Changes of Direction and Counter-Canter

Today I had another lesson with Ulla. I made sure I arrived 15 minutes early to give me time to lounge and warm-up Ben. This was a very wise decision since he had lots of energy and was spooking in the corner at F. Jamie had finished dragging the arena right before we got there so the whole surface was smooth. It was funny to see that after lounging Ben, he totally avoided most of the east end of the arena, especially around F and A. There wasn't even one hoof print in that corner!

At the beginning of my lesson Ben was still shying away a bit at F and A, but then Ulla came down into the arena with me and held a lounge whip to encourage him to go forward and pass all the "scary" things in the corner. Then she just stood in the corner and that gave Ben the confidence he needed and easily passed by her. I'm not really sure why he is so afraid of that part of the arena, maybe it just looks or smells funny to him, even though we've been here hundreds of times.

Once Ben was going really forward we worked on a 20-meter circle and practiced doing changes of direction through the circle. On the left rein I would turn right past P and then make 1/2 a 10m circle to the center line and then change reins and turn to the right and make another 1/2 of a 10m circle to V. Then I would continue around the circle and do it again in the opposite direction. The was a good exercise to work on since it made me think all about preparation for the turns, engaged his hindend and also kept his mind focused.

The next exercise we worked on was the counter-canter. I have never successfully been able to hold a true counter-canter on Ben before since he is programmed to do a flying change each time we change directions. Flying changes are good of the horse to know how to do them, but they must come when you ask for them and not when the horse thinks it's okay. Ben struggled a bit with the counter-canter, so Ulla broke it down for us. Instead of crossing the diagonal and then continuing on the counter canter around the short side of the arena, we would just simply ask him to canter on the wrong lead. After trotting to the left along the short side of the arena I would turn on the quarter line down the long side and ask him to pick up his right lead canter. I had to use my new inside rein (the right) more heavily and bend his neck slightly to the right as well. Almost as if I was asking him to canter to the right around a circle, but instead keep traveling straight. Once I came close to F, I would ask him to trot again. He's not ready quite yet to canter all the way around the short side, but this will come with practice.

It's fun to learn and teach Ben new exercises. The counter-canter is especially a good one for us since it causes the rider be in more control and asks the horse to listen. It also helps to balance the horse more and shows the rider how unbalanced they may or may not be. In order to hold the true counter canter your body has to essentially be traveling opposite of what it's used to doing. So it is really a great tool to teach the horse to "Follow Me!"