Ride #14/15: First Dressage Lesson & Baby Sass

Short post today. Time is of the essence! I swear my clock runs ten minutes late all the time.
Ride #14 brought our first dressage lesson! ....If we can call it that yet, lol.
My dressage coach Shelley is my go to person when it comes to well... Everything. She works at a grand prix dressage barn, backing and training all the 2/3 year olds up until sale time at 5/6. Ie. She knows babies! She is also super creative. She doesn't just follow the time tested and true methods, she customizes everything on a per horse basis. Hence why I saught her advice once again. While I am not hmet any speed humps that we were not able to overcome in two rides/ combined with ground work but Solo is polar opposite to Pal. Even from day one with Pal she was lazy minded, unmotivated until pushed or until she got in the game. This made her a super simple baby to work with however this did lead to sensitivity issues later. Not something Solo has trouble with! He is Uber sensitive, constantly tries to figure out what every fraction of movement means and he has a mental limit, where Pal could truck all day!
All in all, in our half hour lesson I spent time explaining Solo to Shelley then went about our 15minute work. Solo is getting pretty good at accepting the bit at the walk but is a bit slow. Something he falls on when his mind is preoccupied. Shelley suggested to keep the relaxation right now but ask for a bit more walk with voice. Solo isn't quite there to recognize more forward versus trot or canter aids. This also keeps up his sensitivity which will be a plus later on.
Shelley also told us to stay out of the corners, ovals were the name of the game. This was because Solo doesn't have the balance for square or bending corners yet. This just ends up killing our forward, not something we want to do right now. So we worked on voice to leg aids coming out of the oval then being quiet before next oval end. It was tougher than it seemed! Right now Solo really bulges to the inside going right, and out going left so Shelley told me to just merely hold a whip straight down his typically bulging shoulder. Don't use it but when he bulges, he will touch it as being Solo he got the message with just this slight pressure.

Ride #15 was shorter and mostly walk since I had ridden the day before and I need to take it easy with him as he is super bum high right now.
I worked on the same techniques as the lesson but also tossed in this pole square at the walk to teach Solo more about hoof awareness.
We also got our first sass! I asked Solo to pick up right lead canter, which is always a bit harder for him, he didn't canter. I rebalanced and asked again in the next oval end... Nothing. So he got a kick because I didn't have my stick...Ops. Solo pissy at to much leg, kicked back, hitting the wall which was the best part, scaring himself not to pull that crap. I gave a firm No! Asked again. Voila. No sass, no delay. Good lad.

I honestly thought the sass was pretty cute. Bad horse momma.

Pole exercise I found online. Pretty cool! I used only the middle square for now but later I will absolutely utilize it!