Lesson 9 - Canter up, not out

Another lovely day outside, I know they will be coming to an end soon.  Today we practiced transitions within the gait, at the trot.  We rode a large circle and pushed him out then spiraled in and as the circle got smaller I asked him for a more collected trot.  The tempo changed a bit with both transitions but he was definitely shortening and lengthening his stride.  We are asking for more than we did in the last lesson, asking him to hold the collection and lengthening longer, until his holds it himself.  He is accepting the bit really well and has almost stopped chewing on it.  He now saves that for when he is really irritated, or tired, or irritated because he's tired.

The canter work made a big breakthrough in this lesson.  We have been working on tempo and impulsion for so long we finally were ready to start some collection work.  In the past Dexter was so stressed by the canter that as soon as I softened and asked him to come back he would break, he is finally moving well enough that we can bring him back, which is super exciting as it was driving me crazy letting him canter around with his nose sticking out.  We did the collection work on the circle, pushing him on then working his head to bring it in and giving him half halts with the outside rein.  He seemed to get it better going to the left.  But all of a sudden I could feel the difference, he was jumping up instead of reaching out with his front legs.  We did the same going to the right, a little more difficult as he is still unbalanced and doesn't want to turn.

Then one of our more awesome moments (in my option anyway) happened.  We went to work on the canter on the straight away, and coming back down the long side going to the left I did a teeny tiny bit of shoulder-fore and he just cantered along, not speeding up not lenghtening, not falling on his forehand, it was amazing.  Granted we didn't hold if for long but I was so proud of him.

We finished the lesson working on the sitting trot... why do we always have to finish with that?  This time she made me focus on swinging my hips with his back, it helped a little.  I still have to stick out my tongue to really concentrate on everything and I know I'm still trying to hold on with my thighs.  I just hate the bouncing, I feel like I'm not helping him at all, but he does do a really nice trot at the sitting trot so I must not look as bad as it feels.  Still we will work on it, I used to love the sitting trot, I hate posting, so I'm so glad I'm allowed to now.

Our First Lesson

After a bust on the first trainer we went looking for a new one.  We found one that was a little more younger, a little less experienced and a whole lot nicer.  She was more patient with Dexter and me and was willing to teach me, not just him,...sold.

Our first lesson consisted of us trotting in circles getting more impulsion.  We learned something new the very first lesson.  I had been holding him back, all my transitions had killed his engine, the opposite I was going for.  The more I pushed him forward in the lesson the more he reached for the bit, not perfect but better.  We practiced keeping a even tempo.

The canter work was short, being that he and I were terribly out of shape.  Because his back end wasn't engaged at all he could only canter for a short while before he left it behind completely.  Trainer(that's what we will call her) had us push forward and focus on the rhythm, not the speed or collection.  She said when we feel a even 1,2,3 beat to reward him and let him rest.

I now know she was starting us at the bottom of the dressage training pyramid - rhythm.

Our first homework assignment - GO!  Go forward and push, I had been pulling Dexter back because when he went forward I felt out of control, but I was just unaccustomed to such a large gate.  So we went forward and we cantered fast and loose.  It was a little unnerving because it felt quite out of control but I trusted my trainer, even though I had just met her.