In this February photo of Renny and Violet, you don't necessarily get to see how cool they are. In this photo, Renny was getting ready for a riding lesson and Violet was patiently quietly waiting for her friends to finish cleaning her stall. Anyway, during her third week of stall rest, I had ridden her 5 straight days with jumping on each day and she was wonderful. And I asked Stacey to put a training ride on her because I was going to visit my nieces and nephew over the weekend and I knew she wouldn't get much turnout because it was lesson Saturday and a Jill Jewett clinic on Sunday.
So, when I got home, Stacey said that she and Violet had fun and that she learned a lot about what Violet was doing that was affecting my riding. Violet likes to grab the bit with her left jaw and yank it and she is very bendy and flexible to the left, but stiff and unbendy to the right. And that she thinks that Violet tosses her head impatiently when I ask for a canter because I grip with my knees.
So, Stacey gave us our Tuesday private lesson and helped me tweak my riding and let me tell you. It was amazing! Violet was soft and quiet and wonderful. And we were able to transition up into the nicest sweetest most relaxed canter without head-tossing. I was just so impressed. Stacey said she would help me work on softness and riding with my seat and making my leg long and active. My goal this year is to ride softer, so I was really glad for this great training ride. And what's funny is that Stacey said that I would feel the difference, but I didn't really expect to, I was just trying to give Violet some exercises on my travels.