Just Sit There

This week has been a bit relaxing for TC and I, which is much needed. Coming up to the show, I was getting really stressed about the heat and about making sure that all the movements were well schooled and everything else involved in show prep.

So being able to relax this week and just play a bit has been fun. We've done lots of walking in the field (the tracks aren't dragged, so just walking) and of course, some work too.

Old pictures today because I wasn't on it

Tuesday and Wednesday I mostly spent on the connection and my position. The connection was a little questionable in the show - he does this thing sometimes where when you put your leg on, he sticks his head on his chest, so he feels super behind the leg but you can't really put your leg ON him. So we fixed that.

Another big thing that came out of the show was using the mirrors to fix my position. I've gotten lax on my left side again and am once again loose in the left oblique. So I spent a lot of time thinking about that, especially tracking left. It's not feeling like such a shit show to the left!

This place is so pretty when it's green

Today though, my focus was on the lateral work. At my last lesson with Tanya, she set me up for such a good shoulder-in that it felt like I just had to sit there. Let me tell you something about myself, I love to just sit there.

That shoulder-in felt addicting. I want that to be how every shoulder-in feels. It felt like I could just think "hmm maybe a shoulder-in" and he immediately transformed under me. It felt like I could ride anything from within it- like a medium trot or a walk transition. It felt like MAGIC. And I loved it.

Since then I've been mostly focusing on our leg yields because of the show. And those are not as majestic even when they are good. They just don't improve the gaits in the same way the shoulder-in does.

This morning after finding some magical shoulder-in, I decided to put in some solid time in the walk in haunches-in. TC can do haunches-in, but it's still in it's pre-acceptable state of being very slow and a little short in the neck. He's closer to the acceptable range to the right, but very far from it to the left. The main issue is that the response to that aid is slow and deliberate. This is kind of how he operates with new stuff, he slows it way down and uses his little pony brain real hard. I want him to get more comfortable in it, where when he feels the aid, he doesn't have to think so hard. And that's just repetition.

I love this face so much

After we did a bunch of haunches-in at the walk, I did a little work on leg yield in canter from the rail to centerline, basically a precursor to half pass. TC is quite resistant to being pushed from right to left generally, and it was doubly so at the canter, his weakest gait. We did very shallow leg yields off the outside leg on the left lead and he got lots of praise for it. I really aimed to maintain the jump in the canter so that we could get a good sideways push. He got a little short in the neck but was generally pretty great about it.

I'm really excited to keep playing with all this. I feel like we've been focusing so much on the First level stuff that we've gotten a bit behind in the Second level stuff. I really want to get him more laterally supple and to get the lateral work solid by the end of the year. It's so helpful for strength building aside from being like... required for the level we want to do.

For now though, it's less about strength building and more about continuing to shape the response to the aids I want him to respond too. And getting that magical feeling in all the lateral work like we had at our last lesson!