going to gush.......

[brigadier]

But I love love love my mare.

Tonight I decided to work on rhythm so kept it simple- work on a circle in trot, changes with a halt on x to check square and then when all that started to come together a couple of canter transition to check the rhythm back into trot. Despite a wobble in the corner where the trough was filling all went well. Scratched my head a bit as to what to work on next and decided to look at lengthened strides- a real tricky one for her because of her pitter patter trot and tendency to whizz.
Well it was not pretty- she pretty much ran but what made me so immensely proud of her was her transition back into working trot- it was awesome, she didn't fight, no head tossing, no dropping on the forehand- just quite simply a clean, tidy transition down picking up the earlier rhythm. And then to finish a perfectly square halt which she thought about herself and self corrected her trailing back leg- possibly a fluke but actually I think it was a genuine self correction. Love love love!

[haffyfan]

I think you found your perfect partner in her, exciting times ahead!

[pboy]

Oh wow, I don't blame you for gushing!! She sounds wonderful.

Can you share your tips for perfecting square halts? I've not really worked on them with Indio as it seemed a bit pointless given his general crookedness but it's about time we started!

[brigadier]

Shamefully I look Pboy as I don't have a mirror to check halts. I can generally tell on a horse I ride a lot but as soon as I ride different horses it all goes to pot. And people will say you use an even hand contact and equal leg pressure and it should be square but that's all bananas IMO as horses are very rarely even. So ask for the halt and then look- if its off in front I ask again until its correct then I check behind and correct the offending leg by a tap or a squeeze until the horse shifts it. At first just movement of the offending leg is suffice but after a few sessions persist until the level is acceptable. As the horse becomes more off the leg and into the hand and supple the halts will become squarer. Too much pressure into the halt will make the horse crooked so don't over work it in a competition as it will become a 'thing'.Just accept what you get and train harder at home to make it better. But you should work the halt EVERY session. Never accept a sloppy crooked halt even after cooling off. The times I see people drag to a halt after a decent session- everything gained is lost in that one second.

[racaille]

Wonderful that she's going so well

[solomon]

That's just lovely Brig, so pleased she is going so well. Gave me an idea for another thread...

[fleabitten]

Sounds wonderful!! Good point about being disciplined! Murphy has either a good natural stance or he was very well trained because 9/10 he will plant his front feet lovely and square himself. I have such a good pony lol!! But its true, his weakness i suppose is lack of impulsion in the school and probably i am not disciplined enough in making him work sharper off the leg every time i ride. Saying that i think he just ignores me at times because i do ask him to walk on smartly on hacks and he feels like hes dragging himself along and then we go onto a road we havent been on and suddenly he comes to life! So he probably just suits himself!