More Dressage

Gem was very forward in our lesson today!! I believe he's really learning that I'm after an energetic trot vs the jog he does naturally (or was he taught that?). Because we've got forward momentum, my instructor was ready to start teaching us some more advanced things.

We worked the most on using the outside rein and inside leg to bend on circle. This is different than the way I ride, so I was tickled that he and I could get it done. The exercise we focused on was spiraling in from 20m circles to smaller and smaller (by 2m each time). Then, we would leg yield back out using the inside leg and outside rein. Cool exercise! We added some vertical collection after we got the hang of things. He was soft and round and forward!

Towards the end, we started working on transitioning up to the canter as we spiraled out of the circle, while holding him in a frame. We'll need to work on canter departs with collection. We fairly consistently got the correct lead though, and he departed into the canter beautifully each time. I actually think Gem is enjoying dressage.

On rein usage: get round with outside rein and maintain the speed. The inside rein is for form.