Kelly's lesson with Czar and Christan proved to be very enlightening for me. Most importantly, Christan had Kelly lift her hands when approaching a jump, and cantering, as that helped to shift Czar's weight back over his hocks instead of letting him dump himself on his forehand. I wondered about that, since when Kelly lifts her hands, Czar lifts his head, but I think that now Czar is shod behind, he is more willing to shift his weight back instead of just hollowing and pulling back on her. The transformation with Kelly's jumping was remarkable, though. As she approached the jump, C reminded her to keep her hands up and her elbows connected to her hips (something Holly is always reminding me about), and instead of getting left behind and jerking Czar in the mouth, which Kelly was worried she would do, he just jumped up and closed her angles, which helped with her issues of jumping ahead and leaning at the fence. I have been having problems with Kelly leaning at the fence, and then on the landing side, getting herself popped out of the saddle. C said it was because K locked her elbows on the approach, so that when Czar landed, he would yank her forward. When she kept her hands raised, it resulted in him jumping "up" to meet her, and then taking her elbows forward on the landing side so she didn't get popped. Wonderful. When Kelly cantered in the dressage arena, as a close to the lesson, the same result happened - Czar shifted his weight backwards, and like magic, Kelly suddenly started to follow the motion of the canter through her hips, eliminating her tendency to "post" in the canter.
So, the last ride I had with Oliver, he was hot and rushing around. I lately have been wrapping his bit with Sealtex, and he's been easier to bridle, so I think he likes the softer bit (Christan's idea). He's also being ridden back in the Isabel, as I got the suspicion that he prefers me being a bit more stable in the saddle - I have a tendency to get a little wobbly at times in the Fhoenix, due to HIS tendency to abruptly change direction or speed at a moment's notice. Thinking of that picture I have of Karen O'Connor riding The Optimist (he's pulling like a train in the picture), I really hollowed my back, pushed my shoulders back, sunk into my heels, kept my leg on and raised my hands a little to help regulate speed. He was doing much the same today - being a total dingbat in the crossties, for some reason, which resulted in a trip to the roundpen to work out some respect and trust issues. After we worked out personal space in the roundpen, I got on, and thought to myself the way I used to get Ben into his "happy space" - by keeping him very round and very deep, which helped to slow down his rhythm until he was ready to relax. At the walk, I stretched Oliver down as much as he would go, and he's starting to get it and enjoy the stretch. In the transition to trot, I rounded him a little more than I normally would, and then picked up the trot, and kept him very round and slow. This seemed to help, as he didn't race off in the trot, and then when he started to slow his tempo down, I gave him a little rein and asked for a downwards stretch, being very careful to not let my shoulders tip forward and encourage him to fall flat on his face and race around. This seemed to work pretty well. Oliver was more willing to stretch in the trot today, and kept his rhythm in a reasonable pace. Once he was giving me a nice stretch in the trot, I started to shorten and lengthen his stride in the trot - he wanted to hollow in the shortened strides, but I kept him extra round and deep when he wanted to brace and push, and the difference in the lengthened trot was amazing - he started to swing, and I could feel the suspension start to come through. When he started to feel quick, I brought him back to a shortened stride, and then when he balanced himself, I allowed him to stretch it out and elongate the stride, the whole time keeping my hands a little higher, but forward to allow the stretch. That was a lot of fun.
The big test was the canter. I've been dreading the canter work, as he likes to buck into the transition, and then prop on his forehand and jack me out of the saddle, making for a very uncomfortable experience for both of us. Again, going back to an old Practical Horseman article, I sat the trot into the transition. WHen I felt my right knee drop, I squeezed my inside leg and inside rein and thought "En-large" (as in enlarging the circle by increasing the bend and pushing off the inside leg), twice, and then I thought, "Half-halt" with outside rein to shift his weight back onto his haunches, twice again, and then thought "can-ter" with the outside leg back and the inside leg on, being sure to use both legs to ask for the depart. It worked wonders with Sam, but then he was getting pretty good about staying round through his transitions anyway, but it worked beautifully with Oliver - not only did he pick up the left lead on the first try, but he didn't buck into it, and he stayed pretty round and balanced, albeit a bit forward, through the entire canter. I made sure to keep my hands raised instead of dropping them down, and just keeping my leg on and letting him figure out the balance for himself. What a lovely canter. I haven't had a canter that nice in a while. I can't wait for my next lesson with Christan, to make sure that I am not raising my hands TOO much, and that she confirms what I'm feeling.
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