Well, I failed to write following last Friday’s session (in fact, I rode twice on Friday, both on my own during the day and then a lesson in the evening), but since Monday was largely a follow-up I might as well discuss them together.
I had read an article about improving your feel for the horse’s gaits, so I spent some time at the start of each session working on that. I also worked on getting my legs further forward, to get into a better position. Still need a stronger core, though. Following that, I focused on the basics during the warm-up: straightness, proper corners, obedience. On the whole, I think Barka responds quite well to most work at walk and trot, though once we moved onto shoulder-in and half-pass she does find it more challenging when her right hind leg needs to do more work. But that’s the idea, to try and strengthen it for the canter, since we’re still having a lot of arguments about taking the canter aids without the need for a whip to be applied and at least one protest buck.
I was particularly pleased with her trot towards the end today, after we’d done quite a bit of work on shrinking and enlarging a circle. She felt nicely balanced and fairly straight.