Dressage Day by Day

I had my last Ryan clinic of the year, and it was fantastic. I am so sad to see Ryan go, but he has promised to come back earlier next year and begin in April. Because I was out of town most of the week, Gadget had 3 days off before the clinic. He felt a bit distracted on the first day but he felt forward (hooray!). The collected canter felt solid today as did the collected trot. For collected trot, I need to start asking for more from Gadget. After a proper warm up, I need to get him in the proper frame and ask him to work through his back while carrying himself in a higher frame. Right now, giving a forward aid (pelvic tilt back/scooch forward with seat) from my seat seems to get the best trot, then I can mold him a bit more with some half halts. I have been struggling with halfpass in trot and canter lately and Ryan reminded me to carry him up and forward with the inside leg. Perfect solution. Also, work in counter canter on left lead pushing Gadget's body to the lef...

Sometimes I feel like the progress is so slow that I can barely tell the difference from year to year or month to month. Yet, every now and then, I have a ride where I finally FEEL the difference I have been trying to achieve. Tonight was one of those rides. I have been riding in the indoor arena, and the last couple rides have felt very underwhelming. Overall, I have struggled to get Gadget truly in front of my leg, which means I never quite got him through his back and soft in the bridle. It wasn't horrible work, but it wasn't great -- particularly in the canter. Tonight, I went in with the goal to MAKE IT HAPPEN. Whatever I asked, I was going to make it happen, quickly. After a bit of forward walk, I asked for the trot. It felt sleepy and sloppy, so I immediately gave him a couple strong gooses with the leg/spur and got him moving. His head popped up, but I just kept asking for more. Then with a bit of soft counter-flexions and true flexions, he rounded and started tro...