This time Mr Bentley also got to go! It was his first big boy outing and I really had no idea how he would handle it.
The boys watching me pack the trailer in the morning 😊
Mystic was up first and we had a really tough lesson. JW really nailed into me about not allowing him to brace his neck against me. I mentioned how I have a hard time keeping his shoulders coming around the circle while doing travers and such so we worked on that until I understood the idea and we moved onto the canter. The biggest take away is that he needs to be more consistently in these quality trot/canter where he isn't using the wrong parts of his neck and is actually using his hind end and back more. The inconcsistency really came out when we did some school horse canter work. Once we broke through the what I like to call "gross" canter we got some super, super nice canter work! All that hard work earlier in the lesson was all worth it for those moments!
Th Pony had sweat/foam in places I didn't know they could! He got a nice linament bath and graze when we got home and is marinating in his BOT sheet over night. 
Bentley came off the trailer alert and slightly on edge but not bad at all. He got to go into a paddock outside while I rode Pony so I'm sure that helped him settle in. He tied to the trailer while I tacked him up and although he didn't stand still that well he wasn't flinging himself around and he tied well. When we first got into the arena he was definitely antsy. JW asked if I needed to lunge first but I said no I'll just hop on. I climbed up and off we went! He was walking very forward and was taking in everything but remained composed. The big guy stepped up just about blew me away with how professional and workman like he was for the lesson! It was by far his best work to date. He was responsive to all of my aids and really seemed to take it all in which helped him pick up on things quickly. By the end he was doing baby leg yields, turn on the forehands, and was having solid upward and downward transitions. Some key points for me to remember with him are to play the 5,4,3,2,1 game wii him at the trot, continue leg yield work, pick up canter off of incorrect posting diagonal, play with baby counter positioning and a deeper neck positioning, and don't do too many circle. Change it up a lot. Think of my rides with him as having a bunch of small little projects where I can get in and get of of them and move on so I'm not drilling him too much on one thing. I'm very excited for this boy! Now on to our Eric Smiley clinic on Tuesday and Wednesday 😃
Big butt, little butt. Fat butt, skinny butt.
Sounds like an amazing lesson! I always seem to learn the most when I have a tough lesson. That's amazing that Bentley was such a good boy! I really wish my pony would be that good in new places :)
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