Best outline work ever!

Today was a good day with Gatsby, it was my weekly lesson and I was buzzing for it as I'd not had any horse time since pony club because of being ill. When I got there he was being used for a lesson so I got to see someone else ride him which I found quite useful. When I got on him he was already armed up but I still spent some time getting him to stretch out and getting his walk to swing. 

When I picked him up I was getting bits of outline but nothing amazing, but then I had a light bulb moment when we moved on up in to the trot. We'd been doing lots of transitions and working on our rising trot, and I just felt like doing some sitting trot before I moved on to doing any canter work. When I was sitting I was making sure to really move my hips with him and the minute I did this his head dropped down in to an outline, his hind end came under him and it was all more balanced it felt AMAZING! I only had to slightly half halt to keep him in it but I hardly had to move to get him into it! The other great thing was that when I was doing my canter and trot work my leg was staying in place! It wasn't swinging all over the place it was staying where it was supposed to. For ages I've worked on getting this right and it's finally starting to work which was really exciting for me, I was buzzing, I felt like a little kid on their birthday! 

Then we moved on to doing some canter and I was trying to maintain my canter in an outline! This is something I've accidentally done before but I have never done it on purpose. We got a few strides where he was cantering in the outline, but not fully, however he was staying more collected and not running away with me which was good. At the end Fiona put a jump up for me again and it went well again. We continued with approaching the jump in trot making sure that I was still in control and feeling secure. He was great towards the end we knocked the pole down because I was starting to feel pretty tired but other than that it was great. I managed to maintain my jump position and the best thing for me was that I could keep my head up and looked forward. Fiona did something that I found really helpful she stood at the end of the school in line with the jump and put her hand up, she'd then hold up her fingers and I had to tell her how many she was holding up while I was jumping and I found that this was a great way to keep my head up. I loved it and I felt great I feel that with each week I tackle something different and feel more confident with the things that I am doing! It was such a great feeling. 

Here are some pictures for my lesson.

Yeah I'll just put my head here and stand like this, he was in the middle of stretching though! 

Don't know what I like about this photo but there is something that I like! 

Also really like this one, like how it shows me looking ahead, and focusing on what I was doing! Leg needs to be further forwards though!

I love this picture, My positions not great but after only three lessons of jumping in a year I am happy with it, I love how one of Gatsby's ears are cocked listenind to me too and the other ones focusing on what he is doing. 

Until Next Time
A Girl With A Dream