Lisa's Blog post # 11

OK – we’ve got the stopping thing down pat!  We’ve been cantering up and down the field and he’s doing great!  I haven’t done any fly-bys yet though (cantering past a XC jump)– don’t want to mess up a good thing. 

Trust is a critical issue with Cotton.  Now that I’ve learned how to be more elastic with my elbows and stop him with my seat he has been more relaxed.  He doesn’t resist me nearly as often or as forcefully as he used to just a short time ago. The warm weather may have something to do with it, too!

Now, the next biggie is to get his balance problem figured out!  At the canter, going to the right, he falls on his right shoulder.  Going to the left  - I don’t know what he’s doing but it feels weird and he switches leads constantly.  With both leads, when he is out of balance he gets stronger and faster as he tries to catch himself, he doesn’t steer well and he cuts corners like a barrel racer – it actually makes me feel quite insecure!

I have already learned to fix the problem going to the right – I need an opening left rein and a direct right rein as I position right and put a tad more weight in my right stirrup.  But I don’t want to have to do all that!  I want him to be balanced without my having to help him!

Here’s the real deal.  I can contend with any one of his problems – I can handle his speed or I can handle his imbalance (but only to the right) or I can handle his quickness to a jump or I can handle his constant lead switching, but I cannot handle more than one of them at a time!  So, my strategy is to learn how to address each of those issues, one at a time, until I can correctly and instinctively manage them without having to think about it. .  And hopefully, in the process, he’ll improve and we’ll meet in the middle.

I have made pretty good progress keeping him balanced on the right lead canter.  As long as he stays slow and I have room to circle when things fall apart we are fine.   I think I can begin asking more of him at the canter on that lead – maybe I can get up into two point and practice speeding up and slowing down, working on a better bend and keeping him off his forehand.  I need to figure out the trick to keeping him balanced going on the left lead, though.  This is the direction where the switch in his brain seems to flip and he has flashbacks to his racing days!  It is also the direction where he is quick to change leads behind – that is so distracting!

So…. as we continue I need to be patient with myself and with him.  The trust we are developing in our relationship is the most important part.  He assumes a lot based on his past experiences and I need to retrain his body, as well as his mind, to approach those situations from a different perspective. 

Does everyone who is getting used to a new horse go through this?