By the time that it was time to head off to the stables yesterday, I was definitely ready for a relaxing riding lesson after struggling for most of the day with an extremely annoying translation (I hate extreme sports shows ;P). Fortunately, a rather muddy but eager (he clearly hadn’t been ridden yet) Murphy was waiting at the stables.
We had a substitute instructor, but our regular instructor had left notes for her. Surprise, surprise, we were to continue to work on rhythm and pace. Not that I minded, because that’s perfect for getting Murphy going well.
As I had guessed from seeing his muddy state, he had not yet been ridden and was quite a lot more forward-going than he has been the last weeks when he has had one or two lessons earlier in the day. We started with the main exercise pretty immediately, and it consisted of turning down the centre line from one of the short ends and once we reached the centre of the arena, doing a circle to either left or right. We then came back onto the centre line and rode down the length of the arena. Each time, we switched which way we were going and which way we did the circle.
At first, Murphy’s shoulder was drifting out in the circles and I wasn’t able to get them particularly tight or round. But after a while, he started to soften up and I got him more between my aids. The main difference, however, came after we started adding in cantering at the point where we came back out onto the centre line. I got some counter-canter, of course, but I also got some pretty good transitions and some decent work through the corner down at the short end. It also made a big impact on his trotting since it really activated his hind legs.
When we finished up the main exercise and moved to some trotting and cantering in circles, he started moving really well. I am definitely developing a better sense of his gaits thanks to all these exercises focusing on rhythm and pace and I am able to ask him more effectively for, for example, extension rather than just a faster movement. He wasn’t quite happy to collect himself yesterday, however, and kept dropping down to a walk as soon as I asked for that. It did feel as if he used his hindlegs well when extending, though, so it may have been my seat not being strong enough. I also got some really good cantering out of him at this stage. It was much rounder than what his canter normally is, though again he wasn’t able to collect himself much. He did, however, make some very good canter to trot transitions.
Afterwards, I was very sweaty and so was Murphy, so we both got a good workout and he certainly put in a good effort (which was handsomely rewarded up at the stables with apple treats).