Pacha - november 26, 2010

This week I have applied the pattern of one day lungeing, one day riding. Despite poor, wintery weather conditions, we spent most of sessions outdoors.
For the first time, I lunged Pacha with a simple halter. I did it in the outdoor small arena, to prevent any unpleasant consequence in case he would have pulled off my hands. Also, I gave him 5' of freedom at the beginning to allow him spending his excess of energy . The plan worked very well. He was fine with the halter, never pulling, on the contrary more free and relaxed in his gaits while keeping on the circle. As he obeys voice quite well, there is no need to give signals on the lunge via his mouth. We spent 45' of good and happy work at the three gaits, both hands, with special emphasis on simple transitions (halt/walk/trot/canter and reverse) and started walk/canter ones with good results. Near the end of the session I reduced the radius of the circle to about 3 meters, and could obtain a nice round canter on both leads. I believe it will be helpful for improving the quarters engagement, as I did not notice any escape from the haunches outward. On the contrary, he is able to flex his neck gently inside at poll.
On the riding side too, this week has been productive. I worked canter on small circles (6m diameter) which so far was possible but only over one round or two, after which he would heat up and get excited. I realised that I did not yield enough during the take/yield play, and more precisely, I did not give in timely, that is at the very moment he would try to speed up his tempo. By:
-applying the 'hands without legs - legs without hands' scrupulously
-giving in at the first sign of excitement, with no hands and a little legs
-using my back (bringing the belly button forward on a fixed hand), and opening the little finger only for giving in, and 'taking' with my back again on fixed hand, closed fingers.
, I obtained a steady, round canter on the small circle over several rounds, which moreover Pacha kept when going on the large, to the point that I could achieve a complete 'descente de jambes' - a great sensation.
I believe this new discovery is quite promising, because it opens vistas on how to sit Pacha on his haunches in a practical, and repeatable process. It also shows that he is able to be quite fine and sharp when the rider's aids are tuned up to his satisfaction - and do not create detrimental oppositions.
Such instances when both horse and rider learn together and move a step forward together are immensely pleasurable.They are part of the jewels that Gen. Kurt Albrecht, former SRS Direktor mentionned in this thoughtful quote of him:
'The training of a horse will have a chance to be a source of joy again only if one does not limit oneself to aim at winning prizes, but when one has learnt to identify and enjoy the countless jewels which are offered to the horseman on the way leading to the final objective.'