Straight and curved

Kate and Dada accused me of taking lessons somewhere else during the week because, they said, I was riding so well.

I did feel pretty good, especially at the beginning. I wasn't holding Louie's reins taut, and he was moving at a nice clip. That is the best riding, when he moves so well.

When we did shorten the reins up, he still walked (well, expect the time he pooped), but he was not as lively. But we made some good figures. And I stayed straight, no significant readjusting my body to the left.

One thing I tried to do in the circles and serpentines was push my inside foot into Louie to keep his body curved. It must have worked. Dada said his body curved in the serpentines for the first time she could remember.

Hamming it up on horseback

I know that I do better in competitions than in practice. That's nothing new. When I was in school, I liked tests.

I always figured it was adrenaline or whatever. Turns out, though, I may just be a ham.

I had a really good lesson today, and Dada decided it was because some friends came out to watch (Thanks, Wendy and Lisa and Janelle and Thomas and Jillian and Liam).

We didn't worry much about keeping Louie too collected -- Dada said she didn't want my head to explode like I wrote last week -- but I just tried to keep my reins straight but not taut.

It worked. Louie walked great. Maybe it was less the reins and he just had a big breakfast, but he was moving, which makes it easier because I don't concentrate so much on kicking him.

Instead, what I did with my legs was post. Well, my version anyway, which I use to reposition myself so I am not always leaning to the right. The hardest part is turning right but not leaning too much into it. Kate seemed quite impressed with my repositioning and posting.

I also became convinced today how much of a Dada's boy Louie is. We were walking, and Dada said just make an easy U-turn, not too sharp, and head back the opposite way. Well, she turned to walk the other way before I even moved the reins to start my turn. Louie pivoted basically on his own so he could follow Dada.

Cowboy Trott

I need to improve my stamina so I can ride longer.

We spend a lot of the lesson working up to getting Louie nice and collected. But when he, and I, finally gets ready, I only have energy for a few more minutes. I think my tired tell is I start leaning to the right too much.

And there is so much to practice when he is collected. Dada explained it today using a stretched-out spring analogy. You want to get it back into its resting shape. To do that, you need to hold one end of the spring and push the other end.

Louie is the spring. With Louie, I am holding the reins taut and pushing with my legs. Unlike the spring thing I also need to work my fingers on the reins, which means squeezing and releasing them. And I am supposed to squeeze and release my legs at the same time.

It is entirely possible my head may explode one of these days.

Not today, though, because after that collected stuff, I got to trot. It felt really good. I was doing a sitting trot and Kate and Dada were holding me. Except for the fact that I could not see straight, it went well. Kate said it was a perfect cowboy trot.