The best lesson...

I don't know why but yesterday I had the best lesson I've had for ages. We were practising for the Dressage Tests, and I was on Tess. She's kind of slow, and super unbalanced but I love her and she's my fave pony. I don't know, maybe it's because I practised with Ada on Sunday, but the end test I did was really good.
With Tess, I find it's a matter of establishing the lead in the first minute and a half once you enter the arena. Get her on the track and forward going, and if there are puddles... do your best. She's got lovely paces if they're controlled :)


My gorgeous girl!!!

Once we start trotting I'm always a bit behind the movement. Tessie can go really fast and be unbalanced, so you can get jerked around. But I love the fact that if you break that barrier and balance in time with her, it just feels so natural. She's stopped spooking with me too - I think it's because I don't climb up the reins like I used to. However, this does lead to me letting the reins hang to loosely in my hands, not holding them at the back of my palms (thanks wiola :P).
First, the class tried some of the individual movements in the test, such as trot to walk for four steps, then back to trot. Tess was brilliant at this because I find her so responsive - just a few nudges and she's off. But then we tried the change of rein with two half 10 metre circles going EXB. I thought we could do it, as I know she can, but I left it up to her a lot and didn't show her the right path. Mistake! She drifted off course and ended up off the track after B, which meant that the next movement didn't work. After that I used more rein and more inside leg to push her out and stop her drifting, and she responded really well.
At one point in the lesson we were all on a 20 metre circle left from E to B, trying to get perfect circles. It took about...50 for us all to be perfect. Not great. But I have to say, Tess was amazing. Usually her curve isn't fab, but with just a little leg and rein movement, she was bending perfectly on the 20 metre curve. Her only fault was drifting in slightly, but this could easily be corrected with inside leg.

The end result was great. I really felt like I had learnt a lot and Tess was going forward, but not unbalanced. The greatest achievment was her free walk on the long rein, which she NEVER does well, but this time she lowered her neck much more than she usually does. Thanks again to Wiola, who told me to take a huge breath in right before free walk and then let it all out as I let the reins slip through my fingers. Thanks to Charlie too, as taking a itny bit of contact if she doesn't stretch works too.
And thanks Tessie, of course, for a great lesson. We got the red rosette last time, and I hope we can do it again this time!