...Aliens in space shouldn't see you ask for the canter, according to D. As seen in a video I uploaded, us beginners have a way of exaggerating putting our leg behind the girth. Our lesson on Sunday involved us trading ponies twice, so that we got to ride three different ones. I started on Tank and on all three had a similar problem, not using my corners fully at the canter. So I'd cut the corner, end up getting too close to the wall on the long side, have to leg-yield over in time to go over a ground pole at it's center. Wasn't pretty. Also, on one pony I kept getting the wrong canter lead and learned that I had to flex the horse's head to the right slightly to get the right lead. And then my other issue was when the trainer asks me to "go across the diagonal and switch directions" she means the go across the diagonal at the second corner of the short side so that I am making a nice, wide turn rather than a narrow one. Narrow turns are bad for the lesson ponies, a bunch got a little lame already so the trainers are not pleased if we do anything less than a 20m circle. Can't blame them, poor ponies!
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| Tank! |
In other news, Calvin, my practice ride, moved! I didn't get much warning, but I guess they needed to find an indoor with less traffic and had to make the decision in time for the first of the month. He's not any further from where I live, but he's definitely way further than a mile from my lesson barn, which means riding him requires a separate trip. Sigh. I will set aside an occasional Saturday to get out there. Because this is the type of thing equestrians deal with. All the time, it seems!
