Ah, another ‘pearl of wisdom’ I picked up during my lesson
on Remy last night. I have been struggling with the canter departs, having a
hard time getting my outside leg and half-halt just right for Remy to move
smoothly off into the canter. Instead, I tend to do too much on the inside and
then try to move him off my upper body. It nets me… a faster trot on the
forehand.
I’ve been thinking (OK, some might say fretting) over it
quite a bit. Why do I automatically go for more inside rein? Is it because that
way I can do an easy one-rein stop to the inside when things go south? I
learned the one-rein stop eons ago from a cowboy, it proved extremely useful to
stop Saumur when he was bolting, but alas I got overly dependent on it. Sort of
like taking “something to relax” when needed but soon you take it “just in case”
– not that I would have personal experience with that, of course!
Judy nailed it with her “take control of your brain – don’t let your
brain control you” advise. My brain has to go on autopilot, like “OK, canter
depart: keep him on the outside rein, outside leg slides back, and off we go”.
Needless to say, it should be a no-brainer at this stage of my training. With
Saumur it takes the slightest of aides to get him moving off my leg. But Remy
of course is still a work in progress, and he actually shows me where my holes
are. (Ugh, I guess I do have some?!).
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