Charlie with the long sought after cooler

Charlie with the long sought after cooler
Spring NWEC 2013 Novice

Saturday, November 24, 2018

10 meter circles and leg yields

Today's lesson was a mental challenge to keep all the aids going independently.  John had me ride 10 meter circles, get Duke properly bent, then keep the bend off of the circle, leg yield over to the wall, and then do it again.
The easiest part:  to leg yield to the wall, if his hindquarters are drifting, use the outside rein to square him back up.
The rest of it:  inside hand even with outside hand, not pulling down and back; use my outside elbow behind my hip if I need to; while outside hand is half halting, use inside hand to bend, but not too much; use hips evenly to keep him moving forward (especially at canter or sitting trot); use inside leg to push him into outside hand so he doesn't fall in but stays bent; and etc. etc. etc. beyond my ability to keep up.
If I counted out loud, I could keep my hips going, but then I couldn't also keep in my mind not letting the inside hand slip down.
Every once in a while I would get everything lined up and then I could feel Duke's back up, and it was amazing.  But it was hard to keep all those aids in mind.  John said getting the hips and legs to be  rote is the key, and then I'll still have to think about my hands.

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