I thought tonight's lesson was going to miserable, because of the awful heat. I expected Captain to be slow and myself to be tired. But actually, what happened was just the opposite! Captain was surprisingly not sluggish, and I wasn't tired at all!
The dressage ring is finally gone! Poles had been set up in the large riding ring to make a standard size dressage ring for the show in April. But now, since pony camps have started, the big ring is finally back! I was so happy, because Captain always tried to cut corners and step outside the poles in there, but now he can't anymore.
We started the lesson by doing the warm up, which involved lots of weaving around the many obstacles that had been set up for a jumping course - jumps, poles, barrels, and more. Then we worked on trot-canter transitions to get Captain ready. Captain was surprisingly obedient too. Once I got him into the trot he was good to go. He even picked up the right lead when we were tracking right!
After a stretch break (which involves me giving Captain a super long rein and letting him walk pretty much wherever, except out of the ring of course, which he often tries to do), we worked on walk-canter transitions. The first few were a little rough, because Captain kept going into a trot first and then cantering. I changed my cues a little though and he eventually got it. But then he had some trouble with the right lead canter again. It can get difficult because when we are in the far end of the ring tracking right, Captain want to cut those corners. So I have to try and get him to bend without letting him turn to the center of the ring. I try to push him to the outside with my leg, but that doesn't always work. We got the right lead canter a couple times though, so not all was bad.
Once Captain had another break, my instructor told me to do a walk figure-eight, a trot figure-eight, and a canter figure-eight. Luckily, I didn't have to switch leads in a canter like I had thought before. I just had to come down to a trot in the canter of the ring and then immediately switch to the next lead. Everything went pretty well, even on the right lead canter circle, because this time I was asking for the canter in the center so I didn't have to worry about getting him to bend while staying on the outside of the ring.
At the end of my tiring-but-not-too-tiring lesson, my instructor commented that I was doing "marvelously", which of course was great to hear from her. She also told me that when I was ready I should think about switching from Captain to another horse, for the same reasons I've mentioned before. Captain offers a lot, but another horse could offer a whole lot more. I completely understand that, but I know it will be a huge change for me to ride a different horse. I mean, I've ridden Captain for months now! But I think it will be good for me to get to know a new horse, so I'll keep you updated on how that goes and when I switch!
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