Improving the canter

Gally and I ride out and this time I take my dressage whip with me. We take Invert track into the valley, then follow the valley floor at walk and trot. We continue at walk along another road, then we turn left into H Tree Road.

The beauty of approaching H Tree Road from this side is that it goes at a steady incline, and you can pretty much canter the length of it. 2km.

We take up the canter. Gally is happy enough to bowl along, but after two hundred metres he returns to trot. Enter girl determined to canter all the way. We resume the canter, and my legs are working over time to continue the action. As the track goes steeper up hill, I urge my horse on, at the same time working the reins a bit to get his head off the ground.

By the time we reach the junction with the track to YeSlabAttackInn, I am exhausted and gladly return to the walk. Gally shares my point of view. In fact, isn't it time for a snack? He eyes off the tufts of grass amongst the trees. I kick him on into an active walk.

We also have the luck to pass a few puddles. Most of them are tiny, but Gally eyes them off with significant suspicion. I am very tempted to push him closer to the puddles, but manage to stare into space and ignore them. And slowly, Gally starts to relax, and walk past the puddles with greater ease. Towards the end of our ride we need to walk along a little ridge between two bog holes. Gally sees the road home, and walks along the ridge with confidence.