Home Team
We cantered. Not on purpose, but it’s all good.
I like to instill in my horses the ability to go on the buckle at all three gaits and over low jumps [Fifth Leg Training]. I don’t always get there, but that’s the goal.
Rodney finds this much freedom unsettling. He doesn’t like being the one in charge, even of himself. He’ll learn. As a compromise for now, I hold as long a contact as possible and he agrees not to curl up like a shrimp.
After some very nice long-contact trot work, I decide to ask for a few steps of loose rein. To see what would happen. Lengthen the reins. Ask for a nice, quiet trot transition. Rodney hops up into a nice, quiet …. canter.
It was slow. It was peaceful. So we went with it. We got about half a lap before the momentum ran out and he dropped back to a walk. Callooh! Callay! My beamish boy!
This was my last ride before the time sink that was Nationals, so we have not had a redo. We shall see.
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Virtual Brush Box 
Wahoo!
He’ll get there eventually….
Yay Rodney!