Stella
Well-Known Member
My mare has a truly horrible left canter. She used to have a truly horrible canter on both reins, but we have some progress
Before I got her she just hunted and it seems she must have constantly gone around with a right bend and a right canter lead! She has a very strong preferrence for this still and even in trot, its a tough job a lot of the time to get her to bend correctly and soften. I am a novice rider (only first sat on a horse 7 years ago) and in canter her way of going makes what little skill I have with the pace disapear and I make her way of going worse. We reached a point where she was just getting tense and anxious about the transition, so my trainer started working with her (well her dressage pupil under her supervision). This has been going on twice a week for a few of months. The right canter has improved dramatically, she is no longer anxious about the transition on the left and her ability (bend, impulsion, straightness) in trot has come on tremedously (I could have got there, but the side benefit of the schooling for cante got us there quicker). However, her left canter is still hideous 90% of the time and there has to be several aborted attempts using 'inventive' aids before the correct lead appears
The upshot of all this is that I'm stuck doing Walk and Trot tests with her for what seems like an interminable time, since if my trainer can't get a decent left canter, let alone one on the correct lead without fancy riding, I don't stand a hope in hell
Soooo .... I have decided to leave her at said trainers on schooling livery for May (I'm away for 3 weeks and will catch a few lessons in the week when I'm back). This will os course cost sh^t loads and I am am always living beyond my means and always with an overdraft. Now to me this is just another way of saying that I have a horse, but my hubby is a worrier. I decided to break this plan to him tonight. I was of course considerate enough to lie to him and knock 50% off the true price (in the interest of his mental health). Yet, still I had the "Thats bloody ridiculous" speach
That was followed by much huffing and puffing and an atmosphere one could cut with the proverbial knife!
I feel guilty and I'm cringing a bit, but I also know that I'll spend the money in the end on the slower drip feed of schooling and will still be walking and trotting through BD Intro A several times a month by the end of the summer if I don't spend it quicker by doing this
I'm 49 in a few months, old enough to know that life is not a rehersal, but I don't like upsetting the old bloke and it will be an issue for him until we've paid for it (i.e. June) Tell me I'm not alone, not the only one who spends what she can't afford/doesn't really have on her horse, and in doing so, runs the gauntlet of her hubby's despair!!
Soooo .... I have decided to leave her at said trainers on schooling livery for May (I'm away for 3 weeks and will catch a few lessons in the week when I'm back). This will os course cost sh^t loads and I am am always living beyond my means and always with an overdraft. Now to me this is just another way of saying that I have a horse, but my hubby is a worrier. I decided to break this plan to him tonight. I was of course considerate enough to lie to him and knock 50% off the true price (in the interest of his mental health). Yet, still I had the "Thats bloody ridiculous" speach
I'm 49 in a few months, old enough to know that life is not a rehersal, but I don't like upsetting the old bloke and it will be an issue for him until we've paid for it (i.e. June) Tell me I'm not alone, not the only one who spends what she can't afford/doesn't really have on her horse, and in doing so, runs the gauntlet of her hubby's despair!!