May Lessons

May 6th
I had a 1/2 hour jump lesson with Erin the day after the jumper show which went not how I thought. He jumped clear with no refusals or rails at the show but the quality and rhythm just wasn't how it usually is. Luckily all the jumps were still up. Our warm up was okay but didn't feel perfect. We began with a small course just of cross rails so we could just work on the canter and rhythm. He was pretty good but we werefocusing of details so we kept doing it over and over until it was perfect. We then did many different courses at around 2'6. I was told to push him for the closer distance which was difficult for me since in my head I would collect for the close distance. I was frustrated because the tempo seemed fast and Carino took me asking for a bigger more ground covering stride as me asking for the long distance. There was good and bad moments. Not our best but just a lot of changes and details to figure out.
May 13th
I had an hour flat group lesson. Warm up was great and so was our warm up in front of Erin where it was great to hear her say our canter improved and was much better. So I knew my week of just dressage paid off. We worked on the walk and we spent the majority of the rest of the ride on shoulder in. Jenn the other rider was just learning shoulder in but Carino and I have been doing it for some time but it can become a difficulty for us at times. The shoulder in work resulted in me finally coming to the realization that I try and ask to much. I focus and ask for too much angle which lowers the quality of my shoulder in or just turns it into not shoulder in at all. So I finally after maybe a year began to focus less on the angle and more on the bend and him staying forward and not becoming tight or losing the rhythm. Still a concept that I will have to work on mentally though.