I Love Dressage!

I finally had a lesson on Jack today! It has been three weeks since our last one because Jack has had abscesses in each of his front heels, one after the other. I have been riding him at the walk for a week now, yesterday we trotted a little, and today finally got to canter! I figured it would be best to just do dressage until his right heel is completely better. He is still a little tender and doesn't like to do tight right turns yet. He went great on the nice soft indoor footing. Dave came with me since we had Labor Day off from work. He took a lot of really great pictures of the lesson.

This one was my immediate favorite. Dave shot in raw, so we played around with the colors and whatever other settings in Photoshop that you can. It was cool to see how we could fix different settings on the picture to make a good picture really great.

Jack was awesome! He's getting a great topline and tries really hard to do what I ask him. Anne showed me how I can work on his left bend on the ground, since he's a little stiff and unsure of how to bend to the left the way he can to the right. I think once he understands the aids, he will be happy to comply. I just love how balanced he looks in this shot, and the white polos really make him look snazzy!

I think we'll do a few dressage shows this winter to keep us progressing and to practice doing tests for next show season. My goal is to go beginner novice at a few recognized events next summer, so we'll have a lot to work on through the fall and winter!