Dressage Lesson 4

Brego and I had another illuminating Dressage lesson today. Every time I go, I discover new and exciting things about how I ride that I never realized. Today I realized that I nag Brego every step of the trot to keep him moving. It's been unseasonably warm and he's already growing his winter coat so all he wants to do all day is hide in the shade. Work is very far from his mind.

Well today we had to work and we worked and we worked on him moving forward of his own (semi-) free will. There was a moment, one long side of the arena, where he maintained a very forward trot and my legs just hung and I was at peace. Then it all fell apart. But for that moment, I saw a future where I didn't have to work so hard to keep him going nicely.

The other big breakthrough was that I throw my hands away when asking for an upwards transition and that my core muscles are, er, nonexistent!

This lesson was back to basics since I am a couple of weeks out from my next show, and I really appreciate getting the basics correct. I want to be a better rider, and by extension, make Brego a better horse. Eye-opening lessons like these make it possible to reach that goal.

Since Brego did so well, and no good deed goes unpunished, after the lesson I took him to a local park and we went out on the hill country trails solo. This was our first big ride out without a companion and I was interested to see how Brave-o (as I like to call him, willing him to be so) would do. Not surprisingly, he did very well and he was motivated enough by the Great Outdoors to trot forward down the trail without me even needing to nag. My trainer would be very proud. We ended up cantering some hills and generally acting like hooligans to stretch out those compressed dressage-y muscles. Plus, I suspect his condition is faltering since he's been partying these last two weeks: checking out hot mares at the beach, enjoying some R & R while I interviewed for a new job, etc. It was good to get the ol' heart ticking, even in the heat.

So all in all, we're getting back into the swing of training, just in time for some fall shows and a super duper November clinic with Rainey Andrews! Woohoo!