Off to NYC

Adios, amigos.  I'm off to The Big Apple (do I have that name right?) to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family.  First though, here's a quick summary of my last two rides:
Tuesday-
went out for a hack.  Cadence was energetic, a little spooky, and damn obstinate.  Overall it was fun though; the scenery/time of day was beautiful!

Wednesday-
First dressage school since the clinic.  Cadence was too fresh (should have lunged her first) and was grabby and wanted to lay on me.  On a whim, I asked for a leg yield (something we first learned on Sat... this was her second try) down the long wall, and she gave me absolutely gorgeous lateral movements, both directions!  Unbelievable.  To the right, I could just ask, and leave her alone... occasionally checking her shoulder or adjusting the angle a titch.  Going to the left required a little more leg to keep that bum engaged.  Good reverse on the forehand and haunches too.  She totally understands the aids (and the differences between them) for all three now.  We even leg yielded down the wall in the trot, both ways with stunning results.  I couldn't beleive it was only her second time trying it.
The rest of the ride was good too; when she wanted to lay/grab, I was able to correct and work through it.  My coach will ride her on the weekend when I'm away.
Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving!

Lateral Work

One of the things I've really been trying to work on with Bailey is his lateral work.  When I first started riding him, his experience with lateral movements was limited, and not too pretty.  He was resistant, rushy, and constantly bulging through his shoulders.  Recently, I started placing a little more priority on it.  I'd worked through a lot of his bigger, more basic (like getting him into a deeper, better balanced frame, and not having hissy-fits when I picked up some contact) and we are still slaving away at our canter-trots, so I wanted something slightly less difficult and muscle-using (ouch, core muscles!) so we began focusing on his lateral work.  He's gotten a lot better; Last Wednesday, he was being a real arse, so I picked up a dressage whip and boom, I got a different horse! A really forward and rushy horse!  We worked through it, and we got some AWESOME leg yields at both the walk, and even at the trot!  More lateral work @ the trot tonight.  Yay!  I'd like to post some videos from like a month or so ago and then some from tonight (if all goes well) so that I can do a leg yield comparison.  We'll see.  Currently I can't find my camera charger, so...