Jack's making fantastic progress 7/2/17

I am incredibly pleased with Jack's progress since his Palmer Annular Ligament injury last year, he has come back into work with a much more "can do" attitude and is really working with me.  I think the enforced break has mentally done him a lot of good.  Despite not being back to his previous level of fitness he is actually working much better than before.  I am continually amazed at how much better this horse gets, it's taken a long time to regain his trust and confidence but when I can channel his energy into working with me he can produce some fantastic work and we are managing to get this more and more.  Schooling this last couple of weeks has been incredible and Jack has produced some of his best ever work which has had me grinning from ear to ear.  I've also introduced a little bit of jumping for variety and so far this has gone really well, I started with a very basic grid with ground poles 1 stride either side of a cross pole which he did really well, lots of energy and found it very easy so I quickly popped the jump in the middle up to a small upright which again he flew with ease.  This week I put 4 cross poles up, a 2 strided double then another fence each side of one part of the double so having jumped the first fence I could either go straight on for 2 strides or turn left or right so Jack was kept guessing which way we would be jumping.  Again the session went really well and while I kept the jumps nice and small it was a really good session and with both enjoyed ourselves.
I put a lot more effort into planning our rides these days, I never get on without a plan and I record each ride so I don't end up with lots of repetition.  Yesterday my plan was to work on the trot - canter - trot transitions as I felt this was an area which needed a bit of work, especially the left trot to canter transition is not quite as sharp as I know we can get it.  Having warmed up I started with the easier right canter then worked on the left and soon had it much sharper and cleaner before returning to finish on the easier right transition again.  Having achieved what I wanted and because Jack was feeling so good I decided to have a little go at some medium trot to finish, this is something that has taken a lot of work in the past but as soon as I put him on the line and pushed him on he gave me the most wonder elevated lengthened strides, he was really covering the ground without rushing and felt fantastic, he also came back to me nicely without going heavy in my hand or dropping onto his forehand.  His trot in general has improved hugely in the last 2 weeks and has much more impulsion and elevation.  Dropping on his forehand has always been our biggest issue and Jack is very clever at going crooked and avoiding using his back end correctly which makes it impossible to get him to engage the hind quarters and lighten the forehand although he keeps a nice light contact in your hand.  He falls on the left shoulder a lot and tends to ignore my left leg.  We have had a real break through in recent weeks and I think this is down to the fact I have been focusing a lot on stretches and ground work before I mount.  In addition to the usual carrot stretches I do before every ride I have also been turning Jack both ways on a tight circle and backing him up a few strides, I have also been getting him to flex towards me and move his body away.  Now when I ride he is much more responsive at bending through his body when I put my leg on especially to the left, this has had the effect of lifting his left shoulder and freeing his whole body up enabling him to work correctly pushing more from behind, lightening his front end and being much straighter too.
This has been getting better and better in the last few weeks and the difference feels fantastic!
I am so pleased with him, I am even planning on entering some Dressage Anywhere tests during February if I can get someone to help me mark out the ménage and film me!
Jack should be fully fit in the next couple of weeks and with the nights drawing out we should be able to hack more often so things should continue to improve as he gets stronger WOOHOO!!!!!