Adjustability

I had a lesson last Thursday with Sean Cunningham, owner and trainer at STC Dressage. Taking lessons from a trainer who lives nearly three hours away has been a challenge, but it has been worth it. It might not look like we're making progress, but we are. In fact, on Thursday, the horse I had for the lesson was the same horse I ride at home. That is huge progress.

Smiling at Pivo instead of the normal "are you working?' squint.

Surprise!

I wasn't the only one surprised by the horse who showed up; Izzy took Sean by surprise as well. In fact, Sean kept saying, "Nothing about this upsets me." Sure, Izzy had moments where he was hollow, braced, and reluctant to let his under-neck muscle go, but he wasn't running around like a crazy person either. Overall, he just motored around trying his best not to work too hard.

Working harder than he thought.

A little shoulder-in.

Since he was so rideable, Sean was able to work with us on more than just rounder, rounder, rounder. He had me steepen the leg yields, adjust my position in the half passes, and work on collecting Izzy in the canter for just a stride as we work to improve the simple changes. We also worked on the shoulder-in to renvers. That is definitely a work very much in progress.

Doing his job.

And still doing his job.

Each time that I ride with Sean, he gives me little bits of homework like focussing on tempo and roundness. Over the past week, my homework was adjustability. Can I ask Izzy to sit for a just a stride or two? Can I ask for just a little more for a stride or two? Sean repeats over and over, "Ask him questions. Change the questions." And probably most importantly, he reminds me to trust Izzy and actually allow him to do the things I am asking for.

You got this, Dude!

Izzy and I are on our way back down to STC Dressage this morning for another lesson and a show. Tomorrow we'll drive to El Sueño for a warm up ride, and on Saturday and Sunday we'll show tests 1 and 2 from Second Level. My goal is no 4.0s, but "J," one of Speedy's ladies, encouraged me to think about getting 7.0s instead.

Both strategies will raise my scores, so why not?