So another fantastic ride on Lucas! Once I got on we stood in the center of the ring while one of the kids worked out some kinks on her own horse. Then once she was done she stood in the center while we practiced walking in and out of the "line" up, good practice for the show ring. Then we started working. We did our walking and trotting on a loose rein. Keeping both of us relaxed and forward.
Then we loped/cantered on a loose rein :) No head tossing, no freaking out on my part, just a smooth canter transition.
Then D started a bit of a challenge to me, I had my reins loose in my outside hand (of a large 20 meter circle) when he got heavy, or his head got too low I had to reach down and slide my inside hand down the rein and lift that rein up. Once he got re-balance I let go of the inside rein, and continued to ride with my outside rein. It involved me moving around a fair bit in the saddle (while keeping my legs solid and consistent) and a fair amount of trust.
So we worked on it at the trot and then we worked up to a canter. You know if you had told me less than a month ago I would be cantering Lucas one handed on a loose rein I would have laughed at you, but we did it! It was hard work, keeping my legs consistent, while moving around and picking up my reins. But I finally got my hips to flow which allowed my upper body to be more independent. We did have a bit of a misstep when I lost my outside leg for a moment when trying to push him out of the circle a bit and we got a fantastical smooth lead change!! It wasn't supposed happen but it was great all the same. :)
By the end of the ride we were doing great transitions on a loose rein. And keeping a good balanced canter (and wow it was nice! I totaly LOVE his canter on a good day!) and trot on a good loose rein. Lots of lift and drive, and so easy for once!!! Its really teaching me to stop being so dependent on my hands, (extremely bad habit I seem to pick up all the time!) and since he is always worse at home, if I can have him go like this at a show........ I need to stop picking on him!
4 comments:
Congratulations on your canter! So, when you slid our inside hand down the rein and lifted it up, did you hold it until he regained his balance or did you slide your hand up and down the inside rein a couple of times?
Thanks Wolfie! I slid my hand down and lifted up and 'bumped' slightly at first until he got balanced. (keeping my hand up) When he gave, I would drop the inside rein completly (the outside hand held both reins)As he realised what I wanted, when he felt me lifting that rein, he would start to correct himself without much bumping. As soon as he 'gave' I let go.
The penny dropped when I read what you did. I believe this is what my instructor is trying to get me to do when Gem and I lope around the arena. When we come around the corners we are a bit unbalanced - part of that is him and part of that is me. Thanks for clarifying!
LOL yeah it took me a while to figure out exactly what D wanted! It really helped keeping Lucas balanced.
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