Another baby step forward!

I'm a bit behind in the blogging. Yesterday was another really amazing lesson with Mike. After the unblogged December lesson (next post up!) I spent my rides working really hard on the basics: heels down.
And it paid off! Mike commented on the difference between 6 months ago when I took my first lesson with him and this ride.
The only downside is now that I have mastered (ok, kinda sorta tamed) Monster #1, it opened the doors to lots and lots of stuff that I have not done before, so while the ride was completely amazing and felt great - it was so new that even if I'd been able to record it all while it was happening, I still probably couldn't get it all down.
First, I have been riding about every other day. Because of Willig's alfalfa-intensive diet (another post to come), he's been a wee bit on the hot side. Not hot like a TB, but hot for him. So I've been doing some lunging and less riding, but trying to get back to riding every day so I can quit the lunging. For the lesson, I got ready a bit early, so I tried riding the hotness out instead of lunging it out. It worked. Yay us.
Second, so we started with looking at the heels - I was worried I was bracing too far forward, so we did some position in the halt.
- Lesson #1: I have been standing up over the pommel. This is balanced, but now I need to start working on moving my leg farther back (towards his butt), which is a very different feel. When my leg is farther back and I stand up (sinking my heel), it is still balanced, but I am over the deep part of the saddle instead of the pommel.
- Lesson #2: To drop my heel, I know it is "lift the toe" but that doesn't really work. What I think about is straightening my leg in the back of the knee. I still have to keep reminding myself.
- Lesson #3: One reason why my heel is always up is because I am always asking Willig to move forward. He is kind of lazy. So we worked next on giving the command - briskly - and then backing it up with the whip. Willig gets very responsive very quickly if I am consistent. If I am confusing with my aids, he stops being responsive. Sounds simple, hard to do when I'm also trying to keep him working in a circle instead of looking at the new horse who walked in the end of the barn.
- Lesson #4: This one is for the future, but I'm doing something funky with my right side (and yes, it is me), that makes him bend right, even when going to the left, and move left if I don't actively stop it. I have no idea what this is yet.
So I demonstrated the heel a bit, we improved balance, and:
- Lesson #5: The proper standing trot position for practice purposes is also, by the way, jump position. It isn't riding around standing over the pommel, but putting your butt back like in a 2 point. This helped quite a bit as well.
- Lesson #6: I am getting better at pushing down, but I still need to work on my toes. They rotate out (especially the right one), and so when I think "down down down" they are rotating around like chicken wings. They need to push forward-down not around-down. This is hard to describe, but it helps me to think to point my toes in. This is one I'll need later when one day I am ready to use spurs.
Which brings me to the next part of the lesson.
Ok, so we monitored my lower leg. It's improved but needs continuous thought and some "clean-up" details still. But it was good enough to move on.
To moving off my aids. Again, not new, but being more consistent, more assertive, and understanding it is ok to ask every 5-10 strides, "no, keep going". As the lesson went on, instead of getting tired, Willig got better and better at this.
Even at walk, we used the thumping side to side legs to get a nice forward walk. I need to stop letting him drag around so his regular walk moves toward the forward walk.
After moving off my aids, we worked a little bit on bending to the inside. Again, this has something to do with my right side and moving off the aids.
Then we worked on canter, where I had made some good progress on my own. So Mike found ways to improve it more.
Canter Lesson #1: Wipe the saddle. Think of sitting on a swing and pumping it up. It's leaning back a bit farther than I do, and really thinking about pushing the swing forward. Willig did really great on this.
And lesson #2: Heels pushing down and forward, not around like chicken wings.
Canter was so improved we went on to sitting trot:
For this, it is a similar movement to canter, where it is sitting on your jean pockets. Mike gave me a good visual with his fingers making four points - your two seat bones, the pubic bone and the tail bone. You sit more on the pubic and tail, but for sitting trot, a bit further back on the tail bone.
It was helpful because another rider was working on the sitting trot when we started to work, so I got to watch her do it well.
I am catching a few steps, and then I lose it again.
Sitting trot lesson #1: This is counter-intuitive for me, but I do "triangle legs" where I lift my legs off and away from the saddle. This makes my legs softer and helps me get deeper in the saddle. (Otherwise, I clench up and perch up on top of the saddle.) Even though I'm lifting my legs off and away, it makes my seat more solid.
lesson #2: We went back to working with a couple fingers on the pommel, working in a small circle, and just thinking of the wiping/bounce but on my jean pockets. Mike says just to practice every day until I feel it.
Actually, that's a good point with the odd right-hand side too. Just like he didn't know I was clamping with my upper thighs until a few lessons ago (when he was talking about a cougar clamped on Willig's back and I thought "Huh" and then relaxed), whatever I'm doing, he can't see, so I need to learn (terrible drum roll) to feel it. Ugh.
So my take-aways:
Keep being conscious of those heels because they're not ready yet to behave without some thought.
Improve them a bit more - thinking toes in and legs farther back. I need to think of some new things for this one and also fix the standing/sitting exercise to be farther back and in posting position.
Work on canter with the heels and legs pushing down and forward. Also work on my up and down transitions. This was a 1-2-3-go, both up and down transitions are a controlling the "wiping" with my seat and then pushing him into it. (We actually slow down to go up and slow down to go down.)
Work on the sitting trot - continue to try to get the feel and use fewer fingers.
It was a great lesson. A bit too much to take away, but really a delightful ride and a really positive experience to look forward to working on.