Chessington 10

6th July 2010

Chessington Equestrian Centre, Chessington

Big boing tonight. Cycled there, had a fab cycle back, and the lesson was even better. Was on Patchwork again, and felt like I'd stepped up a level today. Lots of trotting and transitions in the first half, then lots of canter work in the second. For the first time (ever?) the canter wasn't about maintaining it, or trying to maintain it. I can do that now, and instead we were working on transitions, slowing the canter down, and riding into the corners properly. Usually, I try and use the corners in walk, make an effort to in trot, but in the canter I'm usually too busy trying to keep the canter. This time I was trying to use the corners at all paces, combined with half halts to rebalance and get back into the rhythm. We also worked at canter transitions on the straight edge. This was troublesome at first as Patchwork was very sticky and kept striking off on the wrong leg. I couldn't really tell the difference so it was down to Sarah to tell me to get back to trot. (I blame Patchwork for being so comfortable that it didn't feel 'wrong'). But after a few goes I was learning to tell the difference, though he was still taking off wrong.  We started working with lots of circles, and by the end we were consistently getting the correct strike off. It was quite an odd feeling, to be riding so much better that I was working on correct leads, when not so long ago, the challenge was simply to get a canter. Feeling very good about it all tonight, especially as I spent half the day trying to think of a good excuse not to go as I wasn't feeling too well. I want to ride more often...