Lisa's Blog post # 33

This time I did fix it!

To give us both a break from the redundancy of the arena Cotton and I tried riding out in the field this morning.  The green heads were relentless.  Cotton was thrashing around desperately trying to rid himself of the little pests and we weren’t getting anything done.

We moved to the arena and immediately had some relief from the flies but Cotton just wasn’t going to make my day easy!  After trying my usual tricks to get him going well – turns on the forehands, trot-walk transitions, serpentines halt-rein backs - nothing was working.  He was leaning heavily on my left rein and was pulling on my hands.  I tried letting him gallop – sometimes that loosens him up and calms him down.  He enjoyed that quite a bit but it didn’t help at all.

We stopped to chat with a friend who was leaving the barn and as I gathered up the reins to try again I decided we simply were not going to leave this ring until we accomplished something!  We were already 40 minutes into our ride and he and I were both dripping wet.  Was I going to have to put Lesley on him again?!  “Lord, please help me figure this out!”

I usually plan my rides as I drive to the barn so I can decide what I want to accomplish and figure out what it will take to make it happen.  My word for that day was “sharpness”.  I need to get Cotton’s canter up to snuff – crisp departures, light in my hands, smooth turns and downward transitions.  I had reviewed Lesley’s article about the ½ halt at the canter and wanted to get that bouncy canter we’ll need for stadium this fall.

Then it came to me!  I dropped my stirrups so I could sit really deep and tall in the jumping saddle and wrap my leg all the way around him – I could almost do a heel click under his girth!   I let him stretch his head down on a long rein so he would relax at the walk and we did a few serpentines in that frame.  He was finally listening!  I shortened the reins and kept going – no resistance.   Then we went into sitting trot – still without stirrups.  So far so good.  I took my stirrups back being extremely careful to maintain my deep, tall seat as we continued on in sitting trot.  He was as light as a feather, round, bending, steering from my seat.  Finally!!

A month ago I would have settled for this little taste of success.  Not anymore!  We were going to get that bouncy canter.  “Sit up straight, sit deep, inside seat and leg, outside washer blade” – ta-da!  Absolutely perfect.  He didn’t even swap behind going to the left.  His downward transitions were as light and crisp as his departures, putting him in a great position to canter again without having to regroup.  After two short canters both directions I was satisfied to walk him home. 

Tomorrow we will pick up where we left off!