Training: Lesson day

Today my trainer hopped on Max for a few minutes and I had the pleasure of watching her transform him into a beautiful collected dressage horse.

When I first bought Max I was told he was trained and showed hunter/jumper and was starting out with some dressage training. What unfolded when my trainer rode him was not only an incredibly smart horse, but one with more dressage training than everyone thought he had! She pretty much ran him through all the second level moves and he did very well! What a gem!

After watching her prance him beautifully around the arena, I hopped my sorry butt back on and tried my best to replicate what I saw. Of course, she tried to help by giving lots of great tips and corrections, but I knew I had a long long way to go.

It was a short session so we focused mainly on collection and forward, but at a steady rhythm. We also worked on keeping contact - which is an issue with me especially in downward transitions. Then we tackled cantering in a spiral going from a big canter to a really tight and collected canter.

It sure was tough, and he tried a few subtle tricks to get out of working so hard. After a few conversations though we got into the groove of things and it felt fantastic!

If the weather behaves tomorrow, Max and I will be trailer-ing out on an outdoor adventure! Keeping our fingers and hooves crossed!