Canter right; head left

I mount up on Crownie, and preparations for my second one day event are under way.

The amazing thing about this horse is her trainability. She's not very fit, and not necessarily willing to listen to me right now, but within minutes of starting a new exercise she is listening and doing what I ask. And all the training principles apply. It's such a relief!

For example. We're trotting on a 25 metre circle (Crownie is a long horse, and initially needs a bit more space.) I ask her to do a volte. The whole idea of the volte is for her to become more collected. Her first reaction is to rush forwards. But I limit that through the use of my reins and legs. Then she collects. Then we're at the end of the volte, and I allow her to go back on the large circle again. So, when she does the right thing, I release as if to say "that's all I wanted. Good girl".

So then of course, the next volte goes better, because she knowns that last time she collected herself a bit she was rewarded. Awesome.

Later to get more collection I do two or three voltes in a row. So I ask for a bit more. Then I release. It works beautifully.

We go into canter. Canter right to be precise. Something weird starts happening here. She's on the right lead. But she's heading left. Head is bent to the right, but she's definitely following her shoulder to the left, neighing madly to her mates as she goes. Argh! This is not how it's supposed to be. How in the world am I going to do cross country?

Well, in horse riding, the horse is actually our greatest teacher. I listen. The neighing sounds a bit like laughing. "What are you laughing at Crownie?". What's supposed to stop her heading left? Well, my left leg of course! I come back to walk and retrain my left leg until it's stiff, sore and exhausted.