Yay dressage

We had a good lesson today. (Not that we usually don't, but...). Cindy dropped my stirrups a whole which was super helpful. Somehow I guess they got put up with Dan and then I thought they were long enough, but... my knee seemed to be riding over the knee roll some. So dropping my stirrups was super helpful.

We had a great ride, although for some reason Fleck has gotten into this habit of throwing his head straight up. I can't figure out what I'm doing to cause it... or if it's reaction? I'm almost wondering if his tick bite that won't heal because I won't quit riding him is bothering him... or if it's just noticeable more so now because he is actually being more supple than usual??? 

Regardless, Fleck has been much more supple and happy to work even at the start lately. For awhile, it was taking a good 20 minutes into the lesson before he would be ready to work. And I've been trying to get there early enough to hack him around and loosen him up, but still, he's going to work much quicker and more easily. Maybe it's the previcox. :) 

So we worked on lateral suppleness and doing some leg yields to shoulder in to haunches in etc. And Cindy noticed that he was supple and soft when we were in a movement but when I went to straighten him... was when he would throw his head up and invert. So... somehow when I'm trying to straighten him, I'm stiffening him. So she had me think of riding a slight shoulder fore the entire time instead of trying to straighten him. It helped. 

I also thought a lot about bending my elbows and pulling my elbow back to get bend rather than pulling down or across the neck. And pulling isn't the right word, because I know better. But I was creating bend by wrapping him around my inside leg... and to help my body do that, it helped when I thought about bending my body and bringing my elbow back a little. 

So yay! Fun day :)