To ride dressage is to dance with your horse, equal partners in the delicate and sometimes difficult work of creating harmony and beauty.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Working on canter


With two-plus months of conditioning and two shows at Intro Level behind us, it's time to focus on Lance's canter work. He is relatively obedient about picking up the canter, but prefers the left lead and sometimes takes it when asked for the right lead. He also has to be encouraged to stay in the canter, which is partly due to lack of strength and balance, I'm sure. He was a stall-potato when he came, after all! Now that I'm cantering him more, he is actually breaking a sweat occasionally – barely.

Yesterday I had Brian video some canter work, and was surprised to see that it doesn't look as bad as it feels. It's nothing like Don Juan de Hus' canter, but visualizing the canter of the "best four-year-old in France" when I ride Lance certainly can't hurt!

2 comments:

Theresa said...

And that's quite some canter too! Complete with an airs above the ground start, just to let you know he's thinking about what you're saying. :) Actually, quite a beautiful walk too. Lance has a high bar set for him with Don Juan as a model I would say. And birthday congrats for Boulderneigh.

Marlane said...

I was sad to see the spurs being jabbed into this horses sides when he was doing so well. No wonder he leaped into the air at he beginning of the canter.