Harley and his dressage saddle headed with me to the arena. Longe looked a little better yet, less stiffness before the neck stretcher. Neck stretcher work wasn't fantastic, but at least he was moving forward without a lot of fight from me.
I hopped on, and immediately noticed that "butt up in the air" feeling, like he was trying to be light on his back end. After about ten minutes walking, I noticed he'd settled down some.
What didn't settle? Bending, turning, and giving to the bit. I would try to ask nicely, with body and leg, followed by a little bit pressure, and usually had to resort to pulling his nose to the direction of the turn. I got lots of evasion, felt like he had his outside shoulder sticking out a lot. He wanted to lean on the rail a lot, and if I hadn't been concentrating, he might have run me into a post.
We did trot some, but he didn't bend, didn't give, and certainly didn't turn like I would've wanted. Much to work on, and we quit with me being a bit disappointed.
No comments:
Post a Comment