Lease Ride Jan. 22nd 2026 Training Journal Entry #23

 Today we worked a bit on our dressage!

I think I'm going to start planning my lease rides based on our lessons - Still trying to do one dressage ride and one polework or track work ride for my lease rides, but plan the days opposite of my lessons so we don't repeat the same thing the next day and Sindri get bored of it. Ex. Monday lesson jumping so Tuesday would be a dressage day and then Thursday would be a polework or track day and vice versa if we have a dressage/flatwork lesson.

he was laying down when I got there!!!

I actually warmed up walk trot in his old bridle before I switched it out, he was nice and settled in his trot before I brought him down to the barn to switch bridles. Once I switched out his bridle we went back to the arena and re-warmed up. I'm pretty sure I was riding the same way when we started troting but he actually seemed to move into contact and bend when I asked him to. 

I cantered both ways doing lots of circles and he seemed very springy and under himself and paying attention to me almost as if he was waiting for the slightest shift in me to ask him to trot or turn (we've had a couple of moments like this so it's my goal to be able to find it when we canter) 

I wanted to do a dressage test today so I choose to do the Starter Dressage Test A

Overall the test was really good... He was super nice offering me bend and headset, our shapes and lines weren't perfect because we had to maneuver around all the jumps and poles but we did the best with what we had.

A-X-M -- Enter working trot track left -- I made a right hand turn onto the centerline, our centerline wasn't perfectly straight but it was pretty close, he had a bit of right bend coming up the centerline from our turn so we'll work on straightening that out. Our turn off centerline was a bit early because of jumps in the way but he was pretty straight in our line going back onto the rail and developing our left bend

E -- Circle left 20 meters -- Our circle definitely wasn't round or 20 meters trying to go around all the things set up (next time I'll ride in whatever ring has less jumps set up...) but he had consitanint bend and stayed soft through the circle.

A -- Circle left 20 meters developing left lead canter in first quarter -- I didn't prepare him enough for the transition into canter, he had such a nice trot i didn't want to ruin it by preparing for the canter to soon, so he scrambled a bit when i asked him to canter and picked up the wrong lead so i brought him back down to the trot and restarted from E where we did our trot circle - this time we got our lead, our circle was about 30 meters but it was a very good canter and round circle.

Between F and B -- Working trot -- Our downwards transition took a stride or two but he moved right into a nice trot with good bend.

Between M and C -- Working walk -- he came down almost like he was thinking halt but i pushed him into the walk and he got moving at a nice walk.

H-X-F -- Change rein free walk -- His free walk was very nice and stretchy, I probably could have let him stretch down more through his neck and gotten a longer walk but it was overall a really good really straight diagonal.

Between F and A -- Develop medium walk -- Very good transition into contact and accepting bend, I thought he would anticipate trotting when i shortened my reins but he surprised me.

Between A and K -- Working trot -- He moved into the trot quite well, braced a bit through the bend but that was expected more than to the left... 

E -- Circle right 20 meters -- Good circle, could have had a bit more bend and impulsion but still good.

C -- Circle right 20 meters developing right canter in first quarter -- Our circle was a better size, I prepared a bit to much for this transition, trying to make sure I prepared this time, so our transition was a bit rushy which transferred into the quality of our canter, had good bend though.

Between M and B -- working trot -- Because our canter was a bit rushy our transition was a bit choppy, still found a good trot with a decent bend.

K-X-G -- Down centerline working trot -- I had read the test wrong and came up the centerline at A instead of K... semi straight center line.

G -- Halt and salute -- Our halt definitely needs work, he fell to the left and braced through his neck in transition, he stood well for 3 seconds.

When you break it down it's easier to see what needs work, I think overall it was a solid test for us, showing the areas we need work, so now I can break down the sections that need improvement. I was very happy with how he did, he got lots of treats after I untacked him!!