What does he look like to you?

Here are some pics of me riding my horse. He's an 8 year old QH. Could you tell me what you think of him? Does he look like he's 'using' himself well, striding out, balanced...

He seems heavy on the forehand, and looks like he could benefit from lots of bending and lateral exercises- figure eights, circles, serpentines, etc. You can help with the heavy on the forehand by doing lots of pole work (especially at the canter), having your trainer show you and your horse how to do leg yields, turning on the forehand, and lots of transitions.

Oh yeah, pulling your shoulders back will help..

He's pulling down a lot in front. You are sitting kind of perched forward on the saddle so if you sit back with your shoulders back it should improve.

How does sitting back help? Will it help lighten his front end?

You need some polish there, great basics you have indeed. Lengthen your leathers a hole, & get your legs back a bit further. Stick out your chest more and elbows stuck to your sides as a reminder. Now thumbs up, and think about squeezing as far back as you comfortably can on his rib cage pushing him forward into your hands, releasing when is energy needed, like squeezing a sponge lightly. Once you got that, it's perfect girl!

I'm going to be taking lessons with a new instructor-my first one is tomorrow-so hopefully she'll help us get polished up! Thanks!

Perfect! You two look fabulous by the way, enjoy your lessons!