Celebrate the Canter

Today was a day to celebrate, we got to canter for the first time since early December.  My friend Agneta gave me some bling-y bandage fasteners for Christmas, so in honor of cantering for the first time since Cooper got sick, I put them on.  I have been gradually adding more trot to Cooper’s daily work and today I decided to try a little canter. He felt great!  We just went once around the arena in each direction.

Trot exercises: Warm up with some leg yields, then we start trotting some of the same exercises I did at the walk

Half pass away from the track for a couple of strides then leg yield back to the track.

Shoulder-in change to haunches-in

Shoulder-in to renvers.

And, of course, we have started the shortening and lengthening of stride in the trot, just asking for a couple of steps longer, then a couple shorter.  Making sure the rhythm stays the same in both the longer & shorter strides.

Walking, walking, walking...when all you can do is walk.

                                                              (photo: Michael Gardner)

Recently my horse was confined to his stall for almost a month, and when he was allowed out, it was just to walk a few minutes each day. He was getting very depressed, his coat was dull, and he just hung his head. Not his usual demeanor at all, he needed something to make him feel good. He was no longer in pain, so I decided to start working on some exercises. Once we got up to 15 minutes of walking a day I introduced a few exercises to keep him occupied, bending and obedient, he's FEI level so many of the exercises include lateral work, such as shoulder-in, travers (haunches-in), renvers, leg yield & half-pass.
I started with just some leg yielding, then added shoulder-in & haunches-in down the long sides, as the days progressed I added a little renvers and half-pass to the mix. At the end of the exercises we go for a short walk in the field. Now his whole attitude has changed, his coat no longer looks dull, his eyes are bright & he's back to his old self:  fidgety, pushy and affectionate.
Exercise #1: On the left rein turn down the center line, leg yield right (away from the rider's left leg) to the quarter line, keeping the horse very straight & parallel to the long side. At the quarter line shoulder-in right the rest of the length of the arena.  Do the same on the right rein. A good exercise to put the horse in the outside aids and keep the horse straight.
Exercise #2: On the left rein down the long side half-pass left a couple of steps to the inside of the track, then leg yield right back to the track, then immediately half-pass left again. Do the exercise on both reins. This exercise requires the rider use the inside seat bone for both the half-pass & the leg yield and it balances the horse, making him responsive and quick to the aids.
Exercise #3:  On the left rein, turn down the center line, shoulder-in left keeping the haunches on the center line,  then move the horse's shoulders to the right of the center line, keeping the haunches on the center line, so you are now in haunches-in right position. Once you can move the shoulders from one side of the center line to the other keeping the haunches on the center line you can then take the shoulders back to the left into a pirouette. This exercise is excellent for making the horse's forehand lighter & more maneuverable.  It takes a lot of practice to keep the horse's haunches on the center line, while moving the shoulders from one side to the other, but if pays off in the end, in that your pirouettes will become much easier. (this exercise is also good in the canter)
We have now just started trotting, so fingers crossed that my horse continues to rehabilitate well.