Focus

Thank you everyone for you kind words about our show experience. I have found that the real outcome of the show is a leap forward in our self-confidence.

 I also learned that I need to be clear right from the beginning about my expectations and not back down if she's freaking out. The other day I had just started our ride when she began to really lose it down the far end of the ring (far from troll corner). I don't know what set her off but rather then back off I just rode her around the corner. When she started to escalate I simply raised the inside rein and kept it there while pushing her through the corner. It only took a few trips before she was totally fine.

It probably helps that I'm not worried about her 'explosions' anymore. I simply roll my eyes and go back to task. As I've been chipping away at things with Carmen things are really starting to solidify.  One thing I noticed at the show was that what I thought was a good vs not-so-good leg yield was not the feedback I got from the judge. So clearly I wasn't feeling things correctly.

I asked Shanea if we could work on that our lesson on Saturday. I need to have a good feel otherwise I will end up practicing incorrectly.

You will notice that Cynthia is in the background of some of the photos. Remember how she totally abandoned me moved to Whitehorse for few years? Well she's back for a far-too-short visit. Irish was really happy to have her back. She was visiting with me so rode Irish while we had our lesson.

Anyway back to the lesson.

After our warm up we did a lot of leg yielding at the walk. The goal was to have Carmen understand about going over and not over bend to the inside or stiffen. As we worked I would really feel her soften over her back. I also discovered that I'm over weighting the inside which contradicts what I'm asking her to do. I need to weight (just a little more) the outside.

over bent to the inside. damn you left hand! 

We picked up the trot and we worked on getting it forward and flowing before asking for leg yields. 

I lost the shoulder again at the trot and really had to focus my attention. Shanea said that it would be easier to 'feel' at a sitting trot so I went to that. I know that Andalusians have the reputation of a really smooth trot but Carmen's has a lot of push and it's not always all that easy. Within about 10 minutes my abs were screaming at me.

but cannot deny results

Before I knew it, the lesson was over. It was great to have a lesson just focussing on a few key things. It was great that I kept my focus in the ring and cantered on what I wanted Carmen to do. And it was interesting how she kept her focus on me. 

If you were watching the lesson it would probably look really boring. But it was one of those where things just seemed to gel and it left me happy all day. 

Interestingly enough this memory popped up on FB: 

It's easy to forget how far we've come. And it's more fun to plan about where we're going. 

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