No breathing = no riding!

So I probably pushed things too hard on Friday night and when I woke up on Saturday for my early morning lesson, breathing was a bit laborious, which is not conducive to anything that would require me to breath!  So I promptly texted Shelley and asked if she could ride J for the lesson instead of me, which she agreed.  I still went to the barn, got J tacked up and although he was quite mellow, gave him a quick spin on the lunge to get his muscles warmed so he could get straight to work when Shelley arrived. 

Shelley was prompt at 8am and hopped right on.  She wanted to really address his suppleness and swing, so she took our previous exercise and bit further, asking him for quit a bit of bend in the neck/poll area while being very diligent about keeping his body really straight on "on the line", no letting him throw his shoulders here or throw his hind out there.  Then she would gradually straighten him and ask him to really move on, without barging over the reins or getting heavy in the forehand.  Now people who were watching may consider this to be a little bit of "deep" work, but it was by no means rolkur <gasp!>.  By asking for a lot of bend through the neck, it would purposely throw his body off balance, asking for him to work even harder over his topline, then when he was straightened, he would move with much more swing.  I noticed an immediate difference and Shelley had J looking like a million bucks!  Really pushing off his hind end, swinging through his entire body and working over his back.  He looked like he was truly dancing!  She did a bunch of leg yields and then some half passes with him... they looked beautiful!  Shelley even gave me the "green light" to do some shallow half passes on my own if he felt like he was ready.

But the question will be whether or not I am skilled to handle such a tricky endeavor.  Shelley made sure to warn me not to keep him in the bend for too long (not as long as she did) and not as severe of a bend, as that will keep me "safe" from overdoing it and missing the point of the exercise.  Our next lesson is not until Friday, so I have plenty of time... to either screw it up or solidify it!  Only time will tell!

Unfortunately I did not ride on Sunday, we were busy in the morning and then had a barn party in the afternoon.  I was thinking about riding after the party, but after consuming a good bit of wine and eating a good bit of food, riding wasn't high on my list of priorities.  According to the (always wrong) weatherman, we are due for a horrendous snow storm starting tomorrow night.  So I am hoping to get out to the barn tonight and tomorrow morning (as I work late tomorrow, at least as of right now) in case I cannot make it on Wednesday.  So hopefully I'll get to work on this new exercise a few times before our next lesson, as I am really excited about the quality of movement if produced!