Stretch that neck!

So last week I was able to do two training sessions, as I didn't have one the week before.  So I asked Shelley if she would be willing to ride him on Wednesday (as this was the day before Thanksgiving and would give me more time to prepare for hosting Thanksgiving dinner) and we could do the lesson on Friday.  Shelley thought that was a great idea and agreed to it. 

So Friday morning I met Shelley at the barn and we got right to work.  Her big focus for this lesson was to really teach J to use his back and stretch his neck even more.  He is pretty good about keeping a long neck, but Shelley really wanted to emphasize him stretching the 3-4 inches of neck right in front of his wither, which is a difficult area to access.  When he does this, he will be effectively using his back and his gaits will get more swing (or schwung!).  We did this by keeping a very consistent outside rein, keeping my hand close to the pommel/wither area, gripping with my thumb and forefinger and using suppling actions through my wrist and ring/pinkie fingers.  I would ask for him to "yield" to the rein, and once I felt him give, I would soften my reins and push him forward to a bigger gait.  At times he got tight, which I responded by keeping consistent pressure on the rein until he softened and then we would go back to work.  At first he was pretty belligerent about it, throwing little temper tantrums and stomping his feet, but he soon learned that I would wait until he got good, so by the end of the lesson, he was pretty consistent. 

By Sunday he had very few meltdowns and worked really nicely in all three gaits.  He gets a little deep at times, but Shelley says not to worry about it right now and that once he is more consistently stretching that area above the withers, it will be easy to get him to a more proper "frame" with small half halts.  But she wants to really encourage that stretch and swing, so a little deep isn't horrible.  It does feel like he is lifting his back more honestly and his gaits are swinging more.  Keith went to my lesson and observed that J's trot was significantly better, as he was using his hind end a lot better and had more articulation in his hocks. 

My next lesson isn't until Saturday, so we'll be plugging along until then and hopefully Shelley will be happy with our work!