Well I thought I'd try riding with a whip between my thumbs to keep my hands still and together, I think it keep them too ridgid as Xaile hated it. So I went back to just concentrating on it. I listened to a play on my phone to occupy my mind so I didn't need to fiddle. But it took ages and ages for him to give when in trot. I began to think it wasn't going to work, but I had faith and stuck with it and the miracle happened again. When he really relaxes into the contact I can do anything with him. We even managed a very bendy serpentine without him bringing his head up on the change of bend. I concentrated very hard on sitting as well as I could and he is certainly lighter on his forehand when I manage to sit up.
I stopped to talk to Vicki for about 5 mins half way through which was a good test of Xaile. He was more resistant when we started again but did relax and then went beautifully.
Vicki read somewhere to imagine that you have elastic braces running from your hands to the back of your breeches. Its very odd, but it seems very effective at keeping the shoulders back and the bottom tucked under.
Last night I was re-reading bit of the Reiner Klimke recommended by Bento and these two quotes particularly struck me.
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