Fun on Copper

Ya’know what?  I am seriously enjoying Copper at the moment… 

Today’s ride goals where to do more leg yields at a walk and try them at a trot and to school shoulder-ins as I didn’t think he got those last time. 

I won’t go over all the ride – it must get too long and boring to read those sort of accounts all the time, so here are the highlights in bullet form.

• His leg yield at the walk is really getting good, his leg yield on the right rein is better than the left.  I think at one stage he might have done a half-pass instead of a leg yield because I forgot to apply my outside leg for forwards so he just went sideways! 
  (> o <)
  
• He can do a shoulder in on both reins now.
  
• We didn’t get to do a trot leg yield – he tends to get VERY over-excited in a trot and just falls apart, so we just did spirals until he soften, lifted his back and regulated his pace.
  
• We have an ok-ish canter.  It wasn’t as balanced as it can be but he did soften at the canter and start to slow down which leads me to….
  
• We did a left rein canter leg yeild! (inside track to outside track between B and M) He did fall into a trot as soon as we reached the outside track – partly because it’s hard work that he hasn’t done before and partly because I think he was surprised that a). I even asked him to do that and b). that he could do that!  It was kind of funny.
  
• He can actually hear my seat aids much better than I thought he could.  I finally figured out the correct seat aid for forward (more on this in a later post) and used it to good purpose.  He gets very excited when a seat aid is used to ask for a trot, he immediately assumes I’m asking for a canter, but with practice he’ll realize what I am asking for and be calmer in his depart. 
  
• He will also stop from a seat aid – I stretch up and sink my heels down and he does a lovely halt.  Not all the time of course! But he does know what I am asking, now it’s just a matter of getting the 100% response rate.
  
• I love figuring out how to ride inside leg to outside rein; from our gorgeous I collected up the reins, wiggled my outside finger and felt him rock back onto his hocks waiting for my next aid! Ohmygoodness- it was beautiful!  It’s the first time I have ever felt anything like that, and I love that it came from my poky old Standardbred who could never be a dressage horse!

So that’s the run down.  Fairly long after all that – lol.  I did try!

See ya,
Bonita