First Dressage Lesson!

And that picture doesn't show up on my computer right now...because my computers pretty moody, but it probably will later. :)

Oh what a goofy :P My horse (like I said in another thread) steers for me so no crashing into anything for us. He steers prematurely and cuts corners cause he's scared of crashing into the fence.

But yeah he'll learn :) Dressage lessons really helped Sky and you and your boy will get there!! I've subbed to your journal thread :)

And his focus will improve. Sky was the same.. he's very "in the clouds" a lot lol.

Chippy has recently begun trying to steer for me..but the time I tried just letting him go, he crashed, so no more of that. Definitely can't wait to start lessons! Two girls at my barn who are fairly experienced were going to start working with him a few times a week...but they tried him out and all they could say afterwords was that they had a whole new appreciation for their horses, haha. So far out of the people that have ridden him, only 2 besides me could tolerate him for more than ten minutes...he's not at all bad...just..different. So It's definitely time to get a trainer that NEEDS to ride him, because I'm paying them...definitely won't be finding any more volunteers.

He sounds like a nice horse! The ones that are harder to ride I truly love. Sky is a pride to ride but he's no walk in the park but he's soo smooth.

Yeah that's a shame about no volunteers.. I have LOTS of people volunteering to ride Sky but he's just... sensitive and it takes a special person to ride him well. He completely turns off with the wrong person.

But hey, just wait until you get some dressage lessons under your belt and he's all better It'll be harmonious!

He's very fun for me to ride... But maybe I'm in denial about his lack of training. I think he's had a confusing mix of harsh training in the past, so he doesn't quite get being ridden without force. He's also extremely uncomfortable to ride for those with smooth horses. There's a lady at my barn who has always wanted to ride him, but only got around to it recently when we traded horses for a bit. I warned her...but she thought I was exaggerating. After two strides of trot she stopped, jumped off and said "Nevermind, I want my horse back.". I guess Chippy will always be a one person horse.

Wait why did she stop??

She couldn't handle his trot apparently... And she's been riding for 40 years
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HOw does your horse do in ground work? Does he lead well, does he come up off the rope if you walk or trot off, or does he lag behind? Will he stop or go beyond you when you stop? Can you lunge him around you? Can you have him change directions? HOw good is he at following the rope/feel?
I ask this because it relates to how well he can follor the rein when you ride him.

If he is having trouble keeping his balance at the canter, you might do more trot work , always working on circles. Put some ground poles out and trot him /or lunge him over them. He will be able to canter better once he is well balanced at trot.

Lol weird!

He does fairly well with all of that. I definitely do lot's and lot's of trot work. Riding on hills, going over poles, doing circles, transitions etc. But he just get's more balanced at the trot and doesn't apply any of it to the canter. I've found that doing tons of cantering on the correct lead is the only way for him to grasp the whole concept if moving correctly. His chiropractor thinks his difficulties are a result of an old stifle injury, which would explain the constant cross cantering issues he has. Its improving a lot though!