I gave a lesson this week to a fairly new student.  As we started I asked her to show me her warm up as she would proceed at home.  She said she had a routine that she usually followed and listed a few trot exercised/figures that she started with.  She said she usually tries to do canter work early in the warm up.  I think that is often a good idea.  Many horses warm up better in canter than in trot, as the bounding gait has natural expansion and contraction of the back built in.She proceeded with the trot exercises and settled in to a spiral exercise to the right.  It went without a big hitch.  Then she went to the left.  Her horse was quite crooked, and both struggled to perform the exercise gracefully. She had described her horse as stiff left and hollow right in ... read more...