Normalcy

Today I rode Duncan. This was the first time I've ridden him in a week and a half since it's been so cold out. It was a pretty awesome ride. I just did some light walk and trot, since it was still pretty cold, and he was a little stiff, probably from not being worked. I free lunged him and had him hook on (I would say join up, but my horsemanship trainer from home tells me that's a "yuppie" term). After that I did a little ground work and then got on. He was pretty soft in his mouth, and didn't give me much trouble. Aside from being a little out of shape, I really didn't notice much. I did some walking on a long reign, then picked him up and did some turn on the forehand. I notice that Duncan doesn't have much trouble getting his butt over, but does have a problem staying straight and doing it, he likes to bend. I also worked on a lot of transition and not letting him brace in the transition. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here... throwing my position away, not using enough leg? Probably a combination of the above. I worked on backing up and going forward and got him pretty soft in that. I saw in the mirrors that he really throws his hind end out way to the right, so then we worked on keeping him straight in the halt. After that I just hopped off because he was being really good and I wanted to reward him for it. A very peaceful ride.