Another day of "riding my butt off", and what a great learning experience!
Today we had the last ride of the day, so JP could watch (and operate our ancient camcorder). After the warm up we went right into the canter work: walk - canter - shoulder in - halt - reinback - canter. From there we progressed to the half-passes. What really helped me with the positioning was George telling me to "take his shoulders around his haunches".
After a bit of trot work with 10m circles in the trot we tackled our nemesis: flying changes. The first tries were (according to George) well set up, but then we lost it when Saumur blew through my half halts. The key really is to have Saumur collected, move him away from the leg in the direction we are changing to, and be really clear with my aids. I have to admit, it was quite the challenge. And George screaming in my ear really started to annoy me a bit -- "yes, George, I KNOW I have to halt, and I am trying, but I just can't get there fast enough". Not that George was really screaming on purpose, of course, he just gets very intense and I completely forgot that I CAN turn down the volume of the ear piece. I found out after my ride that it was set to maximum volume - actually, while writing this I can still hear George in my ear. In order for us to get effective half halts George stood in our path - and all I could think of was "oh, man, if something happens to him we will get totally sued" (his main sponsor is a very successful litigation attorney).
But low and behold, we were able to do three loop serpentine with flying changes each time. Totally exhilarating!
But now comes the best part: As Sandy told me afterwards, she suggested to George that he'd work on the canter pirouettes with us. So on the center we went, doing 10m circles, haunches in, keeping his shoulders on the line. From there we progressed to doing the same thing in the canter, and from there our circles got smaller until we had George as our 'center piece'. It gave me a great feeling of the level of collection I can get and how Saumur's back feels when it's right.
It was wonderful, and it was so nice having people rooting for us (thank you, Linda!): Yes, we even got applause from the spectators! For me, I was really happy that I didn't let Saumur, Sandy, and JP down. All three put so much effort, heart, soul, and work into it, I was determined not to disappoint them. Luckily my desire to do well didn't backfire this time. Sandy prepared us well for the challenge, the best way to describe it is that she did all the prep work with us and George went in for the kill. (True to his name: 'George the dragon slayer').
During that very intense lesson Saumur stayed focused, worked like a pro, not a spook in sight. All that with rainstorms pelting the arena roof, spectators, and camera flashes. This I will savor for a very long time!
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