Lesson

I was definitely a little rusty today after being gone last weekend at Thermal and Sarah missing our lesson on Tuesday. Even though I wasn't very happy with how I rode, Werther was really good, which was really nice. He did not test me too much and was easy to get on the bit today.  Sarah said the saddle fit him really well so I get to keep it! For me it could be a little bigger in the seat, and I've never ridden with knee rolls this big, so it screwed up my leg a little now that I finally got my stirrups at the proper length. Sarah thinks that once I get used to having not so much bend in the knee as I do in hunters. Those two thing definitely are not deal breakers considering I am getting such a nice saddle for free! I'm really excited that it fits Werther so well, he is moving so much better though his shoulder and his lateral comes much easier. I think he is also more willing to be round though his back and connected because he is so much more comfortable. Today we worked on the frame and my position. I had a hard time with my hands today, but at least now every time I did something wrong with my hands I felt it right away and I could try to fix it as soon as possible. While I did get Werther going in a nice frame today, he kept wanting to over bend I struggled with keeping his neck straight.  The good thing is that I am starting to have my automatic reaction to him overbending is to correct him by taking a stronger feel of my outside rein. Another big step for me in my thinking today is that contact is starting to feel much more comfortable than loose rein. My old horse Wesley could not stand anyone messing with his face and I got very used to just riding in two point almost on the buckle the whole time. Wesley knows his job very well, and took a strong exception to anyone trying to tell him how he should be doing. Werther is a much more demanding horse, he knows how to do all this stuff but tries to spend most his time trying to convince me he doesn't not know what i'm asking him and I have to be very firm and precise until he gives in. My favorite thing we did today was sarah had me halt, maintain a tight outside rein and suppling the inside rein until gave in a dropped his head down. Then I would get Werther to bend his neck exercise slightly to the inside until I could just see the corner of eye. The final part of the was to get his neck straight again and get him to walk off and eventually trot while still maintaining the frame. I think this will be a good exercise to incorporate into my hacks. 

Something else Sarah said that was interesting is that any horse I ride is going to likely want to overbend though the neck because my legs are always going to be weaker than my hands.