To ride dressage is to dance with your horse, equal partners in the delicate and sometimes difficult work of creating harmony and beauty.

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Last (but not least) lesson of 2015

Had a great lesson with Julie today, in spite of the rain and "wintery mix" that fell steadily. She would have gone hoarse trying to make herself heard over the din on the metal roof, but her mother's hostess gift at our dressage party was one of those cordless intercom/two-way radio headset thingies. Man, that set-up is slick! It would also work at treat at horse shows.

Anyway, I got all the help I was hoping for without taxing Lance at all. We worked on strengthening his lower back by changing frame rather than loading his hindquarters, making sure to keep him in front of the bit and tracking straight. The struggle to keep him off my right leg disappeared as soon as Julie corrected ME; I just need to keep my right shoulder down and back (tracking right) and my right elbow down by my hip (tracking left).

Julie didn't see any big problems in our partnership; she thinks getting him legged up and ready for a show at the end of February is a reasonable goal. Second Level, here we come! (She says hopefully. ;-)

1 comment:

emma said...

sounds like an excellent lesson - glad to hear Lance is doing so well in getting back into the work!