Change on demand
Radar was lovely out on a hack today. He is such a happy horse! He was bouncing along, interested in all that was going on. Good with the cars, bikes, pedestrians, motorcycles. His movement is so active that I have some trouble absorbing it with my back. While he's not exactly rhythmic, you'd never believe he's been in training less than two months. I really couldn't have asked for a better horse to replace Zippy.
I tossed up whether to take Jazz out or school again. Any other horse I would not have schooled twice in a row, but we all know how different Jazz is!! I filed his tootsies, which are growing like topsy and then decided to school.
I worked on an unpressurised, almost-no-rein walk, asking him to turn serpentines and to stop without using the reins. Great exercises for both of us. After some free walk, I did some walk to canter and picked a marker for a canter walk transition. This is new. Up until now I have waited for a good canter before asking for the transition down. It adds a lot of pressure to "have to" do it at a specific spot. And do you know, he was fantastic! He got it every single time on both reins. The walk was not good quality, not flowing forward at first, but that's a small issue which we can work on another time. The principle of answering the aid right when it is given is established, and that is just brilliant.
So after a bit more free walk, it was with high-ish hopes that I tried for a flying change. To the right he ignored the first aid so I put the counter canter aid back on and counter cantered to the next corner and applied the aid for a change of lead again. He ignored that one too so I counter cantered to half way up the long side and turned again and this time he gave me the change spot on when I asked for it. I turned him onto the left rein and he got it first time, right on the aid. He's still late behind, but to answer the aid like he did is surely huge progress in his understanding of what we are doing? Instead of "sort-of" changing because he's on the wrong leg for the bend, he really felt like he changed because he heard me tell him that we should. I've never taught changes before but it certainly felt like progress to me.
C
ps I don't know if ML will be more successful at teaching changes to Tetley than me - he simply could never be bothered, he was so darned competent at counter canter I could only persuade him to change by an instantaneous, microsecond "halt" and re-canter.
posted by cptrayes @ 2:47 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Tetley is like Tucker with that counter canter, so chagning as a consquence of balance isn't the easiest way to teach it. One theory is to establish a super canter/walk/canter transition and train it from that as canter/trot/canter does not demand the horse adjust his balance for the new depart.
The horse does need to be quick to take the leg aid for each lead as well, since the change is a depart from the canter into canter on a new lead. (I need to get Tuck quicker off my leg, actually.)
The method that worked well with PJ was to do a canter half pass to the rail with not a lot of bend, then kind of push his hind end to the rail and then use my outside leg to cue for the change. That little balance change helped him figure it out.
Toby learned in one lesson with Lockie Richards just by switching direction in a figure eight. As I recall, Russell was equally as easy because he too did not like to counter canter when correct lead was offered as an option.
You might quicken up Jazz's hind end by doing the change over a rail on the ground or a little crossrail. That way his hind end has to jump up and it might help him.
It sounds to me as if he is doing just fine, and yes, doing it off your cue rather than because he needs to switch is more than halfway there. By the by, those elusive tempis you keep dreaming of will be right in your pocket once he reliably changes off your cue. But you really need to establish and solidify the one change first. Once it is there every time, tempis are a breeze.
I love the flying change. It is one of my favorite exercises. That's why I want Tuck to master it. Not so I can show him, but so I can have fun!!
Radar is proving over and over to be a gem. When you get his back reliably round he will be easier to sit. But in the meantime, just thing how much better your seat is going to be from riding him! *lol*
nothing worked with Tetley, I tried it all!
Radar is fabby!
C
Oh dear, I have never even ridden a flying change before let alone taught one so don't hold your breath! Actually, I just remembered that he did one by mistake and Dave has it on film. I have no idea what I did! At this point we are not counter cantering but I am about ready to start some as his canter is feeling more balanced these days. We are getting very good canter - trot - canter across the diagonal. I just wish I had a larger arena to work in.
Well that's a start. He never even did one by mistake for me!!
C
I went to a demo by Mark Rashid a couple of years ago and he helped a rider who was having problems with flying changes, in fact when she did what he said the horse did it perfectly first time of asking.
I can't enlighten you any further as I have never done flying changes, and can't remember what the magic ingredient was.
Maybe someone who was there might be able to help - Intelligent Horsemanship DG or Heather Moffat's DG?
The demo was at Kingswood, near Wolverhampton.
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