Cantering Fiend

I rode Rogo this afternoon. It was a great day weather wise - sunny, around 0 C. and no wind. We rode in the indoor since the ground was hard.

I took two CD's over that I'd made, my first ever. Cheryl has a good sound system in the indoor, so it's fun to ride to music. I find it really helps me with rhythm. A couple of my favorites are Glee covers of rock classics (Dancing With Myself, River Deep Mountain High) that my stepdaughter gave me (thanks Michelle!). Now to get some Lady Gaga!

I only rode for about 35 minutes today. Rogo wasn't in a trotting mood and because he'd been so good the last two times I quit the trot work as soon as I got a decent trot both ways. Then we worked on cantering and he was just brilliant (for his stage). Big, jumping strides, lengthening and shortening strides, 20 M to 15 M circles and out again. Good transitions up and down. He seems to love cantering and really focuses and tries hard to understand and do what I ask, more so than in any other area of our work. It makes me very happy because I love cantering too! I'm careful not to over-do it though. I wouldn't want to get him tired of it so he'd lose the joy he expresses much of the time when cantering. 

If I didn't know him and trust him so much it might be a little intimidating when he has days like today because he's very forward and the jump and stride are very big. He listens though. When I asked for the circles you could literally feel him make a pronounced shift of weight onto his hind quarters each time he left the track and began the circle, to the extent I needed to shift my seat a bit to stay with him.

Anyway, enough bragging :), it isn't always this good, but canter comes more easily to him than trot for some reason. It's funny because when I first saw him as a two year old it was his canter that I liked most - there was a very distinct, even three beats and moment of suspension. 

I asked for a halt while doing some easier work after the canter and he did it perfectly square, instead of leaving the left hind back as he often does, so I called it a ride.

Then I cleaned tack (very needed) and trimmed Rogo's mane and tail and washed his tail (it's white and was getting quite dirty). I had great intentions of getting Dan groomed and cleaned up, but he was turned out with his quarter horse friend Lucy and it was too nice to bring him in. All in all a great day.