Last Friday's Hack

I'm trying to get everything up to speed before I head out to Mason City on Friday. I rode in the indoor on Friday so I could practice in the dressage arena again. I made him march right away from the mounting block and he actually had really nice impulsion for me the whole ride. Probably still not as much as I need, but a much better start. When I went to canter he swapped going to the right and had an epiphany, or more accurately, a "duh moment". I thought to myself, why is it I don't have as much trouble with this when I go to the horses shows either in the warm up ring or riding the test. I figured out that when I am riding alone, I am focusing on making sure his neck is straight, and looking down, instead of looking at where I am going, like I am supposed to. We did Werther's neck stretches and turn on the forehand steps, then finished up by riding Training Level Test 3. The circles in the figure 8 and the half circles were a little wonky, but I was happy with the rest of it. The stretching circle we finished on was particularly nice.