Flatwork Tips from Sally

I had a dressage lesson with Sally today and here were her tips for Leo:

• Leo is tight in his jaw, versus his neck or back. When a horse is tight in their jaw, squeeze the rein and subtle move the bit to help loosen them. Your hand shouldn't make any obvious movement, but the bit should move.
• When a horse is tight in their neck, opening rein and bending will help loosen them.
• The horse has to be relaxed in his jaw and submissive to the bit in order to move forward fluidly from behind into the connection. I can't ask for more impulsion if Leo has tension in his jaw. If I do, he will brace against the bit and run through the aide.
• Sally thinks Leo has a good working attitude, but the exercises have to be varied and he needs frequent breaks. We alternated between 20 meter, 15 meter and 10 meter circles, and lots of changes of direction. After a couple minutes of progressively harder work, he would get a walk break.
• In order to address his right side stiffness, Sally had us work on a 3 loop serpentine in the small dressage ring. When making each loop to the right, I would add a 10 meter circle before completing the loop. Squeezing on the inside rein, keeping my inside shoulder back would help to encourage Leo to bend through his right side. A couple of times on the 10 meter circle Leo really did bend around his ribcage!
• Cantering included 15 meter circles. My elbows need to move with Leo at the canter. Everyone has been telling me this for my whole life! I don't know why they are so rigid!

Yesterday we went cross country schooling at Sandy Hills and that went well. I still get a little frustrated with myself that I still don't know how to ride Leo "right." I misjudge our speed or aren't there with my leg at the right moment etc. Overall, Sally says we just need more match time together. I need to be jumping regularly every week with steady coursework.

The Sporting Days course looks very inviting and I'm excited to get out there on Sunday.