So one of the biggest lessons I learned from the last show is that J needs to become stronger and needs to be more accountable and not slack off and be lazy. I've been trying to ride every ride with that in mind and pushing his endurance levels farther and farther while keeping everything fair to him. I've been more cognizant of him carrying himself for the entire ride and not using me to hold him up or get lazy.
Shelley and I had a great lesson last week, where we really worked on his connection to the outside rein and I finally had a big light bulb moment where I truly felt my horse be straight and be reliable on that outside rein. It felt wonderful- the connection was spongy, elastic and I could use my outside rein to half halt, get him more round, turn him, etc. I was also able to better control his body parts individually and independently of each other. We worked on a lot of shoulder-fore, where he would slow his tempo when he was correct, which Shelley said was natural due to it being harder for him. So I'd patiently ask him to truck along once his positioning was correct, so that he wouldn't get tight and blow the positioning. And that connection also helped me in keeping a correct position and using my core while keeping my shoulders back. As a result of this work and my consistency in my expectations, J has already become more reliable in his 1st level movements, which makes me very excited for our next show!
I sent in my entry for Silverwood on July 9th and 10th. This time I signed up for 1-2 and 1-3 (qualifying) on both days, as I seem to have issues with 1-1 and remembering the test! LOL! 1-2 seems much more flowing and sensible to me, so hopefully it won't be such a chore in remembering it as I ride it! My goals are: lots of half halts, make him carry himself the entire time and get my second qualifying score for championships. So hopefully we can accomplish that!
I have another lesson scheduled for Wednesday, so hopefully Shelley will have noticed an improvement in our work!
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