Dressage Lesson #30

The round pen is a swimming pool and the pasture is a lake, so we were left with only one option for my riding lesson, ride on the dirt road. I think the good footing combined with spring fever left Axel a bit excitable (within reason of course). We worked on some trotting but the turns were pretty sharp so Axel was a little annoyed at me. I kept collapsing at the hip which, surprisingly, makes a big difference in the way Axel listens to me. He actually took off at a canter a few times, I think only once on the correct lead though. One instance he tried to bolt down the drive way toward home and another time he tripped and almost fell into the ditch. Once I started sitting properly it was a lot easier to keep him around the corners. Our location wasn't ideal but it worked better than nothing. Jeff had come out with me and took a few photos. Some of which will make a cool animation if I can figure out a way to do it. It'll be funny to see the one where Axel is trying to buck me off. As usual there are a bunch more photos here.