Counter Canter

I was a bad mom this past week and didn’t go out very much, so she pretty much sat around and did nothing but a light hack this week. That made for a horse with lots of energy. We worked for maybe 30 minutes on just blowing through that energy- lots of trotting circles, figure eights, etc, with me staying out of her way as long as she didn’t get too out of control. There was another horse in the ring who was trotting/cantering around us, and she had a few OH MY GOD ITS COMING FOR ME moments, but held herself together really well and never actually took off, which is a major improvement for us. We did lots of trot-halt, walk-halt, trot-walk transitions in the center of the ring after our warm-up when we were waiting for the other horse to leave so we could get to the good stuff, cantering!

And good stuff it was. I started out loping her around each direction on a loopy rein, letting her relax into it and get her longer strided, active canter rather than her short choppy EHMERGERD WE’RE CANTERING canter which is a big no no. It took a while for her to relax into it going to the left, but we got there, and all was good. Then.. the dreaded counter canter. We’ve never practiced this before. It’s 100% new material to us. And she DID NOT GET IT.

And she was very adamant about letting me know that she did not get it. First we started with, y’know, trying to get the counter canter. And she gave me a big FU, said NO YOU’RE WRONG, and picked up the correct lead every time. So we sat in a corner for a bit as I attempted to make her flex her neck to each side, which she also did not like, and then we tried again. I ended up having to take her off the track, bend her to the outside, then pick up the canter and move diagonally back to the track.

Then came the harder part.. keeping the counter canter. Once she understood that yes, I really did want the “wrong” lead, she picked it up for me every time. But that doesn’t mean she kept it. Whaddya know, we have really smooth flying changes! But they only happen whenever she thinks they should.. oh Rush. At first every time we approached a corner she swapped. Then it was between the first and second corners. I really had to wrap her around my outside leg, using it to direct the motion of her body around the turns, while keeping my inside leg back to support her bend. It was hard work for the both of us, and it was definitely not pretty. But we managed to get through the short side going each way, which is not an easy feat considering it’s an itty bitty indoor with short sides!

It feels crazy good to be able to get that amount of effort out of her. She was frustrated as hell and thought I was insane and doing everything wrong, but she worked with me and we made really good progress in just one ride. It’s the rides like these- when we learn something new together- that makes me appreciate her so much. She’s really come far since I met her.