Monday 6th April Plaiting and a Lesson

Today Ali and I had another go at plaiting Xaile in anticipation of the show next week.  Ali had done some excellent research and the results were even better than last time.  I made and attempt to plait the tail but failed!  I did however do the forelock.

I removed the long plaits on Saturday- the curls lasted well.

Ali's beautiful plaits.

Then I had an incredibly interesting lesson with Edward.  He said that though I sat very straight in the saddle I was too rigid.  He got me to loosen my back and shoulders and to tip my pelvis back a little (ie top of it back bottom forward).  This really seemed to help Xaile loosen his back and bounce more.  Edward also thinks that Xaile's trot with me is too fast so we worked on slowing and speeding up his trot by how relaxed my position was- more relaxed=slower, tighter=faster.  He also showed me how to slow him or halt just using my knees which was great.  We worked on slowing down his leg yield so that he doesn't just fly sideways, but concentrates on crossing his legs.  We ended by doing a little ridden spanish walk. It's not as good as we've got it in hand but we haven't practiced ridden at all.