Where's My Wall?

Yesterday morning I had my last lesson with Susan before she leaves for a judge's conference. It really couldn't have gone any better and I am happy that we finished on such a good note. His improvement since Saturday is unbelievable. I am sitting most of his trot now and keeping is forward and light- like he is carrying me- which was my goal for this week. 

I really love the exercise we did yesterday and I'll be definitely using it a lot. It really does so much by just doing one little thing- staying only on the inside track. Even on the short sides, you must stay on the inside track.  But it really gets the point across for balance and help when you're not on the wall and going across the diagonal or down the centerline. 

 

At first, it was really tough- and it was throughout the lesson- because I didn't realize how much Cody leans in the wall. My left arm was really getting a work out, holding him up and keeping him from drifting to the wall. The first time we went down the second track, Cody thought we were leg yielding him and automatically started leg yielding side ways. After a few times of just straight down the inside track, he started to understand I could work on my sitting trot. I really liked going into the corners because he didn't have a wall to lean on so it was really me who was giving him a mental wall to turn on. I got to a point where I sat the whole way around the second track and he didn't fall sideways or get fussy because he didn't have a wall to lean on. Once he understood that it would be easier to use both sides of his body to move forward, he was so much easier to ride. 

The canter, however, was my favorite part because it required so much sit in the corner, you almost had to think a little bit of pirouette. Might I mention that his canter transitions were great because he wasn't falling out of his shoulder or leaning on the wall. When I would ride down the long side, I prepared him for the corner by keeping my outside leg steady and wrapped around his side to keep him straight and balanced, so he wouldn't fall out. When we reached the corner, I sat deep on my seat bones and rode him into the outside rein to show him where my wall was. I had several really good corners where he supported himself and didn't fall out. However, when he would fall sideways, I would do a 10 meter circle so he could stretch over his shoulder and regain the balance. I finished with four really good corners and two nice down transitions from canter to trot and trot to walk. His transitions are so much better, but that was in me because I wasn't riding the transitions enough, I would just throw it on him. Even though his walk transitions are somewhat trot-stop-walk, he is getting better because he has he support from my legs telling him to "Keep walking". Like Susan said, Cody just kept thinking "Where's my wall?".

 Once we finally got the forward sitting trot