My secret tactic...
Spurs
Now I didnt do as somebody at the yard suggested and just give her a massive boot with spurs one and tell her to get on with it BUT I did use them as a tool to give myself more strength. I had a different action plan as well. I rode at one end of the school with out going large so she couldn't get in to the train of thought about going straight down the long side, I still used 10 & 15 metre circles and half circles so we weren't just doing 20 metres the whole time. Then I started by asking her to canter just the short side of my circle, the next time I asked for a transition earlier so that we cantered a tiny bit of the long side first, then I moved my transition back a little bit at a time until we were cantereing before crossing the centre line on the circle.
Once we were doing that I asked her to go round a whole circle, this is where the spurs helped me be stronger with her when she didn't want to come off the track and on to a circle.
It worked, on both reins! We even managed to canter a circle, down the long side and then half a circle at the other end of the school (going back to trot over the centre line)
The spurs made me really realise something, what I think is me using my legs isn't . Its just me gripping but not actually pushing her forwards. Because the spurs made me very concious of what my legs were doing they made me really keep my weight down through my stirrups so I wasnt using them inadvertantly. Then when I wanted to use more leg it was easier to apply it because I was more aware of what my legs were doing in the first place.
I want to school in the spurs once more and then take them off again, now that hopefully we have got through the mental wall. I dont want to end up riding in spurs everytime. I want to use them as a training aid not a long term solution
Spurs
Now I didnt do as somebody at the yard suggested and just give her a massive boot with spurs one and tell her to get on with it BUT I did use them as a tool to give myself more strength. I had a different action plan as well. I rode at one end of the school with out going large so she couldn't get in to the train of thought about going straight down the long side, I still used 10 & 15 metre circles and half circles so we weren't just doing 20 metres the whole time. Then I started by asking her to canter just the short side of my circle, the next time I asked for a transition earlier so that we cantered a tiny bit of the long side first, then I moved my transition back a little bit at a time until we were cantereing before crossing the centre line on the circle.
Once we were doing that I asked her to go round a whole circle, this is where the spurs helped me be stronger with her when she didn't want to come off the track and on to a circle.
It worked, on both reins! We even managed to canter a circle, down the long side and then half a circle at the other end of the school (going back to trot over the centre line)
The spurs made me really realise something, what I think is me using my legs isn't . Its just me gripping but not actually pushing her forwards. Because the spurs made me very concious of what my legs were doing they made me really keep my weight down through my stirrups so I wasnt using them inadvertantly. Then when I wanted to use more leg it was easier to apply it because I was more aware of what my legs were doing in the first place.
I want to school in the spurs once more and then take them off again, now that hopefully we have got through the mental wall. I dont want to end up riding in spurs everytime. I want to use them as a training aid not a long term solution