Hurrah! We cantered! Schooling tips?

[capalldubh]

Today was yet another day when we achieved something new - my first canter on Jackson :D Well, I've only had him just short of a year...

Tiny bit of background - he is 5 and a bit. I got him last October, he went instantly lame and couldn't be ridden for months. He had only recently been backed when I got him, and Lucyad and I tried him out at dealers - she got a few strides of canter though he looked pretty confused, I just got anxious trot. 5 months off, and he'd forgotten that people sat on top sometimes.

I started from scratch (following a massive rodeo incident) and now have a calm happy horse who does everything I ask (unless he doesn't understand what I'm asking...). He loves having a rider, doesn't need me to hold him to mount, walks to the gate as soon as his saddle goes on etc. etc. But we have no school, so can only work in field or out on hacks.

Today, we rode up the 10 acre field, did a few little trots - and I got really brave and asked for a little faster - 3 lovely canter strides! Hurrah!

Anyway, what I need now is lots of schooling ideas. We work in the field. There is a straight fence line (short) that we can do a little shoulder-in at walk, we do lots of serpentines and figure 8s, we can do a nice balanced turn on the forehand (turn on the haunches on the ground but not mounted yet). We pop over a little log at trot for variety.

But after about 15 minutes, he's sighing a bit - still trying hard but beginning to be a bit bored. What other things can I ask him to do that will improve his balance, keep him thinking, but entertain him? He's willing to try anything, but I don't want to do too much trotting yet - I've only been riding him daily for about 8 weeks.

Suggestions anyone?

[inca]

well done:D its a good feeling when you acheive something new:D

[coss]

i would do 10-15mins in walk of spirals for a warmup. change the rein regularly and when coming out of the spiral you can introduce leg yield as the method. It will really help suppleness and balance.

after your walk spirals you could do some in trot. I am a great believer in circles and spirals - thats all i used to do and it got my boy engaged behind the saddle and working well when i didn't know much about outline - all i knew was the head carriage changed ;)- so i wasn't asking for his head to come in, it just did.
you could introduce turn on the haunches. when you do turn on the forehand do you maintain the 4beat walk rhythm and how many steps do you ask? you can make it more interesting by asking for one step sometimes, 2 steps sometimes and always ask for at least an active walk out of it so your horse remains forwards thinking. you could do turn about the forehand (about 180 degree turn) and then straight up to trot when your horse is moving straight. it engages the back end and produces a better trot.

At 5 you can't expect very long periods of time for him to work as he won't be able to concentrate. give plenty of walk breaks on a long rein and that will mean your rides will be quite long with a fresh horse. as a cool down you could redo walk spirals as it keeps the suppleness a bit like athletes stretching after they've run to get rid of the lactic acid.

[Trewsers]

Well done to both of you! What a wonderful feeling it is - sorry, can't offer any schooling tips apart from keeping it in short bursts (I found that worked well with STorm anyway).

[capalldubh]

i would do 10-15mins in walk of spirals for a warmup. change the rein regularly and when coming out of the spiral you can introduce leg yield as the method. It will really help suppleness and balance.

That's an interesting suggestion - our spirals might be a bit wonky though, because we kind of lack reference points (so it's how near or far from the big tree vs the fence line :D), but I can definitely do that. He will probably understand things in a different order to most green horses, because we were taught the Alex Kurland/John Lyons way of starting on a single rein, so lots and lots of what she calls 3-flip-3 - where you pick up the rein to ask for the jaw and release as soon as the horse relaxes at the poll, then on the next pick up you ask for the horse to relax at the poll and step under and release, then finally to relax, step under and step across. We can do this very nicely, but because it's all rein and weight aids, he can do this in balance but doesn't understand a leg aid for leg yield :o So leg yield is a good one to introduce (if I can figure out how to explain it to him :)).

