Messy: Lesson Recap 2/8

(very blurry) Pictures are from my ride on Monday

My previous lesson was one of those where it feels like everything just works. Everything Jane asked I was able to do and it just sort of felt easy. This lesson was not that way and everything just felt messy. I’d accomplish something but it was only with Katai flinging her head or being flexed the wrong way or something. Part of it was probably because we did a few new things and those just don’t always feel easy but I think that Katai is still dealing with the increase in her workload and just felt sort of flat and quick rather than carrying herself like she has been.

 Right away at the walk Jane had me do leg yields off the wall to the quarterline and back along the long sides. We did a few, changed directions and did a few more. They were ugly to start off and then got better but I never really felt like we fully got them without extra head flinging and tension. Homework for next time!

Stretchy

Then we went into trot and I was struggling with my posting again. Jane had me do an exercise where I would post 3 times and then sit the equivalent (6 steps) and so on. It really helped me keep my butt in the saddle a bit longer but as soon as I’d go back to just posting I’d lose it again. I haven’t struggled with this much at all lately so it was weird that it was so tough and I think part of it was that Katai was just being more resistant to slowing her strides and was trying to “cheat” by taking lots of tiny steps. At any rate, it got better than it had been so we moved on to canter.

I started to her easier side this time and got a really nice transition and then some really nice canter. Her balance is getting better and she didn’t keep breaking to trot at this lesson. However, she was still running and not wanting to slow down and carry herself. Probably sort of the same thing as the trot and she had some residual soreness in her pony muscles. It was still a huge improvement over the last time I cantered in a lesson and she had enough energy to get through both directions with a fair amount of canter. This one is also just more time and homework for both of us.

Proof that we do canter sometimes, and also of my leaning problem haha

Finally we went to the lateral work. We’d done enough leg yielding to start off at both walk and trot that we went straight to the shoulder in/haunches in exercise that we did last time. We both struggled more this time both because, again, I think she was a little sore or tired and because Jane was making me do it correctly with my legs instead of my arms. It was rough haha.

Afterwards she told me that it’s ok to do it incorrectly at first while I was getting the feel for it but now she’s going to be coaching me to do it more properly or I’ll start to use it as a crutch and have more trouble as we get further along. At this point she said the words “when we get to half pass” and I was THRILLED. She mentioned being surprised at mentioning it already as well and I think she’s really encouraged with how far we’ve come in such a short amount of time. I am too, even if this lesson left me feeling a little tired and discouraged I realize that everything we struggled with just needed more strength or practice which is really very encouraging.