Lessons in Love

Not really a lesson in love, but a lesson and I'm in love.  Ha!  Monday was our lesson night and Licorice was fabulous.  So fabulous that I heard Linda say "He might be ready to go to a dressage show in a few months."  Wheeeeeee!

We started with making sure he was marching in the walk and moving forward into contact.  He's a long horse, so its super important to make sure he's pushing into the contact.  He would rather pull into it.  We did the same thing with trot, adding in some bend and pushing him off my inside leg.  Going to the left he falls out and going to the right he falls in.

Then we did sitting trot.  I have not sat the trot in uh.....fifteen years?  I didn't sit the trot with Tessa because she would spaz out when I would try.  I just gripped too much with her.  And before that I had a looooong riding hiatus, so it's been ages since I've sat the trot.  Let's just say that I am feeling the burn today.

It was clear that Licorice hadn't had folks sit the trot much on him, as he kept trying to rush into canter.  But I stayed focused on bending him and relaxing him and we had some lovely sitting trot.  Then we worked on going into the canter without throwing his head up and scrambling with his back feet.  This was hard for both of us.  For Licorice it was hard because he became very flustered when I asked for canter.  We ended up asking and if he didn't go into it right away and using his hind end, we just went back to getting him relaxed and bending.

It was hard for me because I tend to hear 'canter' and fall apart.  Suddenly I have chicken wing elbows, I'm leaning forward and my leg is coming so far up and back I could kick my own behind.  So, having to go back to the trot helped me get my self organized too.  Then I worked on not waiting TOO long before I asked again.  The second he was pushing off with his hind legs and coming into contact, I asked.  We had some lovely canter transitions.

At one point, I was cantering to the right and working on maintaining my outside rein and letting my hips swing from inside hip to outside ear and I was grinning like a fool.  It felt so good.

In other news, I finally ordered a winter blanket for Licorice.  I got the Smartpak blue plaid even though it was not the best deal out there.  Tessa had the pink one and I LOVED it.

My giraffe pony in a too small cooler last night.  He was so sweaty!  I really need to buy him a cooler that fits.

Also, if you haven't seen it, there is a contest going on over at SprinklerBandits blog for some amazingly cute boots.  Of course, I want to win so maybe I don't want you to go over there after all.....but seriously, you should check it out.  It looks like a little company just getting started and I love supporting little companies.