Yesterday I almost cried during 3 tempis. My back hurt long before I got on the horse, and Nikita made me work for every tempi. With Nikita, you have to be on the ball, because she tests you every stride. If I go off my game for a moment, she finds a way to stop working. So, I had to use my back more than normal to keep her collected, yet pushing enough to do the changes. Holding the collection with my back was difficult, and required more strength than I cared to exert. Usually I have problems either in the 4 tempis or 2 tempis. But Nikita takes her yahoos where she can get them, and yesterday it was in the 3 tempis.
Video of Canter Half-Pirouettes, a work in progress.
It's hard to find things to write about. In our daily training, the only thing I focus on is making the horse through at the poll from behind and to chew the bit. It's really as simple as that. I don't do exercises to make the horse more collected, I don't use ground poles or any props. Just make the horse through at the poll and chew the bit. Any time the horse is stuck, or the movement isn't right, can be attributed to the horse not being through and chewing. Any time the horse is stuck in the canter pirouettes, the issue is corrected by asking for more forward from behind, which is the alpha and omega of being through at the poll and chewing the bit. There's really not more to our training than that.
