What a wonderful day! Calm winds and sun made a great day just beautiful. I rode Harry for about an hour, and we worked on just a few things. Connection, Suppleness, Straightness, Tempo.
Feeling full of himself as he sometimes does, his walk was nice and regular, as was his trot. We spiraled in and out on the circle at the walk and the trot-both directions, and surprisingly, most of the time he stayed on the outside connection. We made tons of transitions within walk, and trot. We then did some trot halt trot transitions, and taking small breaks but with a connection. If I leave him 'unattended', he manages to divert his attention to a piece of equipment rolling by, a police car, or a blade of grass. He has a bit of ADD. LOL
With the trot, I was very pleased to feel how regular he was. His halts were right there. I focused on keeping him under my seat and not putting up with his arguing. He gets praise when he does well, which is more often than not lately, and I attribute that to me paying attention to my position and my connection with him. I have to be relaxed and supple just like him. It takes two to dance nicely. His halts were especially nice from the trot, and he stepped under and was square. It was really great that both of us are working towards a common goal.
His canter work is coming along to the right, and he's staying out on the circle instead of making a 20 meter circle turn into an egg shaped figure. His canter to the left has always been much easier for him, and some days, we do a bit of cantering before the trot, which seems to help both of us.
Before I knew it, we had been out about an hour, and after a few stretching circles, which I was able to sit to easily, in either direction, I brought him back up with my inside leg, and we halted. He knows this is when he either gets his treat from me while I'm still on him or not. LOL
He had his first warm rinse off since November in front of the barn, which he loves. After drying his legs and turning on the fans, he is hanging out for a while inside before I turn him out again. It's fortunate that he can go in and out of his barn when he wants.
