Doc update
Doc and I had success last night. I've been a tad bit frustrated about the canter problem, and so asked for help in equestrian. There was one particularly good suggestion and so I vowed to give it a try last night. Little did I know of Doc's plans for the evening!
By the time I got on, the barn manager was dumping grain and this struck Doc in a particularly fowl way last night. I've had him get a little distracted during feeding time, but last night was positively awful! He bucked, he jumped, he spun, he reared, he pulled, he even ran away with me. I resorted to the tiniest figure 8s that are so not good for a horse's joints and he was still jigging and trying to ram us into the fence. I smacked him a couple of times and spoke firmly to him. Nothing. And finally, I just resorted to one rein circles, progressively letting him stretch down onto a longer rein as he calmed down. I can't say for sure if that did the trick, or if he just got over himself because the barn manager was done dumping feed. Either way, he calmed down.
And finally, I was really able to work on that suggestion. What was it? To allow the horse to stretch down into the contact and forget about balancing and slowing his canter right now. Simply work for a more relaxed canter in which he is stretching his nose out rather than curling it into his chest. Well, I started out with trot work and he did really nicely. Especially circling right, where he is usually very hard in the right jaw. I was quite pleased.
I also had this idea that maybe we needed to work on his canter using the lunge line. So his owner agreed to lunge Doc while I rode and tried to balance him. We put on side reins, I showed her where he would pull the worst, and we set out. And it worked! The canter was way to fast, but we got through the circles, he was stretching down, and he stayed more balanced! I figure we'll do that several more times until he can stay calm and start to slow down a bit. But I was very pleased that we managed it!
Finally, we ended with jumping. He loves to jump. Really loves it. And what really gets me is that his canter is so wonderful and relaxed while he's jumping. Silly horse!
I'll try to get pictures next week of our work. And in February, I think I'm supposed to try some trail riding!
By the time I got on, the barn manager was dumping grain and this struck Doc in a particularly fowl way last night. I've had him get a little distracted during feeding time, but last night was positively awful! He bucked, he jumped, he spun, he reared, he pulled, he even ran away with me. I resorted to the tiniest figure 8s that are so not good for a horse's joints and he was still jigging and trying to ram us into the fence. I smacked him a couple of times and spoke firmly to him. Nothing. And finally, I just resorted to one rein circles, progressively letting him stretch down onto a longer rein as he calmed down. I can't say for sure if that did the trick, or if he just got over himself because the barn manager was done dumping feed. Either way, he calmed down.
And finally, I was really able to work on that suggestion. What was it? To allow the horse to stretch down into the contact and forget about balancing and slowing his canter right now. Simply work for a more relaxed canter in which he is stretching his nose out rather than curling it into his chest. Well, I started out with trot work and he did really nicely. Especially circling right, where he is usually very hard in the right jaw. I was quite pleased.
I also had this idea that maybe we needed to work on his canter using the lunge line. So his owner agreed to lunge Doc while I rode and tried to balance him. We put on side reins, I showed her where he would pull the worst, and we set out. And it worked! The canter was way to fast, but we got through the circles, he was stretching down, and he stayed more balanced! I figure we'll do that several more times until he can stay calm and start to slow down a bit. But I was very pleased that we managed it!
Finally, we ended with jumping. He loves to jump. Really loves it. And what really gets me is that his canter is so wonderful and relaxed while he's jumping. Silly horse!
I'll try to get pictures next week of our work. And in February, I think I'm supposed to try some trail riding!