Do you have the "equestrian intuition" yet?

Today was lesson day again. Never too early if you want my opinion. 

I finally investigated the infamous riding gloves. I have been told that the best ones to protect my hands against a strong horse that yanks on the reins are the bright yellow roper's gloves by SSG. Me...Bright yellow. I think not. But it seems that they now come in black, I guess I was not the only one with style issues here. I already own a pair of these; unfortunately they are way too large. I now use them to tack-up whenever my hands are cold, they are so comfortable. I guess I'll have to go shopping (girls, don't you hate when that happens to you?). 

If you want to test the size of your glove, have someone pull on the pinkie and the thumb fingers at the same time, if the pinkie loosens, they're too large, will slip on your hands and will be hindering your control on the reins when you ride. Just try to canter with your little fingers frantically poking inside your gloves to find the proper whole... 

In the meantime, it seems that nothing will be better that taped fingers under my regular gloves to help ease the pain and help with the blistering. And that's what I did today. Worked like a charm. 

Today we worked on the circle to put Meeka on the bit, then in serpentines. The main difficulty, as you may know, is to trace nice & even semi-circles, while keeping a good rhythm, alternating the aids (when inside becomes outside and the other way around), staying on the right diagonal and, last but not least, without losing collection! Piece of cake right? Absolutely not. 

Still, I find my riding has improved quite a lot since some of the moves have now become second nature: balance and stability in the stirrups, some of the more complex rein aids (especially the indirect rein behind the withers, when you move your inside hand towards the outside hip - extra useful for taking Meeka back on the track when she starts cutting the corners) and what seems like a budding "equestrian instinct". Finally, it seems that my patience and hard work is paying off. 

Nevertheless, when my coach asks me "did you feel that Meeka was popping her shoulder?". Almost 100% of the times, my answer is a humble "No..." invariably followed by a long sigh (that's when I'm not busy panting, of course). It seems that riders who develop a feel for their horse usually make progress in leaps and bounds (no pun intended here), as if something had unlocked from inside. I'll let you know if it turns out to be true, provided that eventually, I do develop that invaluable 6th sense!

What about you? How long did it take you to be able to tell if your horse was popping a shoulder, or over bending to avoid making an effort? Can you instinctively anticipate and correct a bad movement or are you still waiting for this elusive "equestrian intuition" to kick in?