All The Kings' Horses

 Gia and I worked on our flatwork on Wednesday.  First I asked her for impulsion, and she reminded me (with a few small bucks), that I needed to reward her for the small increments of impulsion that she gives me, instead of pushing for more and more, greedily.  Once I started doing that, she rewarded me by popping up into the canter readily.  It was without being asked, but the transitions were so soft, and she was so quiet, that I let it go.   So, we worked on straightness.  When she's at the canter, I have found that it's harder to help her find her straightness when I'm sitting deeply in the saddle.  If I come up out of the saddle a little bit, and find the equal pressure in my stirrups, and the equal pressure in my hands, then she finds it easier to allow her body to follow the guidance of whichever leg I'm using to help her straighten up.  As she gets stronger, I can start to sit back and keep my leg on to keep her hind end engaged....

 Gia and I got to play in the field over the jumps today.  She was quicker to get in front of my leg, and quicker to get straight today (I also got my reins shorter more quickly today ☺).  We took a couple of jumps nicely to the left, and then went to the right.  But upon trying to take the jumps to the right, she did not want to land on the correct lead afterwards.  Often horses will favor one lead or the other, so this is not uncommon.  I had to work on getting her much straighter on the flat first, and much more supple as well.  It took a bit longer, and she got a bit frustrated for a few minutes, but eventually she got it.   I had also been doing much better myself about rewarding her more often for the smaller things, and even giving her tiny treats for larger wins as well.  She definitely got a treat for this one!  She also got a treat after conquering one of her nemesis jumps on the second try - the flat tires! We finished ou...

 Gia and I worked on our flatwork today.  We did much of the same as we have been - get the impulsion at the walk and trot, then get straight.  We also worked a little on the Starter test that we will be doing at the show this weekend.   Despite how much I tell my students to shorten their reins, it's the big thing I wasn't doing enough of with Gia today.  If I had gotten them even shorter, I would  have felt the nuances where we lacked impulsion and straightness even quicker and, then of course, corrected them even quicker.   Gia also likes to remind me that I need to reward her more often for much tinier efforts.  She's not wrong.  But I wish she would go about reminding me in gentler ways ....

 Gia and I worked towards jumping a few small fences on Friday.  But the main thing we focused on was getting enough impulsion and getting her straight enough.   But how do you know if you have enough impulsion? There are a couple of "tests" you can do to see if your horse has enough energy, or is "in front of your leg": 1. When you think they are there, relax your leg aid (but don't take your leg off, do keep it supportive), and see what they do.  Does your horse quit after a few strides or less?  Does your horse maintain their forward momentum?  If they quit fairly quickly, then they were not "there" yet.  Go back and ask for more energy, and then "test" again.  If they maintain their forward momentum for, let's say about a 20 meter circle, or one long side, or half your arena, then they are probably "in front of your leg".  You may have to remind them and tweak their tempo and energy here and there, but you should not have to...