Dressage Lesson #3

All this rain is not helping the bug issue one bit. Got out to the barn a bit early after work today. The horses were all hanging out in the paddock. Tom was unloading bags of feed so I guess they thought it was dinner time, atleast they hoped it was. Groomed Axel for a while. He's full of bug bites so every stroke of the brush must really feel good, he was making all sorts of faces (the good faces of course). He's still got some brown winter hairs that haven't shed out yet. I was done early so we worked on some "carrot streches" to the right and left. Got a couple good cracks even.

Saddled him up while I was waiting for Tricia to arrive. Axel was being annoyed by bugs right and left so I went to get the fly mask. I've been working on crocheting a fly net for him but I haven't finished yet. I ended up trying out one of the store bought fly nets that Tom had instead of the big mesh fly mask. Axel didn't seem to mind it at all. Tricia pulled up so we went right to work.

Since the round pen went so horribly last time we decided to just work in the pasture and see if that went any better. And it was much better, he actually was moving. Our theory is that the round pen is just too much bending for him at this point. In the pasture we did kind of an arena shaped pattern instead. So he only had to bend on the corners. Did some work at the walk, mostly just concentrated on keeping him from popping his outside shoulder. Walked in both directions and then worked on the trot just a bit. It's difficult for me to keep him supported while we're trotting, and keep him trotting on top of that. But there was no need for all the kicking this week so that was a win in itself. To keep him from popping out that shoulder I have to ride with my outside leg nearly in front of the girth and pick him up with the outside rein. As odd as that is it does the job. I just hope he gets the point soon so I can start riding normally!

We got a couple good passes where he'd stay bent and collected without me begging for it. Every time he did something right and I'd reach to praise and pat him, he'd stop. Heh, I guess he wants his reward to be standing still. Tricia could tell when he was just about to tune out so we made a couple more passes successfully and then dismounted right then and there.

So overall he is improving, he just needs more practice. And I am starting to be able to feel what he is doing so that'll be a big help when I want to work with him alone.