Dressage and body work

 This morning I rode Lyric before a friend came to do some bodywork. She was not a happy camper about it and was a tiny bit mad she had to leave her buds in the pasture but.. we did manage to walk up and down the pasture hill twice. Then she was fine once we got in the arena. (And Dan cantered by on the right lead!). 

We did a long walk warm up and did some shoulder in and haunches in. She's actually quite good at moving her hips and shoulders in or out, but... she stays so straight in her body. Which, yay for not just overbending at the neck... but, girl... yah gotta bend that barrel and back some! 

 

We had a decent ride. It wasn't as good as the other day. She felt a bit more braced and inverted again. And was a bit more tilted in her poll again. And she got scrambly a tiny bit and lost her hind end bad once. But, we also had some good moments and she was very happy to do a stretchy trot at the end. I still worry that she's just not comfortable with her neck in a neutral position vs long and low. And I don't know if that's neck.. back... saddle... mouth.. or none of the above. She did get a bit more bendy through her body though at the end of our ride and we even did some 10 meter figure 8's with some quite lovely changes of bend. I still have to contort myself a good bit to get that left bend though. Same with Funny. 

 

We also worked on the canter a bit more today. We worked on our transitions. I need to be better about just lifting my seat instead of being so dramatic about it. But she tends to take her time getting into the canter so it makes me rush. Which, obviously, is not helping her. We did manage to get one or two really nice upwards though. And her downwards are pretty good consistently. She wasn't as even in the connection today and was hanging on the inside rein a good bit more. I tried to not hang back, but... sometimes it feels like I absolutely HAVE to! 

We finished on a good note and headed back in. She got a bit sweaty so... even though it was a hair chilly out, I rinsed her with hot/warm water and turned her back out. 

Shortly after that my friend came to do body work. She worked on Lryic too and... really helped loosen up her shoulders and scapulas. And she said her back was pretty tight.. which makes total sense. So she helped unlock that. She told me to do the "fascial swipe" thing that Tami teaches. So I'll do that.. plus the bemer.. plus all the things I can do to help. I should probably go ahead and shockwave her again too. I'll probably do both her and Dan tomorrow. I guess I should check when she last had it done, but... I feel like she would benefit again. She did enjoy her bodywork though. We also talked about how she's not that tight in her hamstrings anymore, but she's still sickle hocked. (Or hocks point in). She's also toed out behind. So.. I'll have to figure out how to k-tape her for that. I got my biomechanic tape! She also got some neck work done and face work done. She enjoyed it. Hopefully she'll feel looser on Tuesday when I get to ride again!