5/15/13 Lesson

I rode Riley in my lesson.  He was very good and definitely a great work out for every muscle in the body.  I found that flexing to get him round doesn't work at all so it was best to use my outside aids almost as a "wall."  We did this my counter flexing to get him straight and equal the room between the rein and then neck to both sides.  The inside rein was used to do little flexions/ supples as little reminders to keep him round, but I really tried to not  hold him there, but instead soften. Once we did this we did some trot work and worked on seat with him.  Instead if a constant squeeze from the seat, I learned it was best to make my butt into an "electric fence" and be like "we r going to trot."  I also learned he is the horse that you want to focus an outcome instead of always jumping to fix the problem.  I also need to work on backing off when I get the reaction I want.  Sometimes I don't realized what I am doing even though it feels right, I still have a tendency to keep asking.  I had to constantly remind myself...it gets better here and there (I think)!  Lastly, we worked on the canter and staying loose during the transition.  He was a good boy!