Short and Sweet

A quick update. I'm very excited. Rogo and I did 10 M canter circles today, our first ever. I'm thrilled with this turn of events. We've spent the last few months (since last fall) fixing the incorrect riding I'd been doing without a teacher and today was the first day we started new things. It's a milestone! He didn't get them 100% pf the time, but he got some of them and gave it a good try. Can you believe that just a month ago he'd never come round in the canter? We still don't get consistent roundness in canter but it's there more often than not and this latest development will help both of us. I need to get my 'feel' just right in order to support him in this and he needs to sit, focus and work with me. It's really good for both of us.
We also did 10 M trot figure eights (he did them smoothly) and worked quite a bit on leg yield. For leg yield I need to remember to bring him into it using my outside rein to keep him very straight. I've had a tendency to come off the turn leading to a leg yield with his shoulder out and then we're doomed to incorrect movement with the forehand leading and shoulder staying out. By bringing him into the leg yield with a strong connection to the outside rein he'll stay straight. It makes a big difference if I move my hands together to the inside. This gets me off of the inside rein (which I have a tendency to hold too much in leg yield) and using an indirect outside rein. This works well for us.
That's my short and sweet post. A great lesson and happy with my boy.