Chop wood, carry water, part eleventy million and three

We have officially achieved slobber on the forelegs! Heh. :) I know: what a ridiculous thing to be excited about, right? But it's a good sign. I'm always happy with a foamy mouth at all, but enough foam that she's slobbering on her legs is a great thing.

Hee. Only riders and parents could get this excited about or interested in slobber.

Anyway, we had a great ride last night. Rev was willing and interested, and we had quite a few good moments. I'm starting to realize when I'm off my left seatbone, and I'm learning to correct it. I think that if I can manage to work both my seatbones evenly, it'll make a huge difference in our riding. It's easy for me to find and use my right seatbone, and I default to it all. the. time. Which -- yay Reveille for being responsive to my seat -- causes a lot of the counterbending issues we have to the left. So when she's not straight, I have to learn to check my seatbones FIRST. Not try to rearrange her with the reins. Ask myself immediately "where's my seat?", and then make sure that my back and hips are straight and not collapsed.

Something that helped me address the issue last night was working without stirrups for a while, and then just sitting the trot. Once I found my seatbone without stirrups, I could find it more easily while sitting. Once I found my seatbone in the sitting trot, I could find it more easily in the posting trot. So I think this will be part of all work going forward.

Also: posting and two-point without stirrups is challenging in a dressage saddle.

Also also: working to lengthen and shorten in the trot (and the resulting work to keep it where you put it) really helped our walk-trot and trot-walk transitions be more balanced. Good to know.