[DanteDressageNerd]

Glad to see you have a journal to document your journey. I imagine it's very hard to get back into riding and start progressing on a journey. But we all have bad days and days where we're mentally not 100% I'll say yoga and meditation help a lot and being mindful of your breathing. Deep breaths. Quite a few horses react very badly to tension in the chest, it's sort of interesting but being mindful of opening your chest, focusing on your breathing through the worst of your mind and pushing it out is helpful in all aspects. Or compartmentalizing when I'm on the horse, this is where I am, when I'm off the horse that's where I am. Hard I know, all of us do it but don't be too hard on yourself. It happens.

 

[DanteDressageNerd]

Caroline, thank you. I try to help as much as I can but it is a personal forum and I like that about it

SteadyOn- I can well imagine it's a process. Riding is great therapy. It really helps with focus and a lot of the time I think people put too much pressure on themselves and have too high of expectations and it interferes with the peace and harmony of enjoying the process.

With the canter transition, I'm not sure if I entirely understand the pictures you're describing. There are a few ways I tell people to prepare for a canter transition, in trot, switching to the opposite diagnol can help you feel the right moment to cue the transition to canter. I generally put a bit more weight in my outside seat bone, 2 half halts on the outside rein to straighten the shoulder, outside leg back and inside leg on and just allow my hip to follow. It may help you to grab the pommel into the transition and stay engaged in your core so you do not tip forward or get left behind the motion. There is no shame in grabbing the pommel it will help you stay steady in your hands and go into the transition smoothly. It's not a handicap, it's a temporary stabilization technique. I grab my grab strap at times, not to hang on but if a horse is pulling on me or unsteady in the contact it helps me stay steady or I'll bridge my reins on a horse who tends to play in the contact and get unsteady because then they can't make my hands unsteady from pulling.

 

[DanteDressageNerd]

You're very welcome. I'm happy to help

It sounds like you lose suppleness in the hip and disengage your core in the canter and end up rocking with your whole body. In the canter transition, you do not need to work so hard or over think it. You don't need a hip movement to cue the canter, it can literally be just outside leg back, inside leg at the girth and canter. It doesn't need to be complicated. You don't want to sit heavy in your seat, depth is not about heaviness in your seat but suppleness. The weight should go down into your heals. There is a trick of how deep and how light can you be at the same time. Don't drive into the canter, think of it as your hips allow the canter to happen but you don't need to push or shove or pump. Just ask and go.

 

[DanteDressageNerd]

That is a fantastic lesson, sometimes being a little mad works better with horses that need a very assertive energy and presence to try. Guess Bambi got the message that you weren't fooling around and didn't find her antics amusing, time to get serious. I'm glad your day ended on a positive note