First lesson of the new year.

I had a lesson with Tracey on Thursday. We continued to work on connection and forward. We are adding in controlling Boo's tempo more efficiently. When I ask for forward with any kind of assertiveness he tends to go from zero to sixty, and when I ask him to slow down a bit he goes from sixty to zero. I end up getting thrown off balance. In the lesson I started trying to be conscious of using my tummy muscles to hold myself up in the saddle during the transitions. I'm going to work on forward, connection, using my tummy muscles during transitions of any kind, and regulating the tempo until my next lesson.

We are doing much better on connection. There is not a doubt in my mind that I am the lion's share of the problem here. If I can get more fit and more consistent things will continue to improve. Tracey does want me to apply my calf in the aids more consistently. She doesn't like it when I use the back of my leg for cues. She said it makes my leg to unstable, and then it's as if I am constantly nagging him with my lower leg. She's told me this before, and I recognize the truth of it. That is why I did away with my spurs about a month or so ago. I didn't think it was fair to use spurs when my leg was unstable. I was really only using the spurs for more forward and quite frankly I've found I don't really need them for that.

I did have some knee pain in this last lesson. I need to work on turning my leg in from my hip and not my knee. I definitely need to become more independent in all my body parts. Is that even possible at my age? Guess we're going to find out.