Forward past the bridle

When I first rode Silver, his owner remarked that I would need a whip because "you won't get anywhere without one."

ha haha ahah ahahha

Post ride, pre treats
Silver is honestly one of the most responsive horses I've met. He doesn't always respond in the way you want him to, but he responds. Case in point, Sanibel has been on stall rest for a little while, and my trainer took her out while she was teaching me on Wednesday. Since Sanibel has gone stir crazy in the stall, Miss El joked that I would have to be the one to call 911. About 90 seconds later, I mounted up, and Silver took an unexpected bolt forward. No, my trainer didn't want to trade.

Anyways, small horse shenanigans aside, it ended up being a really good lesson. We got caught in super nice weather, so nice that I had to shed layers while grooming because it was too hot. I opted to ride in Dressage tack since I hadn't done it yet on Silver. He walked fairly well, forward and relatively soft. Trot had too much forward, and trainer reminded me to just regulate him.

Post roll, pre contemplating life
We worked on the rail at first, changing directions, adding circles and all that jazz. Then we moved onto a figure 8, putting a couple laps on each circle before switching directions. We continued with softening and moving into the outside aids. In the direction change, trainer reminded me to make the change with my hips and shoulders instead of the reins. Our right to left change is nice, but the left to right needs work as he tends to fall on the left leg, and I forget to support.

His canter was a dream to ride. The first transition was without relaxation, but the next couple were great in both directions. He didn't swap off at all to the right, and he was softer than usual. I don't think my trainer has ever praised me more during a lesson. Small horse makes me look good.

Rubbing off the hard work
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