Okay, It was to be a normal lesson on Thursday, but turned out to be a gruel lesson. I needed it and so did Annie. She is unbalanced (so am I). We are learning to balance each other together. We worked on half halts quite a bit and she is a quick learner. This can be a bad thing if she learns the wrong thing...so I have to be careful.
We worked on cantering in a circle. I had spurs on and was afraid to bump her with them. Her canter is very rough. She also is heavy on the forehand which makes it hard to keep good balance on her. I think it will take time to bring her down to a controlled canter. And I am paying the price for it. My calves, lower back, upper back and especially core muscles are feeling it today. It is Christmas eve and she gets to rest too. We both deserved it.
After the hour lesson on Thursday, and a long break/rest, we did the drill team practice. It went well until Annie decided that she had enough of working. She would trot nicely around the short side of the arena, then speed up on the long side. I tried half halts, nothing. I tried sitting deep and pulling, nothing. I had to use the one rein stop. WTF? She had her marish moment. I guess it gave the idea for Crystal (another mare on our drill team) to act the same...she too began to dis-obey. What an evening. Before I got off, we worked on walk-halt-walk. Square one again. When she listened good then we stopped for the night. Sometimes I feel like on a roller coaster and the ride is not always fun. ("hang in there, it will take time for both of us to get it right")
Next lesson: whoah's. She needs to remember that one good, everytime at every speed.
