Dressage Day by Day

Here is the finished product! It was a plain black jacket so I added white and light blue trim with RHINESTONES! It's very sparkly! Here's a closeup of the collar, which looks better than the pocket. Now I am going to try to add coordinating trim (minus the rhinestones) to the saddle pad.

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...

Had another weekend of very insightful lessons. I rode Isaac Friday night briefly and he showed me how hard it is for me to keep my body aligned, because he quickly went crooked when I did. Big takeaways from lessons on Gadget: 1. "Keep your basket to the outside." Kristin tells me to pretend I am pushing or holding a basket on my hands. In my mind, my basket is squarish. She will often tell me to take my basket to the outside and it helps me take both hands one direction. I really ride with too much bend to the inside and I need to learn this new feeling of straightness that feels almost counter bent. 2. "Look at the outside ear." This keeps me from twisting my chest to the inside. It's actually shocking how well it worked. 3. "Go and whoa." This is how I have to ride the canter. Quiet seat. Left hand up, not holding. This keeps him off his left shoulder. Right hand maintains connection. I have to go from leg and quickly put him togeth...