Canter WORK

Today I found out that our next show may be our first solo show! If that's the case, no T1 for us, I'm not totally insane...

I brought TC out of his pasture and to his surprise, right next to his pasture (didn't he see it before?) there was a pile of stuff that the western trainer had piled up after their last show. Just muck buckets and chairs and a table. TC came up and looked hard at it, but then insisted on inspecting the entire pile. I love how curious he is! He used to skitter away from everything and now he wants to look at anything that makes him nervous.

Hey who loves progress pictures? Because I have no media.
Second day I rode him (Dec or Jan), this "roundness" was
between flinging his head up and flinging his head down

I decided to ride at the neighbor's today because it was finally cool enough to ride outside. It was still 80 degrees with more humidity than we're used to, but there was a breeze (and it actually poured rain through all my lessons this afternoon, we were all so surprised that we just kept going thinking it was going to stop. It didn't. I got very wet. Oh and a student fell off, ugh, I teach dressage for a reason, man).

So we headed over there and had to walk through this would-be riverbed (but here in the valley we haven't had rain in a million years- it poured rain 45 minutes north but it was bone dry here) because the bridge was being rebuilt. After that excitement, we got to the ring to find out that there was a horrible MAN who was pulling up WEEDS behind the FENCE.

Despite the man, it was probably one of the better rides we've had next door, although Ali was there with her horse so I think that's why.

Clearly no swing through back, downhill, dropped withers

Short in the neck, dropped in the withers, hind leg isn't swinging
through 

We worked primarily on transitions between the gaits, finally. He really struggles with understanding why he should go back into trot after walking for such a short time. Even past his confusion, the transitions themselves are still incredibly hit-or-miss. Sometimes they're on the bit and straight, but other times he canters instead (maybe he'll be good at walk-canter transitions?), and sometimes all four feet come up in the air and he lands in trot.

He did eventually get a little better, I guess. I think it's still too soon to see actual progress since I've only worked on them a couple of times.

We also did trot canter transitions. I figured if there's a chance that we'll do Training 1, we should maybe practice cantering rather than just randomly cantering around. Poor guy hasn't really been asked to WORK at the canter, just been asked to canter and told to keep going and going until I stop him. I haven't really worked on bend, straightness, roundness, etc, because I've been trying to take the pressure off of him and improve the quality and relaxation of the canter rather than improving the rideability.

Starting to lift the withers and swing through the back

Canter is wild and huge

In the canter, TC really wanted to use the man as an excuse to bolt (bolting TC-style includes getting about 4 steps before I stop him, it's more of a scoot but he thinks he's pretty intense). But he's so in tune with me these days that it kind of went like this:

TC: I would like to bolt now, are you ready?
Me: you can't bolt
TC: okay but I would like to
Me: okay well you can't
TC: but bolting would be fun, should I do it now?
Me: no
TC: okay but I'm just saying that I like going fast and I could bolt now
Me: no, you're not going to
TC: I'm saying okay but I'm also saying that going fast is fun and I could do it if I wanted
Me: you won't
TC: okay I just...
Me: no
TC: bolting sounds fun

He never actually did anything wrong, but I knew that if I wasn't on his case every step, he would have been outa there.

The canter work, other than the near constant asking of whether or not he could scoot off with me, was actually pretty good. As I said above, the quality is at a point where I'm willing to start asking him for more. Better transitions, more roundness, and more bend.

At our first show in early April, bigger steps and a little longer
in the neck but still that dip in front of withers

A few weeks ago, filled in a lot more over topline, no dip in
front of withers, more lift in trot

Before worrying about any of that other stuff though, I have to say that his leads were excellent today! He picked both up easily and never picked up the wrong one. In addition, I was pretty happy with the transitions, he's surprisingly prompt about them and only once did he threaten to run into it (which I don't let him do because if he doesn't jump into canter right away, he clearly wasn't balanced enough when I asked and running him into canter isn't going to teach him to be better balanced).

The canter itself was good, he still wants to get a little short in the neck and a little hollow. He's also struggling with turning right a little because he just hasn't figured out how to lug his shoulders around on the circle. It's the same issue we've been having in the trot, which he dealt with very well today, so we'll be working on that.

Getting a bit more lift over his back and legs aren't so back
behind him

Canter is manageable 

We ended with some more trot lengthenings. It was obvious that we weren't going to get the same kind of lengthenings that we had in the home arena due to the lack of relaxation at the neighbor's. He just can't swing through his back as easily when he's tight like that. It was easier tracking left, and on the diagonal from left to right, because I could really get that left shoulder to elevate more and he would push better on that left side.

Overall I was pleased, we clearly need to work on the canter more. He just needs to feel more comfortable in it. I'm planning on focusing on that until show entries are due and then make the decision. I think that, if we're alone, I'll just do another round at Intro B to keep the show short and sweet (especially since it's the same weekend as L's show and I want to go watch her!). Just on the off chance that he's a total fucking asshole at a non-home place without a friend. The show is still a few weeks out so we're good to wait and see how things go.

Longer in the neck (thanks, water) and lots of lift (thanks, water)