Lessons from Peteton

Shannon came out and gave me and K some help before our first tests at Peteton.
This was super useful!
Just like in my lessons, I was pouring sweat instead of my usual blase riding, and instead of standing and watching the test before mine, Shannon had me ride a lot of "attention" work - transitions, spirals in and out to work on the side that wasn't bending well, and focused riding.
We trotted out of the warm up arena right into the test arena, and then walked past the judge's stand twice - after that, Shannon said it was enough and to RIDE him past it. This was harder for me than it seems like it should be (I'm kind of passive, and want to let him just keep looking at it).
So it was actually just a few take home lessons, but ones that I can remember and continue to try to incorporate and that made a huge difference: ride harder in my warm up, don't put up with so much goofiness, and focus just before the test by getting his attention.
I was quite pleased with how he did. Although he craned at the judge's stand, it wasn't anything unmanageable, and he improved.
He was excellent getting in and out of the trailer, and he actually did really well standing around in between the rides (the part that I had been the most worried about).
It also took down my stress at least two notches to know Shannon would be there telling me what I needed to do, which was huge and kind of a surprise to me how much of an impact it had.
And it was really fun to be there riding with a friend.