Catch Up - rambling post

I've been really busy the last couple days, so here is a recap of my last few rides. I hacked on Thursday and Friday, Thursday I could get him on the bit and round but I had trouble maintaining the connection consistently. The bright spot however, was that he was excellent with his canter transitions, I think it is because I have become so much better at keeping him balanced and collected at the the trot, so he does not rush as much into it and then root. He still wants to take a couple quick trot steps before he moves into the canter but he is not rooting really anymore, which makes me really happy. It is nice to keep my arms in my sockets! Friday was a huge step forward, I had a better trot but more importantly than that his attitude was so much better. I felt like he was actually willing to try for me, instead of me having to strong arm him into actually working. In my lesson on Saturday we worked on the frame at the trot, my position sitting and posting. Sarah says about Werther, "while a soft inside rein is important to all horses, it is life and death to him, he will not do anything with too much contact on the inside rein." We worked on leg yielding to the wall while still maintaining the roundness though his back, which were much better. We did a little bit of canter work, getting me used to the feel of really sitting the canter instead on the normal hunter half seat. I bought some full seat breeches on closeout from Dover, and Saturday was my second time riding in them, they feel a little weird, like a diaper, but Sarah says I will learn to love them. I also got to practice a turn on the forehand, which I have not done in a long time. We were using it to practice making Werther more sensitive to my leg. If he did not move over with one squeeze, he got a correction with the dressage whip until he moved over. Then we went back to leg yields and it seemed to help. We finished the lesson with stretching at the trot, which is Werther's favorite part of the lesson. I'm still getting the hang of my new leg position riding dressage, I think I finally am used to the knee rolls, but I am still not used to having longer stirrups, I still loose them a couple times a lesson.