TotF is usually two steps and I always ask for a walk out before a halt. Trotting out would be possible and more interesting for him I think, thanks :D

Good ideas, I will print this out and mull over structure for our next few sessions. We alternate hacking out and schooling in field, but I also try to work in as much as possible on the hacks (half halts, a few steps of shoulder in, serpentines etc).

[capalldubh]

well done its a good feeling when you acheive something new

Well done to both of you! What a wonderful feeling it is - sorry, can't offer any schooling tips apart from keeping it in short bursts

Thanks :D I love my horse, bet you'd never have guessed :D

[inca]

can you raid some traffic cones from somewhere they are good to mark out areas,i use them in my field it gives me something to aim for :D

[capalldubh]

can you raid some traffic cones from somewhere they are good to mark out areas,i use them in my field it gives me something to aim for


;) Yep, have got two so far and always on the lookout for lost or straying ones - I used them for the figure 8s to start with :)

[coss]

That's an interesting suggestion - our spirals might be a bit wonky though, because we kind of lack reference points (so it's how near or far from the big tree vs the fence line :D), but I can definitely do that. He will probably understand things in a different order to most green horses, because we were taught the Alex Kurland/John Lyons way of starting on a single rein, so lots and lots of what she calls 3-flip-3 - where you pick up the rein to ask for the jaw and release as soon as the horse relaxes at the poll, then on the next pick up you ask for the horse to relax at the poll and step under and release, then finally to relax, step under and step across. We can do this very nicely, but because it's all rein and weight aids, he can do this in balance but doesn't understand a leg aid for leg yield :o So leg yield is a good one to introduce (if I can figure out how to explain it to him :)).

TotF is usually two steps and I always ask for a walk out before a halt. Trotting out would be possible and more interesting for him I think, thanks :D

Good ideas, I will print this out and mull over structure for our next few sessions. We alternate hacking out and schooling in field, but I also try to work in as much as possible on the hacks (half halts, a few steps of shoulder in, serpentines etc).

i know what you mean about reference points... i also ride in a field (not quite as big as yours as only 5 acres ;)) but for spirals i find the best thing to look for is a feather from a crow thats come out :o or a tuft of grass... something to centre your circle/spiral around. the spirals may help him understand the holding of the outside of him with your outside leg for more advanced things later on and turn about the haunches.

Do you do TotF out of walk or halt? i've seen a few horses that do not halt as they stop and think you are going to ask their bums to move so wiggle no matter how still you sit. i always do turn about the forehand as it encourages the horse to keep moving forwards and you can still get their front feet to stay pretty "on the spot" but they keep the 4-beat rhythm and are less likely to back off the aid.

[capalldubh]

The tuft of grass/feather idea is great, will do that thanks!

TotF - we do two separate things - one is the 3-flip-3 which is, effectively, a turn (about) the forehand while moving forward, but the "flip" is where he steps under behind. The second is from halt, where he just turns on the spot, then moves off in the direction I'm asking. I can see the benefits to both - the turn at halt encourages him to think about where his feet are, the 3-flip-3 means he starts thinking about stepping laterally.

It's all good fun at the moment, our main limitation is me :o and my lack of imagination plus never having had a horse to school before...

[Palomino Mare]

But we have no school, so can only work in field or out on hacks.

**ahem** yes you do, the liveries wont bite you;):D

[capalldubh]

**ahem** yes you do, the liveries wont bite you

:D Yes, you're right! I met lots of people on the big circular hack we did on Sunday who kept saying "who are you? are you at Lawmarnock?" and when I said no, Iain's, they all said "so are we, we've never spotted you before" :D

Hey, we haven't got out much till recently (apart from all the walking in hand, but there's a limit on how far I was willing to walk... and walking in hand up Shuttle Street is not for the faint hearted!)

The only drawback is that the school is a 20 minute hack from the field, so 20 minutes hack, plus 15 minutes schooling plus 20 minute hack back is quite a lot for him at the mo. But I have been dreaming about trotting poles ;) and the hoof trimmer says we need to do work on sand as well as on roads, so no excuses I guess :)