The difference between understanding concepts intellectually based on reasonable extrapolation and really understanding those same concepts through physical experience is an event that's always amazed me. I've found that a wide berth divides those two levels of knowledge, and when I'm broadsided with the profundity of that realization it's sort of like being slapped with a wet trout.
I've been riding 3 horses lately: Nic, the Grand Prix Schoolmaster (GP), and a green Fresian mare, named Whinny, that a friend (who is, in my opinion, shall we say, overconfident in my training skills) has placed under my tutelage. In addition to these three musketeers, I ride a few other horses said friend has in training. The difference in each of these rides is not negligible, in fact it boarders on manic.
We've been working on Nic's canter lately, as well as her half pass and shoulder in at the trot. A months ago, she could barely do a 20m circle at a good canter. By good, I mean in self-carriage, light in the bridle, and with at least 50% of her weight on her hind end. This week we commenced broadening the scope of her work by attempting canter on the rail. We achieved this by asking for the canter and asking for shoulder fore down the long side, and preparing for the next long side by asking for flexion in the corners. The corners serve a very important function, in all three gaits, by allowing for time to re-establish throughness. In other words, the natural bend that will occur in the corners, by virtue of the fact that a corner is part of a tight 10m circle, lends itself instinctively to setting up throughness for the next long side.
Flexion, and therefore proper throughness, is the result of bending the horse through the barrel with the seat while positioning the neck towards the inside with the reins and ensuring the horse maintains the same contact on both reins even though she is bent. With Nic, this is hard to achieve, namely because she is stiff initially, thanks to piss-poor training before I restarted her this time last year. She is stiff, so bending's hard, so she gets spooky to try to get out of work, and then the process becomes cyclical. Let's face it, my knowledge of dressage can fill a wet paper bag, so there was no way I could address this on my own with any hopes of the same results as we've achieved at my current training facility.
Originally when I brought Nic to our new training facility (NTF), her right canter needed a lot of work. There was no jump, and she was not through and connected, so effectively she had a 4 beat canter, instead of the required 3 beat canter. Her left canter was a pure 3 beat, but was not through enough. Now, her right canter is stronger than her left canter, mainly because she uses her left leg more than her right leg, so her left leg is stronger.
Yesterday, when we began cantering around the arena, we did ok to the right, but to the left she broke the gait half way down the first long side. Part of that was because we did not have enough speed, and part of it was because she braced against the bit (which is the result of not having enough speed). Today we got around the arena successfully in both directions, although it is still very hard for her.
