move my elbows, she was better. I rode the shoulders by moving my hands left or right, taking care to not "tip my oyster tray over". I used my inside leg to get her go into the outside rein. I did not use my outside leg (much... it's a hard habit to break) to catch her. I just used an outside rein half halt. Kelly told me that when she started to be through, to give the reins just a cm forward with my elbows. But to keep a connection. And to be careful to not let her pull me forward more than that. But that cm give is her reward for reaching for the contact. It tells her "Yes, that's the right answer"! But I still had to keep my elbows moving. And it was awesome. We got some really nice moments today. She does have to keep her tempo slow, because that's when she can use the hind end. She can keep it slow longer now, but usually after a few circles, she starts to get quick again. But at least she's listening to me now and slowing her roll when I insist. So yay! And she was MUCH more consistent in staying in her nice unkinked flow shape. We want the water to flow freely through the hose, evenly on either side. No kinks!
We cantered and the left lead was great today. She picked it up both times. Kelly asked me what happened that first time though and I replied that she dumped hard left with her shoulder. So, the second time I leg yielded her into the canter and it helped a lot. Yay! She got a pretty nice canter, I thought. Although, ha ha.. Kelly mentioned she wasn't impressed by it YET. So... challenge accepted!
We also played with some leg yields today. It was a fun exercise. We went down the quarterline and leg yielded to the rail, then repeated on the next quarterline. So.. we leg yielded the same way on each long side repetively. The goal was to have it be slow and steady.. not rushed. So that was a good exercise.
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