The Left Side

These past few days, I haven't done much when I ride. I've been taking it easy because of Cody's chiropractic appointment so he wouldn't get sore. Today, I started stepping things up, especially with his left side because yesterday all I focused on was strengthening it through simple circles and serpentines. He responded well and was filling up both sides of the bridle, really in front of my leg. 

When I first get on Cody, he needs a lot of lateral work in his warm-up, so I play around with some lateral exercises. I came up with a fun one, today, that Cody really liked, it also helped him ride into his outside rein going to his left. I start by going down the longside in a shoulder in, personally, I work on not stopping riding just because I am in a new movement. After about 20-30 meters of continuous shoulder-in, I straighten out across the short diagonal in a lengthen trot. When I do the lengthen trot, I really work on giving Cody a steady place to go and follow so he can feel more confident. Especially because he will never have fantastic lengthening's, just keeping his confidence up will really help his willingness to try harder. Even though it is a simple exercise, it does the most for Cody because he is older and needs more lateral and confidence work to keep him going. 

In addition to stepping things up with Cody, I started stepping things up with me, as well. I focused on following with my hands and softening my back- which is my biggest issue. During my walk warm-up, I focused on pushing him forward with my seat and supporting with my calf. This finally got him to loosen up and not get so sticky in his walk. I did the same with the trot but, I posted the long sides, sucking in my stomach to use my abdominal muscles, and sitting in the corners. When I sat, I worked on being as soft as I could be, sinking into my heels while loosening my hips and back- which really helped me not pinch with my knees. I could start to feel myself controlling my legs- they were no longer flipping or wiggling on Cody's sides. When I needed more support to the outside, or if I was going into a corner, I would just slip my leg back an inch or two and hold it there until I didn't need it anymore, and Cody responded to the slightest movement! Especially when I go into corners, I would like him to be responsive to my leg aids. When I sit the corners, I really set him up the best I can so we can go deep and get higher marks on balance and accuracy. I sit up my lifting my chest up, but I still have to remember to keep riding, one of my problems is that I stop going with the motion when I move on to something else. I lift my reins up, just barely enough to prepare him to sit back and get ready for the corner. When I get into the corner, I squeeze with my inside calf to ask him to wrap around my leg and stretch into the corner, but I keep my outside calf behind the girth and ready to support for the sit and departure from the corner. To get that final turn out of the corner, I support with my outside calf, so he will be able to sit on the final strides out of the corner, and I squeeze with my outside rein, which will give him the balance through the body. And then, on to the next corner! 

I'm counting down the days until Spring Break! One more week and I will be on my way home to beautiful Lexington for a week of lessons and training with the two best trainers on earth! If it could only come faster...