Riding in a straight line is harder than you think

Tuesday's lesson, number three since my winter layoff, was much better than I expected. I rode Katja the tall Dutch mare again, and worked on restoring my position finding my balance, and getting my feel back--my ability to coordinate the seat-leg-hand aids that tell a horse where and how to move. Katja is an excellent horse for that purpose; she's steady and forward, but also can be stiff and one sided and makes someone like me think and respond to her way of going.

I'm actually riding her much better than when I started lessons on her two (yowza) years ago. By the end of a lesson she's actually between the aids (mostly), and this past lesson I started to really get feel back--for example while riding on a 20m circle I could tell when she pushed her ribcage against my inside leg and was able to reposition her. That takes some coordination, and I'm not the coordinated type. Quite the opposite. We worked on basics again: spiraling in and out of a circle, quarter lines (turning on to and riding a straight line is harder than you think without a wall to support you), canter transitions, and leg yielding in and out on a circle at the canter. I think I'll try to get some pictures of Keane tonight, he's all shaggy and gross so it might be a good "before" picture to compare with an "after" training pic.