Nikita's trot is coming along amazingly. We've been working on collected-medium-collected transitions, and in the mediums she's becoming so uphill that her front legs are almost horizontal to the ground. She's lost a lot of the heaviness in the reins that she was exhibiting. It's hard to believe how much power she has. We still need work in the medium to collected transitions. She has a tendency to become strung out in the medium if I let her, and it's hard to bring her back when she's that heavy. I'm trying to do the transitions more with my seat, and given the amount of power the mare has, I'm still trying to sort out how to collect her back with only my seat. I've found dressage is much harder when you use your hands, so using my seat is the only way I'm going to go.
My canter pirouettes are becoming solid to the left, but now I have to focus on the right. Nikita doesn't like to be soft on the right rein which makes it difficult to get the bend in the right pirouette. Nikita's right leg is weaker than the left, and if she had it her way she'd go around with her haunches swung inside. Pretty much left leg to right rein has become my life, since this ensures she remains through from behind, but this is more complicated in the pirouettes since there's a lot going on in that movement.
