Ah, pre-spring at the barn

Things are starting to melt, lending to a lovely odour of melting horse poop and a stream across the parking lot that you really don't want to walk in.

The horses are shedding and apparently nutty. Such fun!

For lessons this week we will be working a little on counter canter. It is important to work on counter canter along side flying changes, as we want the horse to listen to our aids, and not try to guess which lead we want. This is important for a few reasons: counter counter may be asked for in an equitation test or a dressage test, counter canter builds fitness, and also because being able to control which lead your horse is on can really help in bending lines so your horse isn't flopping around from one lead to the other.

For this week we will just keep it simple and ask the horse to do a gentle shallow serpentine at canter without changing leads. Next week we will up the challenge and ask them to pick up the counter canter on the long side and carry it through the corner! We will test the control in a bending line by not allowing the horse to change leads.

Obviously this will be easier on the horses that failed last week, but most horses did show a willingness to do flying changes when set up for them!

It is important to note that counter canter does not equal cantering on the wrong lead. You need the horse slightly bend towards their leading side, but with a fairly straight neck. This means a stronger than usual canter aid needs to be maintained so the hip stays OUT. The biggest mistake is if you lose control of the shoulder and the horse gets crooked through the neck/wither. It is very important to maintain the outside rein to keep the neck pretty straight, with just slight bend in.

For jumping we will do a straight forward course, with poles place to help with the lead changes after the jumps to see if last week's exercise can carry forward to a full course.

No challenge this week.

Karen