Lesson #3

I've had a nasty cold/flu/bronchitis-y thing for the past three days, but I'm finally feeling better tonight so I went ahead and had my lesson. My nose ran like a faucet through the whole thing, which was very attractive.

We've made progress! Willow did not wig out even once. She only braced for the first five minutes instead of the first ten. The trot got good fairly quickly, so as promised we spent a lot of time on the canter. Leslie had me bring Willow in to a twelve meter circle in trot to get her really engaging the inside hind, and I asked for the canter from there. Two bad habits for me to address: raising my hands during the depart, and pushing my inside leg too far forward. Both really easy to fix; I just need to keep them in the front of my mind for a week or two. Leslie also had had me raise my stirrups a hole, and that helped stabilize my seat and upper body. Willow has a big canter which tends to throw my upper body forward and back. By the end of the lesson the canter departs felt great and the canter itself was softer and more self-contained.

Willow was a steamy girl when we finished; she's using muscles she didn't know she had. I gave her an extra carrot for trying so hard.