In the last horse update, I mentioned we were cantering pretty much every ride. Well, soon some tension issues came up and I backed off the cantering. Still cantering about every other ride, but more focus on suppling, listening to me, not anticipating the depart (because then he didn't listen and just wanted to drop his back.). . .
So, I've been changing things up just about every ride. Depending on the day and the atmosphere, sometimes we do canter in the warm up. Sometimes we canter near the end of our ride. Sometimes we don't canter at all. The focus has been on asking Camaro questions in varying and sometimes totally random orders based on the day.
Questions like:
Can you halt from the trot?
Can you walk to this letter, trot for two letters, walk for one, trot for two?
Can you march into the halt, then stretch down, then come back into contact and walk off?
Can you halt then back two steps? Four steps? Four steps and then trot off?
Can you leg yield in walk to B (or E) and then trot to A (or C) where you walk, then turn up the next quarter line and leg yield again?
Can you turn up the centerline and give me 4 steps leg yield off the left leg, then 4 steps leg yield off the right leg?
Can you give me any steps of leg yield at the trot? (The answer to this one so far is not really, he's kind of confused why/what I ask at that point)
Can you do a serpentine where we do a transition from walk to trot or trot to walk every time we hit the centerline?
Can you do a 10 meter circle left off centerline in trot, then a 10 meter circle right when you reach the centerline again?
How about half-10 meter circles in trot from wall to centerline and back to opposite wall with a change of rein?
Can you walk a 10 meter circle, then give me some steps in shoulder-in when we get back to the wall?
Can you give me 1 step sideways off right leg at walk and trot where ever I ask for it? How about the left leg? How about in canter?
Can you not assume we're going to canter if I ride sitting trot? How about if I do transitions between rising and sitting all around the arena?
And the newest question, in our most recent ride, which was a very good ride: Can you trot a 10 meter circle at this cone, then go right into a canter as we reach the wall, then at the next cone, canter a 10 meter circle?
It's been a lot of directional changes, a lot of suppling type stuff, a lot of transitions transitions transitions, halt halts, and just plain trying to rapid fire come up with the next move I want him to make. I've found that he's more confident, pays way better attention, and is greatly less apt to spook if I'm asking him a new question every minute or so.
This week, I also had Camaro chiropracted. Not for the first time; I've had him done twice before by two different people. This time, however, he was done by a vet I used to know about 10-15 years ago (who had since left the practice she was in at the time and started her own, as well as got very into equine chiropractics). She was highly recommended to me by the barn owner where Camaro lives, who, last fall, set up a once a month standing appointment with her to do whatever horses in the barn needed special vet work.
I decided to put Camaro on her list for the May visit, and I'm so glad I did. We'd been dealing with some tension issues in his left jaw and shoulder the last couple weeks, and I wanted that especially to be checked out.
She didn't find anything out of alignment, just a few tight spots, which she adjusted. (And he was so much looser in those problem spots the next ride!) It was really good to have her evaluate him and give feedback on his condition and his attitude. Interestingly, she remembered him from having done the pre-purchase exam when his previous owner (the one I bought him from) bought him about 5 or so years ago. After working on him for me, she said that what I was doing with him was very good for him, that he seemed much calmer than he was years before when she saw him, and that the muscling discrepancy between his right wither and left wither (he has a slight club foot) had become much more even with the way I was riding him.
So, overall, it's been a really good month for Camaro and I.
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