2023 & 2024 Riding Journey

#27 Flexion and Cantering on Cordell

So, as it turns out, I was going to be working with Mariah.  My trainer was going to have me do groundwork with her and work on leading, but she was lame.  It was like her whole leg from the top down had swelled or something.  She was fine at the walk but not at the trot.  So, instead my trainer had me ground work Rugar and ride Cordell.

There wasn't much to say about the work I did with Rugar.  In the beginning, I just did some stuff on a circle with him, moving of the hindquarters, changing directions, etc.  He was very responsive, despite the fact I had really no tail of a rope to reinforce with, because the halter I was using had a lead rope that was somewhat shorter.  My trainer had told me I could pick up the flag when and if I needed it, but I didn't right away.

Still, there was on one point where Rugar didn't move off quite as quickly as he should've in response to the rope, and my trainer told me to pick up the flag to use to reinforce it.  Really, I think it was partly an excuse to get me to use the flag.  I know I need to work with it whenever I have the chance, but it still feels kinda big and scary to me. 

Sure enough, when I picked up that flag, Rugar started taking me a little more seriously.  I didn't really have to use it that much, which was good. 

After that, my trainer told me to start doing a new exercise which I've never done before.  It's like doing a change of direction every half circle, but instead of staying in one place, your feet move forward a few steps at a time, so that you and the horse are moving in a direction, but the horse is staying in front of you as you ask them to do multiple changes of direction.  It's a good way to test a horse's balance and responsiveness and things like that.

I made an attempt at it but it was tricky to change hands so often with the flag.  My trainer took it from me and did a bit of a demonstration, showing how when she changed hands with the flag, she moved it in front of her, not low down on the ground like I was doing.  Some horses, she said, might paw at you if you moved a flag low on the ground like that.

After that, I was left to my own devices and things went a little better.  I successfully moved Rugar up the fence line to the other end of the arena.  I will not say our changes of direction were the best at all, they were rather clumsy as I worked on changing the flag from hand to hand, but Rugar was good about it.

I did a second round after the first, this one was shorter.  My trainer said those looked good, nice and calm and quiet.  I know they can be better, but for a first attempt things went good.  Friend had been ground working Riggs as well, and my trainer told us to put the two horses back on the hitching rail.  Friend was to ride Rugar, and I was go get Cordell to ride since Mariah was lame.

Oh, I should also say that my trainer had new metal fence posts put it!  So now the panels of the indoor arena are tied to those instead of trying to stay up on their own.  It won't stay that way though, I think eventually metal bars will be put in place of the panels.  The arena is now about ten or so feet shorter in length than it was, so it's more square.  We were to ride in this indoor arena, and it was only Friend and I for the lesson.  My trainer also tacked up Riggs for her to ride.

I went and got Cordell, tacked him up, and mounted.  At first, I just went about the arena doing nothing specific for a lap or so.  Then my trainer told me to start working on some poll flexion with Cordell as I went around the arena.

She said that if I felt him kind of take or lean against the bit when I went to ask him to give, it was okay for me to lock my arms a little against him.  Now, on a green baby horse such as Amara they'd freak out if you did that, but on Cordell it's fine and actually helpful if he resists you.

But Cordell didn't resist me.  He was good about giving to me, though he didn't stretch out as much as I would've liked, he did do some stretching.  So, when my trainer saw that was going good, she told me to start doing the same thing at the running walk.

At the running walk, I definitely struggled more.  I didn't want Cordell going too fast, but that created a problem in getting him to stretch.  He would give to the bridle, but he wouldn't stretch out or his head stay low, he'd pop right back up again.  My trainer kept telling me that I needed more impulsion.  That when I gave to him with my hand and put them down to give him the chance to stretch out, I needed to also use my leg and push him onward into the stretch.  The rhythm of the running walk itself was too slow, she said.

It was hard for me to let him go faster because it just felt too fast.  It was hard to maintain a good pace on him, but my trainer was right.  When he had more impulsion, he'd stretch out more.

We came to walk and maybe took a halted break, I'm not sure.  My trainer said (and I'm not sure if she said it here or later on in the lesson) that it was tricky to get that good running walk because there's different ways you can change a horse's stride.  You can get them to extend their stride, though not going faster any faster, you can get them to physically go faster, or you can ask them to pick themselves up more and use themselves more.  Actually, she may have been talking about cantering him, not the running walk, but I don't know for sure...  Anyhow, things are made harder on him because the differences between those different types of walk is not much for him.

We did the same thing again, going the other direction, and this round was better because I had more impulsion.  My trainer would tell me, when he gave, to push my hands away from me like I was pushing a wheelbarrow.  It's an interesting image, but helpful if I'd really thought about what she meant.  Also, when coming down to the walk after he'd stretched out some, she told me that it sounds counter intuitive to give your hands to the horse when asking them to walk, but if they're in a frame like that, if you pull your hands up, you'll take them out of that frame.  So if you want them to keep that frame through the transition, you can't pull up.

After that we took a break, and then it was time to do some cantering.  My trainer wanted me to pick up a canter, go around the arena, and every time I came to the bottom of the arena, to make a large circle and then go back to the rail to canter on around again.  She told me that for Cordell, I was going to need a strong, supporting inside leg to encourage him to keep that canter up, especially around the circle.  

We went to the right, or clockwise, first.  The circles going this way weren't easy.  My trainer told me I needed more impulsion at the beginning of the circle, but then I went a little too far and   there was too much impulsion.  At one point Cordell accidently tripped with his hind legs, but we were alright and continued on.  In the end we got a somewhat balanced circle and called it good.  

It was hard to find the balance in the canter with Cordell, between too much impulsion and too little.  We took a break during which Friend worked on some things, and then we went to do the same thing the other direction.

This direction was better, the circles were more balanced, though I'm not sure exactly why.  We just weren't sliding around to the outside so much.  My trainer was happier with them and I was too.  Things felt less wild, more in control.  I think I was just doing better with steering with my body and supporting him where he needed it.  Maybe we also got the canter right for it as well.

Anyhow, after the end of a nice circle, my trainer told me to come to walk.  I really leaned back and was ready to use a lot of force, as you sometimes need to on Cordell, but he actually put in a lot of effort and came to the walk pretty good for him.  My trainer said that for him, that was really good.  

After that, we walked out on a long rein for a bit, then stood halted as my trainer continued to explain some things about Cordell's past, which I will not be putting here publicly.  So, overall, it was a pretty good ride on Cordell, though I am sorry that Mariah was lame.  My trainer didn't seem to think her lameness was too serious, so we'll see how she is next week. 

Actual lesson 9/12/2023