Poor Daniel. He's way smarter than me. We had a lesson today and I got there a little before Rana. We were warming up and he was moving off my seat well... haunches in, haunches out, etc. We had some semi-decent leg yields. Then Rana got there and we talked about the horse show issues. And then we went to work at the canter.
Sigh... It wasn't as bad as it had been. But it started not great. He was throwing that right shoulder out and not bending. And I was getting frustrated. As was he. He was twisting and wouldn't give me the outside rein. And I was trying to keep the canter by using my outside leg. At one point Rana said to make sure to keep my outside leg back so it's clear, but to use my inside leg for the bend. She wanted me to make sure he was bent, so she had me using my inside rein giving and taking. And it never really got pretty. It got managed, but not pretty. And then we tried the counter canter and it was a hot mess. He was basically tipping/flinging to the right. Sigh.. At one point, my outside leg was so far back I actually pulled my stirrup off the stirrup bar. Good grief! And even while we had it managed, if I even throught about using my inside spur, he would prop and swap. Sigh. So then... I finally heard her say that I needed to sit to the inside. I needed to keep the canter with my seat. And I tried... but it wasn't until she said to ride him shoulder in that it clicked! OHHHHH.... once I shifted my pelvis so that my outside leg was more towards the girth, vs his stifle, and thought about shifting his shoulders to the inside.... I really think that what happened was my torso/pelvis/shoulders turned to the inside and he coudl actually canter!!! I think MY body was making him fall onto his right shoulder! So once I moved my body, he could then bring his body around and bend properly and lo and behold... we could canter. Properly! Without fighting! Argh!!!!! Why did it take me so long to remember this? And why do I have to remind myself every few rides? In my defense, while Dan was clearly doing what I was asking him to do (inadvertently), he also has a tendency to be a bit combative and sneaky, so.... I don't know.. that's my excuse for not realizing it was me at first. Anyways.. once I rode the shoulders and aligned my seat... we were then able to move on to the exercise of shortening and collecting the canter and then letting it open back up, while not changing his frame. It was subtle... but it was there!
Then we went the other way and it's so much easier that way. Duh, because my body naturally bends that way. I had to focus on using my core and tightening my abs and keeping my belly erect so that I didn't start hula-ing with my belly. That also kept my seat in the saddle and let my leg get longer. And then I could use my seat to influence his gait size. But it's hard. And I had to use my legs to thump him to keep him going because if I got him with the spur, he'd prop and swap. And if I let him get too straight in the neck, he'd prop and swap.
Anyways... yet again... I felt like we spent a good chunk of the lesson spinning our wheels and feeling incompetent, but... at least we finished with actually accomplishing it. And it's a good reminder to me. Sigh...
Kelli was sweet and took video for me :) It's actually not too bad. Yes, he needs to be more uphill, but.. he's building strength. And you can see the differences in the gait. They are small, but they are there!
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