Couple of schooling photos

I love how happy he is here. His attitude and mindset have really improved over the summer!
And look at that, I am reasonably straight in the saddle.
Holy shit, there may be hope for us.

This summer has been all about going back to basics and filling in a BUNCH of holes. 

As a result, Hampton has become much more ridable and some of our major issues are starting to fade away.

The rein lameness is SO much better. It will still mildly show up in left half pass at times, but it's almost always when I go into it without an honest connection, and/or have too much bend.

Our changes are MUCH improved we the left to right change is still late sometimes, but much better than it was. He is much more on my aids and there is less anticipating. I think it will get cleaned up very soon. Chip away. Chip away.

Our connection issues are still being addressed, but we are getting there. 

He is such a good boy.

We have been starting to focus in on canter pirouettes and Hampton has shown INCREDIBLE talent for these. They make perfect sense to him, even though I have no idea what I am doing.

I won't drill these since they come easy to him.

No Corgis were harmed here.
A+ for Hampton and being straight!

 I am so pleased with Hampton's progress this summer. We haven't shown as much as I had planned to, but that's ok. We needed a "development year." There were a lot of holes and major issues with connection and suppleness. 

But I think we will head back out into the big sandbox very soon. I would think our scores will improve but I've learned not to be cocky about that, especially after we went home after the show in May licking our wounds. haha. 

Next week my good friend is coming to visit and bringing her pony. We have a lesson planned and lots of trail riding. And drinking. Mostly drinking.

"To be a champion, I think you have to see the big picture. It's not about winning and losing; it's about every day hard work and about thriving on a challenge. It's about embracing the pain that you'll experience at the end of a race and not being afraid. I think people think too hard and get afraid of a certain challenge."