I had my second lesson on Tesla with Trainer J. Tess had been amped the evening before, so I wasn't quite sure how the lesson would go.....
Spoiler alert: It was Fabulous!
Tesla is definitely an overachieving student who wants to do well in front of the teacher, lol!
Trainer J immediately noticed how much more steering we had (I'd been working on that all week, huzzah!) and that Tesla was much more polite in the bridle (i.e. I was following with my hands, but when she got rude and tried to pull on me I told her no, and held a bit until she gave, and then started following again - we worked on that all week too!).
She had us working on getting Tesla to look in the direction she was turning, Tess tends to fall in on circles, especially to the right!, So Trainer J coached me through the baby steps of how we will eventually get her on my outside rein. In the turn, I would raise my inside hand just ever so slightly to make a "wall" so that Tess wouldn't lean in and would carry herself...by the end I could just squeeze my ring finger.
I commented how mysterious dressage terminology is, and especially with a young green horse, that how to get to "inside leg, outside rein" was not at all clear (she just grinned and agreed)
.
It was a lot of work for Tesla, who was pretty tired by the end, so Trainer J called it good and we ended on a nice happy note. She told me Tesla is so willing, that she is trying so hard for me, and what a gift that is. I've always asserted that Tesla wants to be good, so it was nice to hear a professional back me up :)
I chatted with a neighbour, Deb, afterwards who had come over to watch, and Tesla fell asleep behind me (all tuckered out from her lesson, cause dressaging is hard)
Spoiler alert: It was Fabulous!
Tesla is definitely an overachieving student who wants to do well in front of the teacher, lol!
Trainer J immediately noticed how much more steering we had (I'd been working on that all week, huzzah!) and that Tesla was much more polite in the bridle (i.e. I was following with my hands, but when she got rude and tried to pull on me I told her no, and held a bit until she gave, and then started following again - we worked on that all week too!).
She had us working on getting Tesla to look in the direction she was turning, Tess tends to fall in on circles, especially to the right!, So Trainer J coached me through the baby steps of how we will eventually get her on my outside rein. In the turn, I would raise my inside hand just ever so slightly to make a "wall" so that Tess wouldn't lean in and would carry herself...by the end I could just squeeze my ring finger.
I commented how mysterious dressage terminology is, and especially with a young green horse, that how to get to "inside leg, outside rein" was not at all clear (she just grinned and agreed)
.
It was a lot of work for Tesla, who was pretty tired by the end, so Trainer J called it good and we ended on a nice happy note. She told me Tesla is so willing, that she is trying so hard for me, and what a gift that is. I've always asserted that Tesla wants to be good, so it was nice to hear a professional back me up :)
 |
| Some well deserved snacks |
I chatted with a neighbour, Deb, afterwards who had come over to watch, and Tesla fell asleep behind me (all tuckered out from her lesson, cause dressaging is hard)
Aw bless the post-lesson naptime 😍😍😍
ReplyDeleteSo great to hear that it went so well! I still struggle to understand inside leg to outside rein so if your trainer has another way of explaining it please share so dumbnuts like I can avail from their insights 😶
I'm writing it down so I can read it over and over to myself too :)
DeleteWhat a good mare!
ReplyDelete