Simply Sindri

 Sindri was great for our lesson with Amanda Miller! He trailered really well, loading right up on the first try and unloading calmly once we got there. Before our lesson started, we warmed up on our own with lots of figure eights, circles, and serpentines to help loosen him up and get him stretching before we got to work. We didn't canter during our warm-up, so our first canter of the day was with Amanda. As soon as we started the dressage lesson, Amanda noticed that Sindri tends to fight the contact at the trot. When I asked him to move into the contact, he would throw his head and have a little temper tantrum because he didn't want to carry himself, lift his back, and use all the muscles needed for proper dressage work. Amanda explained that he's learned throwing his head can pull my arm forward, giving him a release from the contact. To help with that, she had me hold my outside hand on the breastplate where it attaches to the saddle. That kept my hand steady so he coul...