Lead woes; the light comes on

So I seem to have a much harder time getting her right lead in the dressage arena, versus in the cross-country pasture or jumping arena. This baffled me. For one, I'd cue on a 20m circle, when she was evenly bent, and I'd give with my hands a bit so she wouldn't be confused. You know, inside flexion, inside leg at the girth like a pillar, outside leg catching the haunch, push the barrel into your outside leg, etc.

I tried spirals, asking down the long side, in the corners, leg yielding her into it. And I was banging my head against the wall. I ALWAYS check my tack and horse for damage/soreness before I get on. The barn masseuse just looked her over yesterday. So it wasn't physical- it was pilot error. ( I am SUPER paranoid about soreness. omg. No, I check backs, legs, mouths, little elbow skin places, what have you, obsessively.)

It was so strange. So. Fricking. Strange. I'd cue for the right lead, and she'd take the left and start drifting WAY out to the rail. I'd try to catch her with my outside aids, and she'd bulge. It's like her "wrong lead" radar was telling her to change directions. Now if only it would tell her to change *leads.* And this is bad, considering I was attempting to work on our transitions.

So, like any respectable horseperson, when I came home, I got on le Google.

And found a Jane Savoie article on leads, and a few threads on some forums. They kind of reinforced my sneaking suspicion that her flexion was off. She breaks at the neck, instead of at the poll, when we bend, and I was kind of thinking that it was throwing her out of balance. I found a blurb on a reining site about how their haunches travel, and how really, it's the way the haunch is oriented that determines the canter lead. I knew that the outside hind was the leg that needed to be cued, but this kind of opened up a new avenue. It said that, if the shoulder moves off the rail (rather than the poll being flexed), it negates the haunch aid and the horse will get the opposite lead. Makes sense enough to me.

And, this explains my lead trouble. I can get it on a straightaway, but not on a curve. Because she bends at the wrong place and takes too much weight on her inside foreleg. Oooooh, ooookay. *Light goes on* And the smallness of the dressage arena only adds to that, I suppose.

So now, we have application to deal with. I have been riding without stirrups most of my ride trying to tighten up my lower leg, but I think I probably need to pick them back up when I work on her canter transitions just to eliminate any unbalance on my part. I'm a lot better about my position, but I don't want to make anything worse.

Anyways, I was thinking I might want to put my nub spurs back on (not my 3/4" POW spurs- don't need those at the moment) to give her a more precise cue to move over from my leg. Also, I think it's time to bust out the in-hand work and work our flexion on the ground. The little snot is a master of evasion: she goes behind the bit on a loose rein, if I let her. She must have had some draw reins or something at one point. And I'm going to break out some simple patterns to get her lighter up front. We rode squares today, for probably ten minutes: working trot to the rail, turn on the forehand, shoulder in down rail, turn on the haunches, leg yield down the line, and turn on the forehand, and then reverse back to point A. Actually, I think I messed it up trying to write it out, but you get the general idea. You want straight lines, crisp corners, and improved response.

Lastly, I don't know if Allanah is still up to training this week. Hm. So I may be paying Patti Conte (other hunter trainer) a visit to touch things up before our show.