Wednesday's Riding Lesson

I am catching up on my posts, so as the title indicates this is from Wednesday's ride. They put new footing in the indoor the day before which was good but it was still a little dusty. We warmed up and did walk trot work on our own, Werther was good, my Mom was in the ring riding Stoli, I think Werther liked the company. The canter was better, it took me a couple tries but I did eventually get him to pick up the canter, and Andre did not have to get on him this time. I think Werther is learning what we want, now when I ask Werther to canter he is really difficult to get it the first time, and then all the other times after it takes very little effort, most of the time I don't even have to use my stick. I graduated from the pile of ground poles to a small cross rail. I was a little nervous at first, even though I have jumped much bigger. I always get nervous doing something new with a new horse, because of my C.P. I need to trust them that much more than your average rider. The best thing about Werther is as long as you maintain enough leg to keep him going he keeps a very consistent pace and is not inclined to take the long one. The first time I did not have enough leg and he broke to a trot. I was able to get the canter back though and continue. I am still working on perfecting my turns with him, it is hard to maintain the impulsion I need to keep him straight. I had more difficulty turning him down the line on the right lead, because it required that I support him with my left leg, which is the one effected by my C.P. I was really happy with my last jump, we had a decent turn and got the lead change very quickly on the straight line. Before I left I turned Werther back out, he is now going out with T.J. a horse of my Mom's that is recovering from Lymes disease. Werther seems to like T.J. well enough but I miss getting to visit with Wesley in the paddock.