Hacking

Werther got his shots and worming on Wednesday. I rode him outside on Thursday and he was really good, though understandably a little stiff. He still started out a little stiff today, but was nice a supple by the time I finished my ride. I spent both days working on forward energy, doing stretching circles at the trot and  working free walk, and lastly the canter. I used a leather spur strap to tie my left stirrup to the girth, which is one of my allowed dispensations with my para classification. It helped me a lot, with my leg more stable I felt like I was able to get easier canter transitions, and it allowed me to sit deeper in the saddle. I'm pretty happy with my canter transitions now but now I am having trouble with the actual canter work. I've gotten to the point in my dressage riding where I am finally at the point where I can start to put Werther in a working frame at the canter. I'm having trouble with Werther swapping leads on me, which has not been a problem with him before. I could not really pin point in yesterday riding outside, but today we had high winds and a storm moving in so I rode in the dressage ring set up in the indoor. I found that he was more prone to swap leads on the right lead to the left, on the straight line after corners M and K. Try as I might, I could not get him around the ring to the right without swapping. I think I am getting him over bent to the outside, but I can't figure out how to fix it on my own, so I am going to ask Sarah tomorrow. Sarah said in my lesson on Tuesday that she is going to start working with Werther on his canter transitions, especially that counter canter, so he has to be really clear which lead we are asking for and hold it, instead of taking matters into his own hands.