Well, at least I got to ride the whole lesson this last Tuesday. However, I can’t say I was entirely pleased with how I did. I was a little too ... mellow, but then again, I had been rather sick for a week prior to the lesson.
I was back on Hedvig, and apart from a little dancing around as we got into the arena (which would have rattled my nerves if she was taller) as well some silliness about the door and one little buck during the lesson, she was quite well-behaved. As for last week, they never really found anything wrong with her. It may have been something little bothering her, or she was just being a mare. I started without my whip, just in case it had been the issue, but was then able to take it back without any problems when she needed a few little nudges.
The work we did was pretty well suited to improving Hedvig, since we focused almost entirely on half-halts. Since she has a tendency to hurry up, she needs a lot of help to settle into a more work-friendly rhythm, and in theory half-halts should be good for that. In theory, that is. I find them very tricky myself, and on her it was particularly difficult because she was almost too responsive. I had to concentrate a lot on getting them smooth rather than having very distinct starts and stops. No wonder I gave up on learning to drive a car. ;P My coordination stinks, and while it is improved by riding, it always seems to lag behind the curve.
Still, I did get some more relaxed work out of Hedvig too, and it feels like she moves quite nicely once she starts lengthening out a bit. I didn’t try cantering her, though. She’s very bad at it, and I didn’t want to mess up what I had managed to get in the trot by letting her rush into a canter. But I am hoping to try soon, and I do hope they will keep her even though she’s got a bit of a temper, since she’s just my kind of horse (both in terms of her size and her temper).