Dressage 2 by 2

Gosh I'm not even sure how to write this post.  I want it to be some sort of recap for what to work on/what happened in the lesson but just like last time, we did so many things so well and then BOOM horse looks like second level horse and I'm like EFFING RIGHT... and forgot how we got there over that hour.
So yeah, that happened again except we apparently are clicking much better as a team on the whole.  For the ongoing pad/rubbing saga I decided to go with a nonslip pad I had laying around for Piper's barrel body and the Steffen Peters heavenly sheepskin pad.   Also, we tried the KT tape for the FIRST TIME.  I put the tape on as we were about to load in the trailer (after shaving and cleaning his back oiy) and headed out to Lurena's. It was SO awesome to be able to take a Wednesday afternoon lesson so I might try to work it where I can do this more.

Upon arrival, the tape as still in place so *hi5.  We were there RIGHT on time so I kicked it into high gear getting him tacked up and mounted.  I'm leery riding in my dressage saddle now as it seems to be the prime offender (ok, it's probably ME in the darn thing more than the saddle) so I choked that back and off we went.  I gave Lurena the recap on the saddle rubbing issue and that it seems to basically be isolated to when I do left lead canter transition (seriously, I feel like my left seat bone is literally ripping his skin off when he steps off QQ).

We get started and here's what I recall doing:

10m circles with overflexing and counterflexing to warm up
serpentines at the walk
leg yields at the walk  (both to the left and right, centerline and quarterline)
shoulders in at the walk
half halts
trot serpentines
more over/counter flexing at the trot
working on sitting trot
some transitions from walk to trot on the circle
trotting 10m half circles
half halts half halts
shoulders in at the trot
left lead canter - going for any balance and any flexing, good downward transitions (no transition freakouts so looks like tape + saddle pad = win?)
left lead canter down the long side + walk transition
moar half halts
trotting 15m circles with no walls (middle of the ring)
trotting some other things
idk but it was awesome
a break
back to trot and then right lead canter
right lead canter was nice so we worked on just circle, down the long side and some inside leg under things
trotting again... there were leg yields and shoulders in at some point
more idk but it was pretty
stretchy circle starts
I forgot more I'm sure but there you go....

During our last break/ending I asked about some of the 1st level loop things and we walked through that and then gave it a shot (we kinda rocked at it). We talked about some more positioning things during the test so I can get a better idea of what is expected at which level (since I always aim for MY perfect which is sometimes/normally MORE than what the goal is at that time).

So yeah, you can tell where I was with it and where I started to lose my mind as I was in the moment.  The general gist was that we're looking really good, I need to work on my fitness (this is me saying it not her but my thighs and abs agree), stretchy circle (he's not bad, just needs to be better/more through), teaching him to learn how to follow my hips (requires me to use my hips more than they want to) for work not on the 20m circle, work on the canter (duh- again, me not her saying this), and yeah... I think that might be "all."

Also, when I took his saddle off (moment of truth, right?), it looked PERFECT under there.  The tape worked exactly like a second skin and I was thrilled.  Now the taking off of the tape was more dramatic and I left it on until Friday AM where when I pulled the edge up, things looked weepy and gross.  I felt like a failure, but left the edges up for it to air out and when Friday PM rolled around, it looked... good.  I ripped the tape off, did some ointment and threw him back outside.

So yeah, another lesson in the books and I'm starting to want to video them just so I can dissect wtf went on because I can't obviously trust my brain to work once body parts are on fire with pain.  Also, there are mirrors there and while I don't think I look particularly BAD (I'm up 10 lbs from this spring due to all the cray cray things we're doing and not watching my foods like I should, plus giving up soda in Feb means anything I want that's not water has calories so yeah boo), its a reminder that I need to take the rest of this flab off my ass.  I doubt Jade cares, but I'm sure Grey Horse would appreciate it.  Not that he complains about anything though.