SpottedT- I am bad about pictures but will try to find a good one. I like your blog BTW- I would love to go out riding with your crew!

Crzyhorseer- I totally agree with you about "see-sawing"! - I can't stand to see someone sawing on a horses face. Doesn't serve any purpose.
I am also trying not to ride in a circle yet as he is not ready. He is giving me quite a few, controlled and relaxed canter strides today he was up to between 5 to 10 at a time before stopping. If I am not thinking, I accidentally steer him into a circle and then the whole thing falls apart (meaning he start the scrabbling banshee canter again).

The cue I am using for stopping is sitting deep in the saddle and saying "whoa" and I put my hands down on his withers so 1. he will eventually associate this with slowing down and 2. the reins stay completely loose during the transition. About half the time, he will stop with just these cues (so stopping with a completely loose rein). If he does, he gets to stand and rest a bit, if not he gets stopped with one rein, turned, and cantered off again.

Today was day 8 (wed., didn't ride yesterday) He was really good. Probably 80% of cantering was at a completely reasonable and relaxed pace (loose rein, head and body relaxed, stopping agreeably). Of course, he is better in some parts of the paddock then others. So, I spent some time in the more "exciting" areas working on short cantering spells (about 5 strides, stopping, then another 5 strides). In the areas of the paddock that are less 'exciting" we were able to canter the entire fence length in a relaxed manner.

I also introduced a new exercise- walking into a pivot on the forehand then exiting the pivot while still maintaining forward motion (i.e., walking out of the pivot before he stops). After all, when a horse has a lot of natural forward motion and extra energy, it is a good time to practice lateral movements. In any case, Justin's hindquarters gets "sticky" a lot, meaning he forgets that he needs to move away from leg pressure.

Last Edited By: reditoride Jul 29 09 6:03 PM. Edited 1 times.