HHO virtual clinic exercise 5

Going to give this a go this week. We have a pretty decent walk-canter/canter-walk established but this will be useful to sit her up on her hocks a bit more.
 
Going to give this a try tonight! I finally got round to doing the first exercise and it went really well. I’m guilty of ambling around when I school on my own, especially in winter when I can’t be bothered with poles so these exercises are really helping give me something to focus on.
 
Thank you for posting all of these @milliepops it’s great to look through them and also see everyone else’s experiences trying them.

Can’t wait to try a few this afternoon (provided my arena isn’t underwater...) on supercob!
 
Had a crack at this last night, quite enjoyed it. I found the change in direction into the 10mtr walk circle after the canter gave a lovely punchy walk so that's definitely one I'll keep in the bank. Had a couple of wrong strike off's in the right rein walk - canter so some learning to take there, mostly I need to be more succinct with my leg aids.
 
Going to try this later in the week, though have a feeling it’s not going to go well... any tips for a horse that anticipates and refuses to walk properly once you’ve started doing walk-canter? He just ends up fighting and jogging...
 
Probably not the correct way to do things, but I found a good strong half halt as well as engaging core helps enforce the movement, but you can then gradually reduce the half halt and let it come from the seat
 
iknowmyvalue said:
Going to try this later in the week, though have a feeling it’s not going to go well... any tips for a horse that anticipates and refuses to walk properly once you’ve started doing walk-canter? He just ends up fighting and jogging...
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A good one is to do small circles left and right randomely, and they need to be properly small so that they really can't jog. Slowly then increase the sizes while still randomly changing direction, this allows you to get your leg back on and they can't anticipate.
 
Sprat said:
Probably not the correct way to do things, but I found a good strong half halt as well as engaging core helps enforce the movement, but you can then gradually reduce the half halt and let it come from the seat
Click to expand...
yes I think that really holding the horse on your seat in the walk is the key here, it's a useful thing to develop so that you can also influence the size of the steps in other paces in the same way. but a clear half half first is probably needed to get the horse's attention and understanding.
 
My horses middle name should be "anticipation" but nonetheless he has mastered the canter walk canter. Somehow ? As mentioned above your seat, core, and half halt are key. And just talk to the horse. This might keep you from getting tense (subconsciously) and calm him a bit. Sometimes I forget this. Yes we can't do it during competition but every once in awhile a trainer will say "talk to him" and I'm like, oh, yeah, right, that! And it can help. Breathe through your transitions. Try to be firm but calm.
 
Thanks! Planning to try it tomorrow so will see how it goes! If we can get it right it is a good exercise for him, because walk-canter transitions really help his canter and get him using his back end
 
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