I'm so glad that you are having breakthroughs and that progress is being made. (Glad for everyone, really!) And yes, like I said, when you are training the changes, it's definitely natural for it to come after the aid. In terms of a rider learning how to really ride changes, as well as train changes, that's a different ball game. For me, I keep forgetting to ride the canter. Or, I try too hard, which tightens my hips up. I have to keep thinking to just ride the canter a stride at a time and then ask. My coach isn't super huge on going crazy over the timing - she says that I'll get into a rhythm and will start to feel the right moment to ask, and I have to say, that's been happening.
So, the big thing that happened the last lesson is that now that we're in winter, I'm finding that Gala is in fact a bit cold backed and tight. The colder it gets, the tighter she gets wound. Not in a bucky manner - more that she pings her croup up and down instead of really undulating her back and letting her hinds come far under. So, the movement becomes more hocky instead of the hocks having action AND allowing the hind to take a full step.
So, I'm learning that I have to ride her croup down. This sounds like a bad thing, but really, that means that I have to loosen her up and keep the activity so that she comes under. However, this direction equated to me to riding too strongly in the canter. This was illustrated ten-fold when I did a pirouette, thought that I better let the stride flow for the counter canter (I have a tendency to get the counter canter very tight) and literally loosened myself and rode a bit sloppily. The whole counter canter changed. The real ramification of this sort of control was made clear later. The canter quality overall had gotten crooked and stilted. What was going on, was that I was driving the hind so far under that she was starting to triangulate in the canter and pushing the balance down on the shoulders, and therefore, into the bridle. So, the first change that I asked for didn’t happen, and neither did the next. I was able to straighten her enough to get a few changes, but not in any particular count and they felt heavy and stilted.
So, my coach and I recalled the change that had occurred earlier in the counter canter. Basically, the changes weren't working, so I tried it a different way... I softened my seat (hip joints really...) and the canter became more regular (something that has also been noted as a failing of mine- keeping a regular rhythm in the beat of the hind legs). I switched my hip, and she changed. 1, 2, 3, 4 CHANGE! - again, easy. 1, 2, 3, 4 CHANGE! I took the next long wall. 1, 2, 3 CHANGE, 1, 2, 3 CHANGE, 1, 2, 3 CHANGE, 1, 2, 3 CHANGE - it took zero effort, they were straight, and they were 100% on my aids. Mind. Blown.
SO, the lesson after - I tried again with the looser hip - and I got 2 lines of 4's and 2 lines of 3's as easily as before. 2's I was either getting 1's or getting a set of 2's then missing the count... my coach is fairly sure that I'm trying to force the change in the two's again... so next time, we're going to try for "sloppy" again to see what happens! Interestingly enough, riding this way, I'm able to make the half-passes steeper than I ever have, and with more flow.
And then, there's this. We took a few screenshots of me playing with piaffe

I can nitpick, but overall, I'm pretty happy with this! I'm getting some control and can move her around in piaffe and passage - something that I haven't been able to do. She's a bit oddly conformed - which makes some things seem different than how they actually are, but I love how well she is under behind, and that she was very light in the bridle and active behind..

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