I rode Izzy in dressage tack yesterday. She was great! All the work we've been doing on her maintaining her own balance and carrying herself really paid off. It was one of our best rides. She was soft and even into both reins. She moved over when I asked and didn't make a fuss about anything I asked her to do. I love it!
Then, today we pulled out the western tack again. I meant to do another dressage ride, but it was too cold to want to change into breeches. I went back to using the snaffle bit to work on some softness issues that we encountered last time in the sidepull. She was great again! The dressage work really benefited us in that was was calm, collected, balanced, and in tune with my aids. We worked primarily on her holding her own balance in the jog doing figure 8s. Anytime she got heavy on the forehand, I quietly brought her back to walk, halted, backed her until she lightened her front end, and then jogged off again. After a couple of tries, I was doing the whole thing off of my seat and leg.
So nice.
I'm volunteering at a jumping show tomorrow, so I don't know if I'll get to ride or not. I should be back in the saddle on Sunday, and we have a dressage lesson scheduled for Tuesday. Life is good.
Sometimes changing things up can really make a difference!
ReplyDeleteThat's great! I love when switching between disciplines makes everything better. I bet she likes the variety, and you can keep working on the same things from different angles.
ReplyDeletePLUS she is adorable in western tack ;)
Wonderful! How nice to hear that the lessons from one discipline to another are paying off so well.
ReplyDeleteHave fun at the jumping. It's nice to be able to volunteer now and then. Puts a fresh perspective on riding when you watch others and help out.
Awesome Dude!!!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat results! I bet she likes having the variety. I'm slowly buy surely learning not to repeat the same thing day in and day out with Rogo.
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