The winter here in Maryland was so mild that I was able to continue with a reasonably regular riding routine throughout. But I ride Cruz very differently from before.
He’s gone from being argumentative, head-in-the-air, I won’t-go-round and I won’t-listen-to-you to ‘O.K. Mom, what do you want from me today?’
I’m so excited about this that I want to share with you how this came about!
Forward
Steuart Pittman, the eventer, told me not to force Cruz to bend to the left, his bad side. ‘Just ride him forward and keep his head straight.’
This took the fight out of our sessions.
Because I was thinking forward while I rode, my hands came forward. Cruz was very thankful for this. He responded by becoming relaxed and softer in the mouth, jaw and neck.
My instructor added, ‘Use more left leg.’ This, plus short intervals of lateral flexion to the outside (right) encouraged Cruz to give to the left ‘by himself.’ As long as I continue to ask for forward motion and carry my hands over his withers, I have a co-operative horse.
A Bit of Foam
Another suggestion from my instructor made a huge difference. Cruz’s cavesson noseband comes with a leather pad under the chin. But my trainer recommended putting a strip of foam between Cruz’s jaw and the pad to further soften the impact of the noseband.
I have a foam mattress cover from Walmart, and have been chopping up for all sorts of things, such as extra girth protection. So I cut a strip from this and placed it under Cruz’s jaw.
He felt the extra comfort immediately and gave me no grief when asked for vertical flexion. This of course made me feel terrible that I hadn’t thought of doing this before! I’m not suggesting that a piece of foam is a cure-all for flexion issues, but it certainly helped in this case.
Counter Canter
Now that my horse was listening I could attempt counter-canter again, which had been such a disaster previously.
I was very careful to sit as tall and balanced as possible in the saddle as we negotiated the half circles and three loop serpentines. This time he stayed quiet and rhythmic, without breaking stride.
Simple Changes
Because Cruz is so ‘right-handed’ I was demanding too much left flexion in the simple change from right lead to left lead canter. I felt the need to exaggerate my request for left lead canter out of the walk.
What I achieved instead was another right lead canter depart (and an upset, confused horse).
As soon as I kept his body and neck straight while giving the left canter aids, Cruz quietly moved into a smooth left canter.
Putting It All to the Test
This past weekend I was lucky enough to find a Fix-A-Test locally. I could ride my first time at Second Level in front of a judge, have her comment on it, and help me improve without the stress of competition.
Cruz was an angel, and did everything I asked. We were awarded 57% - a great start to our season!
However: the judge commented that Cruz travels with his hind quarters to the right. He is not straight and this detracted from every single movement.
She offered me a choice: go through the test again, or work on straightness? I chose the latter.
Two Exercises for Straightness
- Trot: Because Cruz carries his haunches to the right, riding haunches in (or travers) on the left rein trains him to move those haunches to the left.
Afterwards, in regular trot, his hindquarters are directly behind his shoulders and his ‘engine’ is pushing him evenly into both my hands. This has the effect of making him more ‘up’ in front, adding bounce and energy to his gaits. He feels as if he is moving without effort.
- Trot and Canter: Ride on the quarter line so the horse doesn’t follow the boundary fence. This makes it obvious to the rider if the horse isn’t traveling straight.
Channel the horse between your knees, and place the reins where the horse’s shoulders should be if they were directly in front of the horse’s haunches.
For example: Cruz carries his shoulders to the left of his haunches. My job is to align his shoulders in front of his haunches with my knees and the reins. After a while he starts to ‘fill up’ my slightly open right rein, as his shoulders come in front of his hindquarters.
Driving the horse forwards into the contact helps.
Once Cruz is moving straight, I can feel the power that gets wasted when he’s going all over the place instead of forwards!
The straightness makes collection easier, and he is ‘up’ in front for the transitions from canter to walk and up again. He listens to my seat and is lighter in the hand.
Encouragement for the Future
Less than a year ago I was being strongly advised to sell Cruz. His canter was lateral and he refused to submit to the bridle. I am now riding Second Level with that same horse, thanks to a different training system and his CoolStance feed, plus supplementary Quiessence with chelated magnesium, to counteract the effects of the sugar in the spring grass.
I look forward to the new season with a transformed (and straight) horse!
