Fancy is the color of White Chocolate Mocha The whipped cream is from the white snips on her hind legs. Hmmmm, what is her darker mane and tail? I’ll have to investigate further.
Erin rode Fancy again before I rode her. Erin rode Fancy in near perfect canter circles. What! How do these trainers do what they do? Erin explained that the rider’s body energy makes a difference. Hmmm, I’m thinking of how much torque my legs and core muscles are bleeding out into Fancy’s brain. Erin further explained that pulling back on the reins to slow her down, does the opposite. She speeds up. That is how race horses work. Pull back the reins and they run faster.
Sigh… My brain probably knows these facts, but my body might be guilty. Cantering in circles also helps control my fear emotion too. Circles are the enemy of horse run away fear. I know that fact extremely well over the years. Circles are my calm-down safety net.
I rode Fancy. I remembered that one of the Level 4 Free Style tasks is to direct the horse with your finger on her neck. We practiced that. I’ll be darn, when I direct her with my finger, I have to adjust my body position so that my belly button is pointing at the direction I want to go. My arms are too short for my finger to touch her neck without leaning forward slightly. Darn whoopee. I might be able to check this task off soon.
We did some leg yielding. I love leg yielding. We did some dressage moves and practice turning her head slightly while still going forward. There are words for these movements, and I’ll let you know more when we are able to check off the task.
We practiced transition and maintaining the flat foot walk and fox trot. Per Erin we got the footfall and the sound of the perfect gait. That gaited rhythm just pierces your soul and makes you want to give thanks to the creators of this magnificent breed.
The time has come. It’s canter time. I was able to get Fancy to canter. We went in half arena circles. I did not bounce going to the right. I was able to think about what we were doing. Cantering to the left was more difficult. She broke gait, moved up into the wrong lead and then leg chaos. We got started back on the correct lead and turned our circles. I did bounce of the the saddle a few time. I was able to think most of the time. At no time did I ever look where I wanted to go. At all times, I was looking down at uncertain death. See how much I improved from yesterday? Yesterday, I was looking down at certain death.
This quest for horsemanship and developing a young horse is a most wonderful opportunity for continuing horse happiness, but it is NOT EASY!