Of heels and transitions

I got two things out of last weekend - I need to work on keeping my heels down, and I need to practice transitions to get Crownie more collected and balanced. In my dressage session this morning I try to focus on both.

I do a very standard warm up - walk, trot, canter. Change rein and repeat. Throughout the warm up I focus on my heels. Somehow, I seem capable of losing my stirrups in rising trot. In canter they are dangling somewhere around my ankle, with my foot still in the stirrup. I consider getting rid of them altogether.

We start the workout with walk/trot transitions. Crownie lacks energy and balance. It takes about a circle for her to get balanced after an upward transition. Once she is balanced, I ask for a downward transition - when it feels like I lose my balance as well. We persist with this exercise for about 20 minutes. Upward transitions to canter are poor, although she actually is more balanced in the canter. But the transition itself is difficult to achieve. Downward transitions (canter to trot) are probably the best of a bad bunch. The heels have gone out the window. And on top of that, Crownie is falling out on the left rein.

I decide to focus on correcting the falling out. The temptation is to ask for more bend with the left rein. But the correction must come from a stronger, more consistent right rein, and a strong right leg. In the first two circles I try to just master the reins. Then on the third circle I apply the leg. And it works - she stops falling out. We go into canter, Crownie starts fallling out, and I repeat the strong right rein, and firm leg. I can feel her whole backside shift into gear, as she straightens. The canter is balanced and confident.