/> Today was out monthly BD southern training with Leanne Wall (who is awesome, and the nicest person!
/> )She asked what we had been up to since last month....Home based training has been focused on throughness, straightness, get the little sausage to stay straight under me while we attempt the more demanding stuff. Trillions of transitions and gears within paces....she asked what our plans were and poor woman probably wished she hadn't. It has been an odd month, where I feel I have lost my way a little mentally...difficult to explain, and maybe too boring for a blog, but in teaching we always measure progress more than achievement...clearer idea of success as not everyone comes from the same starting point. I am not one to hang around at the same level for years, did it with my old horse, partly because I was terrified of failure, partly because I was terrified of him!!!
/> I am under no illusions SB is a dressage horse, I am VERY lucky we have made it to Elementary, and managed to win a few classes and amass a few points. We have worked bloody hard, but Medium scares me a bit,(big horses, serious, scary judges, being the smallest, crappest) hence why I have no renewed BD membership, spoilt child that I am doesn't want to keep competing at Elementary,so if we won't make Medium I would rather not go out at all...after all it is bloody expensive and time consuming AND I love training at home, so nothing lost there 
/> Anyway, she listened, nodded a lot (probably muttering 'nutter' under her breath
/> ) then said, well, from what I have seen of you, there is no reason why it shouldn't be a realistic goal, lets be honest it will need to be the accuracy that will get you the marks, not the huge paces, it is the biggest step up between levels....best thing to do is to take M61 or M69 and break it down and see what we have...ok, I said...Warm up on a long-ish rein (as man outside had decided to strim next to indoor arena...cue one 'terrified' pony
/> ) upon which Leannne declared we achieved pleasing relaxation and tempo and that the canter-trot- canter trans with him working long, low and over his back really seemed to help the throughness and balance of the trot. We played with canter-trot- counter canter- trot- canter-trot-counter canter- trot on both reins which he really seemed to enjoy, got some lovely expression in the trot after the counter canter especially, so that was super 
/> Onto the work and she took the elements of M69 and we worked on each individually. I picked SB up into a more 'up' outline and we looked at shoulder in...oh lord I miss mirrors, it made everything so much easier. We discovered our new evasion is to say we can't multi task and trotting and shouldering in is FARRRRRRR too hard for a small pony
I had to grow some balls, get a bit strict with myself and him and take a bit of control rather than letting him fanny down the long side drifting where ever he pleases 
On left rein I need to ensure I mini half halt on the outside rein, supporting him and stopping him from drifting onto the outside shoulder, the angle and bend all seem ok, solike our medium trot, short burst, straight, go again....on the right rein I MUST count the rhythm and ensure it stays the same throughout.Then the half pass in trot...preparation, preparation, preparation. Pony understands the aids, he ignores them sometimes
but he DOES understand, rider just has to understand what to ask and in what order....prepare, ride, finish movement and prepare for next one. We did shoulder in to half pass to 10m circle to centre line to walk transition, which I cocked up mainly because I didn't choose or hold my line, pony thanked me and dribbled along in a pathetic attempt at half pass. 10m circles went well, each time to be fair, so before corner thinking shoulder-fore, before marker, pick line, look where we are going, move my shoulders, move his , ask with outside leg for half pass, ensure bend round inside leg and flexion, flexion, flexion. Left to right went better than right to left.Walk transitions were great, collected walk seems in place, half walk piri left little sausage steps out instead of under and across so I have to have him on my outside seat bone, keeping him on his hind legs, he keeps a good rhythm which is good, but still a little large for her liking. Got better after 3 attempts and when rider actually rode, right piri much better, though still have to make sure shoulder first and his first step is a small one not a huge stride that puts us at x somewhere
Then we put it all together and bar the spooking was a reasonable effort....he was bloody knackered by the end, but to be fair he doesn't do oceans of sitting trot as we can do it fine, so he did have my
to contend with a little more today 
She quite rightly has suggested that I need to book a test or two training, take them apart and rehearse it all bit by bit, adding each movement once we have the one before nailed (to whatever extent we will ever nail it)
Some might say over rehearsing is bad as it teaches the horse to anticipate...she quite rightly pointed out that a horse truly on the aids won't anticipate, so off we will trundle to give it a go Poor old Larry Sausage, he has all this to come...and I will be even more middle aged and bonkers by then too
