I have to be honest, the first time I rode ET, I was not very impressed. I thought to myself, "I got the old horse who was something in his day, but probably won't amount to much now." I think I used that as my defense for not knowing how to ride him. He was a different kind of horse, and one I didn't know how to ride. Sure, he has a few extra years on him, but those extra years are what make him a prime horse to learn on. He will give you what you ask for... and I mean exactly what you ask for. If you ask for a leg yield when his hind foot has already left the ground, he will maybe move it, but most likely you'll get an on the forehand, shoulder leading leg yield. If you ask for the canter from a walk and don't half halt and let him know what you're asking, he will canter - at his convenience. I love that about him. I love how he will still give you something, but not what you want, and still be kind enough to do it.
I honestly do so much in one ride with him it's hard to look back and describe it all. I start out by walking him around and allowing him to stretch out a bit, while I take my stirrups out and do some exercises myself to loosed up. After that I pick him up at the walk and do some 20 meter circles, make sure he can bend around my leg both ways, throw in some counter bend, do a little turn on the forehand to get his hind end over. After that I picked him up at the trot. He was pretty stiff at first so I did transitions, making sure he was off his forehand and wasn't hanging on my hands. Transitions are your friend with a horse like ET... but at the same time your enemy. They get him engaged and off the leg, but are not easy to keep him up and motivated in. After I did some transitions I worked a little more on some steady trot work. While doing that I did a few twenty meter circles, and then worked on some leg yielding. I definitely need to get my seat in tune for lateral work. My timing is awful. I decided I'm going to spend five minutes ever ride just walking or trotting around, saying when each foot leaves the ground. The front ones are pretty easy, but the back ones are a mystery to me. I want to get better at this, as it will also help with Duncan picking up correct leads at the canter. After trot work with ET I gave him a break and he stretched at the trot and walk. After walking a few minutes I did some trot to canter transitions, and then did some walk/canter, canter/walks. After that I did some simple changes, which are so fun!! He needed to be straighter coming across at x, as well as off his forehand coming down from the canter, but over all they were good changes, so I walked him out and gave him a big pat! I love the feeling of lightness and self carriage out rides have been getting lately.
Duncan
There was a spot open in club time tonight so I grabbed Duncan and got on him. I like riding ET first because my body is loose and I get on Duncan expecting him to have the same feel as ET. I mean obviously ET is trained to PSG and Duncan is not, but I feel like if you get on with a finely tuned seat the horse will be more receptive to your aids. I only had a short ride on him tonight, as there was not a whole lot of time left in club time. The walk and trot work was spot on. He was soft, accepting contact, stopping, moving off my leg, getting his hind end engaged. He is still a little sticky backing up, but he is starting to understand it. I go to ask for a left lead canter - right lead every time. I go to the right and work his little butt off to the right. After doing a lot of transitions (yes, my timing again is hideous here and poor Duncan has to put up with it) I ask for the right lead canter, he gives me the left, and on a spur of the moment decision I changed directions in the canter and did a few circles on the left lead. Certainly not the ideal way, but I was running out of time and we achieved the goal: canter on the left lead, to the left. After that I got off and walked him out.
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