Lesson Recap

Mort and I finally had another lesson with my regular instructor on Tuesday. We discussed how I wanted to try for second level this fall. I basically think that I have all of the pieces for second one, I just need to get them more consistent and be able to string them together. She set up cones for me to work on my accuracy. It was a 20-meter circle with cones in the middle for a 10-meter circle. We started off as we usually do walking, stopping, and moving off my leg without worrying about contact. I picked up trot and he set right off. And folks, we have officially graduated from worrying about forward, because there were several times where she wanted us to slow down and take our time. It's great to hear about new issues because it means we're at least fixing part one of this million part process we call dressage. The barn owner was awesome enough to video for me, so I could see exactly what she was talking about. Mort was forward, but his legs were going so quickly that he didn't have enough time to get a full stride in. We want his hind legs quick off the ground but slow in the air. As the warm-up went along, she talked about how I needed to be more insistent that he get supple and round and soften his jaws. We worked on that some both directions (but especially tracking left). He's definitely giving me some awesome moments, and we are getting better, but he still has the tendency to go above the bit and get stiff if something doesn't go according to his plan. It's easier to do when we're moving about everywhere in the arena, riding on feel and adjusting as needed. It was harder on the same 20-meter circle (admittedly good for us though). We worked on transitions and getting him to stay supple through them. His canter is so much nicer than trot. I can adjust it and move him so much easier with little resistance. The trot is rougher, but it's coming along slowly. We threw in a few 10-meter canter circles each direction and he handled them really well. I want a bit more lift and jump of course, but we're certainly capable. After a walk break, she had us do a trot exercise on the circle that really helped us with connection and suppleness. It's definitely one that I’ve already gone back to. Start off on a 20-meter circle in true bend Do a full 20-meter circle in counter bend Leg yield in to a 10-meter circle (still in counter bend) Make sure the shoulders and hind-end move in at the same rate and you're not just falling in Do a full 10-meter circle in counter bend Do a full 10-meter circle in true bend Make sure you don't let the shoulders drift and you keep your track Leg yield out to a 20-meter circle in true bend Make sure the shoulders and hind-end move out at the same rate and you're not just falling out Repeat as needed It's a nice exercise where the exercise challenges the horse and you get to be the good guy helping the horse out. Mort does well with these types of exercises, because he sometimes needs to be convinced to look to me for support and guidance. We started off tracking left. I wasn't super precise on doing only one time around the circle before changing something. I rode him until I found what I was looking for then I'd pick the next set of cones to transition. So we were still accurate, but less strict. We made it through twice and the change was excellent. He was happily maintaining contact and was soft and supple. After a short break, we tackled tracking right. The true bend was easier but Mort struggled a bit at first with the 10-meter circle in counter bend. I switched my whip and he figured it out after a couple rounds. The second time we got back to that, he was much better. Even though this direction was harder, the change in his willingness to be soft with me was really nice. We ended after our second round with stretchy trot and I could easily steer him with my legs and kept him soft. Good boy. We're loosely planning for a field trip to the instructor's barn this month. It'll be a fun weekend boot camp and it's always good to get Mort out and about. The facility has nice indoors where we can hopefully hone in on some of those second level movements.