Today's ride was a bit interesting. I was planning on doing some raised trot poles to work even more on his engagement. I warmed up normally and did some transitions again. He was being really lazy today and I was having a really hard time keeping him in front of my leg in the downward transitions. Because of that I made a little bit of a modification. Rather than walk I would 'almost walk' then go back to trot. This still worked pretty effectively at getting his hocks underneath him. He was a bit inattentive today which was annoying. He kept spooking at everything for no reason. I had to work really hard to keep him working hard enough because otherwise he'd lose his focus completely.

When I went to try the trot poles he seemed like he didn't understand the exercise. He kept jumping over them every time no matter how nice of a trot I had coming in. Then he'd get all upset when I'd try to correct him so I decided it wasn't worth it and just put the rails on the ground. He still wanted to get quick the first couple of times through but then he finally got better and it actually improved his trot some. I would trot him over the poles then do a 10m half circle and come back down over them the other way. The 10m circle forced me to sit up and ride my outside aids around the turn, then the poles forced him to be a little more active in his steps. Then when we went to the canter he started out much lighter in the bridle than normal. I also can tell that I am getting stronger because I can hold him on the circle with just my leg while keeping my hands an "even pair" as Jane says. I also felt like my body was stacked more correctly. I was reading the new ride with your mind clinic by Mary Wanless and there was a rider in there who had a position really similar to my default. She was round in her back with her leg out in front and leaning back somewhat braced against the horse. During my ride today I tried to focus really hard on keeping my body stacked upright. One thing that really helped was dropping my knee down and closing my thigh against the saddle a little bit. I wasn't gripping with my thigh but keeping a little pressure there helped me keep my leg in the correct position. With my leg in the right spot it was a lot easier to control my upper body. Rather than think about sitting up at leaning back I just thought about opening my chest and keeping my shoulders over my hips and my eyes up. I think in the process of opening my chest my ribcage also lifted slightly but not to the point that I was sitting back behind the motion. I could really feel the difference at the canter because it didn't feel like I was pumping with my seat the way it often does, it just felt like I was right with the motion and balanced. I am very excited to continue to improve on this because I think it is going to make a hugeee difference.

I called Boyd today and left him a message. Hopefully we will be scheduling a lessons for next week on tuesday or wednesday since I am off from work those days. Tomorrow I am heading over to the bucks county horse park to meet Rachel and go for a hack/maybe school some XC fences.