Oh, the pain.

So I gave up and decided to tie my stirrups to the girth, and tied they shall stay. Yes, it is kind of cheating, but hopefully a few weeks schooling with them like that will create muscle memory or something. I opted for a few loops of yarn, that way I have to at least be aware of where my leg is, or else they will break. *Sigh* back to kindergarten :)

At any rate, I definitely felt some pain. I am so used to gripping with my upper thigh that this was NOT pleasant. At any rate, hopefully I'll see some improvement when coupled with the daily no-stirrups.



Now I just need to cram a crop behind my elbows and I'll be set! :P I have have HAVE to remember to open up my shoulders. My whole upper body collapses in on itself, and it's just bad.



Here I am jumping up her neck! Yay!! Ugh. But I figured I'd take a baseline now and compare it down the road. Actually, I wanted to *jump-jump* a little today to work on my position, hence the rolled out groundlines. As you can see, she TOTALLY took it seriously.



Again with the collapsed shoulders. Oh, well. It will all come with time, patience, and possibly duct tape, I figure.