Dressage Clinic

I haven't been able to ride with Cindy this month because of funds, Chiro school, work, extra shifts, etc. So I've been trying to be good and do my dressage at home. An opportunity arose to take a friend to ride with Sandy Osborn, a judge and dressage competitor, so I jumped on the opportunity. And I'm really glad I did. It was a good lesson. Lots of hard work and non-stop hard work! Sandy is hard core. :)

We really just worked on the connection and getting him straight and even. Inside leg to outside rein. Sandy called me out on a lot of my position flaws. The ones Cindy has been working on! And she was a bit like Kelly too as far as getting him really into the connection. It was a very firm connection with the right rein and a more elastic connection on the left rein, regardless of the direction. I had to really remember to keep my right hand down and back. To the point of holding my stirrup strap. I also had to keep my left hand from turning over. Turn the key Holly, turn the key!! Sandy was saying that my thumbs and hands should be a straight line from Fleck's hind legs to his mouth. If I break at the wrist and thus point my thumbs across his neck, I'm "crossing the lines" and confusing him/blocking him. And she also said that by hanging on the inside rein, I was blocking his inside hind from coming up. I also needed to sit farther back and poke my belly button out. I was also told to soften my thighs and not grip so much, but to open them up. Without pinching with my knee though. I couldn't quite figure out how to do that without tensing up other places. Perhaps no stirrup November will help with that.

At the end, both Fleck and I had been working hard but it felt pretty effective. If I can just keep the momentum rolling....