Responsive Ride and a Bit of a Surprise

It was a true drizzly, autumn day today. I arrived at the stables and tacked up my tall white friend. We opted for the road route.

I could feel the responsiveness instantly with him today. My first set of trot transitions were pretty good. I love doing transitions. He was very forward in his trot and walk today which was awesome. My instructor kept pushing me to get him forward when he wasn't which was also very good.

I was rather surprised at my cantering efforts today. I was asked if I was ready and I just sat relaxed, hands forward and then gave him a huge squeeze and off we went. The first canter was only a few strides as I think I was so shocked I managed to do it so easily, I pulled back. But my second canter was much longer and I still managed to get him going with very little help from my instructor. This stride was much longer and I just have to remember to go with him now when he strides forward into his canter. I guess I was so surprised he responded so instantly to my request for him to canter. It felt amazing to know that he is responding much more to me each lesson.

I noticed today that when asking him to move left or right or turn left or right with my legs, I'm using less leg and he's responding well.

We did another set of trot transitions on the path home to the stables which was much harder as he knew he was almost back to his hay. But I still managed to get him trotting and halting rather well. So despite the rain, I had a fabulous lesson.

So until Thursday's lesson, happy riding and thanks for reading,

Marie