Flatwork canter update, good and bad..........

[Pidgeon]

Ok as weather is supposed to be nice over the weekend decided to have another schooling session as will hack Sat and Sun. So popped the harbridge on again and warmed up in walk and trot, lots of shoulder in and some beautiful leg yielding

Then did lots of trot/canter transitions with just 2 mess ups on the left lead so made sure I was sitting very very slightly to the left and it was then bang on. Lots of long rein to let him stretch after a few exercises.
Anyhow to the point.... The good was the transitions and the canter itself, even better than last night, more uphill, rounder and very very bouncy, much better on the bends too

and I was sitting up better too (wonders will never cease

)
However I think Pidge got a bit peed off with having to work like this as he started to plunge

So chilled him out and just did one more canter on each rein and then cooled him down.
Did I push him too much tonight? the canter was lovely and although hard work keeping him together the end result was well worth it

Because he's using muscles not necessarilly used before I am very conscious of giving him plenty of stretches as opposed to working hard for a long time. Am going to hack for the next 2 days and then try again on Monday.

 

[trendybraincell]

Sounds like your doing the right thing. If he's not used to working properly he will find it hard work, so periods of resting and stretch are just as important.