Butt Before Nose

The weather gods have continued to bless us in Colorado.  At least in my opinion.  So far it has still been warm and pleasant enough to have my lessons every other Sunday (even if we are stuck in an indoor).  Usually by now we are seeing windy days well below 0F so I don't mind riding in 35-40F.

Last week I was told to stop working so hard, and I think I'm getting it, mostly.  As we started out I could tell I wasn't having to push Dexter as hard as I had been.  We worked on this a lot since the last lesson.  If I asked for a trot, I expected a trot.  If I asked for more trot I expected more trot.... simple I know.  i still feel myself tensing up the more I go along, trying to hold my position and his, but we will work on it.  Both Dexter and I didn't get at winded this lesson so its a move in the right direction. 

Now that we didn't have to work so hard, we started engaging Dexter's engine (butt).  Previously when asked to move forward, he ducked his head and quickened his stride.  Now that we have good contact with the bit I am working on not focusing on putting his head where I want it, but "driving" him into position. I know this works and I understand it's proper, but because I don't always get how it works I forget to do it and focus on "wiggling" his head into position.  At any rate, this lesson while trainer was explaining this strategy i really really focused on keeping my hands as still as possible and moving him with my legs (seat will come later).  And it seemed to work.  He kept his head down, but not in (not quite vertical either but that's OK), and felt more balanced.  He hasn't been diving into the turns for the last several lessons.... I almost forgot he used to. 

Another "Ah-ha" moment came during a serpentine exercise.  Trainer has been telling me to bend his barrel before his head when switching directions.  And I've been trying but haven't really gotten it.  I'd still end up "steering" with my reins.  But yesterday during one of the serpentines I was pushing with my new inside leg and shifting my seat and I felt his midsection move underneath me.  It was cool. (I get excited by the littlest things... you have to in dressage).  I thought "Oh that's what I'm looking for" and could feel that we had gotten it right even before trainer told us it was perfect. 

We also practiced a mock dressage test where trainer would yell out movements as we went around the ring.  It was super fun and was a good gauge for where we were.  And it was encouraging. He bent well and stayed steady.  The only disasterous parts were his canter to trot transitions and that was expected being as we haven't worked on them at all.  We've been busy getting a good canter first.

So homework for the next 2 weeks:  Stop staring and worrying about head position!  25% of the horse is in front of me, I need to start riding the other 75%.