Wednesday's Lesson and Riding Without Trainer

Wednesday's lesson started with working with poles, first walking over some several times, then riding over another set at the trot. It went well but I was bounced around a bit. After working in both directions I made trotted around the arena a bit. There was one point went he freaked out passing the walk poles and went to the side, so I turned him back and passed then again, no problem. Then I made a circle at A heading to the right. As I usually do, I worked up to cantering by riding bigger trot on the outside of the circle and a slow trot on the inside. Finally, I did a few canter strides, even doing the entire outside half.

 Next, I tried to get a full circle. It went well! I still need to work on the downward transition from canter to trot, which is exactly why I can't canter straight yet. Another reason is that going straight may make Chester go faster because he isn't slowed down by turning and I may loose my balance.

 Anyways, I changed direction and began cantering left, doing the same thing and working up to cantering a full circle. Again, it went well, but the next time I cantered that way a disaster happened. Chester picked up the wrong, I lost my balance,  and he swerved to the right. Fortunately, I stayed on but I was a bit shaken, and Chester was nervous because he thought he had done something wrong. I circled to the right and he began walking off the circle to evade cantering. I decided to wait until later to canter when I was calmed down by doing something I am comfortable doing: trotting.

This picture is nice.

I rode several serpentines, heading right first, then left for the middle circle. Chester was still shifting off to the left for the circle at A, so I focused on keeping him on the circle. After riding several serpentines, I made a circle at C to the right then cantered several strides. I changed directions and cantered left as well. It went much better than earlier, when he accidently piked up the wrong lead.

From Friday. 

 Thursday, after helping out with the therapeutic riding, I rode for a little bit on my own, trotting around the arena, riding a couple circles, then doing my dressage test. The cones toward the inside of the arena had been moved so I had to estimate where they were.

He wouldn't look at the camera

 Friday, I also rode without my trainer because she was at a show with some of the other girls. I tried to do what I would in a normal lesson, trotting around the arena after warming up, then riding serpentines several times before entering beginning my dressage test.(without cantering). For one circle at B Chester began drifting to the outside, so I started over. The second time went much more smoothly.  Chester seemed relaxed, though I still needed to use my leg to keep him straight. Oh, and we were both wearing new boots for that ride.