On Thursday, I went out to the barn after class like I usually do. He was very energetic and breathig fire, as I like to say. He was still a little weird like he was the night before, and I was worried initially that he was going to be difficult to deal with. I spent the first half hour of our ride just trotting in circles until he managed to soften up and slow down. After that we started working on our canter.
Well, Walker and I cantered over our first pole that day. We also did our first flying lead change. In fact, we did three flying lead changes, one coming immediately after a pole. This would be more impressive if I had asked for a flying lead change, or even to lope over the pole. Instead I intended to avoid the pole altogether and lope in a simple circle. I guess Walker had different plans. It was pretty talented disobedience on his behalf. Keep in mind, I have never even accoplished a simple lead change with Walker. Leave it to my pony!
On Wednesday night, I was also working on backing Walker up. I find that because he is becoming so hard mouthed and running through the bit that he ignores my demands for him to stop and back up. On Wednesday, I tried everything to get him to back up and he wasn't having any of it. Interestingly enough, on Thursday, I simply practiced giving him gentle pressure and rewarding him if he even took one step back. I found that this really worked for me, and I decided I need to be very careful about how hard I pull on his mouth. When we're cantering, he will rarely stop or slow down until he gets to the point he wants to go (often frantic corner). He just runs through the bit. I think I need to work more on softening his mouth and downward transitions. So in that spirit of things, I made the following itinerary for my Friday ride:
I was so impresed with Walker's flying lead changes on Thursday that I wanted to see if I could actually accomplish them by asking him for one. I set him up so that a flying lead change would be the best option for him. I started out on his good side and rounded the corner in such a way that we would come down the diagonal towards frantic corner. Then I gently asked for him to do one and he did! I was pretty impressed and even though he was tricked into it, it's nice to know that he can do them so effortlessly.
I also worked on halting and backing like I intended to, and I tried to add more inside leg during cantering. It occurred to me the other day that maybe part of the reason that Walker won't turn at frantic corner is because he's not sufficiently bending aound the corner. This idea first came to me when I realized that although I was pushing him away from the corner with my outside leg, he usually ended up facing the fence and bent around my outside leg. I know that bending requires inside leg as well so I decided to employ that method. It ended up working for me - at least enough that Walker made a couple of steps around frantic corner! I will have to explore that option a little more in the future.
He also did something else very talented on Friday without me asking - or, in fairness to him, he probably thought that's what I was asking for and did it (as I imagine is usually the case). We were cantering on his good side and I wanted to cut across the centre. Instead, Walker executed a beautiful SMALL circle at the lope (small like 10-15 feet or so in diameter). I was so impressed that I got him to do it a couple more times. It goes to show that the horse does know how to bend, and in fact I can "slow him down" if I'm cantering by making a small circle - at least some of the times. I will be playing with that some more too. I realized it also had something to do with my inside leg which I was applying in order to keep him straight (ironically enough). Walker teaches me so much about the correct way to ride a horse!
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