No rest

But she ain't wicked! That would be her brother and sister. Ha!! Teasing... they're just... silly. 

Anyways.. we had a lesson today with Kelly Eaton. I felt a little bad that she didn't get the day off, but less bad since we didn't run XC yesterday. Plus... I hate to lose a chance to lesson with Kelly and this month she was only scheduled for 1 day so far. (Plus XC schooling at FENCE but Dan gets to go to that!). So ... yeah. Sorry girl! But you get Monday off. :) And we did dressage instead of jumping. 

 No lesson photos, but this was after. She's so shiny!!

So we worked on some leg yields again today to get her more consistent and even in her connection. We started tracking left and it felt pretty good to me. Kelly kept insisting that I keep her more straight. Then we went the other direction and Kelly said it was better.. she was straighter. But she noticed that she was tilting her head, with her right ear down. She mentioned that typically that means that I need more contact on that rein. I was like.. "Wait though.. because to me, it feels like I've got NOTHING in the left rein and she's hanging on the right rein". Hmmmm... Okay. Fair enough. Go figure that my horse is yet again "not normal". ha ha. So... we practiced riding to the loose and giving to the heavy. So, I had to keep a steady connection in the left/outside rein, even if it meant a little bit like I was pulling. But the trick was to do it with an opening rein. This gave her left shoulder room to move over into it. I also moved my right hand to her withers (but NOT crossing it) to encourage her to get off that inside shoulder. And when she straightened up and got a little bit of connection, go back to neutral. Reward the try, even the tiniest bit. And it worked! I eventually got a solid left rein connection. Fleeting, but solid when it was there. Yay! So then we went back to tracking left again and then I was able to appreciate the not straightness. So we did leg yield to the rail, but then when she started to bend too much in the neck, or lead too much with the shoulders, or even lead too much with the haunches, go back to straight. So... leg yield a few steps, straight a few steps, then leg yield again a few steps, then straight a few steps. It was hard, but I started getting to where I could catch her as soon as she started to lose her straightness and straighten her. 

And then we were out of time! But it was a very helpful lesson. I didn't even make her do a hack because.. she deserved a break! Plus, I had just enough time to go home and swap ponies to get back with Dan for my lesson on him. :)