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Getting control at the canter
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Re: Getting control at the canter
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reditoride
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Jul 24 09 1:32 PM
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Well, I have ridden four times since first planning the Focused Effort on Controlled Cantering. I am already to far behind documentation to recall each day but will jot down what I remember as best as possible. If anyone sees any glaring incorrect approaches or has suggestions, please tell me. I would like to think that I am open to new ideas but this may be sadly delusional.
Strategy: Approach to teaching Justin to canter on a loose rein in a controlled, cadenced manner
1. Do not pick up both reins and never pull back simultaneously on both reins to slow or stop him.
2. Relax and trust him at the canter (this is not easy)
3. Keep hands low, on withers, while cantering
4. Before canter gets out of control, change gaits (starting with stopping) and or direction
5. Slow my seat and breath, do not tighten seat, do not get caught up in his energy
6. Canter a lot, lots of departures, canter for short distances
7. Stop and stand a lot (someone once said that the best training tool in reining is a cigarette- as in after a maneuver, stop and smoke one real slow before going on to the next thing, this helps teach a horse to shut down after a hard/fast maneuver)
8. Stop by sitting deep, saying "whoa", pushing hands forward (no mouth contact), if there is no response to this do a one rein stop.
Day 1. Sunday. Justin was sore from being trimmed Friday (grrrr- no reason for that). So, Day 1 was spent walking. This is a good place to describe the riding area. There are two paddocks, one about ¼ acre, one is about 1 acre. The ground is uneven and hard but there are very few rocks. One half of the acre paddock is particularly full of little ups and downs. I have laid out 6 ft. length ground poles in all sorts of trail class patterns (trot rails, lope overs, 6 ft box etc). There are cones scattered about as well as one set of jump standards. The standards are set up because going over a fence or even just between empty jump standards trigger his bad rushing behaviors. Justin was walked over the various obstacles. I find exercises where you really mix up going through, stopping between, and weaving around ground poles very helpful in getting a horse to slow down and pay attention to what you are asking. We also worked on forehand and hindquarter pivots. He was fine but of course this was all at a walk.
Day 2 Monday. Monday. Justin is no longer sore. We worked HARD. Lots of cantering/stopping, backing followed by rollbacks into a canter departure in the opposite direction. Whenever he gets to hot, walk and trot through ground obstacles to get him thinking again. He was really paying attention to me by the end of the ~ 1.5 hour of riding.
Day 3 Tues. Same as Monday, similar exercises. No attempt was made to canter down the length of the arena or to canter circles. Mostly stopping/backing/ and roll backs. He is getting better, especially going away from the barn. Cantering a few (four or five) strides on a loose rein at a reasonable speed. Back towards the barn, still the same lurching into a gallop and not stopping well (needing 4 or 5 strides to stop). Finished with a pretty good stop facing the barn. He was hot but I just got off him at that point and hand walked him to cool him.
Day 4- Thursday- Same strategy. He started very nice. I could have quit riding from just the first couple of rollbacks. Instead, I made a mistake- moved on too early to cantering in a circle- he was way to fast and uncollected and I continued for too many circles so he became tired and started getting strung out and speedy as a result of fatigue. So before he caught on to the point of what I was asking him to do, we had to stop cantering and move on to something else. However, we then went on to trot around the pasture and he did his best controlled, almost dare I say jogging on a loose rein (head down, relaxed and level). Whenever he started to get strung out, rather then picking up on both reins to slow him, I picked up the outside rein and counterbent him in a circle while trotting and he was beginning to respond to this very nicely. So score -1 for poor cantering decision on my part today and +1 for good jogging effort.
Day 5- today- will go home and ride…
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