I came into this lesson with Jen T. having done my homework from last time, a lot of which included an exercise of very precise transitions ridden on a square the size of half the arena.
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| Happy in his work |
Pyro came out very settled into his work as we started with the walk and trot. He was accurate and prompt as I asked him to trot the side of the circle, then either walk through the corner or come to a square halt and turn on his haunches to start the next side.
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| Striking off in the trot |
He was very quiet and steady in the bridle, which was a nice surprise. We've been working on that for so long that it was an awesome feeling for him to start the ride that way.
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| Being picky and asking for square halts |
Once we started including the canter (trotting, walking, or halting in the corners), the wheels started to fall off a little bit.
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| Pyro: Let's GOOOOOOOO |
Pyro was once again prompt to strike off in the new gait, but he often rocket launched into it. Jen T. and I discussed that I wasn't keeping enough tone through my core, so I ended up getting left behind. Additionally, I started having issues asking Pyro to come back at the corners. He wanted to run through my aids instead.
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| "An object in motion..." |
Jen T. coached me to encourage Pyro to keep a more level balance through the canter, rather than allowing him to dump on his forehand in every stride.
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| Not left behind in this transition |
While this was hard for him, it prepared him for coming back to me at the corners.
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| Slightly less heavy on the forehand through his canter stride |
As we worked on the canter, I would ask him to halt and back in the corners if he blew through my aids. This gave Jen T. the opportunity to realize Pyro was not backing with diagonal pairs. Instead, he would shuffle back in a lateral pattern.
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| Judgmental Dingo watching Pyro shuffle backwards laterally |
Using our blessed arena mirrors, we ended the lesson by upping the ante, requiring him to not only back softly, but also organizing himself into using diagonal pairs. Looking for this, even when backing on the ground, was our biggest piece of homework for the week. The other assignment was to continue working on keeping my core engaged and Pyro's balance level in the canter.
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| Bonus: World's Best Dingo |
Many thanks to videographer extraordinaire, Jen S., for dual wielding phones to capture reminders of this lesson! After we hung up with Jen T., she commented that what we were doing was "solid 2nd level work". I about died of surprise (in a good way!). Come spring, I'm feeling like Pyro and I will be prepared to debut at 1st level pretty comfortably!
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