i rode Lusco, the Andalusian fairy pony. you know, ever since i took spurs to him, he's decided he has enough gas in the tank after all! coincidence? i think not. Brie had us warm up at the trot and do bending and counter-bending around the track, as usual. Lusco is stiff to the left, which is rather unfortunate since i'm weak on the left and thus it's quite a task to get him to bend that way. but he loosened up gradually, and then all the riders lined up at A. we thus proceeded all in procession to make a 5 LOOP serpentine, which is like a figure-8 with 5 circles instead of 2! the goal here is to switch the horse's bend in the middle of the loop (over the center line) and keep the horse from leaning on your inside leg while anticipating the next loop. Lusco, as it turns out is quite more sensitive than i had previously sen; and he started to really come through his topline, and get on the bit for me.
My habit du jour is that i tend to throw away the connection to the horse's mouth once they give to pressure, where instead i should take up the extra contact. In the canter, it's a reflex for me to take a tighter contact and kind of hold the horse in a frame, but in the trot, my (incorrect) reflex is to give more slack in the rein when they flex. Brie told me she wants the same quality frame and contact in the trot as i get in the canter. we have work to do!
in the canter, Lusco got quite forward, especially to the left lead where it's more difficult for my inside (left) leg to stand him up and keep him balanced. of course, when a horse becomes unbalanced, they tend to rush, and thus,today my entire arm is very sore! the funniest part of the lesson? Casey, a fellow student, exclaimed "I've never heard Brie to tell anyone to slow down on Lusco!" truth.
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