Cantering again!

Give me a carrot!!!

We decided it's time to start cantering mr. Flag again. He's been doing so well in his 20m circles at the trot... Nevertheless... just to be on the safe side, we only cantered him large.

In order for me to overcome my fear of cantering.. we took baby steps. First I'd only canter him down the long sides - even if it was only down the one side of the arena. We gradually increased this until we could do 3 / 4 rounds and during the December holidays, we attempted a 20m circle - and although he was still very rushed and kept falling out, HE DIDN'T NAP! This was so super awesome and it was such a relief to have my horse back! 
 I'm so impressed with the progress we've made in the last couple of weeks! His canter is becoming more controllable, less rushed, more balanced and he's not falling into the circles anymore... given I've also started consentrating on my own riding skills: I've learnt to put more weight on my outside leg to help him balance and keep him from falling in and I've also been concentrating a lot on my riding position. Take a look at this video, which I found very helpful on how to improve your classical seat.


It's also been going so well in the 20m canter circles, that we've decided it was time to loose the second crop, but, just as a precaution, I keep the crop in my outside hand, in case he attempts to nap again.

G & Kyle came with me to my lesson today and took turns recording my lesson on the video camera so that Pam could evaluate me. The one thing that caught my attention immediately, was how stiff I was in my back but my leg position have improved a lot. I've also had to lengthen my stirrups by one more hole - whether this was due to Flaglet picking up weight or my legs becoming longer and the muscles more flexible I do not know, either way, it's definately improved my position!