The Miraculous Outside Rein

     I'm getting excited about the warm weather! Today it is 70 degrees and it makes me so happy to be able ride in my short sleeve polos again. Maybe it will stick around for a couple days so that I can actually enjoy it. 

    With this warm weather, Cody was definitely feeling the warmth and beginning to loosen up. That being said, he was very willing today- much more than usual.- so I got a lot more done with him than I expected. I went out to the barn today with a plan, and my plan was to see how he reacted to my invisible aids and try to get him more sensitive to my leg aids. 

    When we started working, I noticed that he was being very sticky in his medium walk, especially when I shortened my reins after the warm-up. So after a few twenty meter circles of slowly picking him up and asking for more of an extended walk, so he would reach over his back to keep him from getting stuck, I began to realize the real problem. The real problem was that I wasn't pushing him forward enough up to the bridle. I continued walking on a short rein while really emphasizing the reach over the shoulders and moving forward off my leg. This required much outside rein to keep him not only straight, but willing to swing over his back and not get stuck again. After about 20 minutes of continuous walk, I started my trot work. 

     The same followed the trot work as he seemed willing, but he was very sticky. I continued the same exercise while stressing the connection with the outside rein. Many exercises I used to get him working both sides of his body required me to keep Cody on a 20 meter circle. One of the exercises I used today was to do a shoulder in on a circle. This helped him to reach under his body with his haunches- which got him to ride into the outside rein. The second exercise was the icing on the cake to get him to step into the outside rein while remaining straight. I kept Cody on a 20 meter square, turning straight across the arena at each turn. I treated the turn like a turn on the haunches at the trot, getting him to step around and sit on his haunches. I rode into it thinking of a haunches in, really encouraging the sit when I came to the turn by sitting taller through my upper body. 

     I can only hope that this warm weather continues so that Cody and I can continue to move forward throughout this spring so we can be ready than ever for show season! He has taken such a huge step from last spring and I cannot wait to see what awaits this show year.