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Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Pirouette after one step

So yesterday we had a lesson at the other barn. It may have been a bit risky trailering to the lesson as I was only 95% sure I'd have a sound horse. We are still dealing with whatever is wrong with his feet. During that process I discovered I LOVE Gorilla Tape much more than Duct Tape! :)

We warmed up indoor in soft but deep footing. He was sound. Yay! My trainer decided we should take him to the crappy, non-fenced outdoor which had harder footing. My trainer suspected Eli may not be sound in that footing. The bad news was that I rode like shit. The good news was that he was 100% sound! YAY.

During my ride Eli resisted the left lead canter. This had been a new issue since shoeing (which also made him more unsound than he was before). He would lay on the left shoulder and raise his head up and to the right and back off the bit. My trainer claims it's an outside rein issue and we fixed it as such. It worked so who am I to say?

The motto of the lesson was in regards to the outside rein. At any point in trot and canter I should be able to transition to walk for ONE step and immediately do a walk pirouette. I also must think pirouette position as I am riding canter. That helps quite significantly. It forces me to keep my outside rein short and it straightens Eli within the gait. :)

I packed his foot last night. My trainer wanted to keep that the same and have me ride tonight to make sure the work didn't make him sore. If he's sound the packing comes out tonight. He does not get turnout yet. I will have to ride him tomorrow night to see if he's sound without the packing. If so then he can go on turnout. Fingers crossed!