Had another great ride on Cookie today. Lendon has me working on getting him very forward and through, particularly in the canter. His trot work is fairly good so she has me working on keeping the cadence and energy in his gait from extended trot to collected trot so that those transitions become more seamless and his quality of the trot stays the same. His canter however, has always been a trickier gait to manage. If he is too collected he gets slow with his hind legs and creates almost a rocking horse feel making our lateral work and changes labored and incorrect. If he gets too forward though, he can get strong and stiff through his body and ignorant of the aids. To work on his adjustability and control in the canter, Lendon is having me ride him in a forward (faster) canter and riding him round, deep, and straight through his body. Once he is comfortable being supple and adjustable in a more forward canter, bringing him back into a collected canter is more successful because I am taking the forward canter I began with and collecting it back into shorter, higher steps but with the same amount of energy and throughness we maintained in the forward canter stride. Our changes (which have a tendency to be labored and late behind) have been clean and accurate and his responses off my leg and seat have been sharper. Though I am riding him deeper than I would in a show ring because of his tendency to be too open and against my hand, it has been crucial to my rides that he stays deep from his obedience to my half-haults and not because I am holding him in with my hand. If he is truly through and supple, he will hold his frame and balance if I release my hands for a moment. If he stiffens or comes above the bit he is not through and I will continue to ride him forward and deep, all the while using tools such as shoulder in, counter flexion, and sending him forward and bringing him back while maintaining a soft neck and body.
I apologize if this sounds foreign to any of my non-riding family and friends. I'll continue to update my blog with posts about things other than my lessons as well. I will be reading back on these posts to remind myself of key points from my lessons. Hopefully these posts may be helpful to other riders reading my blog as well... Goodnight!
Taylor, that was so well said that we almost understand it. I can see how these will be a useful set of notes to yourself and to other riders. Again, your ability to expresss yourself is amazing. Love, Nana and Pops
ReplyDeleteWell articulated and with just the right amount of cadence, yield, impulsion, and transition for the non equine literate such as myself to understand. "Fly, Cavalettis, fly!"
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