The cracking branches and fire would have spooked a lot of older horses, but Hampton did exactly as I requested and never got tense or nervous. We trotted, did transitions, loops, serpentines (although a few times I almost hit my knee against one of the gaming poles ... yeah ok so steering isn't 100% all the time yet, lol). He was being so good that I thought, oh hell let's see if we can get a canter. So I pointed him down the long side, "swooshed" my reins at him a little, gave him leg and said "can-TER!" and off he went! No tension, no hint of silliness, just a nice canter transition. I wouldn't even say I had to run him into it ... maybe just a smidge but not bad. His canter seemed a little off balance and wonky, so I slowed him down before we hit the turn. I immediately hopped off of him and made a hug stink out of the fact that we cantered. All the while he is like "Uh, ok lady. You are easy to please."
• Canter in both directions - increasing length of time slowly.
• Trail ride (I almost did this today but figured he was such a good boy I would just call it a day)
• Start teaching turn on the forehand
No pictures of the historic event, but hopefully next time.
Congrats! The first canter always surprises me! I expect it to go terribly but it usually ends up going really well. I think its because young horses are thinking about where to put there feet while dealing with all my weight up there rather than older "problem" horses who think about how to be naughty, silly, or evade work. I LOVE the clean slate of an youngin'.
ReplyDeleteYeah for the first canter under saddle!! :)
ReplyDeletewoo hoo! yay first canter!! I hate to say I told you so, but I knew it would go smoothly :D
ReplyDeleteThe fact that it went so perfect for you should be further confirmation that you're doing a really good job building up his work slowly, and teaching him what a cue means. My tendency is to rush ahead to things that I may not be ready for yet because I have the gumption to just try. A lot of times this reveals holes in my training, like not really fully teaching that leg on means go forward and instead my horse will respond by sucking back... oops! So we go back to schooling that until it's ingrained, which it looks like you already did. Good job and I will take a page out of your book and try to channel some patience :)