DRAGGED ARENA.

sooo basically. My past few rides on Cruizer have overall been pretty good. Friday he kept powerlaunching into the canter, no matter how softly I asked. He eventually gave in and picked it up a bit softer, still not as much as I wanted, but an improvement. We ended on the note. On Saturday I had my first dressage lesson, on Profeta. I loved it. It was definitely different and there were some moments where Profeta is like WTF IS SHE DOING!?!? But eventually I did get it.. on and off lol.. and he rewarded me by behaving and looking pretty. I really enjoyed the lesson, though there was a lot of information to take in. Some of it I will definitely be bringing to my rides on Cruizer. By the time I was done putting away Profeta and Vita, I was frozen so I decided to let Cruizer have Saturday off instead of Sunday. I rode him today before work and he was pretty good. Trotting he was good, although a bit rushy. He didn't do anything bad really, just wanted to go the speed he wanted (faster than what I asked for). I figured he just felt good because the arena was freshly dragged and that he would come out of it. Cantering was a whole different story. He was very charge-y and refused to back off. At one point he spooked and heard a noise, and tried to rocket off into a bolt, and at that point I decided to go get the western bridle out. This english bit just is not working. Looks like I need to pull out another one. Once the western bridle/bit was on he was a lot better. He was behind the bit part of the time, and when I felt I could I did release him and let him have more rein. The main thing to me though is that I am in control of his speed and direction, so at this point if he drops behind for a little while it's fine. He finished well with a couple simple lead changes and more work on teaching the turn on the forehand. I meant to do it on the ground before I got on, but forgot. He is starting to understand the concept, though is not entirely sure of it. I'm not in a rush. I would rather get the rail finished, and then work on equitation when we can ride in the huge outdoor again :) I will ride him again tomorrow most likely. One thing I can say, is he has been overall very quiet this week... weird. I'm not sure what happened/changed but I'm not complaining!