"Best I've ever seen"

My last couple of rides before my lesson last night weren't great.  I started focusing so much on the canter (which is actually usable now!) the trot and walk suffered.

I couldn't figure it out, but didn't stress too much.  I figured my trainer would see whatever it was - and she did.

"Okay, this is new, but tonight it's actually the right side of his back that's lower than the left.  It's always been the other way around.  So that's a good thing, that means we're having an effect on him, but now we have to deal with something new."

Sometimes you just gotta work through something at one gait and in one direction.  That day was yesterday.

She had me slow him down with my core and put him on a counterbent left 15m circle, and whaddaya know, within a few minutes he felt amazing.  The more I thought about why that worked, the more I think I'm finally using my left leg for the first time ever, and now I don't have enough right leg now to keep him from going through me on that side.

And then!  I have no photographic proof of the things that happened next, but we first worked on the SI/half circle/travers movement from 2-1 and then we worked on travers by itself, and suddenly my trainer was saying "This is the best I've ever seen you sit and the best I've ever seen him go."

9.3!  For...like one second.  But I'll take it.

Swooooooon.  He felt SO GOOD!

Of course that was the one ride all week I didn't video, though!  Next time.