Lesson!

Our lesson on Saturday was really good!  We mostly worked on my position and getting him to listen promptly.  It turns out I have a tendency to nag with my heel because he doesn't really listen when I use leg.  She reminded me many many times to keep my heel down and use my calf, not my heel, on him.  When he doesn't respond, use the whip right at my leg.  It's amazing how quickly that worked!

The other thing that I had never thought of but makes so much sense.... not asking for a lot at once.  He doesn't need to really move forward all the time (at least not for a while).  So what she had me do was, for example, pick up a trot.  Going into a long side, add leg (without raising my heel!) to get him moving forward.  At the end of the long side, take leg off and let him coast on a circle.  Coming off the circle to the long side, add leg again.  Repeat.  This way he's only having to do more for little bit at a time, then he has a chance to relax and do things his way.

We did a tiny bit of canter.  She suggested longeing him... sigh.  I hate longeing him.  Oh well.  We're not even going to think about the right lead for a while.  Just do the walk-trot stuff we worked on in the lesson until he's better to the right.

Here are Princess and The Mare this morning, politely sharing hay: