Lesson Thursdays!

Thursday lesson day! The start if a new trend, I am going to aim to have weekly flat lessons for a while because our progression has stagnated a bit recently.
Arthur feels like staying in bed is often the best option. 

Bec and I spent some time catching up and Bec asked me about my competition goals, of which I actually have some. I also outlined some of my struggles and we got right to work.

We started with walk to halt transitions working on getting them square. We started getting the transition light and square, halting every 6 steps. Henry is slightly heavier in the right rein as he has a running right leg so I need to apply more pressure to the right rein. When I do that he halts nice and square.
The trot we had at the start of the lesson

Working on the trot we had to first get the right tempo using the metronome. We were a bit slow but we were soon trotting along at 75bpm. Once we had the forward we worked on the contact which was all over the show. I really needed to be strong in my body and steady with my hands using flexion to get Henry to soften.

On the circle Henry was falling in so I used indirect rein to straighten him. We also worked on self carriage making sure I felt like we could turn left or right at any time because that would ensure he was even and in self carriage. We worked a bit on the turn, really slowing it down and making sure he wasn't running through the turn, falling in, or turning his bum. it was really quite hard for him so we need to work on it more at home.
Turning!

The key was in the outside rein, I am really good at throwing it away in everything, transitions, turns, everything! But when I hold it Henry stays round and into the contact and everything just works so much better.

We did a really interesting circle exercise down the length of the arena. I really can't explain it in a way that will make sense but it was very helpful for us! It made me work to keep Henry on my aides and straight.
Testing self carriage

I told Bec I wasn't super happy with my application of half halts, so we worked through that a bit. I have been expecting a bit much from Henry and not setting him up correctly by lifting his front end. When I lifted it, he could rock back and re-balance but when he was on the forehand he couldn't.

We briefly worked on the canter, taking the same work from the trot and applying it. Henry and I both find it much easier in the canter mostly because he has a really great canter.

The key takeaways from this lesson was to practice turning and indirect rein, make sure I slow everything down and prepare properly. I need to insist that Henry goes into the contact and I need to hold the outside rein, when I do stuff actually works properly.

We have another lesson booked for next week already, and I plan to stick to weekly lessons for a while. we have some goals to kick!
A much better trot!

Comments

  1. ha now i'm curious about that circle exercise...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll have to try and draw it out. It was circles within circles!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts