A cool evening
It was finally nice enough to venture a ride on the Triggs, and I wasn't on call, so an added bonus, haha.
I decided since the last show that I will now ride with my throat latch absolutely dangling, I knew that wasn't the problem, but to prove what I already knew to myself, I rode with his throat latch on the last hole. This is probably a little dangerous the way it dangles, but oh well. Guess what?!? He still tosses his head! I would now like to throw a big fat "I told you so!" at the judge that thought she knew it all. Ok, I'm done with that now, on to the ride...
I warmed Trigger up on the lunge line with side reins, they were attached below the saddle tonight to encourage him to stretch down. I had previously been lunging with his head up, but in light of our current canter problems, I decided to attach them low. He did really well with this and was actually really pretty to watch. I was able to get him to have a forward trot. When I turned him to the right he didn't want to bend, but instead lean through, so I shortened the side rein on the inside to encourage him to tip his nose, once I did that, he did pretty well with this. His canter departures were good.
We moved to the outdoor arena to ride so we could have the whole space to ourselves. And he was.... not good. Triggs didn't do anything mean or anything, he just did what he's been doing all along. I decided not to canter him because I could tell every time he anticipated the canter, he would start throwing his head around and evading the bit. When I moved Triggs to C's last year, this was the same problem we had then, he would always throw his head around and evade the bit when cantering. That's when C had me start riding him in the 3rd rein so that he would fight that instead of me, because I don't have the strength to fight him. I'm afraid to resort to this now, and I think he knows that, so he just continually takes advantage of me. I trotted him over poles, which of course, he did like a champ. Then when I asked for a halt from a trot and got a perfectly square perfectly balanced and perfectly supple halt. I don't know where that came from, but I took it and we hacked out in the front yard as a reward for the halt, but not the rest of the ride, haha.
C is going to watch me ride him Thursday and I have a lesson with her some time next week, when hopefully we can get started on getting this canter issue resolved.
I decided since the last show that I will now ride with my throat latch absolutely dangling, I knew that wasn't the problem, but to prove what I already knew to myself, I rode with his throat latch on the last hole. This is probably a little dangerous the way it dangles, but oh well. Guess what?!? He still tosses his head! I would now like to throw a big fat "I told you so!" at the judge that thought she knew it all. Ok, I'm done with that now, on to the ride...
I warmed Trigger up on the lunge line with side reins, they were attached below the saddle tonight to encourage him to stretch down. I had previously been lunging with his head up, but in light of our current canter problems, I decided to attach them low. He did really well with this and was actually really pretty to watch. I was able to get him to have a forward trot. When I turned him to the right he didn't want to bend, but instead lean through, so I shortened the side rein on the inside to encourage him to tip his nose, once I did that, he did pretty well with this. His canter departures were good.
We moved to the outdoor arena to ride so we could have the whole space to ourselves. And he was.... not good. Triggs didn't do anything mean or anything, he just did what he's been doing all along. I decided not to canter him because I could tell every time he anticipated the canter, he would start throwing his head around and evading the bit. When I moved Triggs to C's last year, this was the same problem we had then, he would always throw his head around and evade the bit when cantering. That's when C had me start riding him in the 3rd rein so that he would fight that instead of me, because I don't have the strength to fight him. I'm afraid to resort to this now, and I think he knows that, so he just continually takes advantage of me. I trotted him over poles, which of course, he did like a champ. Then when I asked for a halt from a trot and got a perfectly square perfectly balanced and perfectly supple halt. I don't know where that came from, but I took it and we hacked out in the front yard as a reward for the halt, but not the rest of the ride, haha.
C is going to watch me ride him Thursday and I have a lesson with her some time next week, when hopefully we can get started on getting this canter issue resolved.