DressageLife: Lesson on Isis

I brought Isis to a lesson today. It was a very encouraging lesson. I take a lesson on Isis at the MOST twice a year. She is a wonderful, wonderful horse - but not especially fancy. For that reason I keep her at home where I ride her faithfully, just plugging along with the knowledge that I have. I wanted to bring her over and have our work evaluated, figure out where we are. I was pretty confident that all our 1st Level work is good. I demonstrated all the movements in 1st Level - including the leg yield! - and it all went very well. I got what I wanted, which was confirmation that our 1st Level work is good, correct, and well done. I also demonstrated the shoulder-in, which was also good. At the end of the lesson we discussed the 2nd Level work I need to be doing. I am excited to continue my work with Isis, she is my best friend. And she's about 500 times more fun to ride than Grady!!

When I ride Isis I tend to ride her with a longer, looser rein. Isis does not work well on a short rein, she gets tight and upset. Also, because she's built like a Quarter Horse, I really have to continually encourage her to stretch and work over her back because it's so easy for her to get blocked up in her body. For that reason I ride her a little more "strung out" with a few minutes of more collected work here and there. I REALLY have to be cautious of how much and how long I ask her to shorten her frame.

You'll have to forgive my rather pathetic appearance, at this point of the day I'd been at the barn for 10 hours and Isis was my 5th horse.

He he, this is my favorite picture!!