Today Highboy and I worked on a variation of the exercise I call the Blender. Because I'm always trying for more adjustability and finesse with Highboy's canter work I thought this would be a good one.
I set it up using half the arena, with the cones on the N and S sides, the cavalletti on the W side and the two jumps in the center of the arena. The goal is to have the same canter throughout the circle, and to get to the middle of each of the poles. Highboy tends to get faster and longer with his stride, so this was a good exercise for him to think through.
Because he is so big, I needed to set the cavalletti a little farther apart than written on this diagram. But Highboy did ok with it for the most part. In a happy accident, I ended up putting on his green pad, green boots, and the sides of the cavalletti are also the same lime green! They are actually little kids' training potties from IKEA, but they work great as cavalletti risers. My only complaint is I wish they were a little heavier, if the horse hits the pole they get knocked over really easily. But still an economical alternative at about $5 each!
Here is the video of cantering to the right:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehLxBfFCDUI
Here is the video of cantering to the left:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYx1vlI5Oew
He did enjoy the jump at the other end, but he kept thinking we were going to change directions and trying to switch his lead over the fence.
While we got it done, the canter didn't get as adjustable in stride length as I wanted. We'll keep working on it and see if I can get him to shorten and lengthen his stride more willingly.
On a positive note, it did loosen up his back and give us a very nice stretchy trot at the end.
No comments:
Post a Comment