It's always something

Here’s what I’ve learned about getting a nice canter:
1. Be sure to warm up for half an hour before asking, with some nice long trots and some practice getting sensitive to my aids.
2. During the warm up, do whatever it takes to wake Champagne up; try new patterns of requests, try transitions between halt/walk, speeds of walk, walk/trot, speeds of trot, try backing, leg yielding at the walk and trot, turns on the forehand, serpentines; always change the sequence to be sure he is really listening.
3. Keep my expectations high; don’t settle for half hearted responses but don’t always be nagging him with my legs.
4. Be sure to get him into a frame, and remind him when he drops out. It helps his back lift and his haunches get under his body.

So now I am getting such a pretty collected canter . . . on the left lead. That’s his easy side.

My horse is not only long-backed, he is also built a little crooked. Cath and I noticed it especially on Sunday while Ken was riding, but we’ve known it for a while. I am forever having to straighten him even when we are trotting up the long side and there is no need for any bend. So it is harder for him to turn toward the right or pick up the right lead.

Yesterday all the elements were lined up, and we had such a nice canter on a 20 meter circle turning left. Canter when I asked, stop when I asked, canter again when I asked, and far fewer times when he decided on his own to stop cantering.

I also got a nice canter going right but no 20 meter circle. He turned properly along the short side of the ring, but as soon as I asked him to turn across the non-wall part of the circle he would break and canter straight. I stopped him, backed him up, cantered again, and same thing every single time. He was getting so he would stop after going straight and prepare to back up, like that was some new game. Yikes. It’s always something! How am I going to solve this one?