Flying Lead Changes? Oh my!

Saturday we went to the farm for lessons. It was super nice. Not too many people were riding in the arena, so we had room to play. I was doing nice circles on Chicky to the right, playing with pushing her faster, then slowing her down. I even thought about trying a lead change because everything felt so good. I didn't.

Two seconds after the lead change thought crossed my mind, my trainer told me to do a lead change. Shoot!

I circled, then counter cantered around the end of the arena, then asked for the change on the long side of the arena. Our first left right change she changed behind, but stopped before changing in the front. We got our right to left lead change on the first try. Then we rolled back and tried the left right again. With a lot of kicking and impulsion, we got it.

Whew.

We also did some fencing and worked on "Thou shalt not speed up unless asked for." She wasn't thrilled, but she did everything I asked.

When we got to the cross ties, Chicky looked a little sour faced. Sour faced, that is, until she got to try a cupcake with strawberry frosting. She REALLY likes strawberry frosting. ; )