That's what neighbours are for
But what about when away from home and neighbors??
Instead of aggravating your knees by going faster, why not just do extra at your current speed. I mean your knees have to last a lifetime, no point in wearing them out early.
Yeah, I've been trying to do that too. The annoying thing is the only thing holding me back in speed is my knees. They should be able to handle the higher speeds by now, but they are cranky. Maybe in another month. I can prolly do short bursts at high speed to help condition them.
And since I am stalling, I shall tell another Warhorse story.
So at the show the other week, one thing I didn't mention about why I thought I bombed the canter class, aside from those little mistakes, is that the judge asked for walk and then asked for canter. 'Crap' I thought, 'This is no time to try and work on Walk-Canter.' We'd been having enough trouble with trot-canter, and though those transitions had been going really well recently, we hadn't done much Walk-canter. This is technically easier for a horse, but if they don't know what you want they will just trot really really fast, which then makes it really hard to get the canter, and looks ugly and feels ugly. Plus the Warhorse would likely get the wrong lead, ruining all the work I did in getting him to pick up the right one happily and calmly.
So at the show I just did trot for a half dozen strides, got settled, and asked for canter. It went well and we got that third place ribbon
On Wednesday when my friend/trainer rode him, she worked on his transitions and threw in a single walk-canter that looked really nice. She stopped, backed him, send him forward, and had him cantering after two steps of walk.
So on Friday I decided to try. All our trot-canter transitions were going well, so I did the halt-back-walk-canter set up. The backing help gets them on their hindquarters so they can push off into canter easier (a good walk is also important). He not only did it, but he did it easily. When we switched directions, he picked up the canter and floated along. I brought him down to a trot anyways by patting him and leaning forward (thus breaking the rhythm and encouraging him to slow to a trot). Seconds later, when I was shifting my weight oh so slightly he transitioned effortlessly into a canter, he was so happy. I laughed and eased him back down. We did some other stuff and I changed directions again and had him walk-canter to show someone his new skill. We did it, and after a few strides he gave a playful little kick. I had to push him on because he's not allowed to be naughty, even when in a good mood, but I was glad he was enjoying the new skill.
This is particularly impressive because a month ago he was having little meltdowns because he couldn't find his balance, was confused over my signals, and getting resentful. He had a few big meltdowns too which were not fun, and I was confused because he hadn't had this problem before. I think there was a slight pain issue mixed in that triggered it but definitely wasn't the whole story.
I should go riding today but I might wait til tomorrow...
I warn you it's a bit bitter.
