& Found (and Dressage!)

Most important things first - LILY HAS COME HOME!!! I found her this morning - my neighbor's cat actually led me to her.  She was gone for two days, and they have been a very stressful two days.  The main focus of life for the last two days has been trying to find my cat.  

However, I was able to pull it together for my second ever and Sherlock's first ever DRESSAGE LESSON on Monday afternoon!  I don't have any pictures, but word on the street is he was starting to look (almost) fancy by the end.  We did a lot of directional transitions and a lot of work on corners - he has a tendency to cut them.  And a LOT (x132984093750487) of turning straight down the centerline.

The biggest challenge I expected to have was actually making my circles correctly - at my last (and only) dressage lesson, most of it was spent with Dressage Trainer L sternly reminding me not to turn my head to the center whilst circling, a concept that is basically unheard of in hunter world (at least where I'm from).  Surprisingly enough, my circles earned a 'really nice' comment from her this time - I think I internalized the whole 'not spotting my circle' thing pretty well.  And I've tried to remember to practice it on occasion during the flatwork parts of my jumping lessons.

The biggest challenge I actually had was keeping Sherlock from bending too much in the corners.  He is stiff on one side and loose on the other, so keeping him balanced through the turns was really hard.  Also he's a big horse and it turns out that our homemade 'dressage area' was about 6' too narrow, so that also probably had something to do with it. 

The biggest takeaway?  Focus less on things like position and how he doesn't set his head and how his canter is the most awkward thing that has ever happened, and find a rhythm.  Once I cleared everything else out of my head and focused almost solely on his tempo, we were able to run through our entire test with barely a single issue.  I was so proud of him, and of myself.  By the end of the lesson I felt like I was actually 'getting it.' And I felt connected to my horse, and he actually was managing those tight turns pretty smoothly.  I'm not saying that our test was perfect, by any means, but it was about a million times better than I ever expected it to be.  Maybe we won't completely embarrass ourselves after all!

Here's a picture of Leo, because he's cute and stuff. He had his first September training session today.  It was described as "frantic." I miss riding my horse.