Our first dressage lesson

I found a new dressage instructor last weekend and I scheduled a lesson as quickly as I could. Tono day was the first lesson and I chose Gem as my partner. It was a fantastic lesson and i will go again next week. i also committed to practice with Gem at home. Looking forward to this new area for my horsemanship joruney. I'm truly hoping to go to a schooling show this summer.

Things I learned:

1) when cantering, the inside leg is the gas and the outside leg goes back
2) Gem really falls on the left shoulder - is he favoring a leg?
3) my legs need to be further back and my thighs should open more
4) no neck bending in dressage really
5) Use my inside leg to keep him cantering

6) transition down by straightening my lower back (essentially, stop riding - but a different slant than I've used in the past)