Dressage lesson

Man.. this dressage is hard work!! Fleck and I both worked our hiney's off today. But it was good. 

Things I need to remember....

• close my fingers on the reins... no opening them up. 
• Thumbs up, especially on the left hand. Turn that ignition!
• Light legs... don't clamp on. Keep them softly on his sides
• Tracking right - don't let him overbend his neck. Elastic outside rein, especially at the canter. But I still need to keep the connection. Keep it steady. But elastic to allow the bend. Use my outside leg back to keep him from popping his shoulder out and help with the bend around my inside leg.
• Tracking left - keep that outside hand low and keep my elbow by my side. Don't let him pull it forward.
• Ride him in an awesome canter - elevated withers, dropped butt. Ride the canter I want.
• Downward transitions: I'm too abrupt. I stop all forward momentum. So don't half-halt to stop.. half-halt to recycle the energy and change the gait with my seat and core instead of with the reins. 

  
And that's all I can remember now. But Fleck felt great! And no lameness, so maybe his adjustment yesterday really did the trick :)