Lessons 6 and 7

I've been falling into the "too busy to blog" trap again, and for that I apologize. I should be making a much better effort to document the lessons at least!

I had lesson 6, then a week off due to super cold temps (12 degrees at the barn, yay!), then a lesson, then this week off because I fell and bruised my seat bone area. Good times! Lesson 7 was the better lesson anyway, as lesson 6 was cut short. Mia was stiff, hormonal and moody and while she tried to work, she wasn't very happy and it was pretty obvious.

Lesson 7 was all about developing power. Since I am on track to go Training level (again), we need to increase Mia's power and desire to go forward. Overall, it is coming together. Mia is straight about 50% of the time to the right and 75% of the time to the left. We have found some of the tricks to get her really moving forward (bigger canter and transitions), and she is much more steady on a shorter rein.

The instructor, A, said Mia is now easily doing 3rd level movements for a 1st level horse. I think she is saying that we are now able to do the movements, we need to now create the power and suppleness to match. She said Mia is quite supple for her build, while she will never be as supple as a Totilas or big warmblood, she is developing wonderfully for her body. She isn't stiff and bracing against me for the entire ride, and we are moving much more freely.

A also said that she loves teaching riders like myself, who desperately want more information and who actively works on homework vs the kids who ride because it is something to do. She says she really enjoys our lessons and spends a lot of time thinking about our upcoming lessons. She is putting together a plan for us for spring, to help develop our fitness and training schedule. It's weird, I guess I can say I have an actual trainer now? Someone who is actively developing a path for us, and working with us to get there, it's really weird. I've never had an actual trainer before!

And she is making our canter look like this

My future will include 1 ride a week doing exclusively transitions for 45 mins. She doesn't want us staying in one gait for more than 15 seconds before changing to something else. THAT will be an interesting ride indeed! For now, I am simply waiting for my butt to stop hurting so I can ride. I can currently sit up on my horse, but I can't sit down or sit back. I am able to do two point, which is what I did last night, but I can't jump yet because I hurt my knee when I fell. *sigh* When I do my fitness rides, I am to change my speed in the gait every 30 to 60 seconds, from slow to medium to fast to medium to slow to fast to medium to slow to fast, etc. The rationalization is to really get Mia to think forward and to really build muscle through transitions.

The good news is Mia is sound, happy, and is moving very well. I am doing some sort of moderate exercise 6 days a week and that will be increasing to moderate-high levels as winter finally moves out. I may have my first show on April 19, a Combined Test, so fingers crossed?