I've also had a few dressage lessons since my last blog. I've finally got Zoe to pick up the right lead at a canter. But I've also encountered a few problems.
Zoe, in typical Zoe fashion-I should have known, had decided to try some evasive maneuvers. She was at her worst, last Wednesday, at my lesson. That was good because I got some good pointers to work through the problem. It seems that my cues to prep her for the canter also gave her the idea to just stop-dead stop-so that she didn't have to canter. She even took it a step farther and did the same thing as I tried this- going from a walk on a loose rein, pick up the reins to collect her while still walking forward and in a few steps ask for the trot-she just stops-dead stops. Stops so suddenly that my balance is thrown off and I lean forward, my feet slip back and if I squeeze correct her and keep her going, she just goes backwards. FRUSTRATING.
I remember her doing this when she was younger, on the canal trail. We would go by a certain area that had some rocks around the trail and she would stop-dead stop. Couldn't seem to move forward, in fact sometimes she would go backwards, so we would go in the direction I wanted-backwards. Or sometimes we would side pass in the direction I wanted. It was harder work for her and eventually she decided that it would just be easier to move forward at the pace I asked of her. I always wanted to turn her in tight circles too but the trail in that area wasn't wide enough to do safely.
Fast forward to now with this problem in the arena. Now I can use the tight circle idea. My dressage teacher said to stay on her case and get her feet moving, even if off the path I was working on-make stopping more work for her. We didn't do the tight circles and I'm not sure what he would think of them. Asking for forward movement without the circles, using my whip, using my legs was getting me crow hopping and almost bucking. So I thought tight circles would be safer-hard to crow hop and buck while doing a circle. Add the whip and I can make her work-hard. Now it's really uncomfortable to just stop-dead stop. My timing has to be instant.
So Monday morning we tried it and we had to do many circles. I wasn't expecting miracles. Tuesdays morning was somewhat better. So I decided that since I was at the barn all day on Wednesday we would ride 3 times...hopefully making progress as the day wore on. It's not like I was asking her for some strenuous activity, just walk on loose rein, pick up the reins, collect, and trot-without stopping. Yes we will throw in some canter work. And give her a break when she does it correctly. And try it again. Remembering to end on a good note.
Results-First ride was like Tuesdays ride. A few hours later the second ride was better, fewer circles. A few more hours later and there were NO circles and she did everything I asked of her without protesting.
Now I wonder what tomorrow will bring....part 2 coming up.
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