I am doing a "stay-cation" this spring break which is mostly my choice :) but being at the barn provides my outing for the day, my workout and my chance to interact with the people I like best.
A few weeks ago Kim started D and I back on canter work. This is sometimes really easy and other times it is a balance in riding a freight train. :) D loves to canter and has a lovely one if we transition as we should and not as bronc riders. If we start in a way that I can balance him which mostly means setting him up right and getting out of his way. It also helps that he lets me guide him rather than trotting so quickly afterwards so that he can pull himself into another round.
Cantering for D and I right now does not last very long, it does not cover the whole ring, it is a very short happening. But the point right now is the transition- are we being sane about it? Is he listening to my commands or on the forehand? When I ask him to bring it down can I immediately relax my grip in his reins or is he prancing?
Blind horses aren't suppose to canter, its too hard to balance them or they won't do it- has been said. If D isn't listening it is hard to balance him but that is also true at the walk. There has not been one single thing that I have asked D to do that he has refused... so we have a blind horse cantering.
Somedays we don't canter because he is anticipating. Sometimes I can only do one direction. Other times I can go both directions and do several transitions with my boy immediately walking around with his reins at the buckle- that is the goal.
But sometimes our schedules do not coincide. I am too busy and tired to get the appropriate response from him. Sometimes he has had 2-3 days off and just needs to run no matter how sleepy he looked in the cross ties while tacking up.
But for now, we do the best we can with the schedule we can carve out which means some rides are brilliant and others remind me that we are re-learning what it means to work when things are unseen.
