I listened to the great advice about the canter. Get the trot right and then ask for the canter. If he starts running, bring him back to a good trot and ask again. The first night I did this it worked like a charm. I found that by prepping him loads he responded by answering me promptly. And I thought - voila! I have found my solution! And it was so easy! I should have already been doing this, but I can occasionally be an asshole who doesn't think about these things and I don't have enough money currently to get a trainer to remind me. The next night I came out to this friendly face. And though he's friendly - he's also a combination of lazy and wiley!
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| Who you calling lazy and wiley, lady?!?! |
The work started off well enough. We were lacking in forward momentum, but he was coming around. And then I think he just decided "meh - screw it. I'm not cantering today". And he didn't! He was completely ignoring me. After the fourth refusal my wonderful riding partner Laura agreed to tie her boy up and lunge us.
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| Laura with lazy and her boy, Sterling |
The lunging went like this - ask for canter, got ignored *once* and wapped him hard on the bottom. He cantered. He broke to the trot (I'm pretty sure he decided he had enough after two circles). Wap! Canter. And canter. And a little more. I doubt we did more than 10 circles, but I wanted him to listen to me - to canter and to stay in the canter until I asked him to trot. I left the barn feeling like a jerk who spanked her horse - and to be honest, a little defeated about the whole canter thing.
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| Gavin after the ass-kicking, note he's still alive and well ;) |
So - I came out today not sure what I'd be getting in the lazy, wiley pony world. Well - I had no need to worry. He was a gem! He was so good with his canter transitions! And I tried to just praise him and praise him. So, I absolutely think I need to prep him and balance him more in the trot - because it definitely helps him pop into the canter, but I also can't let him walk on me in his adorable little pony way "canter? whats that?…"
After our ride we took the boys on their first trail ride from the barn. We hand-walked them to the trailhead and then got on. Gavin's size is perfect for getting on and off from the ground (though I try not to for the sake of his back). So a few times that the boys deemed too scary to move I did get off to be the brave leader ;) It worked out really well, and they were great!
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| happy trails! |
I can definitely sympathize with the feelings of trying to balance praising and forgiving with a spank if needed. But I've found that if I give him a big spank once, it saves him from little nagging reminders down the road. It's a fine balance...
ReplyDeleteAlso, that trail ride sounds super fun! sadly we're done with trail rides here until the snow melts...in spring :( Happy trails to you two though!!
Yes - it is a fine line! I hate overusing/misusing the whip, but sometimes a little reminder about who's calling the shots is necessary. Oh damn! Til spring?!?! Sorry your snow season starts so early!
DeleteYay for good friends to help you out. We are leading somewhat parallel lives at the moment with cantering cobs...B decided it's just too hard as well yesterday :) Good on you for pushing through and making it happen. Love your blog, Gavin is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThank you! And thank you! :) Your girls are beautiful as well! Good luck on your canter work!
DeleteGavin is adorable! Omg I'm dying. I could never discipline him haha! Found your blog on Carly's post and am really enjoying it so far. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading! :) And thanks, he is adorable, but believe me - it's not tooooo hard to discipline him - he can be pretty naughty! ;)
DeleteCobs can be found next to "stubborn" in the dictionary. Comrade, Rosemary and Roscoe all decide they are done, but I have to push them too. Don't feel bad about using the whip. They know when you are being fair and it sounds like you had to respond that strongly. You definitely don't want that habit developing. I try to push for an extra lap at first, then stop before they quit. Gradually you can maintain longer before they think about quitting. It has helped me with Roscoe. Your doing great, stay positive!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm glad to hear about all these cobs and to know I'm not alone in the canter issue! His last two rides have been great though, so I'm enjoying it!
Deleteaww naughty pony! sounds like you did the right thing tho - backing up your polite aids with reinforcements. cantering from an organized trot is harder work than just dragging themselves into canter from a zooming trot... but he'll figure it out, and the 'peace wand' is there to help :)
ReplyDeleteAh yes… the peace wand. My favorite tool ;)
DeleteYay for hacking! If you have areas on trails that you can canter one when you are both comfortable with the hacking it will spillover to your arena work.
ReplyDeleteI went through a phase last winter where I had awful trouble riding Nancy - wholly my fault, so we went out on the trails and had no probs trotting or cantering, two things I struggled with in an arena...go figure.
Taking the pressure off ourselves makes it easier for them to give us what we want too as we are not tense and sending mixed messages. I am not saying this is what is going on here, just speaking from my own experiences. If i know we struggled with something I am pretty sure my body betrays me through the tack to the horse before I even fully commit to the aids for achieving. What my teacher told me earlier this month when I had my week of lessons was to ask for canter transitions whenever the trot was good and not just when I thought we should. Saves things getting build up in my mind and also hinders disappointment if we don't get the transition immediately. I also often fail at balancing and setting them up properly, preparation is key for these transitions as so much balance and coordination is required from both the horses and ourselves.
Always so much to think about, but don't worry or beat yourself up about things. We all have our good and bad days and there is no doubting how much you care for and look after the G-man.
*hugs*
Connor needs to 'sleep on it' a lot. I think that's what happened with Gav. ;-) Good work!
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