Back To Work!

I have no idea why I keep losing my stirrup position.

My horse has stayed not lame (HOORAY THANK YOU LAMENESS GODS) so I got a couple of easy rides on her last week. Well, the jumping one was not easy for me, but it was nothing spectacular. I tried to do a cross rail to a one stride over the blue barrel. Our little arena is just not big enough to do much in. We still had some rushing, but it wasn't too bad and she was listening to me a bit better. Her current issue is  hauling ass towards to the jump and getting super flat and not picking up the legs.

WEEEE JERMPS! (Also known as not how to dressage).

Settle down mare. Settle down.

We also did some dressage.That went better, but we still had some issues. For some reason one of the corners became scary. So scary, that we had to hurry past it every time. So when we took our breaks, she got to take them in the corner. Soon, it was no longer as threatening. Corner=good things, not bad things.

Well now this is a bit more pleasant.

I worked on a few things. Constantly working on getting a bigger trot out of her without speeding up. And we are seeing some progress there! Not much, but it is something. At least I am getting more practice controlling her with my seat. I worked on me keeping my legs on her (inside leg) and pushing her into the outside rein. We worked on maintaining contact and were somewhat successful.

Lost our contact but she looks very pretty here.

I do not have a very nice dressage body. Everything is short and blobby looking.

The biggest thing we worked on at the end of our ride was our transitions from the walk and trot. She really started to listen to my seat and wait for me to exhale into our downwards. It really helps me and her. My hubs popped out during the middle of our ride and snapped a couple of pictures, so that was nice of him.

Her legs were finally clean enough to try out her new boots!

I feel like Bacon and I have a lot of catching up to do in the dressage department. Last year I think I just really enjoyed her being sound and exploring the eventing discipline and learning how to jump somewhat. We just kind of did whatever and tootled around and I didn't ask too much of her. This year is a bit of a different story. I have learned sooo much from watching other riders and going to friend's lessons and now I have a small idea of what to look for in becoming a little bit more successful. Bacon has been pretty game so far, so fingers crossed this year will be another incredible experience!

The evil corner is behind us.

Also worked on keeping contact with her stretched down just a tad more in the canter.