Went out to the barn last night to do a little hack after having my five days off. My goal was to just do lots of trot work, and really try and get Arwen to reach under herself and use that bum!
Surprisingly, I didn't feel horrible after being out of the saddle for almost a week. It used to do a number on me when I would take that much time off, but since starting to increase my fitness and riding more, it definitely phases me a lot less.
I did grab a dressage whip, just for kicks to see if it would help her engage a little more. She normally starts out a little distracted and pokey, and what do you know, holding that dressage whip made her start out at a nice brisk walk. Horses are so funny sometimes. I haven't had to use any kind of crop/whip with her since she is naturally so forward, so holding it plus the reins felt really, really weird (last horse I used one on was my lease, which was almost a year ago!).
Started out with just that nice, brisk walk a few times around the arena in both directions on a loose rein. Then picked up a trot going left (still on a loose rein), asking her to go nice and forward, but not rushy. This is where I felt holding that whip made the biggest difference. She was immediately off my leg, and doing a nice, sproingy trot that was forward, but not all quick and rushy like she can sometimes do when I ask her to go forward. Did this a couple times around going both directions, with a few large circles to get her to soften and bend in both directions. I also wanted her to start reaching for the bit (which she would do), but I think my timing is still off or my contact is changing because for the life of me, I just can't get her to hold it. After the trotting we went back down to a brisk walk and did some lateral stuff, mostly mini shoulder ins, some leg yielding, and turn on the haunches and forehand. We ended on a couple laps of canter, with flying lead changes both directions, and then trotted over one of the little crossrails set up both directions.
Couple thoughts on the lead changes and the crossrails. After doing all the lateral stuff, and making sure she was listening to my leg, those lead changes were great. No falling in against my inside leg, and she got them right away. Funny how that works, right? Same with the trotting crossrails. Super straight to the jump, and super straight afterwards (which is something we were struggling with last lesson, where she wanted to dive into the turn and I was struggling to keep her off my inside leg). She also cantered away really quietly, and I focused on my upper body and seat telling her to whoa/slow as opposed to being all hunched forward over my hands and pulling (conflicting message, right? Makes her pissed)
So, definitely going to keep working on lateral stuff every warmup. And I decided that right now, I'm just really going to focus on perfecting that leg yield, and getting it done correctly. But overall, it was a really nice ride, even if it was kinda short. Sucks that its getting dark so much earlier now too! Pretty soon I'm going to have to move into the indoor in the evenings and I'm not looking forward to that. Lesson tonight though, will post about it later!
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