Backwards to go forwards?

For a while when I've been reading some things recently I started playing with the idea that backwards to go forwards might make more sense than I initially thought so yesterday towards the end of my riding lesson we started playing with that. Not long after we did that I was able to get Gatsby in to an outline and forwards. I could really feel his hind quarters coming underneath him and there was power behind his trot. 

When I first started working with him I got a really nice stretch and forward moving walk, from the beginning I wanted to make sure that he was responsive and listening to me. When I picked him up it took a bit more convincing but eventually I was able to move him up in to the outline, it wasn't as good as the lesson we had before but it was still there. The most important thing to me was that we were getting the outline more and more often. I remember a time when I got it once every few months now I'm getting it nearly every week and I love the feeling of it. Gatsby isn't the easiest horse to get an outline of but I'm still able to do it and that means a lot to me. I can really see how much my riding is improving. I love that. When we got towards the end to evade me Gatsby started going backwards without being asked to, so instead we turned it into a rein back, he had to go Backwards when I asked him to and he had to move forwards when asked to! He became so much more forward and responsive. So next week we are going to work on that from the beginning and see if it is something that we can do and how it effects Gatsby. 

Tomorrow I have a training day, we are going to be doing a dressage test and I can't wait for that. I am also going to do a post about what I spend on riding a year. 

Until Next Time 

A Girl With A Dream