Cob Jockey

There's never any "resting on your laurels" in this barn, and after a whole weekend of watching us and reading my Dressage scores, my trainer came out knowing exactly what she wanted us to work on in my lesson last night.  As usual, the exercises we did were seemingly unrelated, yet actually very related, to our weak points and bad marks this weekend.  Consider:

Most common negative Dressage comment: "stiff through back"
Training exercise in my lesson: ribcage control and hind leg engagement
End result: Connor's back loosens up and he carries himself better than ever.

Most common jump problems: Not being patient enough to add a stride, not sitting down on his hind legs
Training exercise in my lesson: 3 poles end to end, with the top and bottom ones being vertical, and the middle one being horizonal, so they make a tiny zig zag.  I had to keep him together and make some very sharp turns to hit the correctly colored pole that she would call out for me to go over.
End result: Some improvement in the patience and sitting departments, but it was hard for both of us.  When he wasn't put together, we felt like a pile of limbs trying desperately to throw ourselves at the poles.  But there were some good moments.

I also played with the Micklem fit last night.  I was happy with where it was before, but I was in a mood for experimenting with Connor's preferences.  Last night I dropped the cheekpieces a hole and raised the bit straps a hole, and this happened:

Brown keepers on my black bridle.  Details, details.

Hard to see, but that line on his lower lip was the "high water mark" of his foamy mouth during the Dressage part of our lesson, and you can see the foam still sitting behind the flash strap.  That's the most foam I've ever gotten out of him, and given how well he was carrying himself in the Dressage part of our lesson, I wasn't surprised to see it.  Definite improvement.

Did somebody order a Baskir Curly?

I gave Connor three days off to just be a horse after he lived in a stall for four days at the Horse Fair, and he, uh, apparently took advantage of it by hanging out in the rain and rolling in the mud today.  Feral, I tell you.  My trainer walked by after I pulled him out of his paddock and shook her head and said, "Oh, Connor..."


 So after that got a quick hose down and curry to remove the mud, we settled into a nice Dressage lesson that was supposed to be a jump lesson but I didn't know that and tacked up in Dressage tack.  Oops.  The theme of today's lesson was 'ribcage control'.  Most of the lesson was spent on 10m or smaller circles punctuated by shoulder-in on the rail, with me trying to keep my inside leg at the girth and asking in time with the inside hind to move it over, my inside rein asking for the bend/guiding the shoulder around and then giving but not pulling back, my outside rein telling him where not to go, and my outside leg back a bit to keep his hindquarters in line.  Whew.  It reads as difficult as it felt, until I tucked my hips underneath me and Connor sat back and got adjustable and it all fell into place.

At two times in the beginning, I know he was thinking "this is so hard!" because he offered a couple strides of canter on the circle to dig himself out, and I had to bring him back and remind him that if he listened to my aids, it became easier and he was perfectly capable of what I was asking.  It was one of those exercises that proves that the way he goes is completely dependent on the way I ride, because when I got it, it was perfect, and when I didn't, the circle was so small that his actions told all of my sins.

We'll have a few more practice rides like that this weekend to cement that level of lightness and adjustability, then a jump lesson next week the night before we leave for our first CT ever - and both Connor and I's first time showing over fences.  Can't wait!