Kenny Clinic - May 9-10

As usually Kenny's keen eye helps me fine tune my work with Gadget. I rode Gadget a bit more forward than I do with Kristin, but I felt that I kept the activity in the canter an kept him true in my hand. On video, the canter looked great. As usual, I am still holding too much on my left rein, and softening solves nearly every problem.

Things to work on:

Left Halfpasses -- the quarters trail in both trot and canter halfpasses. Both Kristin and Kenny told me to ride Gadget with slight haunches in to the left. I especially need to do this (or think this) when going into halfpass. Otherwise, I lose the haunches through most of the movement.
Very Collected Canter -- I rode 4-1 with Kenny and the circle with the very collected canter strides is tricky for me. I need to think of pushing his haunches in with my outside leg. If I try to get more bend from inside leg, I get a change.
Left change - I need to soften leg reins and let him move that direction. (Changes in general need to drift right, however.) This change still needs to be ridden with some giddy-up and go to get a clean change.
Tempi Changes -- these make me want to pull my hair out. The first change is sticky, so I need to get that sharper. I basically need to get all of these sharper and stop pulling back.

Overall, I was pleased to be able to work through 4-1 for the first time. Kenny said he thinks it's a good test for us and well within our capabilities. The plan is to try 3-3 and 4-1 at the Morven show in June. It's a large show, so hopefully we don't look ridiculous in comparison to the other 4th level horses! Onward!

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Dressage Day by Day

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