Casey in her color

I dug out the maroon pad I have for Casey. While I also have matching leg gear-  polos, SMB's and bell boots- shes wearing the rubber bell boots (no longer white) and the open front jump boots (also no longer white) as their hard outer shell means the mud all washes off easier.  Because we have Mud. Which is why both splint and bell boots are no longer white.... Lol 

Not quite sure if I'm leaning here or its just my head tilted a little, camera angle, combination of everything resulting in such things as a clusterf*ck? but the takeaway's.... Straight line from elbow to bit. Nice long reins allowing her to reach out and down to find contact. Heels back underneath me where they belong, niiiiiice reach up under her behind- engaged and using her rear end thru the back, lifting her shoulders.... 

All the things again here too. Present and accounted for. Hands, heels, reach, relaxed and yeah. 

Nice almost perfectly square halt. Casey is starting to "listen for" the feeling of asking for a halt. Two Step process- 1) "Step into it" taking my legs off and 2) "Sit and Quit" Sit down a little deeper and Quit following her movement with my hips, lower back and body in general. 

After the halt above she got 'stuck' and didn't want to move or walk forward. I don't rely on a whip, crop or spurs unless they just seem so dead sided af which usually comes from over-use of these things. Instead I gently pull them around to one side, hand low and wide where they can see it for a visual cue, my white string gloves help them see this. Inside leg comes back a little to push the butt over to the outside, which sorta forces the front end to turn the direction I'm asking for. Outside leg helps encourage forward and bend keeping the shoulders from falling to the outside. It all puts them off balance just a little that they have to take a step- breaking them loose from being 'stuck'. Once they're moving again it's easy to keep them moving. 

Doing the above process to get them 'unstuck' helps encourage them to move off our leg and away from pressure. It also helps us use our legs independent of each other, but also with everything else. As the inside leg comes back we turn our body and the heel stays under us keeping our weight and balance centered. Hand coming out to the side we are guiding them around rather than pulling, inside shoulder back keeps our body posture straight and keeps the horse straight as well rather than falling into the circle. 

This is all going on just at a walk so far. The next time anybody thinks riding is so easy. All you do is sit there.... You can tell them otherwise and they can shove it! 😂🤣😂🤣