"turn in your body..."

Hey peoples! 

I got a dressage book from the library called "Build a better athlete" by Leslie Webb. It's been really helpful, as long as you keep sitting on your balance point and sit on those pockets you'll be fine and you'll get a lot of help from it. 

Things that are so true that I found in it:

1) Turn in your body. I have heard this before but never has it worked so well with me. As Cricket gets better with bareback and bridless riding, I noticed (at the walk) that all I need to do to get her to turn in her body is to turn in my body (I don't even need to use my legs!), if she can feel a fly she can certainly feel the slightest change in my seat. 

2) Use your seat more than your legs and hands. This was an amazing point, yes do use your reins and feet if you don't get a response when just using your seat.

Something I learned without the book:

Just because you ride bareback without a bridle doesn't mean you're any better than all the other riders out there that use three bridles! It's about how you treat the people (well... and the horse, but I'll talk about that later). :) I wish someday that I can be as good with people as Emily is. <3 

Finally, if you feel like you are having trouble communicating with people in the horse world (or any other people!) without being a jerk, put on the emergency brake with your horse and sort it out with the people first. If you plan to make a career out of horses it's the people that will matter more. 

Well... Toodles for now! *Dude, I hope this post made some sense*

Priscilla