Recap

so, I havn't updated in a while, which I should.

In August, the big thing was that we went to a recognized show. We did training level, just to try out showing without having to do anything difficult, and it went great. Got 5 out of 6 scores abobe 60%, and 2 second placings. A lot of feedback about the same things we work on at home, my seat, rein contact, forwardness, balance of rider (and badly influencing the horse). Lots of encouragements and comments about having a great horse to learn on.
And yes, Odin was a STAR. He is such a cool guy to learn on. He came, he was 'ok, this is a show. I know this stuff. Let me do my nice trot'. He really helped me get my nervousness out. Of course he should be more forward, more uphill, the stretchy circle and free walk need a LOT of work, but overall that wasn't the important things (though ribbons were nice), but that I am not nervous about showing him at all now, he is such a levelheaded horse.

I will try and see if I can find some pictures where I don't lean forward too much :P.

After the show we worked in the free walk and the stretchy circle a bit, and how to get an elastic feeling on the rein.

Recently we worked on straightness. We did some shoulder-in to renvers, which were really helpful in getting Odin more supple and straight. We practiced doing trot-canter transitions while straight, that is hard! I think two important things came from this: I try to make Odin less stiff and crooked, since it has been getting worse, and is shouldn't be, that leads to frustration. I think it is a bit better now. I also developed a much better 'feel' for when he is straight or not, and some skills to straighten him. I got the difference between when he falls out or in on a circle or long side, or when he stays straight or correctly bend. The 'feel' is the hardest part of riding, it is what you need master, but I now think it can be learned. And I do have the rest of my life for it :)

Lastly, the last week we worked on forward, half-halts, and expectations. I have been trying to expect more from him, to not allow him to come out of collection when I go forward, or slow down when I collect. It is hard, because now it has become a habit, Odin expects to slow down when I collect, so we need to do a bit of retraining. L. told me the other lesson, if you have to use your legs in a half-halt to prevent him to slow down, he is not in front of you legs. You collect and allow, not push. Hmm... we're not quite there yet, but I did have a bit of that feeling the last lesson.

these last lessons I have been riding with drawreins, which are not my favorite thing. I have a hard time organizing 2 sets of reins, I am terrified of using them too much. They do help me with not letting Odin lean on my hands, and also I don't lean on the reins either, because I have to be more careful with the drawreins. L. is good at making sure they are not used to make Odin curl his neck up and that they are loose enough. I am still sceptical whether this is ultimately the right thing to do, but now I try.

One more thing I have to remind myself, I could really feel a difference after the Legend shot in the start of Oct. The end of September he quite stiff in the right hind, but it really changed with the Legend. I tried an Adequan shot this summer, didn't seem to change anything, but I will definitely keep going with the Legend.