The 8M and 10M Circles of Hell

I read Dante's Divine Comedy in college, but I don't remember dressage being part of Hell. It must be, though, especially figure 8's.

Dada set out to make my circles round today in a long lesson. I don't know if we succeeded. It was pretty tough, rerwarding but tough.

We spent a lot of the lesson just doing 10-meter figure 8's. I often got one side pretty good but not the other.

The problem is I don't balance well. Shocker, I know. And I apparently don't trust Louie.

Dada says to give Louie freedom to make the circle and trust him to do it right. I try, really I do. But then his head doesn't seem turned into the circle or he tends to be short so I give the reins a light tug, which makes Louie turn sharply and ruin the circle.

Dada fixed one problem early on, or tried to. She kept telling me to look where I am going. If I learn nothing else from dressage but that, it will be a success, because I have never wAtched where I was going, even when I walked.

This wasn't really an issue but I was using a new saddle, an Australian one. It has a nice big horn for me to grab, but it does not have a little strap for me to hold with the reins. I missed that, and Dada tried to rig one up but it kept coming off. I am sure that will be better on Wednesday.

I just wish I could try again right now. It probably wouldn't be much better, but it might.