Fancy Pants!

Whoo hooo!!! Flecky put on his fancy pants today! I really hope I can ride like this at the show this weekend. I'm not sure exactly what I did differently, but Flecky felt UP and light and fluffy! Even Cindy was impressed. We worked on my shoulder and riding how he can go. Not just how he used to go. I focused on closing my legs at the inside, not with the back of my calf. And I worked on keeping my arches soft and supple, not tensed. And I rode Fleck UP into the bridle. And wow!! He felt amazing! We got some really nice trot lengthens and some really nice SLOW canters! We worked on some of the test moves and I really need to prepare earlier for my leg yield to figure 8 to leg yield move. We finished with some half pass work and wow.... He's really getting it.  I still need to remember that I don't have to yell to him. I can whisper and he hears! For example, to half pass left... I do not need my right leg at his tail. I can put it just behind the girth and he still moves to the left quite nicely. Doh. I do need to focus on keeping my weight even in both seat bones. My hips move to the left to bring him over there with me but that doesn't mean I dive all my weight onto the left. I shift laterally left, not diagonally (that probably only makes sense in my brain!). 

So yep.. super fun ride. I'm feeling better about this weekend! Second level debut! eeeks...