Exclusive Footage

Michael is the best husband ever and took video of my ride yesterday.

Feast your eyes!

So, it definitely wasn't perfect, but I saw a lot of things that need to be tweaked, some things that are improving, and some things that I was pretty darn happy with.

Not Pleased

• I'm doing some bizarre sort of chair seat thing when sitting the canter, especially going to the left. 
• My reins are ALWAYS TOO LONG. Did you notice how I have to carry my hands in my crotch just to keep contact? That's problematic.
• The left lead canter in general... it's not HORRIBLE but Dino can definitely stand to have a little more "oomph" from behind and be a little rounder to the left. 
• I'd like the walk-canter transition to be less head-flingy.
• That whole land-and-scoot that happened after the brick wall jump. I'd love land-and-be-soft.

Getting Better

• The trot-canter transition is getting a lot softer, which I'm thrilled with! 
• Walk-canter transition. There is one. And it happens when I ask for it. 
• Steadiness in the bridle at the canter is sloooowly improving. We still have a ways to go with this, but I like where it's going. 

Totally Thrilled

• The jumping. Holy wow. I started right off with cantering that little vertical, and I did not freak out. I saw my distances about 4 strides out. We got perfect spots to everything. Dino jumped great, my position felt great, and my mental state is 100% better than where it was a few months ago. I'm able to concentrate on the quality of the canter instead of going into a panic about the fence, and that's awesome. 
• The quality of our trot work is very consistent, and Dino's been super steady in the bridle at the trot both ways. I'm very happy with my position in our trot work as well. 

All in all, I'd say it was a successful ride.