Lesson Recap: Leg Yields, Leg Yields, Leg Yields!

Sunday's lesson kicked my butt in the best way :) really getting into the nitty gritty of not just passably getting through the movements, but breaking them down and making them better and better and expecting more quality work. We're both capable we just need the accountability of the experienced eyes on the ground (and an impending show lol). I put Ruby back in the nathe since she seemed really offended by the Verbindend last week, and she was great for about 80% of the lesson - she did have sort of a meltdown towards the end about some 10m circles to the right. We did eventually manage to break through the resistance and end on a good note, but Christ I was exhausted. TrainerB even commented at one point that she wished Ruby would give me the right answer so *I* could have a break, lol, but we got through it. 

It's so awesome that she now starts with the trot we used to work most of a lesson to get :) the quality of work is just vastly improved, I'm so excited!

Still exceptionally obsessed with these boots <3 they look SO GOOD with the petrol piping and sheepskin on this Mattes pad. Now if only I had a summer top that was a better match lol. 

She wasn't nearly as fussy about going to the right earlier in the lesson so I'm not sure what tripped her switch in the second half but I'm glad it happened in a lesson so we could work through it!

The leg yields to the right (off my left leg) are actually pretty decent, occasionally even great. The leg yields to the left (off my right leg) we are sort of on the struggle bus with. A significant portion of the issue is that I struggle to the right and create issues that direction with my horses, particularly in the contact (possibly as a result of my narcissistic left hand and rogue right shoulder? who knows, but we're working on it). So the leg yields to the left I struggle to keep the neck straight and then they get very... messy. So messy. Lord. Instead of trying to do them off centerline, we switched to riding a 20m circle in the middle of the arena, spiraling in to 10 meters, and then back out to 20m. She was able to make the connection much better in that exercise, whereas on the centerline she just kept expecting any application of leg to be an upwards transition.... so, definitely something to practice as much as possible before the show! 

Leg yielding 

Can I get a dressage test where I only do things on the left rein? We would be amazing at it hahahaha. 

Focusing so hard my brain felt like it was coming out of my ears lol. 

The canter departs stayed trending in a good direction, and we were able to have a few more organized downwards, instead of all the "splat" ones. We talked about the lengthened canter in 1-1 and 1-2 and decided that especially for the first show, I wouldn't really encourage anything extravagant, just sort of let it happen and hope I can keep a lid on it so we don't bomb through the 15m circles at the end, lol. Honestly our biggest issue was trying for the canter to trot transition at X, I was concentrating so hard on keeping a lid on the tempo that I was shutting her down and we kept having the downward transition too early. 

TrainerB: "oh good, trot lengthenings aren't an issue"
lol

Finishing up on a good note with some nice soft trot to the right once we FINALLY broke through the tension. 

If you read this far, enjoy a blooper that didn't make the social media highlights lol. One of our particularly messy flailing leg yields. 

We were both tired and sweaty at the end, but it was a good lesson! She was definitely fresh and had some opinions, but I still think we're on track for the show not to be a complete and utter disaster lol (I know I know, I'm such a pessimist haha).