I got my Murphy back this week. Though initially, he came without a saddle. ;) He was in the lesson before ours as well, and the kids all rode bareback, which is a pretty common little fun thing for them to do towards the end of a semester. I wasn’t too keen on that, though, so I ran back up to the stable to fetch his saddle. He objected very little to having it put on.
We left the lateral work and focused instead on shoulder control. Most of the lesson was spent riding correct corners, with the inner shoulder kept well beneath the horse’s body. Any inwards leaning or movement through the corners was strictly forbidden. And, as so often is the case, focusing on a seemingly simple but very basic element made a hug difference. When you only ride once a week, it is difficult to get as thorough and as careful as someone who rides more regularly, but lessons like these serve as excellent reminders of how important it is to do the basics right. Paying attention to each and every corner really makes a difference, and concentrating on those sort of things as opposed to specifically working on getting the horse into the correct form often yields a better result with the form for me. You don’t try to do too much, so everything gets less forced.
I also rode Murphy without the help reins again, and was once more treated to how different the end result is compared to when I do use the help reins. I can get him into about as correct a form either way, but where he always remains a little tense with the help rein he comes out soft and slithery without it. The help rein produces a false sense of stability, and without it its clear that a relaxed Murphy is rather eel-like. But very happy to work, and lovely to work with.